Managerial competences, engagement and productivity - developing positive relationships

Lead Research Organisation: University of Westminster
Department Name: Westminster Business School

Abstract

There is a growing body of evidence that poor management is one of the main causes of low productivity. The UK government's recent Industrial Strategy noted that 'our managers are, on average, less proficient than many competitors' and therefore it has been argued that improving basic managerial competences is crucial if we are to solve the 'productivity puzzle'. However, the challenges facing line managers are becoming increasingly complex. In particular, the contemporary emphasis on more robust approaches to the management of performance makes it more likely that managers will find themselves having to have 'difficult conversations' and in conflict with their staff.

Workplace conflict is not only widespread but arguably inhibits workplace productivity by tying up valuable organisational resources. A CIPD survey found that over one-third of respondents had recent experience of conflict at work and it has been estimated that employees spend an average of 1.8 hours a week dealing with conflict, an annual loss of 370 million days. At the same time, the way in which managers handle conflict could have a significant impact on organisational performance by influencing levels of engagement; employees are more likely to be engaged if they feel that they are treated fairly and involved in decisions that affect them.

Although line managers play a crucial role in shaping experiences of work, there is growing evidence that they lack the skills needed to manage people effectively and identify, address and resolve difficult personnel issues. Therefore, training programmes designed to increase their capacity to deal with conflict could be one way of securing higher levels of employee engagement and improved productivity. Unfortunately, there has been no robust quantitative academic research in this area, making it difficult to build a persuasive business case for investment in conflict management competences.

This proposal aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed evaluation of the impact on engagement and productivity of 'conflict competence'. This will be conducted through a workplace trial of training interventions designed to develop the conflict resolution skills of line managers in a number of organisations in the private and public sectors. Working closely with the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) the project will trial two levels of skills development. The first will comprise of a one-day workshop designed to develop conflict resolution skills delivered to first-line managers. The second will add a further component by providing a more advanced two-day workshop to prepare senior leaders to provide support and coaching to their managers as they seek to navigate difficult personnel issues. The workshops will use a mediative model to develop the conflict competence of managers through key skills including listening, communication, influencing, reframing and negotiation, having difficult conversations and coaching.

The impact of each intervention will be tracked over a 12 month period by assessing the competence and confidence of managers, the experiences and attitudes of the employees they manage, the efficiency with which conflict is handled and measures of organisational productivity. This will be contextualised by interviews and focus groups to examine the processes through which productivity improvements are secured and also the potential barriers facing organisations.

The project will provide a valuable evidence base regarding the impact of training and development in conflict resolution skills. It not only aims to have a substantive impact on managerial competence within the case-study organisations but will also underpin the development of training tools which can be replicated in a range of organisational contexts. Furthermore, insights from the research will be shared with practitioner and policy-making communities through a comprehensive programme of dissemination and engagement.

Planned Impact

The project will have a significant impact on the participating organisations by upskilling managers in effective communication, conflict handling and resolution, with anticipated impacts on employee engagement, performance and productivity. It will also assist the development of managerial competences across organisations more generally in three main ways: first, it will inform the decisions of employers in relation to investment in conflict competence skills; second, it will provide key insights into the potential barriers to the development of more effective conflict management; and third, it will create free to use products including a benchmarking tool designed to identify gaps in conflict competence and a novel conflict management app to help managers deal more effectively with such issues. These impacts will be particularly important in smaller organisations where cost is often an inhibitor to investment in formal training.

The research will also have a positive impact on Acas' training provision, extending the knowledge of those trainers directly involved in the project but also informing the wider development of existing and new courses. In addition, the evidence gathered will shape Acas advice and guidance in relation to conflict management and dispute resolution. In the longer term, the project will create a new managerial training product which will subsequently be launched nationally by Acas, creating both instrumental and capacity building impacts.

As the UK's statutory body tasked with improving employment relations in organisations the involvement of Acas provides a powerful route to impact through its influence on both policy and practice. Furthermore, the project will be steered by a Project Advisory Board including representatives from Acas, CIPD, FSB, CBI, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), IPA, EEF and the TUC. A practitioner forum made up of senior managers and HR professionals drawn from participating companies will also ensure that insights and learning from the project are shared.

We will extend the reach of our impact in three ways. First we will deliver a series of masterclasses for Acas advisers to share the findings of our research and its practical implications, embedding this into the training they provide for clients. Second, the broader insights about 'what works' will also be shared with private sector mediation providers, HR practitioners and regional employers represented through Local Economic Partnerships via a further series of workshops. We will also exploit existing and developing networks within the ESRC Productivity Insights Network hosted in Sheffield, which provides significant potential synergies and complementarities. Finally we shall hold two larger one-day conferences drawing together academics, policy-makers and practitioners to share findings from the research and also highlight organisational best practice and innovation.

The communications strategy for this project will be developed in conjunction with Acas. We will work to develop a specific web presence that will host a regular blog from the research team, project partners and research participants and we will also use video and other media for maximum impact. Findings from the project will be disseminated to a wide audience through the Acas Research Paper series which is not only influential in policy debates but has significant reach into practitioner communities. We will target trade/professional journals such as People Management, and Personnel Today and use channels including LinkedIn, the Conversation and Twitter to promote key messages, together with mainstream local and national media and via our other project partners (PIN and MPF). Members of the team will also seek to present at various large set-piece practitioner events, for example the annual CIPD Applied Research Conference.
 
Description The Skilled Managers project has implemented a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) in 24 UK-based organisations, randomly allocating managers in each organisation to distinct workplace units to receive the Skilled Managers online training 'treatment' and other units to a 'business as usual' control (The protocol registered in October 2022 can be found at https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/10197). There are 362 units (for instance, 'departments' or 'branches') across the 24 organisations (containing 6,199 employees, not all of whom are 'in scope'), with the number of units within an organisation varying from 3 to 50. Between Oct 2022 and April 2023, 510 managers were invited to complete the course as part of the treatment group (with a similar number in the control) and 410 managers registered on the training platform. In addition to information on the activity of managers whilst on the training platform, we have before-and-after responses to a short Pulse (People) Survey from employee reports (1,801 respondents to the first, and 1503 respondents to the second pulse survey, administered before any managers were trained and then at a point six months later).
In working papers describing headline findings from the Cluster RCT and reporting on achievement of the published protocol (Urwin et al., forthcoming), we detail a statistically significant positive impact amongst staff of trained managers, on the primary indicator detailed in the protocol. Thus, when comparing treatment and control clusters across organisations, we observe the staff of trained managers increasing their support for the statement, "If there is conflict in the team, my line manager helps resolve this quickly". However, this effect varies across organisations and in at least 3 of the 24 organisations we have compelling evidence of spillover effects (from both quantitative and qualitative investigations). This, and other variation, across organisations in the nature of engagement and treatment impacts is forming two further strands of investigation - one communicating 'lessons from employer trials' and the second 'What shapes conflict management styles?' (the latter currently accepted for presentation at the 2024 Labor and Employment Relations Association Conference).

In addition to these strands of research investigation two papers have been developed that investigate how training changes the practice of male and female managers and the quality of their relationships with staff. A paper submitted to the British Academy of Management Conference presents something of a challenge to recent literature, that suggests female managers score higher on dimensions of practice and in this paper we consider how this may vary across workplace settings. The ultimate goal of this paper is to expand the discussion beyond consideration of gender to investigate the extent to which management 'success' is contingent, with apparent variation in approaches by gender, tenure etc seeming to be more or less successful depending on the workplace context [such as sector and workplace size]. In a paper submitted to the Academy of Management conference in 2024, the focus is on differences in initial conflict management styles; evidence on the extent to which male and female managers engage with learning differently; and how this changes workplace outcomes.

In all of the above research papers and reports we supplement findings with those from an accompanying study that focused on organisations with less than 20 employees. This was an event study (i.e. without a control group) involving 38 organisations, with 747 employees and 235 managers. The average number of employees per organisation is 20, managed on average by 6 managers. All managers undertook the Skilled Managers training and we have the same pulse survey responses from staff before and after training impacts - these findings provide an additional check on key results that arise from the main cluster RCT study.
Exploitation Route Impact is integral to the design of this workplace-based intervention, which involves extensive engagement with a range of organisations to influence practice and secure significant impact across the sectors detailed below. We are now working to launch an offer that can be self-sustaining beyond the current funding period and continuing to work with organisations across sectors who are interested in further embedding aspects of the research, such as the toolkit.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Construction

Creative Economy

Education

Electronics

Healthcare

Leisure Activities

including Sports

Recreation and Tourism

Manufacturing

including Industrial Biotechology

Retail

Transport

URL https://skilledmanagers.org
 
Description We are now taking forward a variety of exciting opportunities for extensive non-academic impact. The key findings section details the research findings that provide evidence of efficacy from the Skilled Managers training intervention and we have been beta-testing a commercial version, that will go live in April 2024. This will be promoted via a conference and other promotion activities we are undertaking with partners Acas; providing a sustainable platform to extend the reach and impact across UK workplaces of this light-touch low-cost intervention. This allows us to tackle an apparent market failure in the provision of management training in UK workplaces, especially towards smaller organisations. We continue to engage in Hackathons and other KE activities to communicate our findings for practice and engage with a number of organisations in the second stage of our wait-listed Cluster RCT design - this will form part of our work to take forward a strand of our findings which are aimed at informing policy and practice. For instance, extending the training delivered beyond 'conflict resolution skills' and communicating our experience of 'what works in employer trials?' [tackling a variety of challenges such as variable cluster/unit size, organisational/manager engagement, etc]. We are now working with various stakeholders to create a Skilled Managers community that will i) Provide continuing learning and CPD to graduates of the Skilled Managers intervention. ii) Encourage knowledge exchange and peer support among line managers. iii) Develop a forum to support ongoing research into, and extend our knowledge of, management practice.
First Year Of Impact 2023
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Electronics,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Retail,Transport
Impact Types Societal

Economic

Policy & public services

 
Description ACAS Skilled Managers: Micro/Small Enterprise Study
Amount £14,950 (GBP)
Funding ID 13350 
Organisation Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2022 
End 06/2023
 
Description Research project on the use of workplace formal procedures
Amount £19,750 (GBP)
Organisation Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2022 
End 06/2023
 
Description Working with Acas to secure Impact and Expand Reach of the Skilled Managers intervention 
Organisation Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution As described elsewhere we are working with Acas to develop a Skilled Managers offer that secures impact beyond the current funding and also expanding the scope [elsewhere detailed the funding secured by Acas to consider the SM impacts in micro and small organisations and the more formal process of Discipline and Grievance).
Collaborator Contribution Acas were partners in the research but are now going much further than their original contribution suggested, for instance organising promotion activities and working to develop various spin-offs from the project
Impact Ongoing
Start Year 2022
 
Description 31st UIA World Forum of Mediation Centres, Frankfurt: Skilled Managers 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conference presentation by Paul Latreille as part of a session on Mining the Minds of Mediators, providing insights for lawyer/mediators. The presentation provided an overview of the Skilled Managers project and preliminary findings.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.uianet.org/en/events/31st-uia-world-forum-mediation-centres
 
Description Acas Podcast June 10: The Cost of Conflict 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact This episode is the first of our new, special edition podcasts on The Future of Work, featuring debate and thought-provoking questions with special guests, on key themes around the future of work. In this episode, Gill Dix, head of policy at Acas, looks at new research commissioned by Acas on the cost of conflict to UK workplaces.

Conflict is an inevitable part of life, but what is the financial cost of conflict to workplaces in the UK? Is it taken seriously by organisations? Does investing in conflict management make sense for all workplaces or just some?

Join Gill and Richard Saundry, Professor of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations at Sheffield University and Peter Urwin, Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Westminster to unpack the cost of conflict and what we can do about it.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://shows.acast.com/acaspodcast/episodes/the-cost-of-conflict
 
Description Blog PrOPEL Hub, linked to Share podcast: Diversity In The British Workplace: Are We Managing? 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In the latest blog in our series exploring managerial capability, Peter Urwin and Emma Parry reflect on the lessons arising from diversity and inclusion research for management practice. They consider how the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities and explore the value in moving away from an emphasis on particular divisions in the workplace.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.propelhub.org/diversity-in-the-british-workplace-are-we-managing/
 
Description CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition Evidence Lab: Navigating Dilemmas & Conflict in HR Practice 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conference presentation by Richard Saundry and Paul Latreille with Aparna Gonibeed (Manchester Metropolitan University) exploring a set of conflict-related dilemmas and HR and line manager challenges and perspectives arising from these. The presentation drew on both the Skilled Managers project and Dr Gonibeed's work with HR practitioners.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://events.cipd.co.uk/cipdace/evidence-lab-live#day-2
 
Description PRoPEL Hub People Management Hackathon 1 February, University of Sheffield: Building Managerial Conflict Competence 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conducted in a 'world café' format with 3 rounds, Frankie Saundry and Paul Latreille delivered an introduction to the Skilled Managers project and its insights for practitioners, leading into in-depth conversations with small groups of practitioners around building managerial conflict competence and resolving conflict in teams.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.propelhub.org/eventbrite-event/the-propel-hub-people-management-hackathon-1-february-202...
 
Description PrOPEL Blog: What makes a good managerand can we 'make' them? 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In this blog, Professor Richard Saundry and Professor Peter Urwin take a deep dive into the evidence surrounding the debate about 'what makes a good manager' and explore the implications for practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.propelhub.org/what-makes-a-good-managerand-can-we-make-them/
 
Description PrOPEL Hub Insights for Productivity in UK Workplaces Conference: Skilled Managers? Developing Conflict Competence and Confidence 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Peter Urwin and Paul Latreille presented as part of the ESRC PrOPEL Hub end of project conference designed to showcase the findings from the associated projects. The presentation highlighted the challenges faced by line managers and the online Skilled Managers training intervention developed in response to these, together with selected headline findings and recommendations for practice and policy.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.propelhub.org/eventbrite-event/insights-for-productivity-in-uk-workplaces-6-7-march-in-p...
 
Description PrOPEL Hub People Management Hackathon 29 February, Ulster University: Building Managerial Conflict Competence 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Conducted in a 'world café' format with 3 rounds, Peter Urwin and Paul Latreille delivered an introduction to the Skilled Managers project and its insights for practitioners, leading into in-depth conversations with small groups of practitioners around building managerial conflict competence and resolving conflict in teams.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.propelhub.org/eventbrite-event/the-propel-hub-people-management-hackathon-29-february-20...
 
Description PrOPEL KiP April 21: Approaches to Informal Conflict Resolution 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Richard Saundry and guests discuss the benefits that an informal approach to conflict resolution has for managers and employees when they are facing difficult and challenging situations in the workplace. The podcast features Mark Makin, Senior Acas Advisor, Karen Ellis, HR Partner at University of Plymouth and Grace Williams, HR Consultant at Sue Wilmott Associates.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.propelhub.org/approaches-to-informal-conflict-resolution/
 
Description PrOPEL KiP event: Developing Strategic Approaches to Conflict Management 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A growing body of research has pointed to the organisational benefits of developing more strategic approaches to the management of workplace conflict. In this session we discuss how your organisation can build an integrated conflict management system. Latreille, Saundry and Dix look at the key design components and explore the key challenges and obstacles faced in embedding more strategic approaches to conflict management in the workplace.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.propelhub.org/workplace-conflict-workshop-series/
 
Description Presentation at Acas London Conference 'Preventing, containing, and resolving conflict' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Richard Saundry described scenarios of conflict escalation that evidence the need for early and effective management interventions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Presentation on 'Demistifying Mediation' at Acas East of England Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact R.Saundry spoke at Acas East of England Conference 'Demistifying Mediation'. Mediation is often a key resource for dispute resolution, but managers are often unaware of the details or benefits.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Promotional Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This promotional webinar was aimed at recruitment of micro and small businesses for the Skilled Managers project commissioned by Acas, for which we have secured follow-on funding.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Rights, regulation and resolution - developing a framework for better work 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact On 29th September, we hosted the online Conference: Rights, regulation and resolution - developing a framework for better work. This included contributions from Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the CIPD; Paul Nowak, Deputy General Secretary of the TUC; and Claire Chapman the Chair of Acas. This was a PrOPEL KE activity to communicate findings for practice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.propelhub.org/eventbrite-event/rights-regulation-and-resolution-developing-a-framework-f...
 
Description Share Radio Podcast April 15: A 'Good' and 'Efficient' Workplace: Tricky Balancing Act? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact Podcast Discussion: Research into workplace productivity and management practice is often focused on the links between 'Good' and 'Efficient' practices. 'Good' covers employee-friendly policies; for instance, those providing opportunities for better Work Life Balance. In contrast, 'Efficient' practice includes the use of KPIs, setting clear performance expectations and tackling underperformance where it is identified. In this episode Peter Urwin and Professor Richard Saundry discuss this, drawing on their own understanding as researchers and experiences as line managers. The operational reality is that managers hold a position between the interests of their organisation and those who work for them - how do they balance the (often competing) need to create both efficient and good workplaces?
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.shareradio.co.uk/podcasts/?gs=urwin
 
Description Share Radio Podcast March 18: Diversity in the British workplace - are we managing? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact The UK has come a long way since the early Equal Opportunities legislation of the 1970s, high-profile cases in the 1980s and 1990s identifying institutionalised discrimination, and the subsequent focus on celebration of diversity and promotion of inclusion. However, the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements are reminders of how far we still need to travel. In this episode, Peter Urwin is joined by Emma Parry, Professor of Human Resource Management at Cranfield School of Management, to discuss how to further move the dial on diversity in the workplace. Asking whether research provides clear lessons for managers, they identify a number of similar messages across the economics and HRM literatures. However, whilst recent debates over the value of unconscious bias training caution against untested approaches, evaluation of "solutions" such as Inclusion present a real challenge. Peter and Emma debate these tensions, and consider possible ways forward.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.shareradio.co.uk/podcasts/?nm=Peter+Urwin
 
Description Skilled Manager Protocol: Multi-organisation Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The webinar on 3rd August was for a more technical audience of policymakers and those from charitable organisations. Urwin presented the Skilled Manager Protocol: Multi-organisation Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial, to share the approach and gain comments.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Skilled Managers - a new approach to managerial training 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This was a webinar presenting the details of content and approach of the Skilled Managers intervention. The focus of this presentation is not on communication of findings for practice, but rather as a presentation of the 'offer' to organisations who might wish to be involved in the research.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e777-e8-rm0
 
Description Skilled Managers Productive Workplaces - Communicating findings for practice 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A PrOPEL Knowledge Exchange webinar to communicate the emerging findings from the Skilled Managers research project to a practice and policy audience
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.propelhub.org/managerial-competences-engagement-and-productivity-developing-productive-r...
 
Description The PrOPEL Hub People Management Hackathon 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Hackathon - 28th October 2022
Overview:
• A day-long in-person event where PrOPEL team members from 3 or 4 different partners act as facilitators and presenters to offer a variety of 'hack'-style sessions to attending business representatives.
• The USP is that each attending business will gain input from multiple different PrOPEL partners throughout the day - so for example spending time workshopping workplace wellbeing, engagement, HR and good management.
• By the end of the day, the businesses should go away with extensive insight that they can apply to their businesses to take action on the 'hack' topics they have engaged with.
• By the end of the day each PrOPEL facilitator will have carried out a number of individual hacks that would not normally have been possible in a day's work.
• One full day October 2022 in London (28th) at MARY WARD HOUSE, 7 TAVISTOCK PLACE, LONDON, ENGLAND, WC1H 9SN, UNITED KINGDOM
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022