Researching
Campus Conflict Management Culture(s): A Role For Ombuds?
(page 2 of 3)
Focus on Campus Subcultures, Not University-wide Culture
It has long been noted that colleges and universities contain quite a range
of relatively strong subcultures that are based on groupings
marked by differences in age, ethnicity, discipline, work
responsibilities, social affiliations, and organizational
location. I would suggest that, rather than primarily focusing
on case studies of conflict (which we all know can be quite
instructive), or working to further document the basic activities
of the ombuds office (a seemingly popular thesis topic in
the early years when ombudsing was still somewhat "exotic"),
we focus instead on developing greater understanding of
the various subcultures on campus and how these groups manage
conflict within their own networks and with others who fall
outside their primary identity group. A few interesting
examples along these lines (there aren't many yet) include
Kay Harman's (Harman, 1989) examination of conflicts arising
from tensions between professional versus academic values
in professional schools, and Jim Schnell's (Schnell, 1985)
look at conflict resolution within a greek letter organization.
Ombuds can provide a valuable window on the way conflicts get played out
within universities, as well as a vantage point for exploring
how the introduction of various dispute resolution services
may in fact effect an organizational climate and culture
over time. While I am not arguing that ombuds can ever truly
know these various subcultures, they are certainly in a
good position to explore what they do know, and then introduce
the researcher to the right cultural informants to help
them find out more.
Existing
Research
There is already a small but growing base of general campus culture research
that we might draw on as we develop our questions and approaches.
A good summary of this work can be found in Tierney's (Tierney,
1988b) and Peterson and Spencer's (Peterson, 1991) reviews
of this area of study. As they point out, the earliest work
(in the 1960's) focused largely on the study of student
cultures, and then in the 1970's, on distinctive colleges
as cultures, the role of belief and loyalty in college organizations,
and function of organizational sagas. more recent work has
focused on the study of various academic cultures, leadership
in different cultural settings, and the system of higher
education itself as a culture.
It appears that interest in organizational culture on campus continues to
develop. For example, New Directions for Institutional Research
published a special "campus culture,, issue in 1991 (Winter)
encouraging university research officers to pay more attention
to campus organizational cultural issues and use more cultural
research approaches.
Areas
for Further Study
A
brief discussion of a number of potentially fruitful avenues for research
are suggested below, although many more could be developed
as well.
Campus Subcultures
As I have discussed above, a particularly fertile and relatively undeveloped
area for research is the exploration of conflict management
approaches used by various campus subcultures. As anthropologists
and historians interested in dispute processing have noted,
cultural subgroups have often developed internal methods
of resolving disputes to protect their group from involvement
by outside "authorities" or systems of laws that don't take
into account their norms and values. Jerold Auerbach's book
Justice Without Law (Auerbach, 1983) provides a facinating
account of alternative dispute resolution methods used in
colonial America. These non-judicial approaches were successful
as long as they involved individuals or groups who shared
certain basic beliefs and who subscribed to shared norms
of behavior. When conflicts emerged between individuals
from different groups, or as group unity broke down, the
use of lawyers and the common law became more prevelant.
As Auerbach argues, "Law begins where community ends." Because
of the existence of multiple subcultures on campus, the
need for "organizational spaces" for cross-cultural (in
the broadest sense) problem-solving forums such as ombuds
programs or campus mediation centers may become even more
clear as our understanding of campus subcultural norms for
conflict management become better understood.
Indigenous Resources
Another interesting area of related research, and one where I think ombuds
would play an important role, is in the identification of
the "indigenous" problem-solvers who are found within various
campus domains. within any community, one can usually find
individuals who, based on their interpersonal skills or
social position, are frequently approached by people seeking
problem-solving assistance. Ombuds often have contact with
these members of the community, and could very likely assist
researchers in identifying and then gaining access to these
individuals for interviewing. Finding out more about how
these parties do their conflict management work may provide
ombuds with additional insight into how they might improve
their own practice, and how they might further address supporting
and empowering "homegrown" approaches to problem-solving.
Patterns of Conflict
Another important area where ombuds have access to useful knowledge is around
patterns of conflict on campus. Because many ombuds programs
already produce annual reports that share aggregate statistics,
ombuds are likely to be quite familiar with and interested
in patterns of conflict on campus. Careful interviewing
by researchers might encourage ombuds to further reflect
on their practice, exploring in more detail their perceptions
of the patterns of conf lict on campus, be they temporal,
topical, or structural in nature. Increased understanding
of these patterns should prove quite valuable when considering
the development of conflict prevention efforts.
Potential Problems
While I am enthusiastic about the potential value of an increased research
role by ombuds, I am aware that a number of potential problems
could effect the success of such efforts. These problems
might include the creation of suspicion and/or potential
alienation of "clients" whom the ombuds decides to invite
into the research, who are unhappy with the suggestion.
Another difficulty might involve struggles between academics
and ombuds over the focus of the research agenda, with academics
attempting to usurp the agenda, leaving ombuds feeling somewhat
taken advantage of. Another possible problem, familiar to
ombuds, is the creation of additional time demands on already
overtaxed ombuds staff who are asked to regularly reflect
on their practice in the presence of a collaborating researcher.
Potential Benefits
I believe that the potential benefits of having ombuds more involved as
researchers outweighs the potential problems. Potential
benefits include improved practice, increased selfawareness,
and perhaps additional legitimacy for ombuds practitioner,
who often work in environments that priviledge research.
The collaborative approach I have started to outline here
can also help to strengthen ties between ombuds and the
growing number of academics interested in dispute processing.
Conclusions/Next
Steps
In order to pursue this possible expansion of the ombuds role, a number of
next steps might be considered. These include a greater
elaboration and specification of the research agenda, compilation
of a more complete bibliography of existing campus culture
studies as they relate to conflict, and the development
of dialogues on this issue between qualitative researchers
and ombuds, either via email, or in person at some kind
of workshop or conference session. Ombuds would need to
identify additional areas of concern, and help develop research
practices that respect existing campus relationships. Also,
some decisions about how central a role the ombuds should
play in the research will have to be worked out, as the
ombuds could play an active role conducting interviews and
gathering observational data, or they could serve in more
of an informant and guide role, as seems appropriate given
their individual situations.
As ombuds well know, conflict is a regular part of life on college and university
campuses. Hopefully, more research and greater understanding
of the dynamics of campus conflict will help us improve
the delivery of dispute resolution services, learn from
existing conflicts, and reduce the amount of time lost due
to conflict that could be better put into the pursuit of
teaching and learning.
Page
last updated
11/27/2005
A
project of Campus Conflict Resolution
Resources.
Supported by a FIPSE grant from the US Department of Education
and seed money from the Hewlett Foundation-funded CRInfo
project.
Correspondence
to CMHE Report
(Attn: Bill Warters)
Campus Conflict Resolution Resources Project
Department of Communication
585 Manoogian Hall
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI 48201.
Please
send comments, bug reports, etc. to the Editor.
© 2000-2005 William C. Warters & WSU,
All rights reserved.
