New Work Organisation in Ireland Programme (NWO)

NWO, launched in 1995, was jointly funded by the European Social Fund and the Irish government. It was designed and implemented by the IPC in partnership with the Irish employers' and trade union organisations.

Two facilitators worked with each enterprise involved. Defining the firm's activities was the starting point for generating innovation, mobilising task team activity and problem-solving. In each enterprise a trained partnership forum acted as the driving force in planning and implementing the competitiveness improvement programme. The companies' achievements ranged from process re-engineering and implementation of team-based production work cells to the development of new reward and recognition systems. The Programme helped to develop:

The following enterprises employing some 2,600 people joined the NWO programme - Kingspan, SIFA, Tegral, Measurex, Tara Mines, Anord Electrical, SIGMA, Atlas Engineering, Super Valu -Centra and Henkel.

Within the NWO programme the partners agreed the following simple working definition of New Work Organisation: New Work Organisation is the application of principles and practices within enterprises which aim to capitalise on, and develop the creativity and commitment of employees at all levels in achieving competitive advantage and in meeting the business and service challenges posed by the social, economic and technological environment in which an enterprise exists.

The following is a working definition of Partnership adopted by IPC, IBEC and ICTU for the purposes of this programme: Partnership is an active relationship based on recognition of a common interest to secure the competitiveness, viability and prosperity of the enterprise. It involves a continuing commitment from employees to improvements in efficiency and quality; and the acceptance by employers of employees as stakeholders with rights and interests to be considered in the context of major decisions affecting their employment.

The decision to plan, manage and implement the New Work Organisation Programme with practitioners and specialists drawn from the social partner institutions and the Irish Productivity Centre was a key design element. It meant that the combined resources and experience of these institutions (IPC, IBEC & ICTU) could be brought to bear on the provision of training and facilitation at enterprise level.

Given the historical adversarial nature of our industrial relations system, this was an important aspect of the methodology. Partnership facilitation, incorporating employer and trade union institutions in joint approaches to workplace level change would simply not have been possible in Ireland ten years ago. Almost twelve years of uninterrupted national Social Partnership has undoubtedly helped to create the conditions for proactive interventions of this nature.

A number of generic models for Partnership based change had already been developed and field-tested over many years by IPC. This experience allied to the collective experience of our partners IBEC and ICTU proved to be invaluable. The most successful enterprise level partnership models and techniques in Ireland were further enhanced and improved following the initial research phase of the NWO programme.

This research work included on-site analysis of international good and best practice case examples of New Work Organisation in European, Japan and North America. The work also included an extensive review of the international literature and published case studies. Most importantly, the programme design provided for establishing a core competence and long term capability both within the enterprises themselves, and nationally within the social partner network of practitioners to effectively facilitate change through partnership.

A consistent feature of our approach was the establishment of a trained Partnership Forum in each participating enterprise. Each forum acted as the driving force in planning, designing and implementing the competitiveness improvement programme in the enterprise. Design provided for the creation of a viable learning network, supported by cluster networking activities to enable enterprise personnel and practitioners to benchmark and share their experiences and learning within the programme.

Particular emphasis was placed on ensuring that in the modern workplace, where change is endemic and the need for new skill acquisition is ongoing, that there was and is a commitment on the part of all involved to life long learning and development. It was an objective to ensure that peoples skills are continuously upgraded in line with workplace changes and also to ensure their employability over a working lifetime. The essence of our design was a focus on assisting enterprises in enhancing people and organisational competence and encouraging the generation of innovative solutions to organisational deficiencies based on principles of mutual trust and mutual gains.

Very significant achievements at enterprise level have been documented in the company case studies under the NWO programme. These range from process re-engineering, re-organisation and implementation of new team based production/manufacturing work cells to the development of new reward and recognition systems. Some of the most important outcomes of NWO can be summarised as follows:

The programme partners have now conduced a series of regional Roundtable briefing seminars to share the learning, experience and innovative approaches this programme has pioneered with wider industry, employers, managers and the trade union movement in Ireland. This campaign was implemented in conjunction with the National Centre for Partnership which is based in the department of An Taoiseach (Prime Minister).

The final Roundtable seminar event was recently held in Dublin on October 13th and 170 delegates from the social partners, business, employers and the trade unions attended. The focus of these Roundtable events was on the relevant key learning points which emerged from the programme and each event featured a joint case study presentation from a participating enterprise. An International Conference was held in May 1999 in Dublin to commence the European wide dissemination process and also to mark the conclusion of the programme.

Contributors included Ms. Mary Harney, Deputy Prime Minister and also Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr. Peter Cassells General Secretary, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Mr. John Dunne, Director General, Irish Business & Employers Confederation.

The programme methodologies, learning points and outcomes will be further disseminated through the European Work Organisation Network (EWON) web site and Newsletter, the European Work & Technology Consortium network, the UK Work Organisation Network, the Involvement & Participation Association in the UK and the European Association of National Productivity Centres. In addition the NWO programme outcomes will be featured in IPC and Social Partner Newsletters in Ireland.

The enterprise partnership case studies have now been written up by the participating enterprises and their personnel, with assistance from the IPC/IBEC/ICTU core team. These case studies are currently being placed on the EWON and IPC web-sites for the benefit of interested parties. The entire New Work Organisation Programme case study has already been presented by the National Co-ordinator at a number of key public conference events including – the annual Conference of the IPA in Brighton, UK in October 1999, and the international conference on ‘The Impact of Technological Innovation on Business and Work Organisation’ in Porto, Portugal also in October 1999. A Video Presentation of the NWO Programme (20 mins) has been produced. This is an excellent Dissemination/Training aid featuring presentations from national and international Partnership/Work Organisation Specialists. Keynote speeches from The Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, John Dunne, Director General IBEC, and Peter Cassells, General Secretary ICTU are also featured.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department