This study examines the effect in Pennsylvania of the increasing use of consultants in public-sector collective bargaining on the bargaining process itself. Following a detailed review of research on both the positive and negative aspects of consultant use in collective bargaining, this paper describes the study's major hypotheses, its school…

A preliminary study investigating the perceptions of intergroup relations in the bargaining process supports Kenneth Burke's concepts of order and mystery. Questionnaires, interviews, and direct observations of teachers' and school boards' teams involved in contract negotiations show that people closest to the bargaining saw more order in the…