Now the world of industrial relations is predominantly about relationship building is it not? Just like other relationships in life, it takes persistent effort to initiate and maintain a healthy bond. Unlike general life relationships, however, the association between management and unions isn’t always voluntarily entered into. Despite that most management teams accept, however begrudgingly, the role of the trade union in the workplace and work hard to accommodate them. As the scale of the trade union involvement becomes more prominent in larger workplaces so does the need for effective management communication that nurtures a healthy relationship built on mutual respect and shared goals. It is my belief that in most workplaces this is achieved relatively well to the credit of both management and trade union representatives. In spite of the difficult times the good work goes on unabated.
One crucial skill for management negotiators is an understanding of what makes people tick (including TU Reps) and the expertise to put across your point of view eloquently and positively, ensuring in turn that positive interactions continue to produce positive outcomes. If all the inputs are positive there is much less chance of negative outcomes. Step into the picture one Chancellor George Osborne!
Now, he may have just missed auditions for the pantomime villain roles around the country so this may be behind his latest statements to the BBC at the weekend. Taking aside any potential accusations that he could be quoted ‘out of context’ what on earth made him think that saying that he hoped to have “…a mature, grown-up conversation…” (with the unions) didn’t stand a decent chance of being misinterpreted? Certainly most experienced workplace negotiators would only say such things if they fully intended to lob in an incendiary device into discussions. The underlying message that Mr Osborne doesn’t somehow think the unions are being mature or grown up can be gleaned from the short statement without having to worry about context. The potential for it to be received as an insult would be evident to an undergraduate business student let alone a Cabinet Minister.
I’m as sure as I can be that all the industrial relations workers around the UK will be happily looking forward to shaking Mr Osborne warmly by the throat for stoking up union belief that they should prepare themselves for confrontation. There are only two possible explanations for him saying the words he did – the first possibility is that it was a well-considered statement judged to prompt an excessive trade union reaction that would strengthen public opinion against them. The second is that he was just being inept because he lacks workplace exposure and is merely holding onto an antiquated doctrine espoused by previous Conservative governments in decades gone by. The former is a risky strategy that could very easily back fire because public sentiment is not as it was 20 or so years ago when they’d had unions to the back teeth for the most part and could quite easily see that the unions enjoyed too much power. The latter is quite simply unacceptable in a senior appointed figure in Her Majesty’s Government.
As an HR professional of more than 20 years standing with ample practical exposure to trade unions in a variety of workplaces I simply couldn’t understand the forcefulness with which Mr Osborne has attacked the unions recently. I’m sure most of the rest of the public will have been doing the same as me and that is staring at the screen in disbelief wondering how he’s managed to assess things so badly. Why is he pointing the finger of blame so strongly at a group that has been more controlled and mature in the past decade? The evidence may be in his response to the recent poor economic growth figures which he blamed on the snow in December despite the ONS providing a clear indication that this was not responsible. If the economic plans he has set in place fall of the tracks later this year I already steeling myself for the ‘wrong type of leaves’ accusative finger coming out in the autumn!