Report Suggests Some Uptake of Joint Problem Solving
The 2009 LRC report titled ‘Managing Workplace Conflict in Ireland’ found that large scale workplace conflict has declined dramatically but that a high level of small scale conflicts persist.
The report is based on research carried out among private and semi-state firms in Ireland by Deborah Hann and Paul Teague of Queens University Belfast and Bill Roche of University College Dublin.
Definition of workplace conflict: books on workplace conflict tend to focus either on inter-personal conflict or on management-union conflict. In this case, however, the authors took a broad view of what constituted workplace conflict and they also acknowledged that conflict could have positive outcomes for those involved in it. They defined workplace conflict as follows:
‘Workplace conflict involves differences of view and conflict between individual employees and their employer; among individuals; and between groups of employees, whether unionised or not, and their employer. It is recognised that the resolution of workplace conflict can have beneficial effects for employers, employees and other stakeholders in the business.’
Findings: the report has findings on a range of topics including influences on the development of workplace conflict resolution systems, the incidence of different mechanisms for resolving conflicts at work, variations in conflict management systems between firms of different sizes and ownership and between union and non-union firms, the role of line managers in resolving workplace conflicts, the management of conflicts and the outcomes of conflict resolution. The report can be purchased from Government Publications in Molesworth Street Dublin.
Workplace conflict has ‘gone micro’: the authors argue that low level conflicts are more likely to be found in workplaces today than large scale management-union conflicts, hence their expression that workplace conflict has ‘gone micro’. As evidence they cite the high number of cases before public agencies including the Rights Commissioner Service and the Employment Appeals Tribunal and high levels of sick leave. We could add to this the increasing incidence of cases of inter-personal conflict that are being mediated informally, and the increasing incidence of complaints of bullying and harassment that are being investigated under company policies and Health and Safety Authority and LRC guidelines.
Use of ‘joint problem solving’: given the attention paid to ‘joint problem solving’ and ‘alternative dispute resolution’ or ‘ADR’ in recent years it is interesting that the research found that about a third (31.3 per cent) of small companies used ‘brainstorming, problem solving and related techniques’ to solve problems and resolve disputes compared to about a quarter (24.0 per cent) of medium/large companies. Almost a third (29.4 per cent) of medium/large companies used ‘formal interest-based (win-win) bargaining techniques’ to solve problems and resolve disputes compared to 15.1 per cent of small companies.
It is difficult to know what exactly to make of these figures given that it is not that easy to distinguish in practice between ‘brainstorming’ etc and ‘formal interest-based bargaining’ given the central role that brainstorming and problem solving play in the two approaches. Nevertheless, even allowing for some possible confusion, the findings suggest a fairly widespread use of these ‘joint problem solving’ techniques albeit in a minority of firms.
ICTU, IBEC, SIPTU and the former IPC promoted ‘joint problem solving’ in various guises for some years, going back to the workplace partnership initiatives of the late 1990s that were funded by the EU’s ADAPT Programme and to the national programme ‘Partnership 2000’. The Skillnets system has also been used to fund training and development in this area. In 2005 Jerry Barrett and I published our ‘Interest-Based Bargaining: A Users Guide’ which featured examples of ‘joint problem solving’ in eircom and in the health services. In 2008 IBEC published a book on ADR called ‘The Essential Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution’.
Role of trade unions:the report makes some interesting findings on trade unions. Multiple union representation is not regarded by many firms as having a significant negative effect on conflict resolution. Most unionised firms report satisfaction with retaining their traditional relationship with the union. Significant minorities of firms intended either to deepen partnership with trade unions or to reduce their influence.
More research needed: it would be invaluable to have some case study follow up to this research that could provide a finer grained picture of why the ‘joint problem solving’ approaches to conflict resolution were adopted, how they were used, on what issues they were used, and with what outcomes for the parties and organisations concerned.
Conclusion: a final summary conclusion drawn by the authors is that most organisations considered that workplace conflict was not a big cause of concern and that they were satisfied with their conflict management procedures. This is a very worthwhile publication that should have something of interest to most HR and IR practitioners who have a role in the design, management or operation of workplace conflict resolution systems.
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