Involvement and Participation Association (IPA)
The
Involvement and Participation Association (IPA) is the
main body in Britain promoting partnership at the workplace,
seeing partnership as the key to building the employment
relations on which world class economies depend. Throughout
its long history the IPA has pursue its aims through case
studies, visits and conferences, by providing an information
network amongst like-minded companies and advising organisations
on good practice.
The
main aim of the project, funded through the DTI Partnership
at Work Fund, is to establish a web site that can become
a comprehensive source of accessible information on partnership
practices and arrangements throughout the country.
Partnership
Approach
The
IPA has set up the website www.partnership-at-work.com
to achieve a wider and deeper understanding of the advantages
of partnership, and the practical steps by which it can
be achieved. The site aims to assist human resource and
personnel professionals, trade unionists, academic researchers,
policy makers and journalists.
It
will also be useful to students studying for professional
qualifications in people management as well as to undergraduate
and postgraduate university students of industrial relations
and human resource management.
The
site was set up over a year by a team of two researchers
and a web site designer overseen by a project manager
and the IPA information officer. It has been designed
in a user friendly format with interactive links to other
sites.
Content
of the Web Site
The
emphasis of the partnership at work site is on ease of
use – access is open to all without the need for registration
or passwords to remember. The database can be searched
by subject, organisation, sector, author or any combination
of these categories. Larger subject areas are subdivided
into narrower fields. For example, within Communication
the following sub-headings appear:
- Communication
audits
- Briefings
- Cascade
systems
- Feedback
systems
- Newsletters
and staff publications
Once
the user has selected the area they wish to search, a
summary of every entry that fits the chosen description
will appear. By clicking on the summary the whole entry
can be called up.
Users
can also sign up for the monthly news briefing service
simply by registering their email address.
The
web site provides information on several hundred organisations,
and includes the following:
- a
comprehensive list of partnership organisations
- case
studies, surveys and academic studies of partnership,
summarised and sourced or in full, where the copyright
is held by the IPA
- a
supporting database of information on all the initiatives
and processes used to support partnership.
Through
the site one can also gain access to the IPA’s own website
www.ipa-involve.com
which provides:
- the
IPA’s research reports in a summarised format
- the
IPA's learning network which operates via the activities
the IPA organises throughout the year for both members
and non-members including company visits, conferences
and best practice demonstrations by both managers
and workers
- a
programme of training and advisory work, specialising
in the following areas:
- establishing
partnership agreements
- developing
consultative processes
- employment
relations workshops
- training
for employee representatives
- employee
communications
- employee
attitude surveys
- employee
involvement reviews
- facilitation
of EWC agreements and best practice workshops.
The
partnership-at-work.com site has the unique advantage
of an exclusive focus on partnership, which will be supported
by the IPA’s partnership activities and research, ensuring
that the site’s contents will always be kept fully up
to date.
It
provides a one-stop access point for partnership information,
and provides click through links to other sites containing
partnership information.
It
represents all points of view, including those of private
sector employers, trade unions, unionised and non-union
companies, the public sector and small and medium-sized
organisations giving the site widespread credibility.
Links
to other sites
The
IPA Partnership web site provides links to other organisations
offering information, advice and support for those wishing
to implement, or improve the effectiveness of their partnership
initiatives.
Dissemination
The
web site was initially launched at the CIPD Conference
in Harrogate at the end of October 2000 and has been promoted
through e-mail, regional and specialist press releases
and IPA membership contacts.
The
Future
As
the site expands efforts will be made to encourage as
many people as possible to log on to the site. Registration
is encouraged in order to capture visitors’ details and
to obtain feedback on the usefulness of the site. The
IPA is particularly keen to get information from users
about where they think there are gaps which need to be
filled and how the site could be improved.
