DQ

EDITORIAL ESSAY

INTRODUCTION TO A SPECIAL ISSUE ON CONFLICT

AND ITS RESOLUTION IN THE CHANGING WORLD

OF WORK: HONORING PROFESSOR DAVID LIPSKY

HARRY C. KATZ, GUEST EDITOR

The articles in this special symposium collection examine conflict resolutionwith a particular focus on the workplace. They were first presented at a conference held on the Cornell University Ithaca campus in November 2017. The discussion at the conference was enhanced by the presence of several practitioners affiliated with ILR’s Scheinman Institute for Conflict Resolution. Funding for the conference was provided by the ILR Dean’s Office and the Scheinman Institute.

The conference papers had been submitted for consideration in response to a general call and were selected by a committee comprising Ariel Avgar, Alex Colvin, and Harry Katz. Distinctive features of the papers are their focus on workplace conflict, their analysis of original data guided by innovative theory, and the fact that although a number of the papers examine US developments, several provide comparative analysis.

The papers examine one or more of the following questions: Why do parties choose to make use of one or another particular procedure to address conflict? Which procedures are especially effective at resolving con- flict and why? Do particular procedures produce outcomes that favor labor or management? How do conflict resolution procedures fit within the evolu- tion of national employment relations systems? To what extent are other countries imitating US conflict resolution procedures and if not, why not?

During the conference, a special dinner was held to honor the seminal contributions of Professor David Lipsky, including his pathbreaking book Emerging Systems for Managing Workplace Conflict, co-authored with Ronald Seeber and Richard Fincher. Reflective of his continuing intellectual vitality, Professor Lipsky was an active participant at the conference and is a co- author of one of the articles included in this volume. Professor Lipsky has done much to promote the study of conflict resolution through his teach- ing, research, and mentoring of students. For all those things, I know I speak for many by restating our gratitude to him.

The articles in this volume are analytically sharp and provide a wealth of new insights and evidence. We are pleased to make them available in this special issue.

ILR Review, 73(2), March 2020, p. 253 DOI: 10.1177/0019793919896790. � The Author(s) 2020

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