Unpicking conflict resolution – informal process and formal procedure

1. Unpicking conflict resolution – informal process and formal procedure Richard Saundry Reader in International Employment Relations iROWE, University of Central Lancashire

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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’

7. 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