“ We will no doubt go through the usual ritual dance and then come to a sensible agreement”. Senior manager . The implication being that the union side would start from an unrealistic position, do a lot of posturing, there would be movement from both sides but eventually they would come together.

This is probably an accurate description of the typical negotiating process but it was not very diplomatic to say so  publicly and certainly upset the union side who felt that management were being dismissive and not taking the Union position seriously. Negotiations got off to a bad start and a lot of work had to done behind the scenes to repair relations and rebuild trust. And who did this work? HR.

HR doesn’t front up the negotiations but it’s often a classic case of leading from behind, repairing relations and building trust. The unseen role of HR is to liaise between management and staff so both sides have to see HR as an honest broker, a mediator. The staff side appreciate that HR can influence management to be less bullish and management know that HR through their day to day work have built up a working relation with key people on the Union /Staff side. HR use this influence to get both sides to tone  down the rhetoric. HR act in the knowledge that whatever the outcome of these particular negations both sides will have to work with each other afterwards. So some face saving may be necessary and any management triumphalism must be avoided.

HR can be like the diplomatic core promoting the interests of the organisation and so useful to both sides. They can help the organisation develop increased levels of trust between senior managers and employees. Levels of trust which determine how agile and resilient an organisation is. Senior management need to recognise that HR not only protect the interests of the organisation they must also strengthen relationships with employees and keep them satisfied.