Edmonton property assessments prompt flurry of calls

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Edmonton property assessments prompt flurry of calls

EDMONTON – More than 1,860 people have already called city tax assessors with questions about their property assessments, city officials said Friday.

That’s in addition to people who called 311 and had their questions answered without being referred on for a possible adjustment. Staff are trying to return all queries within three business days, but “they are definitely busy,” said Rod Risling, branch manager for taxation and assessment. “We’re managing the call volume fairly well. Now is the time to call.”

Property assessments were mailed out Jan. 3.

The assessment is used to set each homeowner’s share of the city’s total tax bill once the appeals period is passed and the city finalizes it’s budget. This year, the city intends to collect slightly more than $1 billion in property taxes, which is an increase of 5.4 per cent from last year.

Most people reporting errors are letting the department know they haven’t received their assessment yet, or setting up a monthly payment plan, Risling said.

There is no fee to call a city assessor with a question if a homeowner believes there is an error in their assessment. Last year, 170 people had their assessments reduced that way, Risling said. To reach a city assessor, homeowners can call 496-6388. That line is staffed around the clock.

An informal query to the city saves homeowners the expense of filing a formal complaint with the provincial assessment review board. Filing a provincial complaint costs $50. This year, the deadline is March 12.

Risling said it’s more likely a tax assessor can correct a problem without the $50 fee if the homeowner calls now than if they wait until nearer the deadline, since many adjustments require a visit to the property.

 

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Using current political capital for conflict-resolution

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‘Sri Lankans’ approval of their President’s job performance likely reflects their happiness to finally have peace in their country and a vision for the rebuilding of their nation. The government’s lifting of Emergency laws has earned praise from the US and other Western nations and suggests Sri Lanka is trying to leave its violent past behind. It will be imperative for the Sri Lankan government to use this political capital as it works to resolve conflicts within the country and reintegrate disenfranchised portions of the population.’ Peter Cynkar – ‘Sri Lankans back the Rajapaksas amid Western criticism says poll’ Lanka Independent – Sept 2, 2011

The lifting of the Emergency laws by the President has been met with acclaim by many nations in the world. After the defeat of the LTTE with the able leadership of our President as the Commander in Chief of the Forces assisted by the experience gained in the battlefield by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Commanders of the three forces, the President was able to usher in an era of peace and tranquillity to our island nation, for which the large majority of Sri Lankans are forever grateful. It is regrettable that a very small minority of Sri Lankans due to their political inclinations have forgotten the suffering the Sri Lankan nation underwent during the three decades of brutal terrorist activities by the barbaric LTTE.

Foreign diplomats

Listening to the speech made by the Defence Secretary at the launch of the ‘Report on Humanitarian Operation – Factual Analysis July 2006 to May 2009,’ addressing the foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Colombo, in impeccable English, without making a single mistake displaying an absolute mastery of that language and making out a case against the infamous Channel 4 video and the Darusman Report, I felt the patriotism generated in the heart of this Southerner and the ingratitude of some Sri Lankans for the great achievement of defeating terrorism, in which Gotabhaya Rajapaksa played a major role under the direction of our President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The picture of the President kissing the soil of our motherland immediately after alighting from the plane at the Katunayake Airport after the defeat of the LTTE came to my mind in vivid detail exhibiting the patriotism of our President.

As Peter Cynkar states in his article ‘Sri Lankans back Rajapaksas amid Western criticism says poll’, Sri Lankans are grateful for the leadership of the President as they finally achieved peace after defeating the LTTE, described as the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization thereby creating an environment where the Sri Lankans of all walks of life are able to live without fear of suicide bombings and other atrocities committed by the LTTE.

Print-electronic media

I have decided to write this piece after observing the criticisms of the present regime in Sri Lanka found in the print and electronic media that are being made almost daily. As Catullus said in Carmina. ‘Cease to expect to win men’s gratitude; To think that human beings can be grateful.’ May be the President could say with Henry Fielding, as Fielding stated in Ton Thumb the Great; ‘When I am not thanked at all, I am thanked enough; I’ve done my duty and I’ve done no more.’ It is very relevant to note here what Edmund Burke said in ‘Thoughts and Details on Scarcity’: ‘And having looked to government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them.’ I am indebted to Former Justice Dr A R B Amerasinghe for these quotations taken from his work ‘Beautiful Inspiring Interesting Words’ (2005).

John Owen in his Epigrams said: ‘God and the Doctor we alike adore; But only when in danger not before; The danger over both are alike requited; God is forgotten and the Doctor slighted.’ From all these sayings it is obvious that human nature is such that gratitude is a rare commodity in human beings. But the same cannot be said about the majority of the Sri Lankan people who have overwhelmingly displayed their gratitude by returning the present regime to power by a vast majority of votes.

Emergency regulations

As international acclaim comes in the wake of the lifting of the Emergency regulations, as Peter Cynkar in his article quoted at the beginning of this piece states, the Sri Lankan government should use this political-capital to resolve conflicts within the country and re-integrate disenfranchised portions of the population. The report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is due shortly and its recommendations may be useful in the resolution of many problems facing the nation on ethnic issues.

As the President has often said, while constructive criticism is helpful and appreciated, destructive criticism has to be rejected and despised. As Winston Churchill said in his speech to the House of Commons in 1941: ‘I do not resent criticism, even when, for the sake of emphasis, it parts for the time with reality.’ As the Bible says no man is infallible. Every person has faults. The people who criticize others have their own faults.

A patriotic person would engage in criticism constructively pointing out the mistakes and suggesting the solutions to correct such errors. Such criticism is useful and should be respected at all times. Freedom of Expression must be freely available in a democratic society.

Civilized society

Criticism should be met with suitable non-violent response in a civilized society. Recently a few articles appeared in the local print media and also on some web sites, which were critical of some members of the judiciary in Sri Lanka, which criticisms were not well founded. Such irresponsible criticism should be avoided at all costs as it erodes the respect of the public for the judiciary and thereby undermines that hallowed principle of the Rule of Law which is detrimental to the well-being of a democratic society.

It is time that all Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity and other differences unite for the peace, tranquillity and future prosperity of the nation, shedding petty differences. The present regime under the able leadership of our President would undoubtedly usher in economic prosperity to our country as it had already ushered in peace and tranquillity ridding our nation of three decades of unabated terror. Let me conclude with that beautiful thought of Bahaullah, revered religious leader of the Bahais thus: ‘We are the fruits of one tree; and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship… So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.’

http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/09/08/fea01.asp

 

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Pendulum must swing on jobs

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THERE is some good among the bad economic news South Africans have been inundated with lately: no local debt crisis, no sub-prime collapse, a world-class, stable banking system and a government budget process that is transparent.

However, most of our major trading partners are still suffering from the fallout from the economic downturn and the US debt-ceiling problem, so we cannot afford to have policy strangling our fragile economy.

The numbers are troubling.

Over a three-month period, 174 000 jobs have been lost while only 7 000 have been created, with the net effect of 167 000 jobs lost.

The unemployment rate (using the narrow definition that excludes those who have given up seeking work) is at 25.7 percent – about 4 538 000 job seekers. Adding those who have given up looking, the rate is about 38 percent.

This means that since the last quarter of 2008, South Africa has cumulatively lost 902 000 jobs.

Clearly, something is not working.

We cannot afford to sit and wait for the rest of the world to rescue us; we need to deal with the crisis internally.

Some government policies, and some union activity, are preventing the country from rising out of the jobs crisis.

We have Cosatu demanding a total ban on labour broking; the labour minister tabling a batch of the worst-drafted and most constrictive labour legislation the country has seen; and some of the most far-reaching strike action seen for years.

There were reportedly more than 1 000 working days per 1 000 workers lost last year, partly because of the prolonged public sector strike. This year has been no better.

One commentator, Gavin Brown, says South Africa now has the highest rate of strikes in the world.

This is completely unnecessary

With the world’s largest dispute resolution centre in Joburg (the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, or CCMA) we are clearly doing something wrong. Such a level of dispute and conflict is not in keeping with international norms.

Cosatu is creating unrealistic expectations, while current legislation and labour policy have created unhealthy, antagonistic labour relations.

Signs of the stress caused to the economy can be seen in the number of vacant stores and defunct restaurants in top-rate locations.

The lack of leadership in the Zuma administration compounds the problem. Highly controversial policy debates are raging around ANC alliance partners with no sign of resolution.

The debate on the nationalisation of mines and land expropriation, faltering foreign direct investment, a growing budget deficit and the mis-handling of the Walmart-Massmart merger, plus uncertainty about the future of labour brokers, point to this administration’s inability to lead and its failure to fulfil its promise that 2011 would be a year of job creation.

One has to ask, what factors are preventing President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet from taking action and rolling out a jobs-friendly economic policy?

A key problem must be the broad church of the tri-partite alliance and a bloated and directionless cabinet.

We’ve reached the point where the pendulum has swung too far in the direction of Cosatu’s demands for large-scale new job creation to be possible.

The pendulum needs to swing back from the edge. Critical dialogue in the alliance seems to be in only one direction, with Cosatu criticising the ANC government and no serious alternative direction offered. We may end up with the labour movement governing through the back door.

We need urgent changes to government policy and a jobs-friendly review of labour legislation, to provide the jump-start for jobs creation that the Expanded Public Works Programme has failed to produce.

The unemployed have no say at Nedlac or in the cabinet, which means Cosatu gets disproportionate airtime.

Policy, legislation and regulations aim to give ever more protection to those who have jobs, while making it harder for those not in work to find an open door to a new or entry-level one.

Lazy

A key problem is the difficulty companies face in replacing lazy or dishonest staff with hard-working or trustworthy people who are unemployed. This discourages companies from giving inexperienced or unskilled workers a first leg-up to a real job, as the risk is too great.

Changing the law to deal with this problem will reduce the burdensome caseload borne by the CCMA and encourage firms to take on more youth and people without work experience.

It costs taxpayers an average R6 500 a case to administer a remedy for unfair dismissals at the CCMA, but the average settlement cheque is R5 000 if the employee is not reinstated.

This is inefficient, costly and unnecessary. The system needs review to get people working or job-hunting and not waiting for their cases to be heard.

Providing a youth wage subsidy, tax rebates for skills development on the job, tax holidays for newly set-up small-scale enterprises and more support for small to medium businesses will help unlock the economy.

The great failing of this ANC administration, and the previous one, is that virtually all activities of the labour ministry and department focus on giving greater protection to existing workers while doing virtually nothing to create jobs, or to empower small business.

The Employment Services run by the labour department is a dismal failure, seeing a tiny fraction of job-seekers settled in permanent positions. Along with Productivity SA, it represents the only real attempt by the department to assist. This is pathetic.

With the current prohibition on firing lazy workers, difficulties in retrenching during a downturn, rising electricity costs and lack of continuing support for new enterprises, we will not see any new factories being built. Jobs-intensive companies that focus on exports should get a tax holiday to a degree.

Some have proposed an economic Codesa to break the current deadlock. The deadlock is caused by the lack of a strong voice at Nedlac and in the cabinet on behalf of the unemployed and the stranglehold Cosatu has on policy within the alliance.

An economic Codesa requires the voice of the unemployed being heard above the political posturing that bedevils policy debate.

The pendulum must swing away from Cosatu and the left to a more sensible middle ground where business can recover its confidence and open up the economy to increase manufacturing and exporting.

It has swung too far in favour of people who have jobs and too far from people who have no jobs.

An ANC colleague suggested the ruling party doesn’t want a labour broking ban, but is trying to appease Cosatu. If that is so, we have to hope the centre holds, and that leaders will bring the policy debate back to the unemployed and growing the economy.

The ANC needs a strong man to stand up to the left within its ranks and to point to these alternatives. This may result in the left splitting from the alliance, or listening to reason for the sake of the unemployed. Either way, it will be a service to the unemployed and the country.

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/opinion/pendulum-must-swing-on-jobs-1.1129800

 

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Labour disputes: Disputes of right versus disputes of fact

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In an employment relationship, a dispute is any disagreement or conflict between employees and their employer over issues such as discipline in the workplace, management style, wages, dismissals and other grievances which employees may have over their working conditions.

Broadly speaking, labour disputes are of two types namely disputes of right and disputes of interest. It is the purpose of this article to fix a dividing line between these two types of dispute as they are fundamental to the philosophy informing the dispute resolution procedures of the Labour Act.

Section 2 of the Labour Act defines dispute of right as “any dispute involving legal rights and obligations, including any dispute occasioned by an actual or alleged unfair labour practice, a breach or alleged breach of this Act or of any regulations made under this Act, or a breach or alleged breach of any of the terms of a collective bargaining agreement or contract of employment”.

It goes on to define dispute of interest as “any dispute other than a dispute of right”. South African labour law guru, Dr John Grogan, on page 344 of his book Workplace Law distinguishes between the two types of dispute as follows:

“A dispute of interest is one in which the claimant party seeks a benefit or advantage to which he has no legal entitlement; a dispute of right is one concerning the alleged infringement of a legal right, or the conferment of a benefit to which the claimant is legally entitled”.

Basically, disputes of right are conflicts that arise over the interpretation and application of existing labour laws, employment contracts, collective bargaining agreements, custom and practice or common law of employment. In practical terms, disputes of right will focus on existing rights.

For example, the law provides that employees must not be dismissed unfairly. Both the employer and the employee are not in disagreement about the existence of this right. However, conflict can arise over whether this right has been infringed, or not.

The employer will maintain that the employee was fairly dismissed while the employee will argue that their right not to be unfairly dismissed has been infringed.

Disputes of right usually involve claims of unfair dismissal (for example, retrenching employees without consulting with them), unfair discrimination or other unfair labour practices.

An example of a dispute of right is where an employer fails to pay an employee the correct rate.

Given that disputes of right are disputes are of a legal nature, the best way to resolve them would be to make use of judicial or quasi-judicial processes such as disciplinary procedures, grievance procedures and arbitration. A dispute of right is not settled by negotiation.

In contrast, disputes of interest are disputes between employers and employees where neither party has a right to that which it wants.

With such disputes, conflict may be a matter of opinion, such as whether a person or group of persons is entitled to certain resources or privileges.

There is no established law or right, hence parties have to resolve their differences through collective bargaining or negotiation.

The outcome of these negotiations may result in the creation of new rights that will affect the future relationships of the parties.

A good example would be a wage dispute. There is no right to a wage increase.

The outcome of a wage dispute can only be determined by power play – the exercise of economic power by employees and employers. Each party employs different strategies to achieve what it wants.

Employees can embark on strike action where agreement cannot be reached. Employers can withhold pay, effect a lockout or threaten employees with dismissal.

In order to protect industrial relationships from anarchy and lawlessness, the Labour Act sets out structures and processes on how disputes in the workplace must be resolved.

It prohibits collective job action over disputes of rights. While collective job action is fundamental to the resolution of disputes of interest, the Labour Act has put in place strict procedural requirements and exclusions before collective job action can be considered lawful.

In cases where collective job action poses social and economic risks to society in general, such as in essential services, the law prohibits recourse to industrial action and disputes will have to be resolved through arbitration.

Labour disputes can pose very serious problems in any organisation. While the distinction between disputes of right and disputes of interest may have legal significance, it has little economic significance.

Any workplace dispute will result in loss of production, loss of market share, loss of public confidence, poor motivation and low morale of employees and even closure of the organisation.

Therefore disputes need to be prevented and settled as early as possible by making use of the dispute resolution mechanisms provided for in our labour laws.

http://www.newsday.co.zw/article/2011-08-30-labour-disputes-of-right-versus-fact

 

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JOB TALK: Forgiveness a great aid in stress reduction

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“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” would make for a fairly pathetic sea of humanity in the workplace — if such a practice was followed in our culture.

The workplace would be nothing but blind employees and toothless individuals if we could never learn to forgive one another.

Everyone has a bad day. Everyone has moments of performing or demonstrating attitudes less than their very best.

What a great day it would be in the workplace if everyone would just get along. Some days it appears impossible. Statistics and personal experience will show disharmony and conflicts exist in marriages, families, faith communities, neighborhoods and in the workplace.

In 2000, “Attitudes In The American Workplace VI” Gallup Poll sponsored by the Marlin Company found that:

» 80 percent of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how to manage stress and 42 percent say their coworkers need such help;

» 14 percent of respondents had felt like striking a coworker in the past year, but didn’t;

» 25 percent have felt like screaming or shouting because of job stress, 10 percent are concerned about an individual at work they fear could become violent;

» 9 percent are aware of an assault or violent act in their workplace and 18 percent had experienced some sort of threat or verbal intimidation in the past year.

Conflicts in all areas have heavy consequences to bear. As a country, we are involved in three conflicts. We as a nation have some of the highest crime and violent offender statistics in the world.

We should not be surprised when bad behavior spills over into the workplace.

The unemployment numbers are consistently high and the competition for jobs, personal loans, services and assistance are dismal, at best.

We understand many of the complexities in life are outside of the realm of our control. The realities remain heartbreaking. At the end of the day — regardless of the circumstances — we still are responsible for our own individual contributions, behaviors and actions.

Conflict resolution experts may always advocate communication as the starting point with rebuilding relationships. Effective communication is no doubt vital in the workplace.

Another equally important component to building strong relationships is forgiveness.

We seldom hear the word forgiveness when it comes to resolving conflict in the workplace — but, it may very well be the key to growing healthy workplace teams and the key to long term professional success. We may have no control over our coworkers, but we have an opportunity to offer forgiveness and build healthier relationships.

We absolutely will never agree on everything — in our personal lives, or in our professional lives. Conflict can be healthy, enlightening and may stimulate the necessary change for many worthwhile opportunities.

Forgiveness is a great aid in stress reduction. When we can accept our coworkers for who they are and what they represent, and understand imperfections — perhaps we can extend the hand of forgiveness for any offensives, misunderstandings and mistakes. We can be better employees and better individuals by forgiving and giving someone the chance for a fresh start.

When you consider the amount of time you spend in the workplace — and the amount of energy and effort necessary to be successful — why not work just as hard to build bridges with your coworkers versus fences?

Anxiety and stress are normal, but our reaction to conflict, uncomfortable situations, diversity in coworkers and our own fixation with these (often perceived) problems can only prove detrimental.

Our goal should be problem-solving and conflict resolution. We are a melting pot of people and we bring a richness of education, work history, skills, abilities and ideas to the table in the workplace. We can find teachable moments in the workplace with a positive attitude, forgiveness, acceptance, effective communication and an effort to genuinely develop professional relationships with the people you spend your time working beside.

Sometimes our comfort zone ends right where conflict resolution begins. As employees and human beings, we are all in this together. We are truly better off personally and in the workplace when we learn to just get along.

http://www2.godanriver.com/business/2011/aug/28/job-talk-forgiveness-great-aid-stress-reduction-ar-1269066/

 

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What Does a Human Resources Manager, Generalist, or Director Do?

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Are you interested in what a Human Resources generalist, manager, or director does? Depending on the size of the organization, these HR jobs may have overlapping responsibilities. In larger organizations, the Human Resources generalist, the manager, and the director have clearly defined, separated roles in HR management with progressively more authority and responsibility in the hands of the manager, the director, and ultimately, the Vice President who may lead several departments including administration.

HR directors, and occasionally HR managers, may head up several different departments that are each led by functional or specialized HR staff such as the training manager, the compensation manager, or the recruiting manager.

Human Resources staff members are advocates for both the company and the people who work in the company. Consequently, a good HR professional performs a constant balancing act to meet both needs successfully.

The Changing Human Resources Role

The role of the HR professional is changing. In the past, HR managers were often viewed as the systematizing, policing arm of executive management. Their role was more closely aligned with personnel and administration functions that were viewed by the organization as paperwork.

When you consider that the initial HR function, in many companies, comes out of the administration or finance department because hiring employees, paying employees, and dealing with benefits were the organization’s first HR needs, this is not surprising.

In this role, the HR professional served executive agendas well, but was frequently viewed as a road block by much of the rest of the organization. While some need for this role occasionally remains — you wouldn’t want every manager putting his own spin on a sexual harassment policy, as an example — much of the HR role is transforming itself.

 

New HR Role

The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his or her changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction, and customer-centered.

Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor. At the same time, especially the HR Generalist, still has responsibility for employee benefits administration, often payroll, and employee paperwork, especially in the absence of an HR Assistant.

Depending on the size of the organization, the HR manager has responsibility for all of the functions that deal with the needs and activities of the organization’s people including these areas of responsibility.

http://humanresources.about.com/od/jobdescriptions/f/hr_job_mgr.htm

 

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Workplace Conflict: How to Diffuse Battles with Co-Workers

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No one likes to address workplace conflicts–not the employees who get embroiled in them and especially not the employees’ managers, who pretend they don’t exist. After all, conflict is messy, often political, and requires confrontation–an activity most people aim to avoid.

But the longer workplace conflicts fester, the bigger they grow and the more stress they create. “If conflict is not managed, it can become overwhelming and break down the lines of communication in an organization,” says Steve Dinkin, president of the San Diego, Calif.-based National Conflict Resolution Center. “If there’s a lot of anger and mistrust, teams can’t work effectively. Conflicts create a lot of inefficiency in organizations.”

Notably, the number of workplace conflicts increases when the economy is weak and jobs grow scarce, adds Dinkin. Some employees retreat into self-preservation mode, where they’ll do anything to save their job, including throwing another person under the bus.

The most common workplace conflicts stem from someone taking credit for another person’s work (whether it was intentional or unintentional) or someone badmouthing a co-worker to advance their career, says John Reed, executive director of staffing company Robert Half Technology. Conflicts also arise from differences among employees’ communication and work styles, he notes.

Dinkin and Reed agree that coworkers should try to address their interpersonal problems on their own before they involve their managers. Here are their four tips for taking the steam out of workplace squabbles.

1. Stay Calm

Reed advises victims of conflicts to express their concerns about their adversary’s behavior in as calm and professional a manner as possible. “You don’t want to walk into that conversation hurling accusations,” he says.

Dinkin adds that if you address your adversary in a forceful, confrontational way, he will go on the defensive, react just as strongly as you, and the conflict will only worsen. “If the person sees you’re frustrated, they have more control over you,” says Dinkin. “If you demonstrate that you’re not frustrated, you’re more in control of the situation.”

2. Ask Questions

To avoid a heated confrontation, Dinkin recommends asking your adversary questions about his behavior that bothers you. For example, if his listening to loud music during the workday inhibits your ability to focus and hampers your productivity, Dinkin says you could open the conversation by asking why he likes to listen to music while he works. If a coworker is taking credit for your work, for example, you might ask why he didn’t note your contribution to the project when he was talking about it with your boss. The object of asking these questions, says Dinkin, is for the victim to get a better understanding of why their adversary engages in a particular behavior.

3. Listen

Reed and Dinkin agree that it’s important for the victim to listen closely to his adversary’s response. The victim may believe that the adversary plays his music loud just to annoy him, notes Dinkin, but their dialog may reveal that the adversary is completely oblivious to the effect his music has on others and doesn’t mean to bother anyone at all.

The next step in resolving the conflict is for the victim to paraphrase the aggressor’s response and make it part of their question-seeking resolution. For example, Dinkin recommends the victim say, “I understand that listening to music helps motivate and focus you, but your music makes it hard for me to concentrate on getting my work done. Is there a way we can resolve this?”

Paraphrasing your adversary’s words assures him that you understand his perspective and helps to diffuse conflicts, says Dinkin. “Everyone wants to be heard. Repeating what the other person says demonstrates that you’re listening,” he adds.

4. Give Your Adversary the Benefit of the Doubt–Once

Reed says that if your aggressor denies or makes excuses for his behavior (e.g. “I’m not badmouthing you,” or “I didn’t mean to make you feel that way”), give him the benefit of the doubt–the first time. If he does it again, confront him, and bring up any promises he made to you when you first spoke about the issue. You might also say, “If we can’t resolve this issue on our own, we may need help from management.” Hopefully, invoking the boss will get your adversary’s attention and compel him to stop acting like a jerk.

Chances are, the bad behavior that’s creating the conflict will stop as soon as you bring it up with your adversary (provided, of course, you don’t lose your cool). The benefit of calling your adversary out on his behavior is that it sends the message that you’re on to him and that he can’t get away with continuing to bully you, say Dinkin and Reed.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/082211-workplace-conflict-how-to-diffuse-249990.html?page=1

 

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Success and sustainability in mediation

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In January this year, the UK Government announced details of a consultation on workplace disputes, directly aimed at achieving earlier resolution of conflict for all parties involved. The Government is considering how organisations can make more use of dispute resolution tools such as mediation and is seeking further information on its use, costs, benefits and barriers.

Many HR departments are now turning to mediation instead of formal processes when it comes to resolving conflict between their staff. Some have invested heavily in training and supporting in-house mediators, embedding mediation in existing processes and promoting the scheme internally. But at what point can these schemes claim success? How can an organisation assess the pay off of its investment, both in the immediate aftermath of a mediation, and further down the line?

This article will explore the concepts of success and sustainability in mediation and propose that success should be tracked through a combination of measurements and indicators.

Challenges of Defining and Measuring Success

There are many potential stumbling blocks involved in defining and measuring the success of mediation; but they can be avoided. We recommend the organisation begins by addressing three questions about what success would look like for them.

Firstly, should an organisation track the quantitative, objective measures or the less tangible effects on human relationships and organisational growth, or some combination of both? Secondly, what is the appropriate time frame for measuring success? Human relationships are complex issues that evolve over years. Whilst parties may leave mediation feeling that their issues have not been fully resolved, after a few days or weeks of reflection, they may come to realise that the mediation significantly helped them to understand one other, and opened the door to a more collaborative relationship. Conversely, the parties may leave the mediation room feeling euphoric, only to see their newly-restored relationship deteriorate as time goes by. Thirdly, there are many stakeholders involved in any conflict situation, including the parties themselves, team-members and colleagues, managers, HR and Unions. Measuring success in mediation begs the question: success for whom? It may be that as a result of mediation, the issue is resolved from the point of view of HR, whilst the parties are left feeling just as frustrated as before. Or, the parties may feel that the conflict has been resolved but HR is not satisfied with the outcome. Ideally, all stakeholders will view the mediation as successful. But reality may differ.

Common Definitions of Success

After considering these questions, the organisation must then select from a range of possible options to measure the success of mediation. One of the most commonly used metrics is the settlement rate, namely the percentage of mediations that result in a signed agreement or action plan (within a given time frame). A slightly broader version of this is the closure rate, which is the percentage of mediations that settle plus those cases in which the complaining party drops the formal complaints. These measures are clear, easy ways to quantify time and cost savings. But the evidence they provide is limited, for how can we prove that an outcome is directly attributable to mediation, when there are so many variables at play?

Many organisations also track the number and cost of formal processes (Employment Tribunals, Grievances and Disciplinary Procedures) and measure the extent to which these decline following the introducing of a mediation scheme. This can certainly provide an indication of cost savings at an organisational level, and help to justify the expense of introducing mediation. The tricky part is knowing how to measure these costs. Typically, organisations fail to take into account the hidden costs of conflict, e.g. sickness leave and cost of temporary replacements. And what about the costs that are more complicated to measure such as the effects on staff morale or company reputation?

Another interesting measure is the participation rate: the percentage of employees offered mediation who agree to participate. The assumption underlying the use of this measure is that any conversation held in a mediation context has value, because it promotes direct communication. This in itself is important, as for most parties in conflict, face-to-face communication has completely broken down. The mere fact that parties are talking to each other again can be seen as a sign of success.

All of the above definitions, in focusing on the tangible evidence of success, fail to quantify the human benefits of mediation, in particular its ability to reduce suffering and thus improve working relationships. To address this concern, many organisations use some form of post-mediation satisfaction survey. The questions can vary from overall satisfaction to more specific factors such as ‘being listened to’ or ‘getting a chance to hear the other person’. Satisfaction surveys can yield statistical data as well as quotes and testimonies. Whilst these can powerfully convey the human benefits and intuitively demonstrate success, they cannot yield quantifiable financial indicators. Moreover, for practical reasons, satisfaction surveys are generally carried out shortly after the mediation takes place and therefore fail to reflect how the relationship fares in the longer term.

Another way to define success is by referring to the effects on personal and organisational growth. Parties who have attended mediation are often better placed to handle conflict when it next crops up. Training internal mediators can have clear upstream benefits, as the mediators’ skills spill out into the wider workforce. And simply by investing in a mediation scheme, an organisation is sending out a message that it takes its people seriously. Through all these effects, introducing mediation can help to build a culture of openness, empowerment and personal responsibility. But measuring these upstream effects is necessarily challenging since the benefits are incremental and occur over a period of years. Evidence will be largely anecdotal and intuitive; although employee surveys can also provide useful indicators.

In conclusion, an organisation introducing mediation needs to be very clear from the outset what it defines as success. With the support of a conflict management specialist it can then design a practical but comprehensive framework to measure that success through a tailor-made combination of metrics. Through careful planning of this kind, the organisation stands a far greater chance of gauging the pay-offs of introducing mediation and recognising success when it comes.

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/features/1019918/success-sustainability-mediation

 

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Helping America's Military Stand at Ease

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Smyrna-based Conflict Resolution Academy seeks to provide conflict resolution skills to every member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The goal seems insurmountable: to provide every member of every branch of America’s armed forces with conflict resolution skills, but the dedicated team at Conflict Resolution Academy in Smyrna is committed to make it happen through their Operation: Soldier at Ease program.

America’s military men and women face many challenges when they return to civilian life and some statistics show they might not have the skills to cope with them. Men and women in the military have a divorce rate of 7.8 percent per 100,000 – twice the civilian rate. Incidence of suicide among military men and women is 19.5 percent per 100,000 compared to 12.8 percent for civilians.

“All this time in the military teaching them how to be a soldier,” said Carol Rice, co-owner of Conflict Resolution Academy. “They go to boot camp. For whatever job they get they go to school and they learn and they practice. And then they go for extra training when they are getting ready to go for combat, but they don’t ever have any skills for what they’re going to face when they come home.”

That’s why the short-term goal of Operation: Soldier at Ease is to get the book “Understanding Conflict—A Resource for the Military Family” into the hands of every soldier in the United States military. “Understanding Conflict” is the work of Rice and Rick Voyles, Ph.D, co-owner of Conflict Resolution Academy.

Voyles, who is a subject matter expert in the areas of Conflict Management and Dispute Resolution and is a registered Neutral with the State of Georgia’s Office of Dispute Resolution, has years of experience resolving conflicts. He first got involved with conflict resolution in 1988 where he helped cross-dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Eventually he got involved with mediation, which is when a third party sits between two people and helps them resolves their conflicts.

Voyles and Rice met while she was still employed as an Equal Employment Opportunity investigator. Growing up, Rice was a self-described “military brat” and married an Air Force officer. She said she always enjoyed the sense of belonging that came with the military lifestyle. However, Rice is no stranger to conflict and its affects.

“I also was a battered wife,” she said. “I had had all the personal experiences and been through a divorce and been through the workplace violence because he followed me into the workplace.”

Rice saw how affective the conflict resolution lessons Voyles taught her clients were and in 2000 the pair founded the Conflict Resolution Academy. After several years training people how to healthily resolve conflicts, Rice and Voyles noticed that many of their clients were members of the military and decided to write a book aimed specifically at them.

Currently, members of the military who are returning from active duty are given a copy of “Recovering from the War: A Guide for All Veterans, Family Members, Friends and Therapists.” But Rice thinks that this is book is ineffective. Published in 1990, it focuses mostly on the Vietnam War. Rice pointed out that the average soldier is between the ages of 18 and 24 and wasn’t even alive during the Vietnam War. The book is also long—more than 400 pages.

By comparison, “Understanding Conflict” was published this year and is only 120 pages long.

It asks readers to bear in mind four ideas when dealing with conflict: People only fight about things they care about. You can only control two things, yourself and your attitude. There’s more than one way to meet a need. And resolution is always in the future.

Mike Roberson, Operation: Soldier at Ease project manager, said the book has already helped him and his family. Roberson served in the U.S. Navy for 12 years before leaving the service because of the consequences it had on his family.

“I got out because I felt like it was going to become military or keeping my wife and kids,” he said. “And after going through this book and using it, even now I’m like, ‘Oh man, if I’d had this while I was in, I actually probably would have stayed in. We could have worked through a lot of this.’”

Roberson said he hopes he can help his comrades in the military through the work he does with Operation: Soldier at Ease.

Now that the book is written, the team behind Operation Soldier at Ease is focusing on getting it into the hands of America’s soldiers. Rice said they are looking into having them mailed to soldiers overseas as Christmas gifts, distributing them at Yellow Ribbon ceremonies and having local civic groups donate them to soldiers.

Rice said they hope to get many of the books donated at Celebrate Freedom Atlanta 2011, a free concert event that celebrates the contributions made for freedom, Saturday, Sept. 3. Last year’s event attracted nearly 50,000 visitors. This year’s concert at Marietta’s Jim R. Miller Park is headlined by Switchfoot and also features a color guard, and 5K run.

The Operation: Soldier at Ease team will have 10,000 copies of “Understanding Conflict” at the event. They’re asking participants to purchase a book to donate to a solider. They’re also sponsoring a friendly competition to see which branch of the military will receive the most donations.

“We want to put it in the hands of every soldier in every branch of the military because you’ve got to have a starting point,” Rice said.

http://smyrna.patch.com/articles/helping-americas-military-stand-at-ease

 

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Inspiration under the L Garfield Park restaurant putting people to work in bad economy

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After losing her job at The Art Institute of Chicago almost three years ago, Valerie Wilmington started fostering children, but she still missed working.

“If you’ve worked all your life, you need to feel productive,” she said.

As she sought work, she said her biggest obstacle was her age: “Surely, I could find a waitress job . . . but jobs are hard no matter what walk of life you’re in. Let’s face it, I’m not quite hirable. They’d rather have a young waitress.”

A long job search finally ended when Wilmington was hired at Inspiration Kitchens in Garfield Park.

The restaurant at 3405 W. Lake St. is the newest addition for the Inspiration Corp., which was founded by Lisa Nigro over 20 

years ago in the Uptown neighborhood to help people struggling with homelessness.

 

The 80-seat restaurant, which opened in May, serves as a second on-site culinary training program for community members looking to re-enter the workforce.

 

Wilmington says having the restaurant in the area brings something special for those who are “the working poor.” The diversity among those who dine at the Kitchen and come through the program “makes for beautiful living,” she said.

 

Although she doesn’t receive tips because patrons are asked to make a donation, Wilmington said it’s better.

 

“The concept is just awesome,” she said. “Just to know that you’re working for a place, for lack of a better word, paying it forward. It’s helping so many, so many people.”

 

Avil Greenberg joined Inspiration Kitchens as general manager in December. With years of experience in the restaurant industry and her community health background, Greenberg says it’s the perfect position for her.

 

“I get to do something really meaningful in my life,” she said. “And run a restaurant with great people.”

 

Greenberg said a majority of the program’s participants have “barriers to employment” and suffered setbacks.

 

Participants receive 13 weeks of intensive job skill training. At the Uptown location, trainees have four weeks of training and an internship. At Garfield Park, from day one, trainees are started in the kitchen. They also learn basic job skills, such as writing resumes, conflict resolution and team work.

 

Applicants should have a desire and passion to be in the culinary field, but the program accepts those who seek to be a part of the workforce and want to change their lives, said Greenberg.

 

The initial application process requires applicants to meet with a case manager to assess if they can handle the intensive program and if there are any barriers to finishing. They are also given a simple math test.

 

“We don’t like people starting and not having them feel great because there are so many things going on in their life that they can’t finish,” said Greenberg. “We want people to succeed.”

 

Next to the Green line Central Park stop, diners can enjoy familiar sides such as fried green tomatoes to dinner entrees, including Oxtail empanadas with a romesco sauce.

 

Executive Chef David Rosenthall said as he created the menu, he kept in mind that Garfield Park is a food desert, so he wanted to strike a balance between the familiar while not competing with area restaurants.

 

“People have a mindset of what this should be,” he said. “And whether it’s good or not, it’s not what it should be. And I don’t want to mess with that. So I try to make variations on things, keeping all the ingredients in there, but how they’re put in there and how they’re cooked might be a little different, so it’s still accessible.”

 

After finishing a two-year prison term and getting a referral from his best friend to the Uptown program, Pierre Johnson completed the program – and moved on from his old life.

 

“Getting into the program really helped me out a lot. It started getting me back on my feet,” said Johnson.

 

He also credits his 2-year old son with keeping him focused on his goal of becoming a chef. The Dunbar Vocational Career Academy graduate majored in culinary arts but said he didn’t pursue his dream due to the lack of funds.

 

“When I came home from prison, I wanted to have a family, I wanted to have a kid,” he said. “And I’ve really stayed on track.

 

“Besides, I’m doing something good. This whole program here is about helping out. Of course, it’s a longer story than that but at the end of the day, it’s helping out.”

http://www.austinweeklynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=3363

 

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