United we stand?

Quote

“In the past a leader was a boss. Today's leaders must be partners with their people... they no longer can lead solely based on positional power.”  Ken Blanchard

News

The recent dispute between the Grangemouth petrochemical plant owners and the Unite union, which nearly led to the closure of the plant, is still being debated in the press and in Parliament.  

The Unite union took on plant owners Ineos over a disciplinary issue involving a union convenor, while the company wanted to negotiate the ‘survival plan’ for the loss-making complex.  At the threat of strike action, Ineos decided to close the plant, which was only reversed when the union accepted all the terms and conditions set out by Ineos; ‘a complete rout’ is how the press called it.

In other parts of the industry, unions and employers are working together constructively over safety and training, adjusting to the recession, and minimising compulsory redundancies.  Yet the poor relationship at Grangemouth led to a brinkmanship that almost cost 800 jobs directly, and over 2000 indirectly – which would have decimated the local community economically and relationally.

Arguably, the conflict is fuelled by the relational ‘story’ which the two parties are acting from.  The Unite union (and perhaps the management also) believes the relationship between employers and their staff is a fundamentally adversarial one – reflecting the Marxist thinking of many leaders in the Union movement.  

Yet there is an alternative story, which is that businesses can be built around the commonality or mutual benefit in the relationship between employers and those who work for them.  Economics deals in labour and capital, but in reality a business comprises a web of relationships between people – directors, employees, customers, unions, suppliers, neighbours, regulators and so on.   

When there is honesty, fairness and order in these relationships the business is more likely to survive in adverse times and prosper in the long run, with the benefits shared by all.  But where mistrust, strife and contention overshadow workplace relationships, then productivity falls, the business enters a downward spiral, and the web of relationships unravels to the detriment of all.

Read on…

Another company with 900 employees offers an inspiring example of that alternative story; it has never laid off a member of staff due to recession in its 130 year history.  Read about the Swiss Army knife manufacturer Victorinox here. 

Walk the talk

What is the underlying story between the stakeholders in your workplace?  Is there any area where you have an opportunity to rewrite that story and help it in the direction of more cooperative relationships?

The last word

From the Bible, Romans chapter 12 verse 18: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”