27th 0ctober 2011
This generation of managers are in unfamiliar territory. Both public and private sectors are facing huge challenges that will affect the industrial relations climate. Derek Luckhurst argues that managers’ negotiation skills will be essential in maintaining good relations.
The impact of the cuts on public sector jobs, terms and conditions, and the faltering growth that is affecting the private sector have put many managers in unfamiliar territory. The first conclusion is that the industrial relations climate is changing. The second is that this may result in a different, and potentially more difficult, relationship with trade unions or staff forums. The third is that managers may not be equipped with the skills and experience to meet these challenges. In particular, managers admit that they lack the confidence to deal with what they see as highly trained and battle-hardened trade union representatives. Many would think that these trade union representatives would relish the chance to deal with inexperienced managers and, yet, this is generally not the case. In fact, they are equally concerned and, in many cases, frustrated at the lack of skills and experience the managers they deal with have.
Workplaces are facing a significant skills gap that threatens their chances surviving these turbulent times . Managers, particularly those that entered the workplace in the last 15 years, often have little or no experience of managing industrial relations through difficult times and maintaining relationships with workplace representatives when the future is uncertain. A lack of economic growth and the pressure to reduce public sector spending give employers limited room for manoeuvre in negotiations, but inflation is at a record high and employees are understandably reluctant to see the value of their pay packet diminish. Managers often want to implement radical change to adapt to the new environment, but a disengaged workforce with little job security can be hostile to such initiatives.
Managers who are unprepared and unsure of how to work with trade unions and negotiate effectively are likely to overreact and become unnecessarily adversarial. Too often they believe that their role is to ensure that the company comes out on top, and in doing so, they miss the opportunities for win-win solutions. Managers who are not confident or empowered by their own managers will not be aware of the scope for flexibility or when and how to use it. Union representatives also complain that this can also cause problems in capability and disciplinary cases. Of course, there are also a number of common complaints that managers make about representatives, but representatives will receive training from their trade union, or from organisations such as the IPA, which usually irons these problems out. It is far less common for managers to seek similar training to develop the necessary skills.
Any training for managers should concentrate first and foremost on how to develop good working relations with the trade union representatives regardless of how difficult the subject matter may eventually be. Negotiation can be an open and honest dialogue which genuinely seeks consensus and establishes a solid platform for good industrial relations in an organisation. There is no doubt that there are so called “dark arts”; the tactics used in negotiation to gain the upper hand. However, it is highly questionable as to whether these sorts of tactics actually achieve anything other than a short term advantage for one party and should, therefore, be avoided at all times.
There is undoubtedly some basic knowledge that will help managers to enter negotiations with confidence. Knowing the difference between interest-based, option-based and traditional negotiation, and when each is appropriate, will improve the quality of the discussion and potentially lead to a mutually satisfying outcome. It also helps to develop managers’ overall knowledge of trade unions, how they work in practice, and how their national policy can affect negotiations in a particular workplace. Knowing the difference between consultation and negotiation, and which to use in each situation is equally important. Training can help managers understand how to actually conduct the negotiations, including the mechanism for releasing information, understanding the importance of confidentiality, keeping track of where you have got to and moving to closure.
Technical knowledge is important, but at the heart of all of this has to be an improvement in the managers’ understanding of behaviours. It is impossible to underestimate the effect that disengaging behaviours can have, not only on one negotiation but on those that follow it. The aim of negotiation should always be to preserve long-term relationships; workplace representatives can understand the constraints managers face, but inappropriate behaviours can do lasting damage to the trust between both parties. Managers need to learn how to behave in ways that demonstrate mutual respect, active listening, shared values, mutual understanding, honesty and openness, inclusiveness, and commitment to finding a solution.
While much preparation can go into the actual negotiation meetings, the secret to successful negotiations starts before the first meeting even takes place. Managers need to make decisions and have confidence in those decisions, but they also need to share their decision-making process and, in particular, their risk analysis, with the representatives. Whether the decision is strategic, tactical or operational, involving representatives at the risk analysis stage can be the most important feature of a successful negotiation. It will also improve trust levels. A manager needs to understand that a trade union representative may not be as confident and well-trained as is usually perceived and that this is usually the reason why those representatives display the disengaging behaviours like aggression, sarcasm and those tactics already mentioned.
A confident, well-prepared manager will always improve the quality of the discussion and will be respected by the trade union representative who will fully expect there to be certain “lines in the sand” and areas where negotiation is not possible. A manager who is uncertain of their brief, unclear as to what they can concede and intimidated by the task in front of them will always create problems – the biggest one, perhaps, is failing to recognise these things in themselves. Good leaders, however, are never afraid to ask for help and nor do they fail to identify the need to improve their own basic skills.
Media attention might currently be focused on high level negations over public sector pensions, but in workplaces across the UK managers and workplace representatives are resolving a whole range of problems through negotiation. Unsuccessful negotiations have the potential to damage trust between manager and employees at exactly the time when it is needed most. The industrial relations skills gap could have far reaching consequences for workplaces across the public and private sector over the next few years, and the ability of organisations to prosper over the coming years. Industrial relations are back, and we need to act now to make sure managers are up to the task.
Derek Luckhurst is training and development director at the IPAIf you would like more information on the IPA’s programme for training managers on negotiation, please contact Derek Luckhurst at
Derek.luckhurst@ipa-involve.com
