Forging a New Deal

Forging a New Deal

In the April edition of The MJ (14 April, 2011, page 35), June Hall, Corporate Head of Communications at Richmond upon Thames LBC, argued strongly for the need to ‘build a new deal for the public sector’, and advanced the view that ‘employees need to think about what they can reasonably expect to get out of their job – and what they’re prepared to put in to get it.’

The concept of ‘reciprocity’ between ‘inducements’ (what the employer is prepared to offer) and ‘contributions’ (what the employee is prepared to give in return) lies at the heart of the ‘deal’ – also called the employee value proposition (EVP) or employer brand. Indeed, there has been an upsurge of interest about these deals or value propositions, linked to the notion of ‘employee engagement’ strategies to engender sustainable high performance from people (for example, see the MacLeod Report, 2009).

The economic turbulence of recent years and the apparent aim of the coalition government to re-size the public sector have brought the factors shaping the deal into sharp relief. In response to these challenges, the Edinburgh Institute, Public Sector People Managers’ Association (PPMA), London Councils and Local Government Improvement and Development (LGID) have jointly sponsored a research exercise which examines the factors shaping the current deal in three local authorities – London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Wychavon District Council and Cumbria County Council. The work will also identify the areas likely to play a significant role in forging and refashioning new deals and the findings will be shared across the local authority sector in the autumn.

Leading the research, Dr Helen Francis and Dr Martin Reddington of the Edinburgh Institute, recognise that their work challenges established ways of viewing power, status, leadership and management, the nature of employee relations and accountability, as well as the role of HR and OD. They argue that addressing such concerns requires a radical shift in mindsets and vocabulary for enacting change within organisations.

They also argue that current approaches to evaluation, often seen in the form of commercial instruments that place overriding importance on statistical analyses and normative comparisons, fail to take account of the rich diversity of social factors and the power of ‘conversations for change’, which play a crucial role in both articulating and enacting the deal. The research seeks to unpack these features by surfacing underlying contradictions and tensions and through personification techniques, bringing the deal to ‘life’ in human form.

Through survey feedback, facilitative discussion and practical workshops, emphasis is placed on distributed types of leadership and the building of ‘judgemental competence’ – the shrewd forging of workable arrangements between managers and employees which has mutual benefit.

As Martin Rayson, Vice President of the PPMA points out: “This leading research is extremely timely as local authorities up and down the country are severely challenged to bring imaginative and innovative approaches to the forging of new employment relationships. At a time of needing to do much more for much less, this work is expected to produce vital insights into how we can improve organisational effectiveness through people.”

Footnotes:

Dr Martin Reddington is a consultant and associate of the Edinburgh Institute
Dr Helen Francis is Director, People and Organisational Development at the Edinburgh Institute

Please direct any enquiries you may have about this research to Martin Rayson at Martin.Rayson@lbbd.gov.uk