Industrial Relations Training
| Pages | vii-viii |
| Date | 01 January 1979 |
| Published date | 01 January 1979 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054923 |
| Author | Sam Wright |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Industrial
Relations Training
by
Sam
Wright
Director
at
the Industrial Relations Training Resource Centre
Ashridge Management College
Let me
introduce
the
Industrial Relations Training
Re-
source Centre
and
explain what
it is
doing
and
plans
to
do.
On the way
I
shall introduce some issues which affect
employment
and
managers—or should
do.
The Industrial Relations Training Resource Centre was
set
up in
1977
as a
national resource
to
provide focus
and co-ordination
to the
whole area
of
management
training
in
industrial relations.
Industrial relations
of
course means different things
to different people.
To
many
the
term simply brings
the
image
of
conflict
and
strikes;
or a set of
legalistic, for-
mal procedures.
At
the other end
of
the spectrum, there
is
a
school which sees
it as the
whole area
of
human
relations
in
industry.
The Industrial Relations Training Resource Centre
holds
to no
firm
definition,
but
recognises that
the
man-
ager's role
in
industrial relations
is to
do with managing
people, decision making
and
communication. From this,
it is apparent that management training
in
industrial rel-
ations
has
large areas
of
overlap with management
and
organisation development
So why has industrial relations been separated
out for
special treatment? Basically, because
it is
something
which touches
the
life
of
most people
in
employment
and
is an
area
of
considerable change—through legisla-
tion
and
social development—which often affects
the
role and responsibilities of
managers;
and
because,
despite
these factors,
the
level
of
management training
in
this
country leaves
a lot to be
desired.
The immediate recommendation
for a
Resource
Centre came from
an
NEDC Committee
of
Management
Education, Training
and
Development. This Committee
"Industrial relations
has
large
areas
of
overlap with management
and organisational development"
produced
its
report
in
1975.
The
report was based
on a
survey which found that
the
level
of
management train-
ing
in
industrial relations
was
inadequate
and
patchy.
It mirrored
a
similar observation
by the BIM in 1973.
It recognised that
a lot of
good work
was
going
on—
but that this needed
to be
pulled together
to
provide
a
coherent picture,
to
fill
the
gaps,
and
to give
a
particular
boost
to
incompany learning.
The Manpower Services Commission accepted
the
NEDC recommendation to set up the Industrial Relations
Training Resource Centre
and
meet
its
operating costs.
The Centre
is
small
and
will remain so.
It has no
more
than half
a
dozen professional staff—a dozen
in
total.
So
it has to
be
housed with another organisation which can
provide management
and
support services.
The
Man-
power Services Commission
put it out to
"tender"
and
a number
of
organisations, including regional manage-
ment centres and professional institutions put
in
bids
for
it.
The
Ashridge Management College
bid
was accepted
and
so
the Centre
is
housed there and
pays
a
management
fee to the College
for
its
services.
".
. . the level of management
training
in
this country
leaves
a
lot to be desired"
Because
the
Centre
is
small,
it can
never
be, and
would
not
wish
to be
another training organisation
in
competition with
the
many already
in
existence.
Its
role
is essentially one
of
resourcing
to
meet
an
organisation's
needs through information
and
referral
to
available
skills
and
materials:
it
works through other people.
To
help
in the
determination
of
policy,
it has an
Advisory
Council
and an
Executive Committee.
The Centre's main thrust is as a support to in-company
training. In-company activity
or
training tailored
to the
needs
of the
individual organisation,
is
seen
as the
most
effective because sound industrial relations practice
de-
pends on an understanding
of
the organisation's aims and
policies and real involvement starts
here.
Similarly
com-
pany policy, and its systems
of
communication and decis-
ion making,
all
have
an
effect
on
industrial relations.
The Centre's role here,
is to
ensure that employing
organisations have
the
information, advice
and
support
to make the best choice
of
resources to help them identi-
fy their training needs, design training programmes
and
carry out the training.
It
needs
to
know what is available
and will create
a
network
to put
users
and
providers
in
touch with
one
another—to help users
to
make
the
best
choice
of
resources
to
meet their needs.
This means building
a
network, as the training world
is
very complex. On the provider's
side,
there are the train-
ing boards,
the
worlds
of
further
and
higher education,
publishers
and
producers
of
audio-visual materials, inde-
pendent management education,
the
Business Schools,
professional bodies,
the
TUC. ACAS
and so on.
Users
are employers
in
manufacturing and non-manufacturing
Employee Relations
1,1
1979
vii
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