Joint problem solving and the role of third parties: An evaluation of ACAS advisory work

Ian Kessler and John Purcell, Fellows of Templeton College, Oxford, use data from a postal survey and case studies of organisations seeking in-depth advisory assistance from ACAS to evaluate the effectiveness of joint problem solving techniques. They find strong support from both managers and employee representatives for the use of joint working parties in the management of change in employment relations. ACAS's unique role as an independent and impartial third party is seen as critical in helping the parties develop jointness as a means of handling problems. the problem, they suggest, is to find ways of developing employee representative systems in non-union firms in order to utilise joint problem solving methods.