While many people worried about the absence of experienced air traffic controllers after the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization went on strike in 1981, they also wondered why it was so difficult for the FAA and PATCO to come to terms before the strike was called. Important groups that need to cooperate can often overcome their difficulties and continue working together, but sometimes they can’t. Over the years disputants in the transportation and coal industries have had skirmishes that have resulted in open warfare. Even when the battles are not waged so publicly or fiercely, the human and material costs organizations pay can be staggering.
A version of this article appeared in the November 1984 issue of Harvard Business Review.