The following characteristics of the types of inquiries may be useful as a general guide to help assure that comparable inquiry is made for comparable matters. Every grievance may involve the securing of some kind of documentary evidence which would be considered by an examiner. An inquiry conducted primarily on documentary evidence would involve decisions concerning which regulation is applicable and decisions where there is no real dispute of fact. An inquiry consisting primarily of personal interviews usually involves problems arising out of the employee's immediate work environment. The need for documentary evidence is minimal.
Local managers have discretion and are free from specific outside requirements.
It is rare for a group meeting to be the only method of inquiry. As a technique, it would probably be combined with personal interviews, and perhaps documentary evidence. Issues to be covered in a group meeting usually involve opinions or judgments which are subjective in nature as opposed to serious disputes of facts which are better handled at a hearing. Combinations of securing documentary evidence, personal interviews, and a group meeting usually involve complex issues. The decision to conduct a hearing involves the determination by the grievance examiner that it is the only way to satisfactorily resolve a complex dispute with serious disagreement of facts by witnesses.