James Dworkin

Chancellor Emeritus/Professor of Management
Organizational Behavior/Human Resources

Education

Ph.D., Industrial Relations, Minnesota, 1977
M.A., Industrial Relations, Cincinnati, 1971
B.A., Economics, Cincinnati, 1970

Collective bargaining, negotiations, and dispute resolution are Professor Dworkin's main teaching interests. His current research interests include unionism in professional sports, codetermination, worker participation in management, why workers join unions, and how arbitrators decide cases. He has also studied union certification and decertification elections, final-offer arbitration, strategies and tactics in negotiations, and the use of polygraph tests in employment.

Professor Dworkin is the author of two books, Owners Versus Players: Baseball and Collective Bargaining (Boston: Auburn House Publishing Company, 1981), and Reflections on the Transformation in Industrial Relations (Scarecrow Press, 1989) and several articles, including: "Managerial Third Party Dispute Resolution: An Overview and Introduction to the Special Issue," Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-8 (1994); "Midwest Energy Utilities" (with G.L. Jordan) in Mediating Environmental Conflicts: Theory and Practice edited by J.W. Blackburn and W.M. Bruce, Quorum Books, Westport, CT (1995); "Craft Unions" and "Industrial Unions" in The Blackwell Dictionary of Human Resource Management edited by C.R. Greer and S.A. Youngblood, Blackwell Publishers (1996); "Labor Relations in Japan: The Case of Baseball," in Baseball Economics: Current Issues, edited by L. Hadley, E. Gustafson and J. Fizel, Praeger Publishing Inc. (with G. Jefl) (1996); "The Joint Employer, the NLRB, and Changing Rights for Contingent Workers," Labor Law Journal, 48:1 (with R. Posthuma) (1997); "Social Consequences of Crossing the Picket Line: The 1994-95 Major League Baseball Strike," Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Social Policy Perspectives, 5:2 (with G. Jelf) 1997.

He has been a consultant to the assistant secretary for policy, evaluation, and research at the U.S. Department of Labor; Employer and Employee Education Services, University of Minnesota; and various publishing companies. Professor Dworkin is a member of the Industrial Relations Research Association, Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution, and the American Arbitration Association. He serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and fact-finder in a variety of labor-management disputes in the private and public sectors. Professor Dworkin has been with Krannert since 1976.

Books

Dworkin, J. (2016). "The Dog and The Jet Ski." Archway Press (Children's Literature)
Dworkin, J. (2014). "The Dog and The Dolphin." Create Space (Children's Literature)
Dworkin, J. & Chelius, J. (1990). "Reflections on the Transformation in Industrial Relations." Scarecrow Press
Dworkin, J. (1981). "Owners versus Players: Baseball and Collective Bargaining." Auburn House Publishing

Book Chapters

Dworkin, J. (2016). ""The Evolution of Collective Bargaining in Sports"." Research Handbook of Employment Relations in Sports (Edward Elgar Press)
Dworkin, J. (2013). ""Professional Sports: A Tale of Conflict and Accord"." Collective Bargaining Under Duress: Case Studies of Major U.S. Industries

Paper Presentations

Dworkin, J. & Staudohar, P. (2002). ""Even Umpires Sometimes Strike Out"."
Dworkin, J; Posthuma, R & Swift, M (2000). ""Arbitrator Acceptability: Does Justice Matter?"."
Dworkin, J.; Feldman, S; Brown, J. & Hobson, C (1988). ""Worker's Preferences in Concession Bargaining"."
Dworkin, J. (1986). ""The Basics of Negotiations: A Pedagogical Note"."
Dworkin, J. & DeNisi, A. (1981). ""Final-Offer Arbitration and the Naive Negotiator"."

WNBA Labor Dispute Threatens League’s Momentum
The possibility of a WNBA players' strike or a lockout by team owners exists — but the Daniels School's Jim Dworkin says it's unlikely to happen.
Full story: WNBA Labor Dispute Threatens League’s Momentum
Mediation & Arbitration: Similarities, Differences, Recent Changes
Longtime mediator, arbitrator, professor and researcher James Dworkin shares how AI is impacting the field of alternative dispute resolution.
Purdue Expert: United Auto Workers Strike
Dworkin explains what is happening in the Auto Workers Strike. This strike is different from others and he explains why and the impact this will have on the plants and the industry. He gives his opinion on how long he thinks this strike will last.
Purdue Expert: Minor Leaguers Join Players Union
James Dworkin is a professor of management at Purdue University. In this video, Dworkin explains what the unionization of minor league players means for the sport and what led to this moment.
Union Expert: Baseball Settlement or Lockout?
The Basic Agreement between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association is set to expire at 11:59 P.M. Eastern time on Wednesday (December 1). Baseball fans are wondering if there will be a settlement or a lockout.
Emboldened by 'When and Where' Tagline, MLB Players Band Together
The three-word tagline has galvanized MLB players like we've never seen in the age of social media, says James Dworkin, a Krannert School of Management professor and the author of Owners Versus Players: Baseball and Collective Bargaining. “The players seem to be very, very, very unified,” he tells Sports Illustrated.
Will the players get paid? How the pandemic is affecting collective bargaining in MLB
James B. Dworkin, a professor in Purdue's Krannert School of Management, is an expert and author focusing on professional sports unions and collective bargaining, and an arbitrator in a variety of labor-management disputes. Dworkin says MLB players are unlikely to make many more concessions because their collective bargaining agreement with the league is set to expire in 2021.
Meat packing plants are forced to stay open. But do workers have to show up?
The federal government has ordered meat packing and processing plants to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic, despite COVID-19 outbreaks in several facilities nationwide. Krannert Professor James Dworkin offers an expert's view on the potential labor issues.
Will the players get paid? Krannert professor Jim Dworkin on how pro sports contracts deal with disasters like pandemics
James Dworkin, a professor in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, is an expert and author focusing on professional sports unions and collective bargaining, and an arbitrator in a variety of labor-management disputes. Dworkin says collective bargaining agreements often contain special clauses, called “force majeure,” that cover how operations continue when catastrophes like fires, floods or pandemics occur.