It is often criticized that the current dispute resolution procedures observed in today’s communities are similar to the existing judicial procedures, and focuses strictly on the guilt of the offenders in the legal sense and the restitutive punishment of the offenders. These procedures often fail to take into account the regret expressed by offenders, fulfillment of responsibilities, and the improvement of relationship between the victims and the community. In this context, this study looks into procedural norms of communities that operate in the course of resolving conflicts and violence and investigate effective way to adopt modified dispute resolution.
This two-year study researched key issues associated with community norms, dispute resolution procedures, and realization of restorative justice. Each year, the Study focused on different sub-topics: Norms on School Violence and Dispute Resolution Procedures for the first year and Workplace bullying and Dispute Resolution Procedures for the second.
In the first year, under the topic of norms on school violence and dispute resolution procedures, the study identified issues that may arise in relation to Korea’s school violence and key variables that affect dispute resolution procedures. Based on the findings, the study discusses the significance, substance, and procedures under the current approaches to dispute resolution for violence and harassment in school communities.
The second year research on the workplace bullying also focused on the topic of norms on workplace bullying and dispute resolution procedures. It draws on the base provided by school bullying into workplace bullying and progresses to the arena of adult bullying in the workplace. Broadly there are two direct approaches; that of investigating the incidence of bullying, and also that of attempting to understand the bullying process.
Workplace bullying (also referred to “workplace harassment”) is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm. While workplace bullying has become a growing concern in Korean society, new legislation has been prepared coming into force to protect workers from bullying and many companies have started opted for non-regulatory instruments, such as codes of practice and provisions. In this circumstances, recent studies have tried to revealed prence of bullying in Korea’s workplace but the studies on dispute resolution procedures are very limited. In this regard, the study focused on whether judical and non-judical procedures could moderate the effects of bullying and investigating the better resolution solution that is suitable for Korean workplace environment rather than just measuring prence.
For this purpose, the study focused on how the dispute resolution procedures works within workplace environment. To apply more effective and subtle approaches to resolution procedures in the workplace environment, the study conducted questionnaire surveys targeting for both of those who experienced workplace bullying in the last 3 years and employees who have not experienced such cases. Also, the study conducted in-depth interviews as well as focus group interviews to investigate the experiences and needs of various parties involved in workplace bullying to investigate better resolution.
Overall, the study comprised of 3 major parts. First, the study identified bullying patterns that is distinctive in Korean society and key variables that affects prence of workplace bullying. Second, the study analyzed the dispute resolution norms and procedures that victims had adopted by breaking them down into different approaches: official and unofficial, judicial and non-judicial. Third, the study discusses the significance and procedures under the current approaches to dispute resolution for workplace bullying, and suggest the possible improvements for creating effective dispute resolution procedures for workplace that are consistent with the needs community members.