Paper >>

Employees guilty of serious misconduct in the form of harassment, bullying, negative social behaviour and poor work performance often tend to be judged initially on their personality and their relationships rather than the focus staying on their behaviour. There appears to be a genuine reluctance to name up what we really suspect in case we are wrong. Frequently workplace supervisors and managers attempt their own form of reconciliation before throwing their hands up in despair and contacting an independent mediator. It is vital that we as mediators do not simply comply and mediate without canvassing appropriate alternatives.

This session will examine the reactive and avoiding behaviours that ensue when we don’t name up and investigate reasonable suspicions from the outset. This paper argues for formal and practical organisational support for a low-key investigative process as a necessary first step whenever there is a whiff of suspicion that bullying, harassment and poor performance are contributing factors to a conflict. This paper also demonstrates pathways that encompass investigation, discipline and performance management interventions that can still lead to individual and team mediation.

Workplace culture is a primary factor in workplace mediation. Practitioners will certainly have experiences of their own to draw on and the challenge of communicating meaningfully to managers, HR and unions will be of significant interest to all including the presenter.

Two case studies have been selected to provide a narrative framework for the issues presented. A diagrammatic process linking investigation, discipline and performance management to a mediation pathway with varying mediatory options will also be presented and discussed.

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I live in a stone house in the Tamar Valley which my wife Lynne and I built. We have two adopted children from Ethiopia - who are now both at university. I love the Sydney Swans, Madelaine Peroux, angst ridden middle aged detective novels set in Spain, Sweden and Scotland, reading in general and gardening.