Public Sector Transport Case Study

The challenge

Two members of a team in a large public sector transport department disagreed on a new way of working being introduced due to an organisational change programme. One member supervised the other, and there were allegations against the supervisor of bullying, incivility, and favouritism. This problem had been in existence for three months and escalated to the team member reporting sick with work-related stress and anxiety. The team member refused to have any contact with their supervisor and stated that they or the supervisor needed to be transferred to another team or department before they would return to work. The line manager of the supervisor, the HR department and a union representative, tried to resolve the issue but was unsuccessful because there was a perception from both parties of a lack of impartiality and the department was not taking the problem seriously.

The situation was harming the team and performance. The abstraction meant others had an increased workload and deadlines were not being met. The team were becoming split, and some sided with the supervisor others with the absent colleague. The supervisor felt vulnerable to further allegations and altered their management style and stopped using their discretion, experience and flexibility that had previously benefited the team and the organisation. The manager now rigidly followed policies and guidelines which reduced innovation, trust and goodwill between the team members and with other departments. All parties wanted the team dynamics and working relationships to return to normality before it resulted in either formal action, loss of experienced and skilled employees and a permanent reduction in performance.

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The solution

HR needed an independent person who could provide mediation and who had experience in dealing with challenging individuals who were persistent with their views and did not see the value in negotiation or mediation. Furthermore, HR needed a person with the specialist training skills to conduct a formal HR fact-find investigation if an official complaint of bullying was made. Carmichael Mediation Services (CMS) possess all of those skills, including a bespoke service delivered expeditiously to return clients’ businesses to performance.

After a free consultation with the client, CMS was able to gather all of the relevant information and identified that the situation could be solved using facilitative mediation.

CMS provided a mediator who met with both the supervisor and the team member independently to obtain their opposing perceptions, feelings, and there description of a positive outcome. The mediator was able to identify the similarities in both of their positive outcomes and used this common ground as the starting point for their joint meeting where both the supervisor and the team member would come together.

After a passionate beginning, the mediator persuaded both parties to accept the opinion of the other and formulate a working agreement of how they would engage and work with each other.

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The outcome

Both parties agreed on a workable agreement that listed their terms of engagement in the workplace. It defined how they communicated with each other, the allocation and submission of work, the piloting and reviewing of new ways of working, relationships with colleagues and how they wanted to be treated.

This resulted in the team member returning to work with their team and the supervisor. The team dynamics were better than before, and performance improved. Both parties continued to be polite, respectful and productive.

The whole conflict was resolved in a day, and both parties adhered to the working agreement.