Critically Appraise the Employment Relations - Assignment Example

?Critically appraise the employment relations in non-union firms Employment Relations is an important part of a company’s functioning. The important thing to understand that employ satisfaction is extremely important when considering the impact on the bottom line. A happier workplace will lead to more productivity and greater output. While many managers believe that it is easier to deal collectively with the employees as part of a union, problems arise when the demands of the employees do not match those acceptable by the management. Hence, there has been a decrease in unionization (Willman 2004). However, this too has its positives and negatives. Both aspects will be discussed in the following sections so that an understanding of the employment relations within non-union forms can be sought and an in-depth study shall provide the basis of comprehension of a number of different facets – all of which come under the aegis of employment relations. When considering employment relations there are certain implications for managers that they must consider when coming up with the policy for dealing with employee issues. The three most important factors that need to be considered are the public, the employer and employee. The functioning of the company is largely dependent upon the maintenance of fair, friendly, and mutually satisfactory employment relations and the availability of suitable machinery for the peaceful adjustment of whatever controversies may arise. The term non-union is defined as the employees or workers of an organization “not belonging or relating to a labor union”1. This type of company reduces the impact of collective bargaining where the company is more inclined to deal with the issues of the employees on a one to one basis (Boeri 2001). The advantages of this sort of system are more individual attention to grieved employees, which will increase their levels of motivation. It also means more company ownership by all levels of the workers who take pride in solving problems for the betterment of the company. Lastly, the monetary benefits for the company, who do not have to pay the dues of the unions and are more economically strong and can, improve their bottom line (Gannon 1987). There are also many other smaller advantages and disadvantages however they are beyond the scope of this paper. Most managers are of the opinion that the most important aspect of good employment relations are affective negotiations.Communication is the glue that makes policies real and without which they are ineffective. The fact that communication is necessarily a two-way process, involving dialogue rather than simply instruction, is well established (Morley 2006). Yet many organizations perform badly in this area, failing to give communication the priority it deserves. “Getting communication right involves both professionalism and persistence. The qualities required include focusing on positive behaviors and outcomes, taking a positive, problem-solving approach, anticipating problems, recommending solutions and being able to offer sound advice to senior managers about implementation. Negotiating skills are still useful but needed less often. A much wider area of knowledge is now required, along with the skills to apply it, including surveying and interpreting employee attitudes, communications and conflict management. Most important is the ability to ‘fit’ policies and practices to suit the organization’s goals and the character of its workforce.”2 Affective negotiations are synonymous to successful negotiations which mean the activities “that results in a win-win agreement in which all parties gain overall, even though they may have to make concessions in the process”.3Additionally some managers’ say that both parties should not drift away too much from their desired outcomes as this only hampers the result while wasting valuable resources of the company. The main reason why managers avoid having unions, it can be a pain to work with unions when you have a poor performer, but it also is a check to random dismissal. The bigger problem revolves around seniority, because we are in a hiring boom to replace retiring workers (Duke 2003). It is hard to attract talented young workers when they will be banished to weekend and graveyard shifts for their first few years, and any attempts to motivate the new workers (without first having offered the same incentives to all of the more experienced employees) results in union objections. The inability to gives incentives to a new employee without offering everyone else the same exact incentive strikes as being wildly ineffective. Unfortunately, there are few companies with managers trained to supplant unions. That lack of training can be a significant detriment to a company's overall well-being. Now we should focus on what employment relations refers to in any company. The most important factor that is the source of concern is working conditions. Working hours may be long and exhaustive and employees may feel that they are not being adequately compensated. They feel that employment conditions in competitive companies are friendlier and wages packages are more helpful. In a normal union firm, the union rep would take up these issues with the management and may even threaten to close down the facility until these issues are resolved. However, in a unionized firm these individual complaints must be resolved in an orderly manner before they become serious and cause damage to the company. We must understand that in everyday terms problems can come up from all directions. While the collective bargaining may allow some minor problems to be overlooked to concentrate more on major ones, in un-unionized firms problems from every outlook must be considered major ones. Even though the solutions may be simple, but the company must review each decision properly to avoid having more severe consequences in the future. Many studies have concluded that the major sources of influence can be traced to different managerial styles, product market pressures and the internal social dynamics of each organization. Attention to the social processes within each organization shows important differences in the way employment relations are made and modified in different firms. Management or managerial style can be defined as “The leadership method a manager uses in administering an organization. For example, it may be said a manager has a very informal style, which signifies that the manager does not practice close supervision and believes in open communication.”4 It can range from being Autocratic (decisions made without the consent of sub-ordinates) to being democratic (all decision making is transparent and employee inputs and insights are valuable). All the styles have their own positive and negatives however they are beyond the scope of this paper. Product market pressures and social dynamics vary greatly across an industry and all companies and individuals have different methods of dealing with them. The fact is that the external environment’s influence on the working of the organization is very big. If any new competitive products are being launched, it puts pressure on the company to perform hence an increase in the job insecurity and competition. Social dynamics with emphasis on companies means the ability of a company to react to inner and outer changes and deals with its regulation mechanisms. This ability to react is crucial to both its long and short term survival. For example, Modern companies rely on technology to invent and promote new technology. The problem with back propagation is that it can complicate the system, make it dynamic hence difficult to control. As the company needs to align technology to human needs and needs to foresee the effects of its actions, social dynamics and its scientific relatives is an important area of concern for the management. In a non-unionized company, management must listen to concerns and grievances and resolve them in ways that do not cause discord. It is essential that human resource executives be expert in administering alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs. ADR programs are generally welcomed by both management and employees because they are cost effective and swiftly arrive at fair resolutions.5 The three most common ADR programs are arbitration which is an adjudication process during which a third party hears both sides of a dispute and renders a decision after weighing the evidence. Both sides may agree prior to arbitration that the decision will be binding or that an appeal to another body is allowed to reach a mutually acceptable decision. This is common for high involvement decisions where both the parties involved need to constantly review the conditions that they are operating in. The dialogue should be done with clear objectives otherwise the arbitration process will lead to unclear outcomes and the process may continue. Both sides must be willing to adjust their requirements and reach a mutual consensus. The second most common ADR program is the mediation which includes a process where a third party facilitates open and ongoing communication designed to lead to a settlement (Wiatrowski 1994). This process usually occurs when the company officials fail to reach a conclusion through arbitration. In most cases both the parties will reach a conclusion on the mediator who then intervenes and makes the final decision. This decision is considered final and shall not be challenged in the future. Although his process may not give out the best/desired outcome however, the fairness of the situation makes is acceptable (Fox 2004). The last ADR program is the peer review where a representative adjudication process is in place that relies on a selected panel of managers and employees. A majority of the panel is required to render a binding decision.6Peer reviews are increasingly used for their transparency and ease of use. While most companies resort to this sort of process, motivational levels may become a source of concern. Other activities that management can employ to reduce the conflicts of interest and rifts among the organization include the focus groups where mmanagement at non-union plants also undertakes one of the traditional roles of unions: listening to employees. One of the best means is through focus groups, which afford management significant opportunities to obtain representative information about its workforce and their attitudes. Focus groups lead to team building-the instruments that implement strategic plans. To create effective teams, management must clearly determine what problems it hopes to address by the formation of a team.7 A focus group as it provides a setting where employees can voice their opinions and concerns openly without the fear of facing consequences (Bogg 2009). Basic rules must be followed and the focus group should be carried out strict supervision of the proper moderator, preferably one of the people from the top management. Additionally, the participants must be assured that their viewpoints and opinion will be taken seriously and the company will try and make the necessary changes to the structure. A new type of focus group being used is a virtual focus group where all the participants log onto a particular area of the employee intranet and voice their opinions. These comments are not traceable and hence the employees are more open to sharing valuable insights on how to make the company better (Edwards 2010). The Employee Advocate Representative is important to understand as there will always be a boundary between the employer and employee, but you can work across it by simply welcoming the representative, always including them, and asking their advice. Just as unions used to have shop stewards, non-unionized companies can have an employee advocate representative (EAR). The FAR position is usually a trial assignment aimed at improving morale by involving employees in a broad spectrum of management activities and decisions. The responsibilities of the EAR include providing input about employee issues and suggesting solutions at department meetings. Whenever a question arises concerning the representation of employees in a collective bargaining unit the commission shall determine the representatives thereof by taking a secret ballot of employees and certifying in writing the results thereof to the interested parties and to their employer or employers. Companies must understand the meaning of the word employment relations (Caluwe 2000). Often HR managers only use the term to define the practices relating to all the employees in general however as we have seen it encompasses much more. Employee relations can nevertheless point to an underlying philosophy and attitudes and skills that are still needed by HR practitioners. The current ‘business partner’ model is helpful in identifying an ‘added value’ framework within which HR practitioners need to operate, but an unreflecting business focus may lead to a neglect of the softer skills, which are essential to managing the employment relationship, and of employee interests and influence (Kelly 2004). Employers also need HR managers with a positive, ‘can do’ attitude who will resist the temptation to adopt a defensive or compliance-led HR culture. The concept of engagement is helpful in promoting wider interest in the measurement of HR outputs, including through the widespread use of employee attitudes surveys and in performance management/appraisal systems (Forth 2004). Lastly, a more detailed and comprehensive training program has to be adopted by the management. Many characteristics needed for affectively managing employment relations do not come naturally to all the parties involved and hence adequate training is needed to bring out these traits.“More effort needs to be put into training and supporting line managers in, for example, team working and change management as the basis for establishing and maintaining motivation and commitment, which is a critical role for employee relations managers. Issues about ‘alignment’ of HR and business strategies have mostly to be resolved within this area (Sisson 2000). There is too much focus within organizations on strategy formulation and planning, and not enough on implementation and delivery (Bacon 1996). Managing the employment relationship rests heavily on the shoulders of line managers, but their competence in this area is, in general, seriously neglected.”9 In conclusion we can see that employment relations in non-union firms have their own complexities and hence they require a high level of communication among the people of the hierarchy. If the management is unable to gather the complaints of all the employees in an organized manner and not implement the necessary changes to the working, employment relations will be severely compromised. After looking at the non-unionized firm we can conclude that employment relations are more difficult when each complain, insight has to be dealt with individually rather than collective bargaining (Dundon 1999). The company may constantly find itself in negotiations with groups of employees who are unsatisfied with some aspect of their company. Other industry unions may affect the rate of complaint registering, i.e. if union activity in a related industry/company is relatively high then there will a higher disgruntled employee rate and hence the company will have to more effectively negotiate with its employees. From our discussion the most important thing that we have to remember is that everything should be done in a very pro-active manner (Dibble 1999). Most managers and experts say that for effective employment relations the problems should be identified as soon as possible and a list of possible solutions should be drawn up before the employee registers a problem. It is up to the management to make sure that the employees do not feel threatened by sharing their opinions and that all contributions are treated positively and towards the betterment of the company. 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