In the early 90s¡¦, the government of the Republic of China, Taiwan (ROC) declared the end of martial law. Taiwanese society has moved toward multi-dimensional development, which includes the greater liberal awareness of the public, as well as gradually forming various but unique social cultures. Among these cultural changes is the right to public dispute. In the past two decades, several public disputes have occurred; from the dispute against environmental pollution by the petrochemical industry, including the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, followed by the establishment of a Du Pont chemical factory, the rejection of garbage disposal plant & incinerator building, the anti-construction of nuclear power plants & the Mei Nong reservoir. To attract more customers and to pre¡Vdominate the potential market, competitors in the telecommunication industry have implemented strategies to build excess mobile base station to enhance the quality of the signal reception. From recent scientific research, there is no clear evidence to prove that electromagnetic wave signals from mobile telecommunications have any direct impact on human health. In the Year 2000, the Executive Environmental Department in Taiwan has officially announced that electromagnetic wave signals from mobile telecommunications were not a source of pollutants. However, the objection of anti-establishing mobile base station has gradually become one of the leading issues of public dispute. The dispute approaches have tended to be radical and irrational, which has lead to strong violence. In the mean time, the government and the telecommunication industry are not able to respond to and resolve the current situation. These issues not only threaten the ability for the mobile telecommunication industry to survive, but cost an incredible amount of the social resource which it is also a great concern for the similar conditions in future society. The research motivations were developed by considering the special cultural backgrounds mentioned above. The literature review includes the following research areas: conflict management; the crises interventional communication; negotiating skills; legislation process study; and the theory of outsourcing study. Furthermore, surveys on professional groups were completed to seek expertise and feedback to help resolve public radical situations. Interviews were also conducted on some key radical and irrational people to increase the public awareness about the severity of disputes. In this study, the author also investigates reasons behind public disputes and what the public has experienced and learned. To summarize, the findings of this study: 1. In the current stage, the managerial approach only resolves a radical situation as it happens; a long term and systematic methodology is still unavailable and yet to be developed. Even though the short term resolution allows authorities to accumulate precious experiences in managing public pressure, the current methodology can not effectively prevent and avoid public disputes occurrence. 2. The fundamental idea from authorities is still in favor of ¡§technical educations¡¨ which permits technicians to take major responsibilities in implementing the idea of ¡§technical skill demonstrations¡¨ to communicate and lead the agenda. However, the outcomes do not appear to be effective to those irrational and radical disputes. 3. Political power interventions mean the government is unable to provide a stable environment for industrial developments. There are politicians¡¦ interventions from different parties; public threatens and violence might also be the reasons that cause immobilized feedbacks from the government. Based on the investigation on the pros and cons of disputes on excess mobile base station and possible dispute modes, long term and short term solutions were developed. The solutions include: 1. Possible long term solutions: (1) Develop long term strategic plans, which enable the prevention of future dispute. The practical plans include media operations, professional propaganda planning, management for united industrial unions on public disputes and offers of technical and general product propagandas to the public. (2) Organizational structure justifications, traditional conceptual changes in public disputes and formations of special negotiation teams: the authority should initiate with its negotiation process based on public opinions rather than listed contents with technical issues. Professional teams should have the ability to implement the law, the public relationship and technology to the public. (3) A liberal and a specific budget support for individual projects. (4) Mobile base station embellishments and joint venture with the industrial union. (5) Provide outsourcing to professionalism. (6) Seeking for political assistances: Through democratic operations, the government should maximize its ability in public authority monitoring and the law execution. This also ensures and protects legal welfares for the mobile telecommunication industry. 2. Possible short term solutions: (1) General strategies in station selection issues. (2) New tactics formations. (3) Training professional negotiators. (4) Holding regular conferences, exchanging ideas which draw upon useful opinions, and editing ¡§Irrational mobile base station dispute management¡¨ reference handbook. (5) Educate the public to understand and obey the law. Using the law to protect and maintain basic rights for the mobile telecommunication industry. The final discussions conclude with some proposed solutions to manage public disputes. The future research recommendations to the mobile telecommunication industry, the professional team, and the governmental organizations are also included. The aim is to establish a rational and peaceful future society and provide a stable business environment for the mobile telecommunication industry.

Thesis (M.A. (Health Social Sciences))--Mahidol University, 2000.