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Victims, targets, protectors, and destroyers: Using disputant accounts to develop a grounded taxonomy of disputant orientations
Author(s) -
Harrison Tyler R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
conflict resolution quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.323
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1541-1508
pISSN - 1536-5581
DOI - 10.1002/crq.27
Subject(s) - taxonomy (biology) , grounded theory , political science , qualitative research , sociology , ecology , biology , social science
Studies of dispute resolution have generally neglected the perspective of the disputant in favor of theperspective of the dispute handler. Exit, voice, loyalty, and neglect studies have addressed some of thecircumstances under which individuals give voice to their grievances, but these have generally neglected thearea of voice beyond offering predictions of when it will be used. This paper examines how forty‐fivedisputants express voice as they pursue grievances through an ombud's office. The data yielded a groundedtaxonomy of disputant motivations with placement of blame and desired outcome as underlying dimensions. Sevencategories of disputants emerged from the data: information seekers, exception seekers, victims, enforcers,protectors, targets, and destroyers. In addition to expanding our understanding of voice, the focus of thisresearch on disputant accounts, motives, and desired courses of action has implications for the strategiesdispute handlers choose in managing grievances and may lead to the development of better organizationaldisputing systems.