A lack of industrial relations knowledge has compounded the number of industrial disputes currently underway, a HR expert from Macquarie University has said.

In July alone Australia has witnessed the messy fallout of unresolved industrial disputes, with work stoppage at Qantas, Veolia Transport and Rio Tinto.

And just this week the WA police union struck an unprecedented deal which will see their officers receiving the highest pay in the nation. The result? IR disputes are set to remain firmly on the agenda.

Speaking to Human Capital, Dr Paul Gollan from Macquarie University, expert in HR management, employment and industrial relations, said that due to a lack of IR in HR courses throughout previous years,"many HR managers have had little experience when it comes to fundamental principles".

"In some ways that [lack of IR knowledge] has contributed to the disputes we are seeing today," he said. Gollan said that in a lot of cases industrial lawyers have taken over the whole function of dealing with all IR issues. Yet if HR were better equipped to handle industrial disputes, "a lot of these issues could be settled or addressed before getting more expensive and travelling up the legal echelons", he said.

He said that that 90% of disputes can be resolved or at least managed, but during the Howard years of government, Work Choices and management didn't allow for the capacity to deal with these disputes at work place level. During this time, many universities scrapped their IR courses from the list of core management studies.

But as a result of the return to Labor leadership, and more open discussion with unions, "an interesting development is that we're now seeing a huge take up in the study of IR", Gollan said. Gollan said that after IR slipping off the radar for many years, some universities are bringing those studies back, with many mature students returning for further studies in the field. "Quite obviously they're in [HR] fields and have found they need to get those skills," he said.

"There will always be IR disputes. But for HR the trick is managing the negative impacts. Reaching compromises that are acceptable to both parties takes a lot of expertise and experience," Gollan said. When it comes to strategies that HR managers can implement, Gollan suggested studying up on theoretical foundations of IR, such as why unions act in certain ways.

From there, he advises:

  • Use role plays with certain objectives. Practice how to achieve end goals from a strategic point of view.
  • Try to understand the motivations of both parties. Can the dispute be resolved in another way other than withdrawing labour?
  • Remember that unions look after their members and see themselves as guardians on issues such as OHS. When there is a lack of capacity on the business side to understand unions and their motivations, there will be difficulty reaching a common ground.
  • Always attempt to douse IR fires at the workplace level before they rage out of control.