Inside the mediation room - efficiency, voice and equity in workplace mediation

Existing research into workplace mediation in the UK has tended to focus on managerial perceptions. Consequently, there has been a unitarist emphasis on the business case for mediation, revolving around its alleged superior efficiency properties compared to conventional rights-based procedures. This paper develops the research agenda in two respects: first, it foregrounds the experiences of participants in mediation through 25 interviews with individuals drawn from a variety of contexts. Second, it extends the analysis beyond the efficiency of mediation to consider issues of voice and equity. In doing so it explores the role played by mediation within the negotiation and re-negotiation of workplace relations and also the way in which it shapes, and is shaped by, power and control. In the cases examined in the paper, mediation not only facilitated employee voice, but allowed subordinates to challenge the authority of supervisors and line managers. However, the influence of mediation on the balance of workplace power relations outside the mediation room was much more limited

Custodians of contemporary pluralism? Acas' evolving role in addressing conflict during a time of economic and regulatory flux

AbstractThis paper charts the development of Acas over the last two decades as it responds to the changing context of British employment relations. While dispute resolution services have evolved to focus on individual disputes, Acas has remained true to its pluralist roots through its training and advisory services that continue to promote ‘good employment relations’

Breaking-up the ‘Precariat’: Personalisation, Differentiation and Deindividuation in Precarious Work Groups

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this record.Much-debated and researched, the subject of precarious work remains at the forefront of academic and policy discourses. A development of current interest is the reported growth of employment flexibility and increase in non-standard and atypical work, regarded by some as contributing to the emergence of a class-like ‘precariat’ of insecure and marginalised workers. However, this precariat framework remain largely untested and underexplored. Therefore, using in-depth narratives from 77 semi-structured interviews with workers from groups within the precariat spectrum, we address this gap. Our study finds that cohesion within and between these groups is overstated, and worker collectivisation far from apparent. As a result, this diversity of group dynamics, attitudes and experiences challenges not only negative conceptualisations of the precariat in the literature, but the theoretical validity of the precariat framework itself

Custodians of contemporary pluralism? Acas' evolving role in addressing conflict during a time of economic and regulatory flux

This paper charts the development of Acas over the last two decades as it responds to the changing context of British employment relations. While dispute resolution services have evolved to focus on individual disputes, Acas has remained true to its pluralist roots through its training and advisory services that continue to promote ‘good employment relations’

Disconnected human resource? Proximity and the (mis)management of workplace conflict

The development of more remote sources of advice has been a notable feature of the contemporary human resource (HR) function. However, the consequences for the management of workplace conflict are largely ignored within the academic literature. This study draws on data from two qualitative studies, which examine the experiences of HR practitioners (HRPs), line managers and trade union representatives in handling and resolving conflict. It explores how different dimensions of organisational proximity shape the relationships between HRPs and other key stakeholders, and the impact of this on conflict management. The findings suggest that formal, risk averse approaches to conflict are not simply a result of geographical distance. Instead, functional specialisation has not only eroded cognitive and social proximity between HRPs, line managers and employee representatives but also within the HR function itself. This has triggered the reinforcement of bureaucratic control and embedded responses that emphasise compliance rather than resolution

Critical Velocity of Vortex Nucleation in Rotating Superfluid 3He-A

We have measured the critical velocity v_c at which 3He-A in a rotating cylinder becomes unstable against the formation of quantized vortex lines with continuous (singularity-free) core structure. We find that v_c is distributed between a maximum and minimum limit, which we ascribe to a dependence on the texture of the orbital angular momentum l(r) in the cylinder. Slow cool down through T_c in rotation yields l(r) textures for which the measured v_c's are in good agreement with the calculated instability of the expected l texture.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A Crisis of Confidence? Front-Line Managers and the Complexities of Conflict

The aim of this chapter is to examine in detail how a sample of line managers experience handling conflict situations and to explore both the contextual factors that might make this challenging as well as those that facilitate the successful management of conflict, particularly in relation to the early and informal resolution that is now at the heart of public policy

Bullying and harassment and work-related stressors: Evidence from British small and medium enterprises

This article examines the relationship between work-related stressors and bullying and harassment in British small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Using representative data from a national survey on employment rights and experiences (Fair Treatment at Work) this research identifies that bullying and harassment is just as prevalent in British SMEs as in larger organizations. Drawing upon the Management Standards of the Health and Safety Executive a number of significant relationships with bullying and harassment are established. Work demands placed upon employees are positively related to bullying and harassment behaviours, whilst autonomy, manager support, peer support, and clarity of role are negatively associated with such behaviours. The study considers implications for human resource practices in SMEs and the risks of informal attitudes to these work-related stressors in contemporary workplaces are discussed