Breakfast Forum newsletter – October 2009 Mediation to resolve workplace conflict
Employing people with mental and physical disabilities will be the topic of our Breakfast Forum on 13 November. Tony Bertin had first-hand experience of disability following a medical accident 10 years ago, and disability affects a sizeable part of the population.
Our forum will be led by David Jessop, Operations Director of the Royal British Legion Industries Ltd. The RBLI are experts in advising employers and employees in this field, and David will talk about:
The meeting will also be attended by orthopaedic surgeons from the King’s College Hospital limb reconstruction unit where Tony was successfully treated 10 years ago after his medical accident.
If you are interested in attending this forum on 13 November, please contact anne@employment-relations.co.uk, tel: 01303 840001.
The speaker at our October forum was Jane Coward, an Acas conciliator, discipline and grievance and mediation specialist.
Jane explained that mediation is a form of conflict resolution where a third party helps parties find a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict.
The principles of mediation are:
Mediation is a voluntary option linked to a traditional grievance procedure and is also recommended following an investigation. It aims to maintain working relationships after a disciplinary process such as a grievance.
Mediation is not a question of right or wrong, and can be used at any time within a grievance procedure, whether at the height of the dispute, as a grievance is about to be lodge or even after it has been completed and partially upheld.
The process is not appropriate:
In a clear case of bullying and victimisation it is right to go through the disciplinary procedure, and then call in the mediators to restore working relationships and move on.
Formal grievance has its place but parties become very adversarial: I attack, they defend, everyone has a very entrenched position. The win/lose position is very damaging, and drawing back from that experience and finding another way can be helpful. At all stages of the process, it is important to take notes, to avoid the situation when it’s one person’s word against another. Working informally can be quite a challenge as people can feel more comfortable with a formal approach.
Disputes arise because people don’t talk to each other and nagging issues are not nipped in the bud. Very often the only time managers talk to their staff is when things are not going well, so it’s a vicious spiral because people only communicate about negative things.
Jane presented a case study where mediation helped a team who had become so adversarial and entrenched that they were unable to talk to each other. The mediator agreed with the parties new ways of working and communicating, with regular meetings during which they would listen without interrupting, and would communicate neutrally and professionally, and only about performance issues. They also agreed improved behaviours, with no swearing by anyone and careful use of language at all times. The parties accepted that the more positive ways of working would take time to build and that there would be setbacks, but also agreed to talk about these as well as progress.
Many problems in the workplace arise through poor communication. It is therefore important to train and support managers, to teach them how to communicate difficult messages.
Jane’s parting message was for employers to think how they can support their managers to communicate, to instil respect at work and to avoid tribunals and mediation. The strength of management is to talk to people rather than just handling processes.
