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Happy New Year
Paul Juniper, IRC Director
On behalf of Queen's IRC, I want to wish you all a wonderful New Year.
I look forward to meeting and speaking with participants at our programming, trade shows, conferences, and events throughout 2012, and communicating our news and research in our newsletters.
Indeed, 2012 is a busy and exciting year for the IRC. Anniversary celebrations, new programming and research, and speaking engagements are just a few of the IRC's projects.
This year marks the IRC's 75th anniversary. Our staff is in the midst of organizing several special events to commemorate this milestone; I will share more details regarding our 75th anniversary celebrations in the coming months.
As always, the IRC is committed to providing outstanding programs and research.
Our programming team will be once again traveling across Canada, delivering 14 programs this Spring. Our 2012 Program Planner is now available for download from our website.
January is often a time for setting both personal and professional resolutions and goals. I encourage you to review the planner, to see the ways in which the IRC can help you meet your professional development needs, and the learning goals that you have this year.
Our new programs in Talent Management and
Strategic Grievance Handling may be particularly relevant to HR and LR professionals. Our research team is preparing to publish the results of our recent LR survey, while conducting practitioner interviews, and working to launch the IRC's new opinion polls.
In addition to programming and research, IRC staff members are also actively engaged in conference presentations. For example, earlier this month, IRC Post-Doctoral Fellow, Brendan Sweeney, participated in the Labor and Employment Relations Association's (LERA) annual conference
[read more]. On January 31, I will be in Ottawa at the Public Sector Human Resources Conference. Here, I will discuss the role of public sector HR professionals in our current economy.
Of course, should you have any questions regarding the IRC's work, our programming, or our research, I invite you to contact my colleagues. Stephanie Noel will be happy to answer any programming inquiries and Alison Hill can address research inquiries.
An Inquiry into the State of Labour Relations in Canada
In November 2011, Queen's IRC conducted a survey that explored the state of the labour relations (LR) profession in Canada.
I would like to thank all individuals who chose to participate in this IRC research initiative. I am pleased to report that a total of 184 responses were received.
The IRC research team is now in the process of analyzing the data. An Executive Summary will be published in March, providing a synopsis of the key research findings.
Should you wish to receive a copy of the Executive Summary, or have any questions regarding the IRC's LR research, please do not hesitate to contact our Research Team.
HR Governance Symposium
On December 1, 2011, Queen's IRC and Deloitte collaborated to deliver a one-day HR Governance Symposium. The event took place in Kingston, and was attended by senior leaders from across Canada.
Rich discussions prevailed throughout the day and several interesting presentations were made by HR professionals from both public and private sectors.
Deloitte presented their point of view on the need and opportunity for HR governance in the marketplace, which included sessions on formal HR governance and internal HR governance.
Other topics discussed included broad board governance context, effective governance, and a global perspective on HR governance.
The inaugural HR Governance Symposium was a success, and Queen's IRC will be partnering with Deloitte again this year. For more information regarding the HR Governance Symposium, please view our
website or contact Julie Sharrard.
IRC Introduces Opinion Poll
Queen's IRC takes pride in the practitioner-focussed research that we conduct and disseminate to members of the human resources, labour relations, and organizational development communities.
As part of our research plan and commitment to practice-based research, we will soon be launching a series of short surveys entitled Insights. These surveys, or opinion polls, will include hot topics that target key workplace challenges and issues faced by practitioners.
Through these opinion polls we will investigate current issues, and aim to identify trends that we can share with our research community.
We anticipate that the surveys should take approximately five minutes to complete; results will be published in the IRC's Research Briefs.
I invite you to consider participating in our upcoming opinion polls. In the interim, please do not hesitate to contact our Research Team with any questions you may have regarding this new project.
Strategic Grievance Handling
Elaine Newman, Arbitrator and Mediator
I can't tell you the number of times I have found myself in the midst of a labour arbitration hearing, asking myself,
"Why are we doing this?" "Why are we having this hearing?" "What goal do the parties hope to achieve by investing in these expensive days in hearing?"
Often, I am sure that the parties themselves do not have an answer to these questions squarely in mind. The results of the Queen's IRC research (Juniper & Hill, 2011) prove me right.
It appears that human resource practitioners have identified a strong need to develop analytical, critical, and strategic thinking - the kinds of skills necessary to ensure that their grievance handling becomes more effective and "strategic."
>> Read the full article
here
Strategic Grievance Handling
May 1-4, 2012
Toronto, ON
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