An Evaluation of the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination Alternative Dispute Resolution Program
![handle is hein.journals/haneg5 and id is 239 raw text is: An Evaluation of the
Massachusetts Commission Against
Discrimination Alternative Dispute
Resolution Program
Thomas A. Kochan,
Brenda A. Lautsch &
Corinne Benderskyt
I. INTRODUCTION
Use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is rapidly expanding
to varied settings.- Though controversial, the claimed benefits of
ADR include reducing the time and cost of resolving disputes, em-
powering parties through ownership of the process and providing
greater satisfaction in general with the dispute resolution process
than is found in traditional means of dispute resolution.2
As the caseloads of public employment law enforcement agencies
grow and their budgets shrink, many such agencies are looking to
ADR as a possible mechanism to meet the demand for their services
in addressing employment discrimination claims.3 However, ADR
I Thomas Kochan is George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management at the
MIT Sloan School; Brenda Lautsch is Assistant Professor of Management at Simon
Fraser University, Corinne Bendersky is a Ph.D. Candidate at the lIT Sloan School
of Management. All authors contributed equally to this project. Support for this re-
search is provided by the Hewlett Foundation. We appreciate useful comments pro-
vided by MCAD and AAA staff members and attendees of our two feedback seminars
on earlier drafts.
1. See DAVID B. LuPsKy & RONALD L. SEEBER, THE APPROPRIATE RESOLUTION OF
CORPORATE DIsPUTEs: A REPORT ON THE GROWING USE OF ADR BY U.S. CORPORATIONS
7 (1998).
2. See, eg., Craig A. McEwen, An Evaluation of the Equal Employment Oppor-
tunity Commission's Pilot Mediation Program (Mar. 1994) (unpublished report) (on
file with authors).
3. One example is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
See McEwen, supra note 2. Another is a New York State program offered as an alter-
native to hearings before the Division of Human Rights. See HtmAN RGHTS ARBiTRA-
TION ADVISORY COM]nTrEE OF NEW YORK STATE, REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR AND
LEGISLATURE (Mar. 31, 1994).
233](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/haneg5&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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An Evaluation of the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination Alternative Dispute Resolution Program
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