Industrial Relations Training for Managers

The planning and formulation of a management training course on industrial relations presents the specialist with a problem. It has been previously well publicised that formal industrial relations policies are rarely, if ever, set out clearly and in writing. Moreover, the subject of industrial relations has also received publicity on the ambiguity which the subject contains and the lack of consensus on what industrial relations means. This contributes to the difficulty in establishing the content for an effective industrial relations training course, since corporate industrial relations goals are often unclear at the outset. This article examines one company's effort to establish a useful industrial relations course for its line managers who deal directly with trade union representatives.