Confrontations and compromise: Dispute resolution at a worker cooperative coal mine

This paper compares dispute-resolution behavior at a large coal mine in Sou th Wales at two times: when the mine was run as a conventional, hierarchica l organization by British Coal and, several years later, when it was bought out by the employees and converted into a worker cooperative. Synthesizing themes from law and society, organizational theory, and alternative disput e resolution (ADR) research, I demonstrate how shared ownership, flattened hierarchy, and cooperative ideology impact on disputing behavior. By changi ng from a hierarchical organization to a worker cooperative, the coal mine increased its level of procedural justice and transformed its dispute-resol ution behavior to rely much more on informal resolution. Using qualitative methods, this research draws on 42 in-depth open interviews with miners and managers.