Passage 1
The Nature of Disputes　　To resolve a dispute means to turn opposing positions into a single outcome. The two parties may choose to focus their attention on one or more of three basic factors. They may seek to reconcile their interests, determine who is right, and/or determine who is more powerful.
　　Section A
　　Interests are needs, desires, concerns, and fears-the things one cares about or wants. They provide the foundation for a person’s or an organization’s position in a dispute. In a dispute, not only do the interests of one party not coincide with those of the other party, but they are in conflict. For example, the director of sales for an electronics company gets into a dispute with the director of manufacturing over the number of TV models to produce. The director of sales wants to produce more models because her interest is in selling TV sets; more models mean more choice for consumers and hence increased sales. The director of manufacturing, however, wants to produce fewer models. His interest is in decreasing manufacturing costs and more models mean higher costs.
　　Section B
　　Reconciling such interests is not easy. It involves probing for deeply rooted concerns, devising creative solutions, and making tradeoffs and compromises where interests are opposed. The most common procedure for doing this is negotiation, the act of communication intended to reach agreement. Another interests-based procedure is mediation, in which a third party assists the disputants, the two sides in the dispute, in reaching agreement.
　　Section C
　　By no means do all negotiations (or mediations) focus on reconciling interests. Some negotiations focus on determining who is right, such as when two lawyers argue about whose case has the greater merit. Other negotiations focus on determining who is more powerful, such as when quarrelling neighbors or nations exchange threats and counter threats. Often negotiations involve a mix of all three—some attempts to satisfy interests, some discussion of rights, and some references to relative power.
　　Section D
　　It is often complicated to attempt to determine who is right in a dispute. Although it is usually straightforward where rights are formalized in law, other rights take the form of unwritten but socially accepted standards of behavior, such as reciprocity, precedent, equality, and seniority.
　　There are often different-and sometimes contradictory-standards that apply to rights. Reaching agreement on rights, where the outcome will determine who gets what, can often be so difficult that the parties frequently turn to a third party to determine who is right. The most typical rights procedure is adjudication, in which disputants present evidence and arguments to a neutral third party who has the power to make a decision that must be followed by both disputants. (In mediation, by contrast, the third party does not have the power to decide the dispute.) Public adjudication is provided by courts and administrative agencies. Private adjudication is provided by arbitrators.
　　Section E
　　A third way to resolve a dispute is on the basis of power. We define power, somewhat narrowly, as the ability to pressure someone to do something he would not otherwise do. Exercising power typically means imposing costs on the other side or threatening to do so. The exercise of power takes two common forms: acts of aggression, such as physical attack, and withholding the benefits that derive from a relationship, as when employees stop working in a strike.
　　Section F
　　In relationships of mutual dependence, such as between labor and management or within an organization or a family, the question of who is more powerful turns on who is less dependent on the other. If a company needs the employees’ work more than employees need the company’s pay, the company is more dependent and hence less powerful. How dependent one is rums on how satisfactory the alternatives are for satisfying one’s interests. The better the alternative, the less dependent one is. If it is easier for the company to replace striking employees than it is for striking employees to find new jobs, the company is less dependent and thereby more powerful. Determining who is the more powerful party without a decisive and potentially destructive power contest is difficult because power is ultimately a matter of perceptions.
　　Classify the following disputes as relating to
　　A. reconciliation of interests
　　B. determination of rights
　　C. determination of who is more powerful
　　Write the correct letter, A, B or C in boxes 1-6 on your answer sheet.
　　1. A mother disapproves of her son’s fiancee and threatens to disown her son if he marries her. The marriage goes ahead, but after some years the mother accepts it because she wants to reestablish a good relationship with her son.
　　2. A large company decides to buy a new computer system. The accounting department wants System X. The marketing department insists on System Y. A settlement is reached after a series of meetings between the disputants.
　　3. Island C is claimed by both Country A and Country B. The decision to determine whose land it is given to the United Nations, which concludes that Country A may have Island C because of stronger social and historical ties.
　　4. A married couple can afford only one car. The wife wants a simple, transportation vehicle. The husband wants a sports car to impress his friends. A mutual friend helps them reach the agreement.
　　5. A divorcing couple disagreeing about who will get custody of their children .go to a court of law. The court determines the mother should have custody.
　　6. An employer refuses to pay an employee because of poor job performance. The employee promises to improve his work.

发布日期：2022-07-09

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