Industrial Relations (IR),
Employee Relations (ER) & Trade Union Harmony

This exciting and innovative GLOMACS training course will introduce you to the latest and world best practices in Industrial and Employee Relations (ER-IR), suitable for all African organisations. This course is very practical and highly rewarding.  It is about the maintenance of the employment relationship, essentially how trade unions and management of an organisation interact and can cooperate to encourage capacity building.

This interactive GLOMACS training course will provide participants with current and important information on the structure, functions and objectives of Trade Unions. It will also explore transformational IR/ER and encourage good working relationships with all stakeholders.

Industrial Relations (IR) & Employee Relations (ER) has undergone many changes over the past decade, but it continues to be a critical area for all organisations, particularly those in Africa. In the last 40 years, African trade unions  and Industrial Relations (IR) Professionals have built capacity skills, especially in education, gender issues, and health issues.

Expanding on this important work, this GLOMACS training course will highlight:

• The importance of a Management – Trade union partnership
• The employment relationship and the psychological contract
• Managing workplace conflict, mental-health first aid and workplace bullying
• Negotiation techniques that promote a win-win approach
• Ways to keep any Trade Union strategically evolving and relevant

By the end of this GLOMACS course, participants will learn to:

• Develop a collaborative approach to Industrial Relations (IR) & Employee Relations (ER)
• Examine techniques for enhancing & transforming Industrial Relations (IR), Employee Relations (ER) and Trade Unionism
• Appreciate the importance of employee engagement and empowerment
• Critically analyse effective conflict resolution and workplace mediation
• Describe the emerging challenges to trade unions globally and in Africa

Participants in this GLOMACS course will receive thorough training on the subjects covered by the course outline with the facilitator utilising a variety of proven adult learning teaching and facilitation techniques.

This course is very participatory and interactive. It involves skill practice in a group setting. Training methodology includes individual and group activities that will intersperse the sessions.  A variety of practical sessions, relevant case studies, simulations, and group games and activities are programmed into this interactive course.

• An appreciation of the benefits of transformational Industrial Relations (IR), Employee Relations (ER) and Trade Unionism
• A focus on best-practices in labour and industrial relations in the African context
• Stronger labour-management relations
• Reduced time and costs spent on grievance arbitration
• Promoting and supporting collaboration in workplace negotiations

• Improve your effectiveness as a trade union delegate, official or HR / IR / ER Professional
• Develop practical, transferable skills and competencies
• Better understand the future of labour and industrial relations in Africa
• Practical skills in the skills of workplace mediation
• Learn about the best ways to negotiate and minimise conflict

This GLOMACS training course is suitable to a wide range of Professionals, but will greatly benefit:

• Anyone involved in Industrial Relations (IR), Employee Relations (ER) or Labour Relations
• Union Delegates and Officials
• Human Resource Management (HRM) Professionals
• Employee Relations (ER) Personnel
• Industrial Relations (IR) Personnel
• Those Managers who would benefit from an understanding of trade union and IR issues
• Anyone who wants to learn practical skills in labour negotiation and workplace mediation

DAY 1

Employee, Labour & Industrial Relations in Africa

• The context for employee & industrial relations
• Trade unionism in Nigeria – Past, Present & Future
• Survival/relevance of trade unions – tools for engagement
• Current Global trends in Employee & Industrial Relations
• The changing employment relationship and psychological contract

DAY 2

Negotiation Skills for Industrial Harmony

• A win-win approach to negotiation
• Stages of negotiation
• The Coleman Raider “bare-bones” model
• Exploring competition and cooperation
• Introduction to reframing techniques

DAY 3

Managing Conflict and Promoting Industrial Harmony

• Resolving and managing conflict
• Avoiding conflict escalation
• Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
• Understanding arbitration, conciliation, and mediation
• Workplace mediation techniques and skills

DAY 4

Key 2^nd Decade Issues for the Workplace

• Emerging workplace issues for ER/IR and Trade Unionists
• Understanding mental health in the workplace
• Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) techniques
• Workplace bullying – analysis, intervention and prevention
• The future of work – robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Flexible Firm

DAY 5

The Tools of Engagement

• Understanding transformational leadership
• The power of empathy
• Principles of engagement
• The importance of stakeholder engagement
• Personal action planning

In Association With

Oxford Management Centre

A GLOMACS - Oxford Management Centre collaboration aimed at providing the best training services and benefits to our valued clients.

© 2023. Material published by GLOMACS shown here is copyrighted.
All rights reserved. Any unauthorized copying, distribution, use, dissemination, downloading, storing (in any medium), transmission, reproduction or reliance in whole or any part of this course outline is prohibited and will constitute an infringement of copyright.

P.O. Box 74653, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel : +971 - 04 - 425 0700, Fax : +971 (04) 425 0701, Email : info@glomacs.com