Arbitration: Semi-judicial process or negotiation?

Arbitration is usually described as a semi-judicial, evaluative process, where the parties to a dispute surrender their responsibility for its resolution to a disinterested third party. The arbitrator is expected to listen impartially to the arguments of both sides and, on the basis of the evidence put forward, decide the issue between them. This paper questions the validity of the typical image of arbitration and suggests that a more comprehensive understanding can be developed if it is viewed in the context of different models of negotiation. It is argued that the arbitrator is likely to have at least two contrasting roles: (1) that of manager of the process of concession-convergence, when the issues in dispute are relatively straightforward; and (2) that of joint negotiator with the parties, constructing a framework for a future detailed resolution of the dispute, when the issues are more complex. The parties, on the other hand, are likely to be differentiated according to their previous experience of arbitration. While the more experienced participants may be able to make skilful strategic use of the procedures, the inexperienced are likely to be adversely affected by the evaluative/judicial public image of arbitration.     

Predicting sales skills

The purpose of this study was to validate a selection process designed to predict sales skills for a telephone sales job. First, a job analysis was performed (n=213) to identify the major functions and behavioral requirements of the job. Next, the test, a situational judgment inventory, was developed, and a concurrent criterion related validation study was completed (n=236). The criterion measures were supervisory ratings of performance. Validity coefficients ranged from r=.16 (p<.01) to r=.24 (p<.001). In conclusion, the situational judgment inventory was found an effective vehicle for measuring telephone sales skills.Sincere thanks to Roz Lobus for her assistance in the earlier phases of this study.     

Commentary on "Quantifying the value of human life

...In his article, "Quantifying the value of human life for cost accounting of safeguards," L. Eugene Arnold proposes a cost-benefit analysis to address three allocation issues concerning the very expensive program of blood monitoring proposed by Sandoz at the time it placed Clozaril...on the American market....It is important to realize that the use of seemingly value-free procedures to arrive at answers to ethically complex questions does not eliminate the values that underlie the choice of variables to be analyzed. The analyses employed by the author to three ethical questions illustrate this point very well....     

A solution-oriented approach to conflict resolution in a work system

The growing involvement of counsellors in organisational development is addressed by describing the application of a solution-oriented family therapy approach to conflict resolution in a work system. An account of the intervention outlines the system's storying of the problem, the development of new meanings and the identification of solutions. Key concepts in this post-modern approach are linked with the practices employed.     

Book reviews

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

(RE)Inventing Scheffler,or, Defending Objective Educational Research

Israel Scheffler's book Science and Subjectivity (1967) was prescient: His criticisms of attacks on the traditional notions of objectivity and truth that underlie modern science are still relevant nearly thirty years later, when postmodernism and some varieties of feminist epistemology are winning many adherents. Two aspects of Scheffler's book are singled out for discussion – his philosophical style, which is marked by careful, well-developed, and detailed argument (in contrast to many contemporary writers in education who have postmodernist leanings, who merely make assertions about objectivity and so forth); and the actual content of the positions for which he argues.     

In search of common foundations for cortical computation

It is worthwhile to search for forms of coding, processing, and learning common to various cortical regions and cognitive functions. Local cortical processors may coordinate their activity by maximizing the transmission of information coherently related to the context in which it occurs, thus forming synchronized population codes. This coordination involves contextual field (CF) connections that link processors within and between cortical regions. The effects of CF connections are distinguished from those mediating receptive field (RF) input; it is shown how CFs can guide both learning and processing without becoming confused with the transmission of RF information. Simulations explore the capabilities of networks built from local processors with both RF and CF connections. Physiological evidence for synchronization, CFs, and plasticity of the RF and CF connections is described. Coordination via CFs is related to perceptual grouping, the effects of context on contrast sensitivity, amblyopia, implicit influences of color in achromotopsia, object and word perception, and the discovery of distal environmental variables and their interactions through self-organization. Cortical computation could thus involve the flexible evaluation of relations between input signals by locally specialized but adaptive processors whose activity is dynamically associated and coordinated within and between regions through specialized contextual connections.