Managing Workplace Conflict

Ariel Avgar is the David M. Cohen Professor of Labor Relations, Law, and History, and the Academic Director of the Center for Applied Research on Work at the Cornell University ILR School.

Professor Avgar’s research focuses on two primary areas within employment relations. First, he explores the role that employment relations factors play in the healthcare industry. As such, he examines the effects of a variety of workplace innovations, including new technology, delivery of care models, and innovative work practices, on patients, frontline employees, and organizational performance. Second, Professor Avgar studies conflict and its management in organizations with a focus on the strategic choices made by firms. He seeks to better understand the consequences of conflict for employees and employers. Professor Avgar also investigates the adoption and implementation of organizational-level conflict management practices and systems.

Professor Avgar’s research has been published in a number of journals, including Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, International Journal of Conflict Management, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Negotiation and Conflict Management Review, Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, Health Services Research, and Medical Care.

Professor Avgar received the 2008 Best Dissertation Award and the 2013 John T. Dunlop Scholar Award, both from the Labor and Employment Relations Association and serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the association. His paper (with Eric J. Neuman) titled “Blind spots and mirages: A dyadic approach to the study of team conflict” received the 2012 Best Paper: New Directions Award from the Academy of Management Conflict Management Division.

Professor Avgar earned a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the ILR School at Cornell University and a B.A. in Sociology and an LL.B in Law from Hebrew University. He served as Law Clerk for the President of the Israeli National Labor Court before being admitted into the Israeli Bar. Prior to joining ILR, Professor Avgar was an associate professor (2014 to 2016) and assistant professor (2008 to 2014) at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Katrina Nobles is the Director of Conflict Programs for the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at the Cornell University ILR School, focusing on educating the next generation of neutrals and practitioners on campus and in the workplace. Professor Nobles designs curriculum, instructs professional programs, and facilitates discussions for organizational workplace conflicts. She also teaches the Campus Mediation Practicum, an on-campus credit course that applies mediation skills to the campus judicial system, allowing students to work as peer mediators. 

Professor Nobles has presented at national conflict resolution conferences on facilitating collaborative problem solving, cross-cultural communication, and conflict diagnosis. She has practiced mediation for over 15 years, and prior to her employment at Cornell, Professor Nobles was the Cortland County Coordinator for New Justice Mediation Services. During that time, she mediated hundreds of community, child custody/visitation, child support, and family disputes. Professor Nobles holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Engagement from Antioch University Midwest.

Sally Klingel is the director of Labor-Management Relations programming for the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution in Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.   She specializes in the design and implementation of conflict and negotiation systems, labor-management partnerships, collective bargaining strategies, strategic planning, and leadership development.  Her work with Cornell over the past 20 years has included training, consulting, and research with organizations in a variety of industries, local, state and federal government agencies, union internationals and locals, public schools and universities, and worker owned companies.

Sally Klingel holds a M.S. in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. She has authored articles, monographs and book chapters on innovations in labor-management relations and conflict methods.