Unpicking conflict resolution – informal process and formal procedure

Unpicking conflict resolution – informal process and formal procedure

Richard SaundryReader in International Employment Relations

iROWE, University of Central Lancashire

iROWE/Acas Research Programme

• Accompaniment and Representation in Discipline and Grievance

• Conflict Management Case Studies– Workplace mediation– Resolution officers– Conflict management in retail– Mediation and dispute resolution in private sector

• Over 100 interviews with managers, HR practitioners and employee representatives

Background and context• Voluntarism to juridification• Development of legal framework of unfair dismissal• Extension of written (‘formal’) workplace procedures for

discipline and grievance• Representation gap – disappearance of ‘social’ (‘informal’)

resolution processes• Increased use of external advice• Centrality of employment tribunals and perceptions of

threat of litigation • ‘Formality’ associated with delay, deadlock and inefficiency

Dynamics of ‘informal’ resolution

• Perceived benefits of informal resolution – speed, cost, maintenance of employment relationship

• Potential drawbacks – lack of fairness and equity, inconsistency, increased risks re: compliance and litigation

• Evidence of more informal approaches– Revised Acas code of practice– More emphasis on informal resolution and early mediation– Stripping out of procedural layers

• Tension between efficiency and equity

Informal resolution in practice• Discussion between individual and line manager• Role of employee representatives

– Representatives able to negotiate on behalf of employee and ‘mediate’ between employee and employer

– More likely to be able to undercover underlying issues– Self-discipline and management of expectations

• Informal processes shadow formal procedure• Importance of high-trust relations• HR practitioners

– Key conduit between employee representatives and line management– Line manager confidence and capability – coaching role

• Workplace mediation - informal resolution?– Seen as a formal process of last resort by line managers

Barriers to informal resolution• Responsibility for conflict management increasingly devolved to

line management– Lack of confidence and capability– Fear of failure and litigation– Rigid application of formal procedure used as ‘safety blanket’

• Trend to remote HR services may leave operational managers isolated

• Erosion of employee representation – disappearance of informal channels of resolution

• Informal resolution processes squeezed out by operational imperatives

• Creation of a ‘resolution gap’

Concluding thoughts

• Policy shift has seen ‘unduly’ formal approaches characterised as obstacle to dispute resolution

• Consequent emphasis on loosening regulatory framework

• Policy debate overlooks the central role of relationships between key organisational actors

• Informal processes of resolution dependent on access to representational voice

• Weakening of legal regulation threatens to remove incentives for employers to resolve disputes