Negotiating Change
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Transcript of Negotiating Change
Negotiating Change
Clive Thompson, CoSolve& Tanya Venter, Tokiso
1. Focus of this workshop: change at the level of the organisation2. Given: change is a ubiquitous, constant and vital feature of
economic and organisational life. It is accelerated and pressured by the forces of globalisation and, in South Africa more the most countries, the dynamics of politics
3. That being the case, how is change best managed in the workplace?
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Change in the workplace
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Negotiating change?
In the 1990s John Kotter famously declared in his work Leading Change eight principles for galvanising organisational change (establish a sense of urgency, create a coalition, develop a clear vision, share the vision, empower people, clear obstacles, secure short-term wins, consolidate and keep moving, anchor the change).
Not amongst them was negotiation. The proclaimed recipe on how to achieve change turns on notions of leadership and communication skills: we know the answers, the problem is getting other to understand the message. The notion that change might actually need to be negotiated is often rejected or neglected. It suggests that the leadership team does not in fact hold the golden keys or that, worse still, the vision could be compromised in parleys with contrary stakeholders.
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Negotiating insight?
In South Africa, the negotiation skills honed in the workplace in the eighties supported the breakthroughs in the political negotiations of the early nineties.
Have we since lost our appetite and capacity for innovative negotiating in the workplace? Is there still an shared appreciation that change in the workplace should be negotiated at all? What are the obstacles to the successful negotiation of change, and is there a recipe for successful negotiation?
Under the
radar
The productive zone
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A. Unilateral action
Dispute resolution
Subject matter/Issue
acceptance, agreement
Channels for change
Negotiation Consultation
Differing modes of information-sharing and communication
disagreement
B. Consensus-seeking engagement
Power it through
Hardbargaining
Problem-solving Intensive Superficial
Potential outcomes: or
Problem?
Solution!
<< Communicate >>
Implement …
… Damage control
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Approaches to change: 1
Challenge arises:
… Jointly generate options
… Jointly develop solution/s
… Trial solutions
Implement, evaluate, adjust
NEGOTIATE
CONSULT
… Jointly define problem
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Approaches to change: 2
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Managing change
Whenever there are multiple stakeholders in the workplace who exercise effective power, then any proposals for change will require either consultation on negotiation. Because employees also exercise covert power (from expending minimal effort through sabotage to resignation), change should be negotiated even in un-unionised settings, where the employer seemingly carries all the trump cards.
Consultation can be superficial or intensive. Negotiations can be traditional or interest-based. Our focus is on problem-solving consultation and negotiation.
We offer two case studies, one from Australia, the other from South Africa.
The Australian Red Cross Blood Service & the Australian Nurses Federation
• National organisation • Division of Australian Red Cross• Provides the Australian community with high quality blood and blood
products• Contracted by the National Blood Authority (NBA) for the collection
and distribution of blood and blood products• Funded by Federal and State Governments• Over 3000 scientific, medical and support staff and over 2,000
volunteer workers• 520,000 voluntary, non-remunerated donors• Over 100 collection points
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Case Study 1:
The Problem:
Demand for blood products growing 4 times faster than the number of nurses entering the workforce (2011 – 2015)
Registered nurses perform a number of key functions at blood donor centres: interviewing prospective donors, drawing blood (“needle in”), removing the needle (“needle out”), counselling, general admin, etc.
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Possible responses to the problem
1. Determine the solution and attempt to impose it2. Negotiate the solution in an inclusive way
A problem-solving approach
Consider the stakeholdersEngage the stakeholdersPresent the problemFollow a joint problem-solving pathwayBring in the resource of independent facilitation
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4 Get the data (ongoing)
7 Evaluate options
3 Identify the interests
6 Set criteria for options
5 Generate options
8 Decide
more mutual gain
Problem-solving
1 Identify the issue/s
more mutual gain more mutual gain
2 Identify stakeholders
Conventionalnegotiation
Problem-solving negotiation
Engagement Architecture
ARCBS GovernanceExecutive Leadership Team (ELT –
consisting of CEO & her direct reports)
ANF GovernanceFederal Executive
COMMUNICATION
TO
STAFF
COMMUNICATION
TO
MEMBERS
Joint Working GroupARCBS and ANF representatives
ARCBS ManagementArea and functional managers
ANF Member Meetings
Staff Focus Groups
Oversight Group All relevant ARCBS executives / All ANF officials
Ratification
reports to
input into
Input into Input into
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• Demand for plasma growing in excess of 14% per year • Donor centre workforce needs to grow on average by
8% year on year• Increasing collection capacity through 50 new or larger
relocated donor collection facilities by 2013• Demand for nurses continues to grow across the health
sector as the population ages, more people require clinical care and large numbers of the nursing workforce retire or seek employment in other industries
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Agreed situational analysis
Surfacing interests
All parties agree on the problem statement, but they each also have their own key concernsManagement: 1.Ensure the public knows safety for donors and quality of the blood are the number one priorities 2.Freedom to explore all potential avenues to increase the volume of blood stocks, eg. import, involve non-nurses3.Make the most of each tax-payers dollar4.Keep the nursing workforce happy Nurses: 1.Do not threaten nurses jobs2.Don’t deskill nurses3.The safety of blood donors and recipients is paramount, and soonly nurses should be able to take blood from donors 4.Make sure the members are happy with what the union does for them
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Options
• Enormous input from ARCBS staff consultations and ANF membership survey
• Brainstorming process identified 96 options grouped into 11 categories• How the parties put it:
– Based on your feedback and suggestions the Joint Working Group has developed a list of 96 ideas to help meet future workforce challenges. These suggestions have come via your team discussions, feedback forms or from your ANF representatives. Some of the options to be considered include:
• Doing more to market ARCBS to potential candidates. For example, using the Year of the Blood Donor in 2009 to increase the profile of ARCBS to potential candidates.
• Including the blood service as part of the workplace rotation in heath related courses and consider hiring student nurses.
• Better matching nurses’ skills to the work they perform and re-assigning non-critical tasks to others.
• Offering more professional development for our nursing team.
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Key criteria/principles
Any solution must meet the following criteria/ principles: Ensure self sufficiency in meeting increased demand for
blood components and products from Australian volunteer donors
Safety of employees, donors and recipients maintained Enable our nurses to use their clinical skills to their best
advantage Increase our collection workforce
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Selection of options
• Both parties tabled preferred package• A process of evaluation with shades of negotiation required to bring the package
together• Final package entitled “package of solutions to address the workforce challenge
facing the ARCBS” reached in October contained 21 initiatives• The initiatives are focussed on these areas:
– More effective marketing of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service to potential employees
– Providing incentives to our current employees to continue working at the Blood Service
– Investigating the viability of a new role in Donor Centres that undertakes a broad range of tasks and does not require nursing qualifications
– Developing a career path for nurses– Training, education and career development
• New process agreed to take selected proposals forward for trial– Subcommittee of JWG with some new representation– Reporting regularly to JWG– Continuing constant communication to staff and members
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Joint communication
• Joint communication throughout• Aimed at seeking feedback and suggestions• Balance struck between:
– Keeping staff and members connected into the process– Communicating progress– Agreeing when issues still needed to be debated ‘in camera’ of the
Joint Working Group• Strong process for sign off on joint communication:
– Time built into the process to make this happen (on average 5 working days to iteratively developed final copy)
• At key points, significant investment in face-to-face engagement of teams:– June/July 08 to generate ideas and solutions – January 09 to test proposed package of solutions
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Trial, evaluation and implementation
• Memorandum of Understanding• Workforce and membership consultation
– Presentation at EVERY Donor Centre – many joint ANF and ARCBS session
– Separate Union Member meetings across the country• Trial subject to JWG and Sub-committee oversight• Evaluation• Memorandum of Understanding to implement
– Safety net– Industrial issues
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Tentative lessons
• Co-operative engagement track proved worthwhile– Relationships– Outcomes
• Superior to unilateral solution-seeking• Clear mutual gains
– Collateral benefits in general IR • Independent facilitation plays important role • Caution:
– Problem-solving approach hard work and not without pitfalls and setbacks
– Keeping leadership group in touch with constituency vital
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Case Study 2: South Africa
Manufacturing company in South Africa• Based on East Rand• Provides components primarily to the car manufacturing
industry (70% of their market)• 400 employees• Highly unionised with two unions – one union primarily
organising artisans and skilled workers, other union organising less skilled workers
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• The company was faced with increased competition from foreign providers who were cheaper due to strong rand, and promised less faulty products
• In response to this, the company implemented new technology and retrenched 30 employees and introduced new shift system
• The unions referred an unfair retrenchment dispute to the Labour Court
• The Employer had dismissed some employees for refusing to comply with the new shift system. These were referred to the CCMA.
• The company wanted to introduce more new technology. The unions threatened rolling strike action.
The challenges
• The company had taken an initial approach to impose change on the workplace. It had caused major conflict in the workplace and impacted on productivity
• The company decided to engage with the unions on how to move forward (what initiated this idea was a new senior manager that joined the company)
• Unions were initially distrustful of the new approach• Unions were asked to choose the facilitator from Tokiso’s list. • Two facilitators were agreed upon between the parties.
The Approach
• Employer party interests:– Prevent international competition– Increase productivity– Increase quality– Export opportunities realised
• Union interests:– Members not to lose jobs– Increase skills and opportunities for members– Increase of representivity– Transport– Leadership security
The interests
The Agreed Process
Company
Union A
Union B
Negotiation Forum(decision making)
Working Group A(consulting & recommending)
Working Group B(consulting & recommending)
Deadlock breaking
mechanisms
Report back & feedback structures
Technical experts
(The clients)
• The parties agreed a ‘negotiation protocol’ upfront that would govern the negotiations
• Parties identified, through facilitated separate sessions, what the issues were• This was shared in plenary and common issues were placed in ‘buckets’• Through brainstorming, ‘unfiltered’ options were generated • Options that were agreed following a process of consideration –
– Staggering of implementation of new technology to provide for up skilling of employees to meet new job requirements;
– Criteria for assessing whether employees meet skills requirements was agreed– Provision of transport for employees and housing options in the area which will
allow employees to work more flexi-hours to meet unforeseen demands from clients
– Agreement on new shift structure (which was different to the one initially implemented by management)
– Agreement was reached around employees retrenched and dismissed
The Options
• Process Agreement was signed• Two agreements were signed on the substantive agreements
over a four month period• Agreement to review the progress quarterly• The negotiation forum was retained for this purpose and for
purposes of future negotiations• The agreement was made available to all. Summaries were
placed in public areas
The Agreement Structures
• The process of negotiation can start at any point as long as parties know that there are consequences to the change that had taken place so far (therefore start sooner rather than later)
• Independent facilitation important• Independent administrative support services important for
recording of discussions and sharing of information• Determine process before issues and interests• The process requires decision makers to be present• Continuous communication was critical to the credibility of the
process• Deadlock breaking mechanisms were useful
Some lessons
Outcome,Outcome,settlementsettlement
Ideas/OptionsIdeas/Options
Criteria
ProblemProblem
Traditional
Problem-solving
Contest
Determined by power, rights
Arrived at by problem-solving
consultation
InterestsInterests
InterestsInterests
PositionPosition
PositionPosition
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Alternative approaches to issues resolution
IssueIssue
Solution
Adapted from Schneider RAI