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The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which mediation constitutes an appropriate and effective intervention in cases of alleged workplace bullying.

Data was collected from 25 practising mediators in New Zealand by way of semi-structured interviews. The transcribed data was analysed by way of thematic analysis using the software NVivo11. The features of bullying cases identified as potential concerns for mediation in the literature acted as a coding framework, alongside the analytical framework for assessing dispute resolution processes developed by John Budd and Alexander Colvin.

A thematic analysis of the data revealed four key features of bullying experiences that mediators believed influenced the efficacy of the mediation process: emotional stability of the parties; power imbalance between the parties; insight and differing interpretations; and the impact of organisational context. Further, the analysis revealed two strategies to overcome barriers to the efficacy of mediation: considering mediation as part of a broader range of dispute resolution processes; and encouraging early low-level mediation intervention.

This study only elicited the views of workplace mediators, many of whom were self-employed. Thus, the participants in the sample were likely to speak positively about the use of mediation. In part, this was helpful because the mediators spoke largely about how they made the process work allowing identification of techniques to improve the efficacy of mediation. However, future research is needed to explore the views of other parties, including parties to a bullying mediation, managers and/or human resources (HR) personnel.

Five recommendations for workplace mediators dealing with bullying cases are suggested: mediators should screen the emotional stability of the parties during the initial stages of the mediation; mediators should discuss with the parties the possibility and potential benefits of bringing along a support person; mediators should view their role more widely to influence the wider organisational contexts in which bullying occurs; informal mediation should take place before the escalation of a bullying experience; and mediators should consider completing an investigation prior to the start of the mediation.

Prior empirical studies on the efficacy of workplace mediation have not specifically investigated the use of mediation for bullying cases. This study addresses this gap in that it provides empirical support for the proposition that mediation in cases of bullying may only be appropriate under certain circumstances and that a flexible approach to mediation is required.

This study examines the structure and dimensionality of organizational justice in a workplace mediation setting. It has three purposes: to determine whether the procedural and interpersonal justice factors in the four‐factor model of organizational justice can be split, thereby providing support for a six‐factor model; to identify how the split factors relate to other factors in the model; and to uncover any differences in employee and supervisor perceptions of organizational justice in workplace mediation.

Confirmatory factor analysis is used to explore the fit of four different models of organizational justice. The paper examines cross factor correlations to assess the strength and relationships among factors and to look for differences between employees and supervisors.

It is found that a six‐factor model of organizational justice provides the best fit for the data and that factor relationships differ little for employees and supervisors.

This is a field test of REDRESS^®, the USPS employment mediation program which uses transformative mediation. The study has important theoretical and research implications for organizational justice and workplace mediation.

The study has practical implications for organizational conflict management and dispute system design.

Organizational justice has not been adequately explored within the context of workplace mediation. The study is unique in that it concurrently examines multiple factors of organizational justice, using a large, longitudinal dataset from an internationally recognized workplace mediation program.

This chapter reports on attempts to develop a more integrated and strategic approach to managing conflict within a large state-owned provider of healthcare in the United Kingdom that goes beyond more conventional offerings such as workplace mediation.

It adopted a detailed four-stage mixed-methods organizational case study approach, with the findings reported here drawing primarily on semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders, including line managers.

The data suggest that a systematic and integrated approach to identifying conflict and a range of coordinated interventions involving key organizational stakeholders can begin to embed a culture of resolution. There is resistance to such innovation, however, rooted in perceptions that it potentially weakens the authority of front-line managers.

The research reported here provides the first UK evidence for the adoption of an Integrated Conflict Management System and for the potential of such strategic choices and approaches to effect culture change in the manner sought by policy-makers.

Interest in mediation as an alternative strategy for managing conflict in the workplace has grown recently both in terms of theory, practice and government policy. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of the process as practised in higher education, where its use is quite well developed. Its key aim is to increase the understanding of the process through a more qualitative sectorial analysis.

The research took place over a six-month period in 2011. It is based on the views and experiences of 36 representatives from 16 universities across the North of England and four senior managers from mediation providers serving those organisations. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews with an average duration of one hour were undertaken with the majority of respondents with a small number of slightly shorter telephone interviews. All interviews were fully transcribed.

The key findings of the research suggest that universities, whilst having similarities to other organisations in terms of the rationale, implementation and management of workplace mediation, have a practice also informed by some aspects specific to the sector. These include: the ethos of the sector, the nature of the academic labour process, its potential client base and also in its desire to network with others within the sector.

The study offers a more in-depth understanding of mediation as practised in a cross-section of organisations in one sector and is in contrast to the predominantly more quantitative approach adopted so far in the mediation literature in the UK.

Bullying is a persistent, damaging feature of neoliberal workplaces, despite the increased use of third-party interventions (TPIs). The purpose of this paper is to investigate how TPIs relate to individualisation of the employment contract, whether TPIs deflect attention away from bullying and the impact for targets.

Data were gathered from focus groups and interviews with members and officials of three large UK trade unions.

TPIs individualise bullying allegations and such interventions are further characterised by impotence, injustice and lack of impartiality, serving to deflect bullying claims and exacerbate targets’ suffering.

Recommendations are made to improve the efficacy of interventions.

This paper increases the limited research into the efficacy of TPIs and makes a significant contribution to debates on neoliberal individualism.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of mediation on two long-running collective industrial disputes in Ireland using a theoretical framework established in the literature.

The paper presents a detailed qualitative analysis of two disputes. In both cases a panel of mediators was invited to intervene when the established dispute resolution structures and processes had failed and impasse had been prolonged. Each member of the mediation panels, and the lead union representative, was interviewed about their perception of the mediation process and its impact. Interview questions centred around a set of mediation “Outcome Determinants” identified by Wall et al. (2001). Following Wall et al.'s proposal, Lewin's (1951) Force Field Analysis theory is applied as a theoretical lens for understanding the subtle impact of mediation in these cases.

The empirical evidence suggests that while mediation did not lead directly to settlement, it influenced the resolution of these disputes. The disputes were a-typical in that most collective disputes in Ireland are resolved through established industrial relations structures and processes, either at firm level or through State-funded agents/agencies. However, intractable disputes occur periodically and there is an on-going need of this type of specialised ad hoc mediation. The Wall et al. framework combined with Force Field Analysis theory, provide a theoretical lens through which these disputes can be analysed and understood.

An understanding of the nuanced impact of mediation is useful for justifying the continuation of this valuable approach. There is also some scope for predicting the likely impact of mediation in advance of engagement or at least allowing the mediators to explore the status of the Outcome Determinants related to a specific case in order to develop a tailored mediation strategy.

This paper is unique in that it takes an existing theoretical framework and tests its application in two case disputes. The value of the framework is thus highlighted. Further application of the framework to other dispute scenarios would facilitate its development as a tool of understanding and some limited prediction. Mediation in this type of context has not been formally researched before. Public policy and theoretical implications of the work are highlighted in the concluding section.

Drawing on conservation of resource (COR) theory, the authors investigated relationships between bullying during work from home, turnover intention and meaningfulness of work among home-based teleworkers.

The authors used three-wave data from 212 home-based teleworkers to investigate the authors' hypotheses.

Findings reveal that bullying during home-based teleworking exacerbates teleworkers' emotional exhaustion and intention to quit. Further, the authors also found that the interrelationship between bullying during work from home and the intention to leave was positively moderated by the meaningfulness of work.

The authors' research helps understand how bullying stimulates teleworkers' turnover intention. Further, the authors find a counterintuitive impact of the meaningfulness of work on the relationship between bullying during work and turnover intention. The findings will help managers better manage home-based teleworkers.

This paper aims to test a moderated mediation model linking person-environment fit with workplace outcomes (engagement, meaning at work and performance) through authenticity (authentic living and self-alienation). Self-deception was included as a moderator of these relationships.

Data were collected from 163 employees in a large department using an online survey. The hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS Macro for SPSS, which conducts bootstrapped moderated mediation analyses.

Results showed that person-environment fit facets were positively related to engagement, meaning and performance through authentic living and negatively related through self-alienation. These relationships were significant at low to moderate levels of self-deception.

Despite its small sample size, this study used a time-lagged design to mitigate the limitations associated with cross-sectional studies. Further, it expanded the research on authenticity in the workplace by illustrating the interplay of authenticity with fit, self-deception and workplace outcomes.

Organisations stand to gain from encouraging authenticity at work, and this can be achieved by ensuring person-environment fit. While self-deception can act as a protective factor against low perceptions of person-environment fit, organisations should strive to create a culture that values diversity and self-expression.

This study is among the first to explore authenticity at work and the first to empirically examine the authenticity and person-environment fit relationship in relation to outcomes, considering individual propensity for motivated bias.

People are more likely to participate in work-related events that might cause positive and negative affective reactions. Prior research linked coworker friendship with incivility; however, few studies investigated negative workplace gossip. Simultaneously, linking coworker friendship with incivility through positive/negative affective responses is lacking. As such, this paper aims to examine this relationship via the dual mediation effect of positive and negative workplace gossip.

A total of 398 subordinates at family restaurants in Greater Cairo were surveyed, and data was analyzed using SmartPLS4.

Coworker friendship significantly influences coworker incivility via positive and negative workplace gossip and other underlying mechanisms.

Managers should take the initiative to decrease gossip by sharing information promptly and thoroughly and establishing effective channels for information exchange. In the case of an informal plan, restaurant managers may seek to create a welcoming and motivating corporate atmosphere and cultivate social ties among subordinates to prevent the creation of negative gossip. Restaurant managers should give victims of negative gossip timely psychological counseling.

This paper contributes to the restaurant literature on affective emotional responses to coworkers’ judgment-driven behavior from new perspectives.

Workplace incivility has become a global issue; therefore, this study aims to investigate how spiritual leadership can help employees to overcome uncivil behaviors in the workplace. Specifically, the authors explored the mediating mechanism between spiritual leadership and workplace incivility through workplace spirituality. The authors further examined how negative personalities (i.e. Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) moderate workplace spirituality and workplace incivility.

This study collected data from 369 employees working in the banking sector on a convenience basis. The authors applied structural equation modeling for hypotheses testing.

The authors noted that spiritual leaders help employees to reduce uncivil workplace behaviors and employees’ perception of workplace spirituality intervenes the same. The authors further identified that the negative association between workplace spirituality and workplace incivility is moderated by the dark triad (Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism) such that individuals high in Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism weaken this negative association.

The cross-sectional design may restrict causality. However, our findings not only contribute to social cognitive theory but also suggest management includes civility intervention as an essential part of organizations’ training and development.

This study not only highlighted the role of spiritual leadership and workplace spirituality toward workplace incivility but also shed light on how negative personalities can ignore workplace spirituality to exhibit uncivil behavior.