Requirements and Questions.docxBSBWRK520 – Manage Employee.docx

Requirements and Questions.docx
BSBWRK520 – Manage Employee Relations
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Note: All the answers in these questions are in the “Guides.pdf”
but you need to find your own answer. Explain, evaluate and
criticise ideas. Please read it!
1. Develop and deliver training to individuals in conflict-
management techniques and procedures. (114 words)
2. Identify sources of conflict or grievance according to legal
requirements, and where possible, alleviate or eliminate them.
(112 words)
3. Clarify issues in dispute by evaluating documentation and
other information sources. (112 words)
4. If required, obtain expert or specialist advice and/or refer to
precedents. (112 words)
5. Determine and document the desired outcomes, strategy and
timeframes for the negotiation. (112 words)
6. In negotiation, advocate the organisation’s position to obtain
agreement. (114 words)

7. Certify, the agreed outcomes with the relevant jurisdiction.
(112 words)
8. Follow up on the agreements, and where groups or
individuals fall to abide by the agreements, take remedial
action. (112 words)
Guides.pdf
Developed by Enhance Your Future Pty Ltd 49
BSBWRK520 - Manage employee relations
Develop and deliver training to individuals in
conflict-management techniques and procedures
Conflict management is the process of breaking down the
conflict in a way that identifies the
issues, proposes opportunities for negotiation and results in
positive action. It is not, however,
about winning or getting everything that you want nor is about
standing your ground.
Whilst we would all love to avoid conflict, Australian
workplaces generally look at conflict as
being a part of a diverse workforce with differing views,
cultural needs and other forms of
diversity. Instead of focusing on the elimination we look,

instead, at controlling it reducing the
reasons for conflict and improving our response with the right
policies, procedures, strategies,
plans., communication methods and frequency, skills and
knowledge and more.
There are three types of conflict management that are used in
businesses, and this generally
represents the key levels of procedural planning – the first
being internal, the second being
assisted internal and the third being assisted external. The
fastest for everyone is the internal
unassisted procedure where the employee initiates action with
their line manager and works,
using a system of policies and procedures, to resolve the issue
with the appropriate staff. The
most expensive, time-consuming, slowest and least beneficial is
an external assisted resolution
where the employee takes their complaint to another body for
arbitration through legal
proceedings.
Because everyone wants to avoid arbitration, it is helpful to
have a number of internal conflict

resolution mechanisms and good relationships with assistive
services, unions and other employee
representatives. Internally you might try:
sue raising – an employee raises a problem with their line
manager, and together
they investigate opportunities for resolution. They might use a
root cause diagnosis
tool and work together or with the help of others in the business
to workshop the
best solution. It is quick, easy, free and a win-win for
everybody.
- as covered in previous topics this is
the procedure, policies
and procedures for getting help in the workplace. Normally they
are more formal
pathways to getting help and should be activated when issue
raising does not meet
the needs of the individual, the matter is complex or private,
there are health, safety
M A N A G E
N E G O T I A T I O N S T O R E S O L V E
C O N F L I C T

or wellbeing concerns involved or there is an allegation.
– this can be an internal process involving
independent people, normally
someone from human resources, or can involve people who
provide this dialogue
internally. Mediation is assisted in that a third party helps the
two parties talk through
a problem, break down the issues and solutions, ask appropriate
questions and work
in a generally positive way towards a resolution.
We have all had to deal with some form of conflict in our
workplaces or in our lives before, and
everyone has a different style. You may have met people who
don’t raise issues until they are at
boiling point, people with short fuses, people who deny
regardless of the situation, those that cry
and those that get so worked up they can no longer
communicate – and these same people may
now be in position of management where they are faced with
conflict with employees on a

regular basis.
One of the biggest barriers to staff participation in conflict
management mechanisms is their lack
of skills, knowledge and training in this area; fear of getting the
process wrong, saying the wrong
thing, being put under pressure, having to compromise or not
having the solution are all signals
of a this.
Staff who are required to manage conflict within their roles may
need skills in:
summarising
em diagnosis including root cause
analysis
-solving and evaluation of options
negotiation
When you investigate training options, both internally and
externally, it is useful to find programs

that:
strategies for each of these
icies and
procedures
and project
third party to improve
skills
Identify, and where possible alleviate or eliminate,

sources of conflict or grievance according to legal
requirements
There are certain areas of conflict that are required to be
eliminated by law – immediately you
might think of health, safety and wellbeing concerns,
discrimination, harassment and bullying and
unfair pay. Not surprisingly, these are some of the most
reported sources of friction in Australia,
and they are the most costly financially and to productivity.
Like the Hazard Control’s that you might use to control risk in
areas of health and safety you can
use the same process of immediate control with a long-term
view to elimination. In the hierarchy
relating to general risk, we replace personal protective
equipment with supervision.
Here is the hierarchy and some suggested actions working from
the least effective to the most
effective:
Su
observer – normally a team leader whose
sole function is to oversee work.

mentor, coach or supervisor and unpack
the productivity reports with suggestions
for improvement.
-
enrolment or to entire teams
performing
iew /
hiring / induction documents that check
each person has been given the same
information
training / experience

– i.e. design,
equipment availability, layout of
workstations
performance management
problem-solving at the whole of business
level
formal and informal interviews for
isolating problems
ies
including measurement taking and
reporting
expanding roles, taking on extra duties (for
reward).

management
rong policies on retention, supervision
and termination combined with routine
manager training/coaching in what to do
and when to do it
including recognising and rewarding
achievement and when someone exceeds
expectations
including the strength of the teams,
workshopping of findings with other
managers / CEO / Board
There will, of course, be times when regardless of the internal
development and investment in
industrial relations, a business is likely to be perceived as
unresponsive, uncooperative or even
oblivious to some disputes. Take for instance after a major
safety incident – often people
become disgruntled because there has been a history of not
acting quick enough or investing in
the best option in the early days leading to greater, unresolved

conflict and certainly conflict with
multiple people simultaneously.
In Australia, we recognise a number of different mechanisms for
employees to voice concerns
and have them settled assisted or unassisted at the local level.
Earlier we mentioned that all
conflict is bad for productivity, but the following are some
examples that will directly influence
productivity in unresolved or prolonged conflict:
absenteeism
-Slow strikes where employees reduce their work pace
-to-Rule where employees only perform the tasks in
their position descriptions
or that are in certain areas of business procedure *NOTE: this
can occur on an
individual level, not just on whole of team or whole of business

disputes, with
employees systematically reducing their own investment in a
job and reverting to
“position description” duties only. This can be a warning sign
of conflict even before
the employee reports it!
Evaluate documentation and other information
sources to clarify issues in dispute and ensure
completeness, balance and relevance
When dealing with conflict internally is it important to be
accurate but not to the point of being
unsupportive or dismissive. This means checking documents,
records and situations to ensure
that what the employee is saying and what is available are
congruent. You are looking to support
the employees’ evidence with documented or witnessed
evidence that will help you better treat

and prevent the problems occurring in the future. You are not
undertaking an investigation,
gathering legal evidence or passing judgement and no one is
being cross-examined.
Your first and primary source of information should be a formal
complaint letter or template. It
is useful to set out a way that you want employees to raise
issues so that they can be broken
down easily and to even provide an example. Whilst this will
often raise the history and the
nature of the complaint, you should always break down each
point into what the situation is,
what is being asked of the employee, what actions need to be
taken and the intended result.
Conversely, if the employee has taken their matter outside of
the business, you may need to
collect legal evidence over a short period of time to either
support the company’s position or to
make decisions about formal concessions and changes that can
be made. It is important to
approach this task with an open mind that perhaps the company
is wrong.

It is useful to include in your policies and procedures a
checklist for helping you to clarify issues,
but as this list would vary between different types of disputes, it
is useful to work with some
flexibility also.
Documentation might include:
nistrative documents, templates and filing systems
documents
nd tip sheets

It might also be helpful to work with people in the organisation
informally or formally to gather
eye-witness accounts and to get feedback on a situation.
As you collect information you should record it in a number of
ways to ensure that there is
transparency in what you are doing there is a chain of evidence,
you have been accurate, the
evidence supports one or both positions, and you can use the
evidence in time and place to
continue the dispute resolution process. A helpful document for
recording evidence might be a
matrix in which you can record the issues, the company
position, the employee position, any
legislation, regulation or industry code of practice that supports
your position and the evidence
you will use to support that it is has been applied appropriately
in the workplace.
In your collection process, it is useful to undertake any ordinary
reviews of information to check
for accuracy and quality and to apply any normal adjustments
provided for in your plans.

If at any time you are unsure about what should be collected,
accessed or maintained throughout
a dispute resolution process you should get legal help from the
company’s lawyers, through the
FairWork information service, from an employer representative
agency or in accordance with
instructions from legal enforcement agencies.
Obtain expert or specialist advice and/or refer to
precedents, if required
Even with the most up-to-date training, all staff involved in the
supervision, hiring, firing or
management of people in the workplace may need help to
resolve complex disputes. There are
specialists who do nothing but resolve or consult on particular
areas of employee satisfaction,
and they are available at any time to support anyone in the
workplace to resolve disputes

internally or externally.
Specialist services may include:
representatives and employer
representatives
or federally
It is important, before you contact any of these organisations, to
be clear on the pathway that you
have agreed to follow on any current disputes, and that you
have invested internally in gathering
evidence and documentation to help these services to help you.

Best practice suggests that you:
– write down
or record the details
for two or more services that you will approach.
and making copies of
complaints, policies and procedures available in one folder or
place.
and their availability with
your timelines. You should provide a summary of the matter and
tell them the
questions you are trying to answer. You should ask for rough
timeframes or
turnaround periods and enquire about the processes they will
undertake.
pare multiple service options where possible to choose
the best fit for the job.
You should look specifically for services that can turn around

work within your time
frames, which are available, that represent quality, that have a
complex or thorough
approach to consultation and have a working knowledge of
either your industry, area
or state.
should take notes of
responses during this phone call.
you should get details to send
a cover letter and copies
of documents and any objectives for the consultation including
your questions or
required formats. If there is a fee involved you should try to
pay this upfront or
provide a letter of authority to invoice or purchase order.
It is important that you are clear about your timelines when
engaging the help or support of
people externally as these can become crucial to the positive
resolution of employee conflict. In
any case, you should advise the employee as matters progress
and of any expected timeframes

each action. For example: when you have contacted an agency
and sent the paperwork you
should let the employee know that you have done this and when
you expect to get an answer, or
if you have received contact from the specialist but need time to
analysis the results you should
tell this employee this too.
Determine desired negotiation outcomes,
negotiation strategy and negotiation timeframes
Negotiation is often described as a tug-o-war between two
parties, but if you remember the
game, from your childhood, you might also remember that
someone always exerts more power in
the long run and effectively “wins” by pulling the other party
across the line into their side. This
is not, at all, the intended effect of negotiation which is more

about persuasion and compromise.
It is a state of win-win instead.
In order to negotiate or compromise you must have clear and
stated expectations from both
parties – in other words, in order to be flexible you must have
something to be flexible with!
The best way to prepare for negotiation is to get a clear
statement, preferably written or in
another way recorded, from the employee(s). You should then
undertake research and
consultation internally to define the expectation of the company
or the parties you represent. It is
important to remember that “people's” expectations may differ
from the policies and procedures
that are in place.
The process from here is clear:
– where are the two
parties expectations the
same, where are they different, why are they different, if they
are the same what is
stopping you from resolution, what are the associated laws /
regulations and so on.

– if you have expectations
that are the same or
similar, and there is minimal, or no barrier to resolution then
tell the other party
exactly what you are going to do, how you are going to do it
and in what time frame
to resolve the problem.
– if you have
expectations that are the
same or similar and there are major barriers to resolution then
tell the other party
exactly what you are going to do, how you are going to do it
and in what time frame
to resolve the problem.
law or regulation in
your state / country.
– are there matters that, for the
employee, are not fully
addressed by the resolutions already set, what are their new
expectations, what are
their questions or objections.

until a resolution has been achieved or
until only matters of law
are left. In the case of matters of law, you may need to refer the
employee externally
to have the matter resolved at a higher or governmental level.
The persuasion or concession aspects of this process come in
stating what you can and will do
without focusing on the negatives. Where you say “we are not
willing”, “we won’t”, “we can’t”,
“it’s not possible”, “but” or “however” you are providing
negative discussion points that take
away from the positive action that you can take. Where there
are negatives you should:
especially those in writing.
–
o “We can refer you externally to…. to discuss … To do this,
we will …..” or

o “We can release you from that duty / position / expectation,
and this will
mean….. We will do this by…” or
o “We have to apply a fair and even approach to this matter, and
we have done
so in consultation with ….. We will keep doing …..”
discuss or when emotions
are escalated. You should take a proactive approach such as
setting up meetings and
consultations or providing the details to the employee at the
time of any discussions.
In the event that you are resolving a complex matter where there
is both personal and emotional
investment on the part of the employee(s), you should make
available the opportunity to be
represented. This is an employee right in all matters although
you may wish to provide a
framework for its productivity. Many Australian organisations
that are aligned with a union
choose to make representation a union representative only
option, especially in the early stages of
negotiation. Where possible use discretion so as to avoid being

unfair to people who are not yet
members of the union or do not wish to be.
A negotiation is only an option when the two parties are willing
and able to discuss their options
and when there is still the ability to move or bend in a position.
You may find that you prepare
for negotiation but in the meeting with the other party, they are
no longer willing to bend or be
flexible with their expectations. It is important, therefore, to set
time periods for responses,
investigation and negotiation to ensure that you do not miss any
windows of opportunity.
A good timeline is:
complaints within 24 hours acknowledging
receipt and thanking the
person for bringing the matters to you in the appropriate way
within 48 – 72 hours to help you

to plan for a more
detailed response. If possible, meet with the person during this
time.
leave, public holidays or
the whole of business functions and advise the employee of the
timelines that will
apply to them.
days. If you do not have
any resolutions or outcomes at this point, you should state this
and what you are
going to do to get the information you need.
– this means
95% of all complaints
raised, in general, and 95% of all matters raised by the
employee in their complaint if
you cannot get final outcome within this time because of
impediments.

Advocate the organisation’s position in negotiation
with the view to reaching a resolution that aligns to
organisational objectives
As outlined in the previous section sometimes you, a manager
or a human resources practitioner
will be required to negotiate on behalf of the organisation in
order to achieve a win-win
resolution. There will be times when this is advocated to an
external service provider,
representative, agency or department.
The level of formality needs to be considered when advocating
externally, and your
communication should include all areas where action can be
taken. When working with people
who are not a part of your organisation, you will need to
include:
how these are explained
to individuals and how you know that the person making a

complaint was aware prior
to the complaint
including any forms, records,
logs, templates or communications.
or the board stating
the position
industry codes of practice to
support your position.
In general, an external agency will forward all correspondence
with their summary of the
situation to the employee, so they need to understand the who,
what, when, where, how and why
every bit as much as the employee should. This also gives them
time to unpack any additional
issues that may be arising, or that may need addressing.
It is important when advocating a position that you:
itives

e the authority to write on behalf of the organisation or to
represent the
organisation – you may get this through your position
description, or you may have a
process for signing off negotiation approaches through
workplace procedure.
It is possible, in all negotiations, that the employer has acted
within the law, regulations and
current awards and they are not prepared to be more flexible in
the application of their legal
entitlements. In this case, you may advocate for compliance
with the law, change of the law for
your employees, or for concessions instead.

Document, and if necessary certify, the agreed
outcomes with the relevant jurisdiction
The process of resolution for outcome includes:
After you have completed negotiations and a resolution has
been offered and accepted, it is an
important part of the process to document what you have agreed
to and to have the terms,
accepted by both parties. An example of this might be in the

negotiation of a workplace
agreement that changes that normal hours of an employee – you
would make the offer, create the
agreement highlighting the new arrangements, send it to the
employee to sign and then have
someone with workplace authority sign it on behalf of the
employer.
Documentation is more than just writing a letter or making a
note – these are just records of one
sides approach. Instead, when we talk about this final stage of
negotiation, we mean a systematic
approach to updating policies and procedures, contracts and
agreements and formalising …

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