Resolving Conflict: Discipline and Grievance at Work - Essay Example

It is obvious that in modern world we have to know more in order to resolve conflict in the workplace between employers and employees. Basically any conflict costs both employers and employees time, money, nerves, sometimes even commitment and reputation. According to the survey made by CIPD in 2003-4 there were more than 115,000 employment tribunal applications in the UK and Ireland which represents a rise of 17% after two years of falling applications (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2004, p. 2). In our essay we give an understanding of the possible impact of existing legislation, and try to evaluate how successful we are nowadays at dealing with workplace conflicts with the help of the diversity of existing policies, complex disciplinary and grievance procedures and possible training interventions the aim of which is to contribute to employers and staffs deciding more conflicts in the workplace (Bohlander, 1989, p. 25). The best decision to our mind is that all employers need to have a minimum three-step disciplinary and grievance procedure (Anderson. 199. p. 32). As existing disciplinary and grievance procedures are considered too sophisticated and bureaucratic investigating a number of works on the topic we made a conclusion that the best kind of any procedure should involve three initial steps like "initial letter, a face-to-face meeting and a further meeting to consider an appeal, if necessary" (Goemaat, 2004, p. 12). If either any member of staff or the employee doesnt apply this procedure, any subsequent employment tribunal, for example in the UK, now has the right to change the compensation by 10-50% in favor of any side (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2004, p. 4). The literature which have been investigated illustrate that a great number of different kind conflicts in the workplace are first of all caused by personal behavior. Thus in our survey we make an insight at diverse usual causes of workplace conflicts, especially those that are considered the most difficult to manage as organizations must urgently act to prevent such disputes and deal with the problems that do take place as early as possible (Jacobs, 1997, p. 47). Introduction Neglecting instructions from the head of the department, a supervisor suddenly hires an extra staff member. A police officer is accused of a crime for an off-duty assault. A secretary applies confidential information to help a family member. An employee is detained for selling drugs from city property. A subordinate charges a head of the department with sexual harassment. Despite of a lot of managers best and skilful attempts in the hiring, instructing, and control of employees, a great diversity of incidents like these which may develop in severe trial do take place. Settlement of such conflicts regarding grave misconduct demands knowledge of the appropriate application of often conflicting court decisions embracing immunity, property, due process, denigration and liberty issues, as well as some other ones (Pulich, 1991, p. 3). Further involving of matters represents the increasing probability that disciplinary proceedings that finish in termination will be challenged in court. "There is an understandable tendency to approach serious discipline cases with an eye toward minimizing legal challenges. Avoiding litigation is an inadequate measure of success, however, when applied to the whole human resources picture" (Menand, 2001, p. 70). Of course, it is highly important to determine and apply practices that contribute to a productive work environment. Dealing with a discipline case while expanding the long-term interests of the organization requires a wider angle search than is characteristically used in investigating one discipline case alone (Steers and Braunstein, 1976, p. 259). "A more constructive approach involves ensuring that the organizations labor relations practices harmonize with its values" (Levy, 1990, p. 28). It is beyond our investigation to research in depth the diverse laws and court cases with an effect on disciplinary issues. Though these questions will help us to examine the established discipline and grievance practice in that most challenging sphere, employee relations. Resolving conflict: Discipline and grievance at work Key principles necessary to avoid complexity in discipline and grievance practice In the newspaper article Be Business Friendly by Rebecca Ashby (2005) it was mentioned that nowadays it is necessary "to commit to employment policies that are considerate to businesses as well as families". She unveils key principles for achieving the aim among which is the abolition of the extremely complex and intricate discipline and grievance procedures, a decreasing in the administrative headache posed by maternity leave, the perpetuation of the 48-hour week opt-out for some countries etc (Ashby, 2005, p. 19). She mentioned that meantime business owners are left feeling perplexed by the complexity, entanglement, volume and usual speed of changes in employment law. As the typical business owner in the person of HR department can be heavily influenced by a direct upsurge in the administrative burden, particularly, in the spheres of their productivity and possibility to create jobs (Ashby, 2005, p. 20). Thus, entrepreneurs have vast expansion intentions, big ambitions and positive forecasts, but the total affect of employment regulations can easily discourage them from, for instance, employing more staff (Tehrani, 2001, p. 62). "Many businesses heavily depend on regulatory stability and a flexible workforce, which are put at risk with each new piece of legislation" (Klaas and Thomas, 1994, p. 111). In order to improve the situation in some way Rebecca Ashby (2005) proposes to commit to some ideas like: * Retain the right of employees to make a choice for themselves about the hours they work; * Measures concerning the administrative headache formed by parental leave involving a need for mothers to keep employers informed of when they are going to return to work and the payment of established maternity pay basing on the state to the recipient; * The establishment of a particular charge, collected from applicants, when they want to file any employment claims; * Employment tribunals creating realistic costs awards regarding vexatious applicants. Thus identifying key principles for deciding topical issues in employment policies and in such a way in discipline and grievance are considered by many experts to be freedom from red tape, combating crime, a favorable better business environment investing in skills development and fairer and simpler taxation systems (Lussier, 1990, p. 10). The educational ground of discipline and grievance practice It is obvious that nowadays discipline is an inseparable part of a managers duties. Wolfe A. (1997) mentioned that: "People can face almost any problem except the problems of people.... Faced with problems with people, management...will go into a state of paralysis". "Coping with disciplinary problems is one of the most difficult and stressful, yet essential parts of any supervisors job" (Day, 1993, p. 30). It is necessary to realize that the discipline process includes more than simply managerial instinct or insight to deal with workplace disciplinary problems. Many organizations possess objectives or union agreements in place which are directed to protecting employees rights, for example, from arbitrary dismissal, freedoms and possible lack of feed-back (Newman 1991, p. 10). It is highly important for any organization to create a fair, real, and timely disciplinary feed-back (Bemmels, 1994. p. 287). Although the notion "discipline" at first may seem to be clear, Guetschow (1999) gives the particular definition for the notion of discipline in is article. Though the notion is often regarded as a synonym with the term "punishment", it is contrasted to punishment according to these authors. While punishment is defined as an "undesirable event that follows an instance of unacceptable behavior and is intended to decrease the frequency of that behavior" (Buhler, 1993, p. 19), discipline represents 3 specific meanings: * punishment for violating of a rule or direct order at work; * training that forms and contributes to the employees behavior and values; * and "control gained by enforced obedience (Iris, 1998, p. 21)". Using these three meanings, we may conclude that discipline has not only a corrective constituent but also an educational one (Segal, 1990, p. 94). We may conclude that resolving conflicts at workplace it is necessary to use reasonable, educational and value-based methods (Johnson, Kiehlbauch and Kinney 1994, p. 80). Lets consider the situation: Sam was not surprised when he got to know he would appear among the group of employees to be fired. The organization where he was a faithful employee for 20 years had been in a situation the downsizing process for months. Thus Sam went to the HR office to ask about benefits connected with severance. He imagined himself as an apprentice 20 years ago in what was then a small local organization to his promotion through the ranks of what was now a vast company. And when the secretary tried to step him forward, his recollection had caused a flood of emotions, and rather than asking friendly about the terms of severance, he began speaking crossly. In a moment, he lost his temper totally. Shaking his fist at the secretarys desk, he said, "A dreadful event could happen right now!" Within ten minutes, Sams file was on the desk of the security manager and behavioral consultants began to conduct their assessment of possible dangerousness. After examining Sams records and discussing the alternatives with management, it was concluded that a psychological evaluation was in order. A series of tests were carried out, after which Sam was interviewed. His wife and some other employees of the organization were interviewed as well. All the information collected was then examined and evaluated against established criteria for dangerousness to identify whether Sam represented a clear and intimidate threat to the given target. So were time, money, and efforts just wasted or was it a precedent of averting a potential crisis? Nowadays managers are to make judgment calls like this every day. Throughout in the 2000s, they are making them more frequently. Thus it is necessary to understand the situation in general and what triggers it in the workplace (Scott, 1992, p. 17). Well determine which methods will serve in the best manner the above-mentioned objectives in preventing workplace conflicts and how to resolve a conflict when it really takes place. Main reasons of the conflicts at workplace and value-based discipline and grievance methods for resolving these conflicts Before determining the value-based methods lets take into consideration some facts. Evaluating the causes of employment disputes CIPD (2004) represents a statistics which rank 15 causes of employment conflicts to find out which are most likely according to the opinion of the UK employees to lead to individual disputes: behavior/conduct 26.5%; performance 16.0%; sickness absence 9.5%; attendance 7.0%; theft 3.9%; relationships between colleagues 3.9%; terms and conditions 3.8%; bullying 3.4%; work arrangements 1.0%; equal pay 0.3%; race discrimination 0.8%; sex discrimination 0.6%; disability discrimination 0.3%; sexual orientation discrimination 0.1%; religion/beliefs discrimination 0.2%. We see that behavior/conduct of employees is the most important cause by a considerable degree; scoring 27% compared to the second most important cause, which was job performance at 16%. It is obviously that preventing of the most frequent conflicts should be grounded the easy value-based disciplinary methods (Kinney and Johnson, 1993, p. 36). Determining of organizational culture and values Discovering an organizations values does not demand the skills of a cultural anthropologist. But it is essential to cast aside any prejudices about what those values are to be. The discovery of an organizations values requires an insight in its staff interactions, work processes, leadership styles and even history (Ritz, 1993, p. 31). "Interestingly, the investigation of incidents in which outcomes differ from expectations can offer subtle clues to matters of great importance in this regard. Because problems highlight conflicts between perceived and actual values, they can serve to provide a clearer understanding of an organizations culture" (LEGAL & FINANCE: Few Simple Rules for Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All Men, 2005.). Guetschow (1999) G.identified 4 key values that traditionally have applied in service delivery but that are highly relevant to the practice of employee relations. These are: 1. "Dependability: reliably meeting expected levels of service quality and adhering to established standards of conduct. 2. Fairness: impartial treatment of citizens and employees. 3. Professionalism: applying all relevant knowledge and skills to the provision of service or to the administration of labor relations. 4. Efficiency: the most effective use of limited financial, physical, and human resources (Guffey and Helms, 2001 p. 148)". (In the situation with Sam some of the values were gravely violated). The using of these 4 values, in the given order of importance, should direct discipline and grievance procedures for addressing violations of work policies and rules by employees. The most serious infractions are possibly to involve the use of all of the following measures (Weiss, 1992, p. 1). Confidentiality One of the unfortunate consequences of working in the public sector is the loss of privacy. News media, complainants, citizens attending council meetings, and employees can all be expected to show curiosity over disciplinary cases involving public officials. It is particularly important to avoid public statements that could prejudice an investigation or defame an employee (as it was successfully made in our case-study) (Osigweh and Hutchinson, 1991, p.12), After all, it is understandable that an employee might well continue in employ. "I can recall several "open-and-shut" cases involving serious misconduct that collapsed during the investigation phase. Self-serving comments made in response to the pressures of addressing a challenging situation in a public arena are inconsistent with the values that promote employee morale and teamwork" (Bland 2000). Fairness to the employee demands applying the highest level of confidentiality to all aspects of the disciplinary case. Suspension with Pay While not all rule infractions result in a suspension with pay, those that are judged to be most serious and that could potentially result in termination of employment generally do arrive at this point (Zacharias, 2003, p, 72). "A suspension with pay removes an employee from a work environment where his or her continued presence could disrupt the workplace and impede the timely completion of an investigation. A suspension also permits the employer to take a more thoughtful approach to the investigation because the pressure to complete it and to discipline the working employee or minimize back pay has been relieved" (Zacharias, 2003, p, 71). Investigation The investigation phase of a discipline case highlights the first three of principal values. Complainants and other employees must be assured that all allegations of rule violations will be investigated and that the investigation will be handled fairly in an attempt to discern the truth (Holley and Kenneth 1991). Professionalism requires that all assumptions about guilt or innocence, even in light of past experience with the same employee, be set aside in favor of impartiality. Further, the investigation must be done as quickly and as rigorously as possible. Discipline Once a hearing has been conducted, a decision is made as to what discipline, if any, is warranted. "While most cases for which we have used these procedures have appeared at first blush to warrant termination, only one employee has in fact been fired. In other cases, discipline has ranged from no action at all to suspension without pay for 30 days" (Ritz, 1993, p. 34). "To value dependability is to assure that inappropriate conduct will generally result in discipline. Fairness requires that the punishment fit the crime and that, whenever possible, the discipline be an appropriate means of restoring the employee to work" (Carner, 1961, p. 80). Fairness and professionalism also require to resist the temptation to use excessive discipline in an effort to satisfy complainants or the public or to set an example. Grievance Arbitration "While we might wish that using a values-based disciplinary approach would yield perfect harmony in labor relations, the reality is that conflicts between individual and organizational values and legitimate differences of opinion still give rise to disputes". It is at the final step of the disciplinary process that we see a marriage of fairness and efficiency (Henryand and Hulin 1987). "Not having a dispute resolution process available in cases of employment termination increasingly means having to defend an action in court". To address such an eventuality it is possible to adopt arbitration as the sole and exclusive remedy for employment disputes that might lead to termination for nonrepresented employees - mirroring the rights accorded to union members (Scott, 1992, p. 17). While arbitration is not without significant costs, it still is less expensive than relying on the courts. The setting for arbitration is less adversarial and can proceed faster toward a conclusion. "Moreover, the use of a professional in the decision-making role lends a greater measure of fairness toward both parties in the dispute. All of these factors contribute to our seeing arbitration as a better fit with our values than the courts" (Pulich, 1991, p. 5). Value for Citizens Using these procedures in the manner described can demand a lot of management time and resources. Though, these approaches are consistent with an organizational culture that sustains, and is sustained by, a well-qualified and highly motivated workforce. Most important, the practice of these beliefs produces value for citizens, in the form of high-quality public services (Jacobs, 1997, p. 49) Clearly, all organizations will not adopt as their values the four principles that we have articulated. Nor should they. The values of an organization must reflect the unique culture of that organization. Otherwise, statements of values will be seen as little more than window dressing, and their application will fail to produce the desired results (Guetschow 1999). But if current values do not contribute to a work environment that respects employees, and if they fail to produce work quality of which employees are proud, then a locality might consider turning its efforts toward changing the culture of its organization. The disciplinary process could be a good place to start. Conclusions Organizations should set standards of performance and conduct reinforced by company rules. Problems when standards are not met or where grievances are raised by employees may often be dealt with informally but if a formal approach is needed then procedures help employers to be fair and consistent. Disciplinary procedures may be used for problems with employees conduct or performance although some organizations have a separate procedure for dealing with performance problems. Grievance procedures are used for considering problems or concerns that employees wish to raise with their employers. Thus identifying key principles for deciding topical issues in employment policies and in such a way in discipline and grievance are considered by many experts to be freedom from red tape, combating crime, a favorable better business environment investing in skills development and fairer and simpler taxation systems. So taking into account these principles and value-based discipline and grievance procedures we may resolve conflicts at work in the best manner. WORKS CITED Anderson, T. 1999. Judicial Decisions. Security Management, November, 114, American Society for Industrial Security. Ashby, R. 2005. Be Business Friendly. The Journal (Newcastle, England), 3 May, 30. Bemmels, B. 1994. The Determinants of Grievance Initiation. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 47, SAM Advanced Management Organization. Bland, T. S. 2000. Get a Handle on Harassment. Security Management, January, 62, American Society for Industrial Security. Bohlander, G. W. 1989. Public Sector Independent Grievance Systems: Methods and Procedures. Public Personnel Management 18, no. 3, International Personnel Management Association. Buhler, P. 1993. Administering Discipline in the Organization. Supervision, vol. 54 (Nov.), International Personnel Management Association. Carner, D. C. 1961. Overcoming Employee Dissatisfaction, Personnel Journal, 39, Society for the Advancement of Management, pp.399-403 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 2004. Managing conflict at work. A survey of the UK and Ireland. 2004. Available at: http://www.cipd.com Day, D. 1993. Help for Discipline Dodgers. Training and Development, vol. 47 (May), FIG Organization, pp. 19-21. Goemaat, J. 2004. A Case of Good Judgment: Heres What Companies Need to Know before Conducting Investigations into Employee Conduct. Security Management, May, American Society for Industrial Security. Gordon, M. E., and S. J. Miller. 1984. Grievances: A Review of Research and Practice. Personnel Psychology, 37, Society for the Advancement of Management. Guetschow, G. 1999. Values-Based Discipline. Public Management, May. International Management Association. Guffey, C. J., and M. M. Helms. 2001. Effective Employee Discipline: A Case of the Internal Revenue Service. Public Personnel Management 30, no. 1, International Personnel Management Association. Henry, R. A., and C. L. Hulin. 1987. Stability of Performance Across Time: Some Generalizations and Limitations on Utilities. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, American Society for Public Administration. Holley, W. H. and Kenneth M. J. 1991. The Labor Relations Process. 4th ed. Chicago: The Dryden Press. Iris, M. 1998. Police Discipline in Chicago: Arbitration or Arbitrary? Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 89, no. 1, Public Administration Review. Jacobs, J. W. 1997. Turning to the Feds for Guidance. School Administrator, November, 20, American Society for Public Administration. Johnson, D. L., J. B. Kiehlbauch, and J. A. Kinney. 1994. Break the Cycle of Violence. Security Management, February, American Society for Industrial Security. Kinney, J. A. and Johnson, D. L. 1993. Breaking Point: The Workplace Violence Epidemic and What to Do About It. Chicago: National Safe Workplace Institute. Klaas, B. S., and D. C. Thomas. 1994. The Stability of Individual Grievance Behavior: An Examination of Assumptions about Grievance Activity. Journal of Managerial Issues 6, no. 4, Pittsburg State University - Department of Economics. LEGAL & FINANCE: Few Simple Rules for Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All Men. 2005. The Birmingham Post (England), 9 December, 25. Levy, M. 1990. Discipline for Professional Employees. Personnel Journal, vol. 69 (December), Society for the Advancement of Management. Lussier, R. 1990. 16 Guidelines for Effective Discipline. Supervisory Management, 35, Society for the Advancement of Management. Menand, L. 2001. Undisciplined. The Wilson Quarterly, Autumn, 51 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Newman, C. 1991. Good Government Needs Good People. The Bureaucrat, 20, Pittsburg State University - Department of Economics. Osigweh, C., and W., Hutchinson. 1991. Positive Discipline. Human Resource Management, 28, DTI of the UK. Pulich, M. 1991. Disciplining Late Arrivals and Long Lunchers. Supervisory Management, 36, Society for the Advancement of Management. Ritz. D. 1993. Company Should Not Love Misery. Security Management, 37, American Society for Industrial Security. Scott, J. P. 1992. Aggression: Functions and Control in Social Systems. Aggressive Behavior, 18, Monthly Review Foundation, Inc. Segal, J. 1990. Did the Marquis de Sade Design Your Discipline Program? HR Magazine, 35, Columbia University Press. Steers, R. M., and D. N. Braunstein. 1976. A Behaviorally Based Measure of Manifest Needs in Work Settings. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 9, Westport, CT.. Tehrani, N. 2001. Building a Culture of Respect: Managing Bullying at Work. London: Taylor & Francis. Weiss, D. 1992. How to Deal with Unpleasant People Problems. Supervisory Management, 37, Society for the Advancement of Management, pp. 1-2. Wolfe, A. 1997. The Moral Meanings of Work. The American Prospect. The American Prospect, Inc. Zacharias, F. C. 2003. The Purposes of Lawyer Discipline. William and Mary Law Review 45, no. 2, The American Prospect, Inc. . Read More