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While the process of negotiation has been studied extensively, little research has been done on the factors that lead parties to the negotiation table. In light of this, the purpose of this paper is to examine effects of unilateral conciliatory initiatives (UCIs) (actions) on the willingness and preparedness of parties to negotiate.

The study used a separate-sample posttest, 2 × 3 factorial design. Subjects were placed into simulated intractable resource- and identity-based conflicts. Groups then received UCIs (in the form of economic aid and apology) intended to benefit the other and contribute to a high commitment to de-escalation (ripeness). Ripeness was measured by increased empathy; and decreased distrust, escalatory behaviors (operationalized as aggression and autistic hostility), anger, win-lose/competitive orientation and negative attributions.

UCIs were shown to impact both the state and the process of ripeness. Apology facilitated ripeness in an identity conflict and positively impacted five of the six resistance areas in a resource conflict. Economic aid likewise affected ripeness in an identity conflict but did not impact a resource conflict better than an apology. The offer of an apology affected empathy in both conflict types but economic aid did not do so in a resource conflict. It was also observed that an identity-based conflict produced less trust and increased negative attributions than did a resource conflict.

This suggests that identity and resource conflicts activate some resistance areas differently. It also reveals that similar interventions may be effective in both conflicts but that each UCI affects particular resistance areas differently. The findings suggest that there should be an increased emphasis on apology by conflict resolution practitioners. The practical and theoretical implications of apologies and resource sharing in de-escalation are discussed, to facilitate their appropriate use in resolution strategies that reduce tensions within conflict.

There are two critical steps involved in reducing enmity between two nations and transforming their relationship into one of mutual accommodation and ultimately even friendship. The first step is finding a way to break through the wall of mutual hostility and suspicion. That depends primarily on communication. Since messages are more powerfully and credibly communicated when they are carried by behavior as well as words, the Graduated Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension-Reduction (GRIT) strategy is offered as a possible path to achieving this breakthrough. The second step is creating and cementing friendship by building strong positive ties. That depends on creating a system of properly structured economic relationships.

There is a longstanding debate as to whether economic relationships build peace or provoke war. But it is not simply the existence or the extent of economic relationships that is key to their impact – it is the character of these relationships. Economic relationships that are balanced and mutually beneficial create strong positive incentives to settle or manage conflicts short of violence while economic relationships that are unbalanced and exploitative produce hostility and create incentives for violent disruption.

If two nations that have long been enemies can begin to build peace, establishing a widening and deepening web of balanced, mutually beneficial economic relationships between them can support that peacebuilding process, strengthen it, and make it sustainable into the indefinite future. This paper defines and explores the aspects of balance that are most critical to creating peacebuilding economic relationships, as well as their connection to both economic development programs and environmental quality.

Contextualizing its argument specifically into the role and impact of the traditional political culture on the process of modernization, this paper aims to examine the “culture matters” approach through the two‐century experience of the top‐down modernization of the Ottoman‐Turkish civilization in the realm of state‐labor relations.

The paper makes a comparative analysis of the interplay between the state and craft associations in the Ottoman Empire, and then the state and labor organizations in contemporary Turkey in terms of the influence of the rules, norms and institutions transferred by the bureaucratic élites from Western Europe.

The paper concludes that a substantive democratic setting for the interplay of the state and labor organizations could not be built up without a self‐supportive political culture in view of the fact that the process of top‐down modernization/Europeanization in the Ottoman‐Turkish context has given rise to a never‐ending center‐periphery dichotomy between both inter‐class and intra‐class relationships.

The paper sheds light on the labor relations part of the Ottoman‐Turkish political culture and reveals its impact on the never‐ending top‐down modernization initiative.

The present paper reviews the research literature on trust in bargaining and mediation. Several models of trust within the bargaining process are also described. It is concluded that trust means different things, depending upon the relationship under investigation. Trust among negotiators can refer to a personality trail (how trusting a negotiator is of others) or to a temporary state. Within the state perspective, trust often refers to one of three orientations: (1) cooperative motivational orientation (MO), (2) patterns of predictable behavior, (3) a problem‐solving orientation. Trust between a negotiator and constituents usually refers to a cooperative MO (i.e., shared loyalty) between these two groups. The addition of a mediator can impact both the opposing negotiators' relationship and each negotiator‐constituent relationship; the mediator also has direct and indirect relationships with the parties and their constituents. Future directions for research on trust are identified.

While remaining in the public sector, the British Post Office has undergone massive changes in terms of its general orientation and structure over the last decade, with major implications for workplace management‐labour relations and shopfloor trade union organization. The most recent phase of restructuring within the core Royal Mail section of the Post Office has been accompanied by an assertive managerial strategy aimed at tackling the strong workplace union levels of control and autonomy that have developed in many city‐based sorting offices. Provides evidence from empirical case study research into one of the largest and most union‐militant Royal Mail sorting offices in the country based in central Liverpool. After outlining the strengths and weaknesses of workplace unionism during the mid‐1980s to the late 1980s, focuses on how the Liverpool UCW leadership have attempted to respond to Royal Mail′s 1992 restructuring initiative and HRM practices. Suggests that, notwithstanding new and complex dilemmas, workplace unionism within the Royal Mail remains relatively resilient.

The peace process in the shape of confidence-building measures (CBMs) is recognizable as “arrangements designed to enhance … assurance of mind and belief in the trust-worthiness of states … confidence is the product of much broader patterns of relations than those which relate to military strategy. In fact the latter have to be woven into a complex texture of economic, cultural, technical and social relationships” (Hoist, 1983; Indian Express (New Delhi), December 19, 2003.). This suggests military and non-military initiatives undertaken by antagonistic states to reduce tensions and enhance mutual confidence. This chapter examines and evaluates various CBMs, military as well as non-military, that were initiated between India and Pakistan. The chapter also addresses and delineates definition and conceptual notion as well as some of the pertinent aspects of ongoing peace process including Track-II diplomacy and nuclear risk reduction measures being undertaken by India and Pakistan.

The Equal Pay Act 1970 (which came into operation on 29 December 1975) provides for an “equality clause” to be written into all contracts of employment. S.1(2) (a) of the 1970 Act (which has been amended by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975) provides:

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test whether corporates, via publicly disclosed sentiment and in response to government initiatives such as domestic corporate tax reform measures that address transparency, are beginning to view tax as a fourth dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

To determine whether corporate attitudes towards tax are changing, representations about the corporate entity by a variety of stakeholders and through numerous channels were analysed using Leximancer software. These representations were in response to four distinct Australian domestic tax reform measures instituted during and subsequent to the Australian Government Senate Inquiry into corporate tax avoidance. The use of Leximancer, a data-analysis and mapping software that automates the coding of document text, delineates concepts and identifies themes, is well suited to the nature and size of the data used (Lodhia and Martin, 2011) and ensures the validity and reliability of the results (Dumay, 2014).

This paper provides evidence on the efficacy of global and domestic tax-reform measures that target tax avoidance through transparency. This is demonstrated by a progressive change in corporate attitudes towards tax and suggests a transition, albeit nascent, from the aggregate view to the real entity view of a corporation. As such, this study provides evidence of the inception of a corporate conscience when it comes to tax, whereby tax is instituted as a fourth dimension of CSR.

Using a theoretical framework which adopts the historically accepted views of the firm, the authors argue that a shift from the aggregate view to the real entity view of a corporation will have the following implications: an expansion of the dimensional factors of CSR (economic, social, environmental and tax); a new standard or definition of corporate responsibility which encompasses both legal and moral considerations and has transparency at its core (Narotzki, 2016); and a new outlook where consumers realise that they have the power to influence and demand action from corporates.

This paper uses state-of-the-art software to empirically test the efficacy of global and domestic tax reform measures that target transparency, ultimately providing evidence supporting the adoption of these measures and the recognition of a new dimension of CSR, tax.

Examines the history of the Commission on Industrial Relations (CIR) 1969‐74 ‐ its origins, organization and policies ‐ and then evaluates its contribution as an agent of reform in the context of the perceived problems of the 1960s and 1970s. Considers whether there are any lessons to be learnt for the future given the possibility of a Labour Government, developments in Europe and the 1995 TUC policy document Your Voice at Work. Despite the drastic changes in industrial relations and in the economic, political and social environment, the answer is in the affirmative. In particular, the importance of a new third‐party agency having an independent governing body like the CIR and not a representative body like the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS); in its workflow not being controlled by government; and in its decisions on recognition being legally enforceable.