Coaching competencies in the CCMA conciliation process for senior and executive employees
Date
2021
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Abstract
The research focused on whether introducing coaching competencies within the CCMA section 135 conciliation process can assist the CCMA achieve its mandate of resolving disputes of senior and executive employees speedily and effectively. Senior and executive employee disputes are highly technical, legalistic and protracted disputes, placing a burden on the resources of the CCMA. The limitations of the conciliating commissioners‘ current conflict resolution and business executive skills when dealing with high-level business disputes add to the delay. Employing coaching techniques within the conciliation process is proposed as a means of enhancing the conciliating present skillset for speedy and effective resolutions of these disputes as coaching senior and executive employees and mediating disputes rely on strong and effective communication for positive outcomes. The discretion created in section 135 of the LRA and the CCMA‘s Imvuselelo Strategy allows for further innovative strategies to conciliate disputes. The phenomenological research design was chosen as introducing coaching competencies within a statutorily constituted conciliation process is a new concept. Senior and Level A commissioners from the CCMA Johannesburg and Benoni offices, with at least five years of mediating experience, were interviewed before and after the application of coaching competencies. The interviews were semi-structured and the data collected was analysed using thematic analysis. The key findings are that disputes of senior and executive employees are complex disputes that do not easily resolve at the conciliation process due to challenges and dynamics that do not respond to the current problem-solving approach adopted by CCMA conciliating commissioners. The facilitative approach to mediation, together with the application of executive and conflict coaching competencies achieved more effective outcomes: changed behaviours and attitudes, trust between the parties, parties taking ownership of the dispute and changing their perspective of the dispute. Further training of all commissioners on this model was supported as it was found to be innovative means of resolving disputes, thus meeting the aims of the Imvuselelo Strategy
Description
A research report submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Management in Business Executive Coaching to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021
Keywords
Commission for conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) Conciliation, Communication theory, UCTD