5.2 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS
5.2.4 The influence of the relationship between management and unions on the
In this regard, the respondents were requested to respond on the way they thought of the influence that the relationship between management and unions exacted on the continuous upgrading of education and skills of employees.
The response of Senior Management (30%) to this issue was that unions are stifling training programmes especially those in the legislated Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and that had culminated in the skills levy not being claimed in time to secure and enhance further training and development. The unions (40%) responded to this question by stating that management put in similar, non-value adding courses on the WSP year in and year out and this was not benefiting employees.
The researcher took some time to explain to respondents the concept of “learning organisation” as explained by scholars like Erasmus (2010:257), Meyer (2012:102), with its characteristics of transformational learning namely, leadership, multiskilling career development, knowledge management etc. Respondents had to respond in terms of the gap as a follow – up question. OD Practitioners (30%) allude that change management was not yet able to deal with its aspects to the fullest as it was still in its humble beginnings. There was agreement among all respondents (100%), that the municipality was not yet at a stage where all learning organisation characteristics were accounted for, but with the establishment of the eThekwini Municipal Academy (EMA) great strides will be taken towards becoming a fully- fledged learning organisation.
There was also a concern around the general training of management and shop stewards. It transpired that shop stewards were merely given induction once elected, but were expected to interact with Heads, Deputy City Managers, and the City Manager at the highest level. Unions felt that the shop stewards should be trained in management through courses like Management Development Program (MDP) and others irrespective of their level when they get elected. This will also augment their academic training which they get through NEDLAC to do university degrees.
Regarding the training of management, respondents also suggested training which they get through NEDLAC to do University Degrees. Regarding the training of management, respondents also suggested training in labour relations once a person was promoted to manager level so that they learn the rules and also learn how to engage with labour. The main challenge, alluded to by all the respondents, was the budget as EMA always complained about insufficient budget to implement required
training and requested Clusters / Units to provide own budget, which is not readily available.
5.2.5 The extent to which union co-operation with management will contribute to a world class organisation
The respondents were asked to relate the extent to which they thought union co- operation would contribute to the creation of a world class organisation. For clarity purposes, the researcher took some time during the interviews to explain the concept “world class organisation”, and used the definitions offered by scholars like Khan (1996:1) who equated world class organisations with “best of the bests” in continuous improvement, quality management and customer satisfaction, and Finnemore (2013:147) who resolved after intense research that there must be 5 building blocks for the creation of a World Class Organisation, explained through a WCM organisation: flatter and non-hierarchical structures, productivity measurement, continuous upgrading of education and skills, union cooperation and fewer grades.
All 10 respondents, after fully understanding the phenomenon, responded with great vehemence that 100% union cooperation is a prerequisite for a world class organisation to be realised. Upon asking a follow up question of “how do we achieve that, then?” multifarious responses were found. Unions (40% of respondents) felt that things like “honest negotiation”, “consultation, not telling”, “listening, not arrogance”, “total paradigm shift in employment relations”, “more and more communication”, were all necessary to raise cooperation levels to the desired standard. One IMATU Shop steward even said in addition: “we need what I call ultimate consultation, which will involve conducting strategic planning together (unions and management) discussing action plans, programmes and projects at their inception, then undertaking those projects, e.g. productivity or restructuring projects together so that our members will be at ease, of course we will require training in specialised field like OD”.
The 3 Senior Managers and 3 OD Practitioners (60% of respondents) felt that labour had certain obvious deficiencies that hamper management-union cooperation, namely:
• Non-adherence to labour policy by labour;
• LLFs are dysfunctional due to labour ineptitude and incompetence;
• Shop stewards not adequately trained; and
• Unions see themselves as politicians.
One Senior Manager from Trading Services also added that consultation with unions however, was not prioritised by management always and he felt that there should be frequent interaction with unions at least monthly, at levels lower down the hierarchy so as to “remove the fear factor on issues like restructuring”. Schuster (1984:2) made the same statement that “in-plant labour-management committees and programs to improve union-management relations, which have applied a variety of OD and other process change activities to reduce problems normally outside the scope of traditional collective bargaining, were necessary to enhance cooperation”.
5.2.6 The influence of the relationship between management and unions on