Handling Of Conflicts Research Articles

A Preliminary Inquiry into the Responsibility of Corporations and Their Directors and Officers for Corporate Climate: The Psychology of Enron's Demise

With substantial inquiry concerning what individual Enron directors and officers knew, or what they should have known based on what they knew, little attention has been directed to examining the institutional structure at Enron that may have spawned the unethical behavior and to assessing responsibility for that structure. By institutional structure, I refer to Enron's ethical climate which is a manifestation of its culture. Corporate culture is defined as a complex set of common beliefs and expectations held by members of the organization which are based on shared values, assumptions, attitudes and norms. The corporation's ethical climate refers to the ethical meaning attached by employees to organizational policies, practices and procedures. These policies, practices and procedures influence moral awareness, the criteria used in decision making, whether morals will have priority over other values, and moral behavior. Important to ascertaining corporate culture are the employees' perceptions of the corporation's values as reflect by the corporation's mission statement and code of ethics, the criteria for business decisions, the words and actions of leaders, the handling of conflicts of interest, the reward system, the guidance provided to employees concerning dealing with ethical issues, and the monitoring system. This article is a preliminary examination of the factual predicates for placing responsibility on the corporation and its directors and officers for a corporate climate that encourages and supports unethical and illegal behavior. This article explores (1) whether climates contribute to illegal behavior within corporations, (2) whether corporate climates can be ascertained, (3) whether some corporate climates can be identified that have a greater likelihood of fostering illegal conduct than others, and (4) whether climates can either be modified to encourage and support legal behavior or, if not, whether steps can be taken to decrease the likelihood of illegal behavior in such climates. Ultimately, the questions concerning Enron are: What was its corporate climate and did that climate contribute to the unethical behavior of its employees? If so, what was the responsibility of Enron and its officers and directors to ascertain, monitor, and modify that climate? This article will respond to the call by the Advisory Group to the U.S. Sentencing Commission to consider whether the Federal Sentencing Guidelines should encourage organizations to foster ethical cultures to ensure compliance with the intent as well as the letter of the law, and if so, to consider how an organization's performance in this regard can be measured or evaluated. This article will also consider the effectiveness of provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that require the SEC to promulgate rules and regulations requiring corporations to disclose whether or not they have a code of ethics for senior financial officers, and any waivers of such code, and provisions of the NYSE proposed rules promulgated to meet these requirements. Additionally, this article will raise the issues as to whether corporations and their directors and officers who sign the corporation's disclosure statements have an obligation to disclose their corporations' unethical climate and whether they breach their fiduciary duty to the corporation when they fail to take steps to discover, or to act when confronted with, their corporation's unethical climate.

Materiales sensibles. Mediatizaciones en el conflicto juvenil según algunas obras de Andrés Caicedo Estela

Este artículo analiza cómo ha mutado el conflicto juvenil entre jóvenes de clases medias desde el arribo a Cali (Colombia) de los primeros medios analógicos masivos hasta masificación de dispositivos móviles y redes sociales, y cómo éstos últimos propician nuevos espacios para encontrarse, discutir y relacionarse con otros actores de similar edad y clase social. Basado en un estudio de caso realizado en dicha ciudad durante los años 2015 y 2016 que tomó como génesis de las narrativas sobre el conflicto juvenil algunas obras literarias de Andrés Caicedo Estela (1951/1977), se discutió con 93 jóvenes caleños lectores de dicho autor cómo los productos de la naciente y creciente mediatización permiten la tramitación de conflictos entre jóvenes burgueses de ayer y de hoy; desde una época considerada en vías de mediatización, hasta la actual que puede llamarse transmediatizada. Según se desprende del análisis, la principal diferencia entre la época narrada por Caicedo Estela con la actual radica en que al presente las pantallas táctiles funcionan como templos expiatorios a los que gran parte de los actuales jóvenes acuden para no tener que enfrentarse cara a cara con la realidad fáctica, habitando una virtualidad que les confina a un dilatado presente de realidades superpuestas

Validation of the Dutch Test of Conflict Handling in Chinese College Students

There are limitations in existing conflict management instruments used in China. Therefore, we translated the Dutch Test of Conflict Handling (DUTCH), and then examined the reliability and validity of this Chinese Revised version (DUTCH-CR). Participants were 2,035 college students at 4 universities in China. We conducted exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on data from questionnaires completed by the participants. Our findings show that the DUTCH-CR is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the handling of conflicts between Chinese college students. Further, we found that 4 conflict-handling styles are more suitable for Chinese college students. This was achieved by merging the problem-solving and compromising factors into a collaborating one, and retaining the yielding, avoiding, and forcing factors of the original DUTCH instrument.

Las vías de hecho estudiantiles y los derechos a la defensa y el debido proceso del profesorado universitario

Introducción: en las relaciones del estudiantado universitario tanto en el ámbito público como en el privado a menudo se presentan inconformidades, bien sea metodológicas o bien personales, que ponen en evidencia la debilidad de los sistemas educativos de categoría universitaria en cuanto al manejo de conflictos y su oportuna resolución. Esto ha creado procedimientos de facto como el “veto que se torna en una vía de hecho”.
 Objetivo: determinar por medio de la jurisprudencia y la ley un procedimiento disciplinario jurídico obediente a los derechos fundamentales que rija las diferencias del estudiantado con el profesorado y viceversa.
 Metodología: mediante el análisis de la jurisprudencia de la Corte Constitucional y de la aplicación de procedimientos determinados en la ley colombiana se buscará hacer una propuesta de procedimiento viable para resolver las diferencias que surgen entre el estudiantado y el profesorado.
 Resultados: se propone una forma de juicio que permita, de acuerdo con los manuales de convivencia o reglamentos disciplinarios existentes, ejercer la defensa, la contradicción, la presentación y la práctica de pruebas, además del derecho a un veredicto en condiciones de imparcialidad e igualdad con la opción de presentar los recursos que se estimen necesarios. 
 Conclusiones: se anima a los profesores y estudiantes universitarios a plantear este tipo de situaciones en sus reuniones internas, de modo que se genere discusión, a fin de lograr un consenso que permita la visibilización de este problema y que, claro está, se busquen soluciones jurídicas a ellos a fin de evitar que este tipo de situaciones se perpetúen como mecanismo de acción de facto.

Professional culture, information security and healthcare quality\u2014an interview study of physicians\u2019 and nurses\u2019 perspectives on value conflicts in the use of electronic medical records

BackgroundDigital healthcare information systems impose new demands on healthcare professionals, and information security rules may induce stressful value conflicts, which the professional culture may help professionals to handle.The aim of the study was to elucidate physicians’ and registered nurses’ shared professional assumptions and values, grounded in their professional cultures, and how these assumptions and values explain and guide healthcare professionals’ handling of value conflicts involving rules regulating the use of electronic medical records.MethodsHealthcare professionals in five organisations in two Swedish healthcare regions were interviewed.ResultsThe study identified ensuring the patients’ physical health and well-being as the overarching value and a shared basic assumption among physicians and registered nurses. A range of essential professional and organisational values were identified to help attain this goal. In value conflicts, different values were weighted in relation to each other and to the electronic information security rules.ConclusionsThe results can be used to guide effective design and implementation of electronic medical records and information security regulations in healthcare.

How to create functioning collaboration in theory and in practice – practical experiences of collaboration when planning public transport systems

The creation of an efficient public transport system increasingly requires collaboration between independent organizations. Institutional reforms in Europe have created governance situations where collaboration between organizations is a critical issue, and examples include the integration of transport and land-use planning and the planning of large public transport projects. The organizational context of public transport, with several formal, discrete organizations that need to collaborate, raises questions about how functioning collaborations can be accomplished. This paper examines how to create functioning collaboration between organizations in the public transport sector. We depart from a theory of collaboration as a stepwise trust-building process, and we present results from a comparative case study of collaboration in two Swedish public transport projects. The results show some of the prerequisites that must be in place in order for the collaboration to work, but also the boundaries of what collaborative approaches can bring about. Conditions such as honest, open, and inclusive dialog between stakeholders and resources in the form of finance, knowledge, mandate, and leadership are important. While there is no guarantee that this will lead to differences in interests being resolved, the results indicate that it improves the chances of finding compromises that all of the involved stakeholders can accept, especially if favorable conditions for collaboration are established at an early stage of the planning process. Building on these findings, we suggest some practical recommendations for improving collaboration in future public transport projects. These practical recommendations are aimed at improving the handling of unavoidable conflicts in collaboration in a constructive way.

KONFLIK LATEN ANTARA PENGANUT AGAMA SIKH DAN TAMIL DI KOTA MEDAN

<div class="WordSection1"><p><em>This research discusses the latent conflict between Sikhs and Tamils in Medan. This study uses conflict theories with the approaches of latent conflict and the sources of conflict itself. </em><em>This research is intended to look at the hidden forms of conflict on the relationship of Sikhs with Tamil as well as written attempts to conflict between the two.</em><em> This research uses qualitative research methods, where researchers directly observe the community and try to analyze every subjective and objective experience in sociology of religion approach. Informants in this research are religious leaders and community of Sikh and Tamil. The results of this study reveal that there are latent conflict between Sikh and Tamil community. Latent conflicts can be grouped in several aspects, among others, on religious-cultural aspects, political aspects as well as socio-economic aspects. In the handling of latent conflicts between both religion, it is necessary for the state and society to pay attention so the conflict not to extend to open conflict.</em></p><p><em> </em></p></div><em><br clear="all" /></em>

Conflicts of interest in finance

Purpose Relying on research from social psychology and business ethics, this paper aims to argue that the current massive regulatory regime surrounding the attempts to curb what is perceived to be damaging conflicts of interests in the financial industry is based on misguided assumptions, and that the trend of increasingly detailed rule-making, supervision and sanctioning in this area might be counter-effective. This should cause financial services legislators and regulators to be cautious when proposing more detailed rules as solutions to perceived problems. The paper argues that disclosure is no remedy for a harmful conflict of interest, and that such an obligation can only be based on the client’s right to know about the conflict. This right, however, does not, in itself, justify all the extensive and detailed regulation in the area. The paper ends with a recommendation for more research into the moral reasoning ability of financial services professionals, as well as the interplay between judgment and rules in the finance industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper relies on research within behavioural moral psychology, and applies it to business ethics with the aim of discussing the impact of regulation on moral reasoning within the finance industry. Findings Regulation might lead to a decrease in moral reasoning, which is the premise of proper handling of conflicts of interest. Additionally, disclosure of unavoidable conflicts of interest might even strengthen the negative consequences of such conflicts. Research limitations/implications More research should be conducted within the financial services sector about the effect of regulation on individual judgment. Practical implications The paper proposes that care should be exercised when proposing increased and complex regulation to avoid unintended and adverse consequences for the financial services industry. Originality/value The paper synthesises existing research within different fields – such as moral psychology and analytic business ethics – and applies it to financial regulation.

Management of financial conflicts of interests in clinical practice guidelines in Germany: results from the public database GuidelineWatch

BackgroundThe reliability of clinical practice guidelines has been disputed because guideline panel members are often burdened with financial conflicts of interest (COI). Current recommendations for COI regulation advise not only detailed declaration but also active management of conflicts. To continuously assess COI declaration and management in German guidelines we established the public database LeitlinienWatch (GuidelineWatch).MethodsWe analyzed all German guidelines at the highest methodological level (S3) that included recommendations for pharmacological therapy (n = 67) according to five criteria: declaration and assessment of COI, composition of the guideline development group, independence of the coordinators and lead authors, imposed abstentions because of COI and public external review. Each criterion was assessed using predefined outcome categories.ResultsMost guidelines (76%) contained a detailed declaration of COI. However, none of the guidelines provided full transparency of COI assessment results. The guideline group was composed of a majority of participants with COI in 55% of the guidelines, no guideline was free of participants with COI. Only 9% of guidelines had coordinators and lead authors without any financial COI. Most guidelines (70%) did not provide a rule for abstentions for participants with COI. In 21% of guidelines there was a rule, but abstentions were either not practiced or not documented, whereas in 7% partial abstentions and in 2% complete abstentions were documented. Two thirds of the guideline drafts (67%) were not externally reviewed via a public website.ConclusionsCOI are usually documented in detail in German guidelines of the highest methodological level. However, considerable improvement is needed regarding active management of COI, including recruitment of independent experts for guideline projects, abstention from voting for participants with COI and external review of the guideline draft. We assume that the publicly available ratings on GuidelineWatch will improve the handling of conflicts of interest in guideline development.

Against all odds? Implementing a policy for ecosystem-based management of the Barents Sea

Ecosystem-based management (EBM) should lead to policy that effectively addresses major negative impacts on the ecosystem in order to solve the problems identified. So far, there is little empirical knowledge about what is conducive to the formulation and implementation of such policies. The article suggests that implementation theory is an appropriate theoretical platform for acquiring such knowledge. General implementation theory is a starting point that gradually can be specified for implementation of EBM through carefully selected case studies. The article describes the theory and demonstrates its applicability by analysing the implementation of the measures in the Barents Sea Management Plan. Despite a policy design that violated several traditional recommendations for successful implementation, most measures in the plan were actually put into practice. The explanation lies in the Norwegian political-administrative system, the mobilization of knowledge, the collaboration created by involving a group of ministries and the authoritative handling of conflicts by the cabinet. All these explanations refer to processes occurring during the formulation of the policy, thus illustrating the need for a broader focus than the implementation process itself when studying policy implementation. The political leadership of the Norwegian government was decisive, demonstrating that EBM can be effectively implemented in a top-down fashion.

Approach for handling controller conflicts within multi-functional energy storage systems

The integration of modern energy storage systems (ESS) into power grids allows the implementation of different use cases (UCs). However, the simultaneous activation of such UCs could lead to potential conflicting behaviour. Hence, this study assesses the causes of conflicts within multi-functional ESS. A methodology for the identification and handling of conflicts is suggested using a model-driven architecture approach together with the well-known smart grid architecture model (SGAM). The main goal of this study is to demonstrate the usability of SGAM for the identification of potential controller conflicts. As a main result of this investigation, the SGAM alone does not allow the identification of all possible types of conflicts; it needs to be complemented by other models.

Financial Consumers and Applicable Provisions a European and Italian Perspective

In Europe, general legislation requires protection of the economic interests of consumers. This includes, for instance, the consumer protection from financial services, misleading advertising and unfair contract terms. However, only after the global financial crisis, the European Union (EU) has become aware of the lack of transparency, poor handling of conflicts of interest, over-indebtedness, and low awareness of risks of the consumers in dealing with financial services. This paper aims to investigate the financial knowledge and overconfidence in Europe, and to provide an overview of consumer protection policy in EU. Here, it will be analyzed the EU regulatory framework, whose aim is to ensure the stability of the financial markets and to establish specific and common rules for banks and investments companies among the Member States. Furthermore, it deals with protections of financial consumers in the Italian legislation and within a European context. It concludes providing the Italian financial system as best example of crisis management and resolution, by providing out-of-court settlements, collective redress and crisis management procedures, with the aims to establish a systemic stability and financial consumers’ confidence in the bank system.

Calculating the value of connection conflicts

Abstract Objectives. In the domain of railway dispatching the handling of connection conflicts is a complex and most of the times intrans-parent task for the dispatcher. A decision support system is needed to provide relevant objective information regarding a connection conflict. Connection conflicts need to be evaluated from the transportation company's point of view. Hereby not only traveller discomfort is taken into account, but also economic considerations. In this paper, we present possible applications for connection evaluation. One of them is the conflict resolution for which a method for connection conflict evaluation is provided which can be used in decision support systems. Data and Methodology. To derive and possible contexts for connection evaluation, first, the context of connections in the dispatching process in the railway system is examined. Possible contexts are analysed and described. For each context, the value of a connection is calculated based on multiple influences which can affect each other. In contrast to other literature, the focus is not only on the traveller or train delay but also on other influences. Influence factors relevant to transportation companies are determined. Then a technique is presented to respect all relevant influences and combine them. Thus, the evaluation consists of a function with several evaluation components. For every influence we follow a strict scheme to define the background, the deduction of a function or influence, the placement in the overall evaluation, combinations with other influences and an estimation of feasibility for that influence. Expected results. This paper shows, how to apply evaluations of connection conflicts in different contexts and for one of them an evaluation function is be defined. The result is a function to measure the (monetary) value of a connection conflict. The function contains all determined influences and combines them. The function can be used for different conflict resolution methods, e.g. for optimization or as an integration in decision support systems. Alternatively, it can be displayed to the dispatcher directly who then can take the so-derived value of a connection into consideration for his dispatching decision.

A Estruturação e o Papel dos Núcleos Permanentes de Métodos Consensuais de Solução de Conflitos: A Experiência do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Maranhão

O presente trabalho objetiva analisar a estruturação dos Núcleos Permanentes de Métodos Consensuais de Solução de Conflitos a partir das determinações estabelecidas na Resolução CNJ n° 125/2010, que trata da política judiciária de tratamento adequado dos conflitos de interesses. Utilizou-se o método de abordagem indutivo visando analisar a relação existente entre as diretrizes estabelecidas pelo CNJ e a forma como ocorreu à instituição e o dimensionamento do papel funcional desenvolvido pelo Núcleo Permanente do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Maranhão, que atua como protagonista na implantação da política judiciária no âmbito estadual.

Teamwork in nursing: restricted to nursing professionals or an interprofessional collaboration?

To understand the nursing professionals' conceptions of teamwork and their elements. A qualitative study conducted in an oncological hospital using a semi-structured interview with 21 nursing professionals. Two conceptions emerged from the accounts: teamwork restricted to nursing professionals and teamwork with interprofessional collaboration with particular importance for interactive dimensions: communication, trust and professional bonds, mutual respect and recognition of the other's work, collaboration, and conflict, with this last subcategory considered as an obstacle to teamwork. Nursing conceives teamwork as an interprofessional practice, which is a result of the quality of interaction among professionals from different areas and involves the recognition and handling of conflicts. Compreender as concepções dos profissionais de enfermagem sobre trabalho em equipe e seus elementos constituintes. Pesquisa qualitativa, realizada em hospital oncológico, por meio de entrevista semiestruturada com 21 profissionais de enfermagem. Duas concepções emergiram dos relatos, trabalho em equipe circunscrito à enfermagem e trabalho em equipe com colaboração interprofissional, com destaque para dimensão interativa: comunicação, confiança e vínculo, respeito mútuo e reconhecimento do trabalho do outro, colaboração e conflito. Esta última subcategoria foi apontada como obstáculo para o trabalho em equipe. A enfermagem concebe majoritariamente o trabalho em equipe como ação interprofissional, e isto decorre da qualidade da interação entre os profissionais das diferentes áreas e o reconhecimento e manejo de conflitos.

Participatory handling of conflicts in Sámi areas

In this article, we conduct an explorative investigation for a participatory research project in the Northern Norwegian Sámi areas. The contextual background is one of increasing conflict with the public welfare services reported by the media and by users. Public employees are unskilled in restorative practices, and the Norwegian mediation service is not adapted to Sámi conditions. We initiated an innovative process to test whether the Norwegian Mediation Service methodology could be used to resolve disputes concerning reindeer herding and whether this cooperation may contribute to mediation methods adapted to Sámi societies.

Practical recommendations for the process of proposing, planning and writing a neurological management guideline by EAN task forces.

The European Academy of Neurology (EAN), founded in 2014 after the merging of the two previously active European Neurological Societies, considers the production of neurological guidelines a major obligation, as this is a major tool to improve clinical practice in neurology. This paper updates practical suggestions to develop guidelines about the treatment and diagnosis of neurological diseases within the framework of the EAN. Its aim is to make uniform, traceable and explicit the path from the decision to write an EAN guideline to its publication. We explain the protocol structure, handling of conflicts of interest, format, timeline and process of revision and acceptance. It provides the view of the Scientific Committee and the Board of the EAN. We hope to make easier a larger involvement of the EAN scientific community in producing guidelines.

Declaration and Handling of Conflicts of Interest in Guidelines: A Study of S1 Guidelines From German Specialist Societies From 2010-2013.

Authors' conflicts of interest may affect the content of medical guidelines. In April 2010, the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) issued recommendations on how such conflicts of interest should be dealt with. Most AWMF guidelines are so-called S1 guidelines developed by informal consensus in a group of experts. We now present the first study to date on the management of conflicts of interest in S1 guidelines. On 2 December 2013, we selected the guidelines that had appeared from 1 November 2010 to 1 November 2013 among the 449 current S1 guidelines on the AWMF website. We extracted information about conflicts of interest from the guideline texts, reports, and/or conflict of interest statements and evaluated this information descriptively. There were 234 S1 guidelines in this category, developed by a total of 2190 experts. For 7% (16/234) of the guidelines and 16% (354/2190) of the experts, no individual conflict of interest statement could be found. Where conflict of interest statements were available, conflicts of interest were often declared--in 98% (213/218) of the guidelines and by 85% (1565/1836) of the authors. The most common type of conflict of interest was membership in a specialist society or professional association (1571/1836, 86%). Half of the experts acknowledged a financial conflict of interest (911/1836, 50%). Conflicts of interest were more common among experts contributing to guidelines that mainly concerned treatment with drugs or other medical products than in guidelines that did not have an emphasis of this type (397/663, or 60%, versus 528/1173, or 45%). The conflicts of interest were assessed in 11% (25/234) of the guidelines, with practical consequences in a single case. Conflicts of interest are often declared in the S1 guidelines of the AWMF, but they are only rarely assessed by external evaluators. Clear rules should be issued for how experts' declared conflicts of interest should be acted upon, whether they are of a financial nature or not.

Doctor-Nurse Conflict in Nigerian Hospitals: Causes and Modes of Expression

Background: Conflict within the health team is a recognized problem known to hinder quality health care service delivery. In order to achieve the objective for which a hospital is set up, interactions between all members within a medical team must be conducted in such a way that conflicts are minimized as much as possible. Aims: To examine conflict issues between doctors and nurses and to determine the causes and modes of expression of such conflicts in Nigerian hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative approaches was carried out in 2 tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Data was collected over 4 weeks in April 2005. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were self-administered to 323 participants (Response Original Research Article Olajide et al.; BJMMR, 9(10): 1-12, 2015; Article no.BJMMR.15839 2 rate=96.4%) recruited. Focused group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with three groups each of doctors and nurses in the selected hospitals. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and logistic regression. Results: Majority of our respondents were females (81.7%); below 40 years (53.0%); married (75.9%); nurses (84.5%) and with less than 15 years of professional experience (50.3%). Odds of conflicts were significantly higher with limited opportunities for staff interaction (OR=1.8, CI=1.12.9); desire for power (autonomy) by doctors (OR=3.2, CI=1.9-5.2) and desire for more influence by nurses (OR=12.5, CI=4.8-41.3). Chances of expressing conflicts were significantly higher as strikes (OR=2.1; 1.3-3.5) but less with physical assaults (OR=0.1, CI=0.03-0.41). Conclusion: Doctor-nurse conflict is associated with a combination of socio-economic and interpersonal-intergroup factors. Hospital management must understand the interplay of these factors and recognize its role in the handling of such conflicts. Doctors and nurses must also acquire the understanding of team building and group dynamics through training.

On the Role of Perceived Procedural Justice in Citizens' Reactions to Government Decisions and the Handling of Conflicts

This paper examines several hundred cases in which citizens were contacted in an 'informal' way by public officials as part of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations' Fair Tracks project. In Fair Tracks, public officials engage in direct and interpersonal conversations with citizens when the officials are about to make a negative decision or upon receiving citizens' complaints or objections against government decisions. Public officials typically do so by phone and the purpose of the open communication that follows is to discuss together what the problem is and how the citizen's problem can best be handled. The current paper presents empirical evidence suggesting that why Fair Tracks works is because it activates perceived procedural justice. For example, when citizens felt they had been treated respectfully and politely by public officials and when they could voice their opinions to the public officials this led to a reliable perception of procedural justice. Furthermore, higher levels of perceived procedural justice were associated with more satisfaction about the outcome reached during the conversation with the public officials, more trust in mutual compliance with the outcome, more trust in government, and higher levels of conflict resolution. Implications and limitations are discussed.