05 October 2007
Poor communication between managers and frontline staff is the most common reason for disputes in the public sector, research by lawyers suggests.
A study by the law firm Nabarro, published on October 2, has found that 'while the public and private sectors face many of the same challenges when it comes to the management and avoidance of disputes, the public sector struggles in key areas'.
The research analysed the causes and impacts of disputes such as employee discrimination hearings, supplier contract disputes and strikes.
'Poor communication' and 'failure to deliver' were cited as the main causes of disputes in both the public and private sectors, but the frequency of such complaints is higher in the public sphere: 93% and 83% of all cases respectively, compared with around 60% across private organisations.
These two common causes were also linked to other main reasons given for public sector disputes – a 'lack of a contract' (cited in 60% of cases) and the failure of senior staff to 'take ownership' of a dispute (67%).
James Snape, a partner at Nabarro, said that the findings suggest 'that public sector organisations don't have effective procedures or training in place to actively prevent disputes from arising, or to manage the escalation or resolution of disputes effectively.'
Snape told Public Finance that contracts in the public sector were sometimes so poor that suppliers or partners were often not considered – leading to inevitable disputes.
PFoct2007
