Three-quarters of companies in the Republic have introduced significant changes in the workplace over the past five years and almost half have plans for mergers or acquisitions, according to the director of the National Centre for Partnership, Mr John O'Dowd.
He was speaking in Dublin at the UMan Ireland 98 conference on "Union and Management Partnerships" yesterday. Mr O'Dowd said there was no significant variation in the rate of change between unionised and non-unionised workplaces. While 78 per cent of unionised firms had introduced new plant and technologies, 72 per cent of non-unionised plants had done so.
Some 76 per cent of unionised firms had introduced new products, or services, compared with 84 per cent of non-unionised firms. Thirty-nine per cent of unionised firms had plans for mergers and acquisitions, compared with 47 per cent of non-unionised firms.
He said the figures emphasised the high incidence of change, yet only a minority of companies were engaging their employees in a partnership approach.
An Post is one of the latest Irish companies to embark on a partnership approach, its group director of human resources, Mr John O'Hehir, told the conference. It was a labour-intensive business and labour costs accounted for over 68 per cent of operating costs.
A survey carried out in November 1997 showed that 80 per cent of employees were alienated from their job, even though most of them felt they were fairly paid and were proud to work for An Post. Partnership was still at an early stage in the company but the level of alienation had been halved in some areas over the past 10 months.
This followed the introduction of a Strategic Plan Roadshow and partnership initiatives in the workplace. The November survey had shown that 80 per cent of employees of An Post felt their interests were not being taken into account when the company made business decisions; 90 per cent did not understand the rationale behind those decisions; and 46 per cent did not understand the competitive pressures the company would face in the future.
Now 40 per cent of the workforce understood the rationale behind the company's business plan and 80 per cent appreciated the competitive threat it faced with liberalisation of the postal market. The company was now embarked on a policy of continually improving its communications process as part of an overall partnership approach.
While it was possible to change the top-level "architect" of the organisation relatively quickly, Mr O'Hehir said, it took time to change attitudes at the ground level. The Strategic Plan Roadshow had ensured that every employee attended a two-hour information session to understand the implications of change.
The company and unions had also encouraged local initiatives. In Tralee, for instance, postmen and management had agreed on a reorganisation of routes to enhance the service for business customers.
The head of resources at Harris Ireland Ltd, Mr Pat McCarry, said that the electronic sector faced intensive competition and constant change. "The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him", he said. "That is almost impossible for managers to do.".
Opening minds was seen as the most crucial element in building partnerships in the workplace by the director of human resources at Avonmore Foods, Mr Martin Fitpatrick. He described the company's experience in developing new ways of working at Ballyragget, the largest dairy processing plant in Europe.
"We didn't plan it the way it worked out," he said. "We had to take improvements one step at a time." Among the methods used by AWG was the right of employees to opt out of new reward systems and "dry runs", which allowed employees to see the consequences of change.