Department of Labor 



Department of Labor research activities focus 

 on the assessment of labor- and management-re- 

 lated problems and the development of improved 

 procedures for their solution. 



List of Priorities (short-term) 



• Public employee labor relations 



• Improving collective bargaining and 

 the means of resolving labor dis- 

 putes. 



List of Priorities (long-term) 



• Adaptation of labor-management re- 

 lations policies and strategies and 

 union structure to major external 

 stimuli such as inflation, unemploy- 

 ment, and the energy crisis 



• Extra-negotiating means of resolving 

 certain labor-management problems 

 not readily susceptible to collective 

 bargaining (e.g., tripartite or bilateral 

 industry committees) 



• Assessment of union democracy af- 

 ter two decades of the Labor- Man- 

 agement Reporting and Disclosure 

 Act of 1959. 



List of Gap Areas 



• Collective bargaining and labor- 

 management relations in nonprofit 

 organizations 



• Impact of foreign-owned business on 

 American industrial relations 



• Causes of voluntary changes in im- 

 passe procedures in Canadian feder- 

 al employment. 



Department of State 



Bureau of Oceans and International 

 Environmental and Scientific Affairs 



The purposes of the basic research work of the 

 Department of State are to advance and order 

 data, explanation, and methods in fields of knowl- 

 edge (the sciences and the humanities, discipli- 

 nary and multidisciplinary) that are selected be- 

 cause they illuminate matters that in the future 

 will affect unspecified policy choices. 



The Bureau notes the importance of both basic 

 and applied research in the conduct of the Na- 

 tion's foreign afi'airs and in the coordination of its 

 foreign policy. Areas of investigation from which 

 the Department can benefit are listed below. 



List of Priorities 



• Impact of modern cultural and edu- 

 cational systems 



• Causes of ethnic and cultural con- 

 flicts 



• Major variables in attitudes toward 

 perceptions about people of other 

 cultures, religions, and nationalities. 



List of Gap Areas 



• Advanced foreign affairs and foreign 

 areas research. 



Agency for International Development (AID) 



Although AID states that it supports no basic 

 research, it adds that "research for new knowl- 

 edge and its application are vital to solving prob- 

 lems of the poor in developing countries," and 

 that it "clearly recognizes the importance of a 

 broad research and development program and its 

 continuing dependence on both the Nation's fund 

 of basic research and its extensive technology." 



List of Gap Areas' 



• Understanding of social, behavioral, 

 and cultural dynamics involved in 

 efforts to implement policy and pro- 

 gram applications 



• Approaches to facilitate greater par- 

 ticipation by affected people in the 

 identification, development, and in- 

 stitutionalization of problem-solving 

 techniques for self-help 



• Greater utilization of research find- 

 ings through continuing, adaptive 

 follow-through from the research 

 stage to acceptable usage in local 

 environments. 



Department of Transportation (DOT) 



Basic research constitutes only a small portion 

 of the Department's total R&D activities and is 



"Ttie AID submission presented these as "a number of 

 problem areas in which more attention to basic research would 

 undoubtedly provide more critical knowledge." 



PRIORITIES AND GAP AREAS 



313 



