Industrial relations
Programme Overview & Summary
This workshop has been designed for anyone with line management responsibilities to increase awareness of the interactions with Trade Unions at local and national levels and develop their skill and confidence in building these working relationships.
Participants explore the complexities of creating and maintaining positive working relationships within a unionised environment.
The course highlights the legal framework within which Network Rail are required to operate, bringing in best practices from other industries to further enhance Network Rail’s industrial relations approach.
You will leave the workshop with a clearer understanding of the impact industrial relations can have on day-to-day operations. Developing specific situational knowledge, you will grow in confidence to engage with the relevant parties when working through change in your business area.
Style and Approach
Highly practical experiential workshop where you will explore and experience the stages of a change scenario viewed through a variety of perspectives, to recognise the role they play in successful and unsuccessful industrial relations activities.
Audience
All line managers.
Programme Structure
1-day workshop followed by a virtual surgery event hosted by an IR specialist to answer specific workplace questions.
Preparing for the workshop
None required.
Group Size
16 Participants
Programme Topics
Classroom modules
- Individual review of your current level of knowledge and confidence
- The legal framework and key case laws are explained
- Review an external case study to appreciate the implications of the legal framework
- Communication, consultation and negotiation terminology is clarified, and the key differences of these approaches confirmed
- Unconscious bias and the effect on the IR relationship are examined
- Trade Union duties are clarified, and management responsibilities defined
- Understanding what might happen when parties fail to agree, and industrial actions are taken.
Outcomes
Having attended this course, you will be able to:
- Appreciate the complexity of IR and how these impacts on you and your role
- Consider the implications in the NR environment and signpost to industrial action implications
- Apply the legal framework to a current (and as yet not concluded) example
- Clarify the similarities and differences of terminology in a wider IR sense compared with the more normal use of this language
- Understand how different approaches are applied to reach the best alternative to a negotiated agreement
- Experience the impact of IR when changes are required and be able to help your team through times of great uncertainty by being consciously aware of processes
- Appreciate how unconscious bias may affect the IR relationship
How to apply
If you would like to attend this course or have any queries about your projects following the course, or wish to submit your project for accreditation, please goto our how to book webpage.
