Acas and the CIPD have teamed up to publish a ‘five-a-day’ manual in a bid to encourage business leaders to take a stand against poor people management – a significant factor in the UK’s productivity gap.
The joint guidance covers management fundamentals developed from CIPD and Acas research and offers practical experience of management development grouped under headings including:
- Managing work now and in the future
- Managing the team
- Managing the individual
- Managing conflict and difficult situations
- Managing yourself.
"Standards of line management in the UK are all too often poor. If we’re to close the productivity and skills gaps with our international competitors, we need to improve the management capability of our front-line managers," said Jackie Orme, chief executive of the CIPD.
"Good line managers are good role models in today’s modern workplace," added John Taylor, Acas chief executive. "Managers are key to flexible working practices being embedded effectively and their ability to fully engage with employees and their representatives will be key to ensuring organisational productivity in the future. Line managers increasingly play a vital role in developing and supporting learning at work and they are at the heart of effective stress, conflict and absence management."
In addition, the CIPD and Acas are publishing a discussion paper, Meeting the UK’s people management skills deficit, which sets out the evidence on the importance of good people management, evidence of the poor quality of UK line management in comparison to our international competitors, and recommendations for employers and government.