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CommonWealth Magazine - Spring 2005

Isenberg School Professor and Colleagues Receive NSF Grant to Develop Dispute Resolution Technology for the Federal Government

Dean’s Professor of Information Systems Norman Sondheimer and fellow colleagues at the UMass Amherst Electronic Enterprise Institute have received a $698,559 research grant from the National Science Foundation for a proposal titled Process Technology for Achieving Government Online Dispute Resolution.

In their research, Sondheimer and his colleagues will focus on the grievance dispute resolution process employed by the federal government’s National Mediation Board (NMB) with its stakeholders in the air and rail industries. Building on the interest-based bargaining model already in place at the NMB, the researchers will employ highly iterative “process” technology to model the dispute resolution process for online delivery. Through its trial-and-error iterations, the exercise will facilitate learning about that process and improvements in the model’s service to the public. “We’re testing the theory of technology as a fourth party,” notes Sondheimer. “If we can really make it work and verify that such systems work for people in government who will have to use them, then it opens the door for other federal agencies to adopt online dispute resolution.”

Dispute resolution is a fundamental, pervasive activity of government. Federal agencies must frequently respond to grievances from citizens and interest groups, and resolve agency disputes with those interests,” observes Sondheimer. “Over eighty federal agencies, in fact, currently employ nonadversarial dispute resolution programs where possible in disputes with the public. By striving for efficiency, effectiveness, fairness, and accessibility through online delivery, our model will benefit the NMB and the federal government in their dispute resolution performance with the public.”

Professor Sondheimer’s fellow UMass Amherst investigators include Professor Leon Osterweil, Dean of the School of Natural Science and Mathematics, and Professor Ethan Katsch of the Department of Legal Studies.