Informal Conflict Management System Evaluation

2. OVERVIEW OF THE INFORMAL CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This chapter provides an overview of the ICMS in terms of its history, mission and mandate, target groups, delivery structure, program logic model, budget and activities to date.

2.1. History

Passed in 2003, the Public Service Labour Relations Act (PSLRA) is designed to modernize human resource management in the Public Service of Canada and to encourage a more collaborative approach to labour-management relations. Under Section 207 of the PSLRA:

Subject to any policies established by the employer or any directives issued by it, every Deputy Head in the core public administration must, in consultation with bargaining agents representing employees in the portion of the core public administration for which he or she is deputy head, establish an informal conflict management system and inform the employees in that portion of its availability.

In response to Section 207, the Department created an ICMS Design Team to recommend the best approach to take in the establishment of an ICMS. Following their recommendations, the ICMS Office was established to disseminate knowledge about the provision and availability of workplace conflict resolution services for managers and employees.

In the spring of 2006, the Joint Advisory Group (JAG) was established to provide support and guidance to the Senior ICMS Officer and National ICMS Coordinator in the performance of their duties. The JAG was structured to include broad representation from members of the Department who have significant experience and knowledge of issues arising from conflict and conflict resolution. The membership included bargaining agent representatives, labour relations officials, senior and middle managers, Departmental Legal Services Units (DLSUs) and regional representatives. While no longer in existence, the JAG played a key role during the initial phases of the ICMS.

In October 2006, the Department began the development of a business plan and results framework for ICMS. The business plan outlined the mission, mandate, objectives and planned activities of ICMS. For each objective, the plan also identified a results statement and possible measurement strategies.

In April 2008, the functions of the ICMS Office were merged into the newly created Office for Integrity and Conflict Management in the Workplace (OICMW). In addition to the ICMS, the OICMW also has responsibilities related to ethics, disclosure protection, harassment complaints and political activities of employees.

2.2 Mission and Activities

The mission of the Department’s ICMS is to achieve a workplace culture in which all staff, in all roles and at all levels, have the commitment, the skills and the resources to work collaboratively to seek early resolution of conflicts in a constructive and creative manner. ICMS focuses on both addressing systemic causes of conflict as well as individual instances of workplace conflict.

The core activities of the ICMS include:

In the shorter term, it is expected that these activities will increase both accessibility to and use of conflict management services and better enable managers and employees to apply techniques and alternative methods to successfully manage workplace conflict as it arises. Over the longer term, it is expected that the ICMS will facilitate a shifting towards a collaborative workplace culture that is more open to and effective in resolving conflict. Appendix B provides details of the Program Logic Model.

2.3. Program Activities

The following chart provides a summary of the number of people and groups who were assisted in 2007-08 and 2008-09 including, where available, the gender, language, region and types of services provided. It should be noted that the data from 2008-09 is for a partial year only (up until October 2009).

Table 2: Profile of People and Groups Assisted in 2007-08 to 2009-10
Characteristic 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Number of Visits

88 people in 55 visits

41 people

49 people
Gender

Female 36

Female 21

s.o.

Male 18

Male 18

s.o.

Group 1

Other 15

s.o.
Language

English 27

s.o.

s.o.

French 28

s.o.

s.o.
Frequency

2 people and 1 group visited more than 5 times

s.o.

s.o.
Region

44 in the NCR and 11 in the regions

13 in the NCR and 13 in the regions

28 in the NCR and 21 in the regions
Service Hours

93 hours in visits and 14 hours by telephone

s.o.

s.o.
Type of Service

Discussion 73%

s.o

Discussion 40 %

Mediation 13%

s.o

Group Interventions 14%

Facilitation 6%

s.o.

Workplace Assessment 9%

Other 8%

s.o.

Coaching 9%

s.o.

Negotiation 6%

s.o.

Mediation 3%

s.o.

Other 20%
Service Provider

ICMS 67%

s.o.

s.o.

PS Labour 13%

s.o.

s.o.

External 2%

s.o.

s.o.
Referral Sources

Manager 36%

s.o.

s.o.

HR 16%

s.o.

s.o.

Union 11%

s.o.

s.o.

Individual 10%

s.o.

s.o.

Other 2%

s.o.

s.o.

According to the program coordinator, these figures considerably understate the level of program activity in that not all visits or other interactions are recorded. No data is available on the number of information sessions or training sessions staged or the number of participants in those sessions.

2.4. Key Principles

In fulfilling its mandate, the ICMS places great importance on maintaining confidentiality, impartiality and neutrality and aims to assure staff that they are at no risk for retaliation or reprisal should they seek its assistance. The key principles upon which the structure and services of the ICMS were designed include:

ICMS introduces a systematic approach to preventing conflict escalation by managing and resolving conflicts in the workplace quickly and constructively. It supports a culture of effective conflict management that emphasizes honest discussion and collaborative problem solving between people who are involved in conflicts. The use of the system is voluntary and the supports are offered to staff in a flexible and accessible manner.

2.5. Intended Beneficiaries

The intended beneficiaries of the ICMS are defined as the Department overall, all employees including managers, and key partners.

Table 3: Beneficiaries of the ICM Program

Target Group

Benefits

Department

Over the longer term, the Department can benefit from reducing the impact of conflict in the workplace as a result of being more open to and effective in resolving conflict when it does occur.

Employees

Employees can benefit by becoming more knowledgeable about where to obtain conflict management services, having greater access to those services, learning alternate ways to manage conflict effectively within the workplace, and applying those ways in resolving conflict.

Managers

As employees themselves, managers can also benefit by becoming more knowledgeable about where to obtain conflict management services, having greater access to those services, learning ways to manage conflict effectively within the workplace, and applying them to resolve conflict. In addition, managers can benefit from having conflict within their workplace resolved earlier and more effectively and efficiently.

Key Partners

The ICMS Office can benefit potential partners such as the Human Resources and Professional Development Directorate and bargaining agents by helping them to coordinate and facilitate access and use of conflict management services.

2.6. Program Delivery Structure

The organization structure originally included the Senior ICMS Officer who reported to the Assistant Deputy Minister, the JAG and the ICMS staff. With the establishment of the OICMW, the responsibilities of the Senior ICMS Officer were merged with those of the National ICMS coordinator; the JAG is no longer in existence. Before incorporation into the OICMW, the ICMS had two full-time employees in addition to a senior officer who worked part-time for the program. Since 2008, the OICMW staff complement of six full-time equivalents (dedicated to all six programs, including ICMS) is comprised of a Director, senior officers and coordinators.

2.7. Program Budget and Resources

The operational requirements for the ICMS Office were forecasted to be approximately $250,000 in 2007-08 and $325,000 in 2008-09. The increase in the forecast primarily reflected an increase in staffing from two people to three as a result of the planned hiring of an ICMS Officer. The budget includes the salary for the ICMS staff as well as travel funds, the costs associated with the meetings held with the JAG, office maintenance and the costs of staging two annual conferences.

Table 4: ICMS Annual Operational Requirements Forecasts
Category 2007-08 2008-09
Salary $141,352 $217,728
Office Maintenance 42,268 42,268
Travel 60,300 60,300
Training/Conferences 4,000 4,000
Total $247,920 $324,296