Importance of Employee Relations - Essay Example

Employee Relations: Explain the employee relations against a changing background in terms of unitary and pluralistic frames of reference. The conceptof employee relations revolves around the work and struggle associated with maintaining the relationship between employers and employees, and suppressing the rebellious activities of any individual within the workplace, who may cause trouble for the whole organization. Now, problems regarding the poor performances or defiant attitudes are reported to the managers who have varying approached to handle the formal relationships. For this purpose, there are two major frames of references that should be used by the managers as means to condition their responses to various problematic issues they face. The unitary frame of reference is common among managers and it suggests the idea of unity, as the name implies. It means that all people in the organization are collectively working towards one goal with one central authority or managerial team. It also suggests that all the people working in an organization should have well-established ideas regarding the oneness of authority and conflict should be abhorred. In stark contrast, the pluralistic frame of reference suggests that each person working in an organization has varying interest, ideas, preferences, and opinions. There is no unity when responses are conditioned in such a way. Interest groups are formed within an organization and they have to struggle a lot for gaining their particular individual goals. Each group has drastically different interests and the manager’s role is to balance those interests effectively for achieving such objectives that are fruitful for an organization. How changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations? Trade unions are made by the members of an organization themselves in order to protect their rights, interests and other betterment-oriented objectives. Most of the trade unions operate independently but some remain in constant contact with the employers in order to struggle together for achieving the same goals and desires. Now, the industrial or employee relations are based on the negotiation or discussion of those rights and demands of the employees that they want from their employers. Trade unionism has direct effects on the employee relations and it markedly molds those relations according to the nature of the scenario and the severity of the problems. According to (HRM Guide, 2010), the concept and significance of trade unionism is shifting now. The age of mass production is almost gone now and the present age is of individualism that does not support much the concept of trade unionism. This suggests that trade unionism is on a decline presently in most of the countries, but this does not mean that it has altogether stopped affecting the employee relations. Though trade unions are meant to enhance the privileges of the employees while seeking peace with the employers, some industrial disputes turn into such worrisome issues that employee relations get totally deteriorated. Some industrial disputes owing to such trade unionism in which the members of a union do not handle the relations with their employers effectively, lead to lost revenue, decreased productivity, customer dissatisfaction. What is the role of the main players in the employee relations? The main players in the field of employee relations are of course the employees themselves and the employers. The managing team also plays a significantly important role of an ambassador between the employers and employees. Any problems experienced by the employees or worrisome conflicts deteriorating the workplace’s environment are typically first reported to the managing team, who consider and evaluate various scenarios before forwarding the results to the employers. Communication is a key element that can improve the employee relations and help every participant in the process to build up the strength of a workplace. Many managers are typically acknowledged with only the traditional style of communication that leaves no room for the employees’ participation in the production process. Those organizations in which the concept of oneness or leading buffalo approach is maintained, the active participation of all the key players in a workplace can never be established. Effectively coping with many difficult scenarios like discriminatory issues, lost revenue, and workplace conflicts depends solely on the role of all the main three participants in the employee relations. What procedures an organization should follow when dealing with different conflict situations? Industrial conflicts may arise due to myriad problematic issues between the employers and employees and the most common of them are job insecurity, cultural diversity, unfilled orders, unprofessionalism, and no freedom of speech. Such is the nature of industrial conflicts that may destabilize the foundations of an organization destroying its whole future. Facilitation meetings can serve as especially useful means for coping effectively with the potentially hazardous conflicts that are profoundly capable of creating pandemonium in a workplace. (Conflict Research Consortium, 1998). Such meetings helps in bringing together all the key members within an organization under one roof, who are significantly capable of sorting out ant conflicts. This is the general consensus around the globe that the root cause of almost all the conflicts is poor communication due to which misunderstandings are born, which grow up into menacing conflicts. Proper leadership, the kind of which can evaluate and assess every level of the organization and all the members working at each level, can also play a major role in dealing with various conflicts. Without commitment from the top most level, no initiatives can be taken at the grass root level. What are the key features of employee relations in a selected conflict situation? If a particular conflict situation is supposed in which the workers decide to lay the foundation for a potent conflict owing to low pay that is insufficient to meet the financial needs, employee relations can take a drastic shift from harmony and peace to ruthlessness and violation of rules. Employee relations typically involve the perspectives of employees and employers. So, in such a situation, the key roles of employers would either include calling a general facilitation meeting or imposing crude bans on the employees majorly involved in creating the issue. Such employees are often not allowed to enter their workplaces and they are tried to be suppressed by having them banished from their jobs until they agree to comply with the management order. The key roles of the employees, on the other hand, include either trying frantically to reach the top management and negotiate with them or worsen the situation by engaging in pickets or strikes. What is the effectiveness of the procedures used in a selected conflict situation? (Adeyemi, 2010) identifies that conflicts should not be viewed in an extremely negative light because those organizations that totally suppress every conflict chance are significantly apathetic and unresponsive to the continuously changing demands of the customers. In the conflict situation of low pay, the arguments made by the affected employees should be openly invited by the employers and managers, rather than oppressing the arguing employers by threatening them that they would lose their jobs if they do not comply with the orders and the existing pays. If the root causes of the conflicts are honestly evaluated by the employers, positive outcomes can be generated even out of utter pandemonium and distress. The employees, on the other hand, should also honestly assess themselves that how much each one of them is willing to attend a facilitation meeting called by the employer. Strikes and other forceful means can never produce the desirable results as soon as negotiation means are capable of producing. What is the role of negotiation in collective bargaining? Collective bargaining refers to the process of voluntary negotiation between the employers and trade unions to settle the workers’ compensation, salaries, working hours, and other employment issues. It is a meeting held between the representatives on either side to sort out the issues that are capable of creating problems in the future. The role of negotiation in collective bargaining is profoundly important since it forms the bedrock of such processes. (Tshikalange, 2001) lays stress on the fact that collective bargaining forms the basic activity of any union and long before the negotiations start, this activity should be carried out in a proactive fashion so that the demands of the employees are satisfactorily deliberated at each level of the union. If such a homework is done on every demand that is to be forwarded to the employers later, negotiation can drastically affect the process of collective bargaining. This is so because employees would be intensely familiar with every problem and this familiarity will help them negotiate the intricacies regarding the problems in an enhanced manner. What is the possible impact of the negotiation strategy for a given situation? Supposing that an industrial conflict has initiated because of the defiant and rebellious behavior displayed by the employees, who argue that their wages should be increased since they cannot meet the financial needs in the existing salaries. Here, the trade unions need to jump in to resolve the conflict between the employers and employees through collective bargaining, before the matters get out of hand and shake the foundations of an organization. The trade unions always have the basic element of negotiation rooted in the collective bargaining. Negotiation can open new horizons of opportunities for both parties in that it allows the employees chance to convey their opinions and desires to the representatives of the high authorities in the mantle of effective persuasion. It also allows the employers a chance to share the financial and economic position of the organization to the employees working at low levels, so that they can be stimulated to realize why or why not their wages can be increase. What is the effectiveness of various negotiation strategies? (Burgess, 2004) claims that though there are many types of negotiation strategies in use in the workplace settings, most of the literature focuses on only two strategies. One of them is the collective bargaining and the other is positional or distributive bargaining. Positional bargaining is a very harsh approach and owing to its rude philosophy, it is abandoned in most of the world. According to this concept, employees do not wait to negotiate the matters with their managers and do not try to find out ways to reduce the horrific chances of conflicts, rather they see the negotiation as a battle which presents such a situation where there definitely has to be a winner or a loser. Collective bargaining, on the other hand, is such a negotiating strategy that provides opportunities of sorting out the conflict-based issues with calmness and patience, while taking care to solve the grievances according to the grievance procedure detailed in the employment contract. Collective bargaining far outweighs the other strategies in that it opens up effective channels of communication both for the employers and employees, and inculcates a sense of responsibility in the employees. An industrial conflict and the effectiveness of collective bargaining: (Jamieson, 1976, pp. 149-153) identified that the most violent conflict between the two most powerful groups in California came to a head in 1937. This conflict led to such a heavy clash between the parties on both sides that a lot of fuss was created for acquiring control on the industrial establishments waiting to be transported by highway. The two groups were unions from the Maritime Federation of the Pacific under Harry Bridges and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Conflicts between these two major unions gradually heightened when negotiating means were poorly utilized by the arguing parties. The failure to organize the workers during the collective bargaining process initially, is considered the major drawback that initiated angry riot and worsened the situation. Gradually, the labor organizers and employers began to realize their mistakes and by practically applying the true negotiating strategies, both the parties finally gained huge organizational benefits. But, if they had continued ignoring the principles of collective bargaining, the conflict would have never ceased. How can employee participation be explained amidst the influence of EU on UK’s industrial democracy: The concept of industrial democracy highlights such a situation in which the employees enjoy freedom of speech and maximum involvement in all the important decision making processes at the workplace, in addition to influencing the organizations in terms of the way they operate. The involvement of the employees does not mean that they have to be encouraged to take part in every important decision on daily basis, because that is the duty of the management team. European Union encourages the participation of the employees in that it promotes the worker involvement in electing a particular proportion of the employees. But, EU member states differ in the rate of worker involvement in management. Some states highly encourage the participation of the employees but in UK, it is not encouraged that the employees get involved in electing certain candidates. In UK, this is considered a serious threat to the freedom of the management (Cannell, 2010). What are the methods used to gain employee participation in the decision making processes? The productivity rate of an organization can be drastically improved if those workers who seem to be apathetic, unprofessional, and unmotivated are tried to be engaged in important processes carried out at the workplaces. There are many ways in which the employers can motivate employees to express their opinions and ideas concerning any topic that needs to be discussed. “Key factors that enable employee participation are respect and recognition of achievements, empowerment, personal development, economic security, family security, creativity, and cordial relationships with co-workers” (Six Sigma Training, 2009). Harmful criticism should always tried to be avoided by the employers and managers, that is directed at one’s self-esteem. No employee can produce the best results possible if his/her self-esteem is attacked by the employers. This is the general consensus that appreciation works magic regarding the way the employees behave and work in the workplace setting. By following some simple steps, employee participation can be readily improved in the organizations. What is the impact of human resource management on employee relations? HRM is potentially capable of improving and promoting a healthy employee relations agenda. The most significant role of HRM is reflected in driving and motivating the workforce towards achieving the common objectives for the betterment of an organization. In order to obtain the best possible productivity from the employees, they need to be made excessively interested in the important issues related to quality problems and work improvement. HRM also impacts the employee relations in terms of conflict management. Whenever any conflict is initiated in the workplace setting, it is first the duty of the employers to settle the issues with their employees, who are involved in the conflict. But, if even then the conflict could not be resolved and the problems persist, then either of the parties can contact the HR managers, who try to negotiate with both the parties maintaining their status as a neutral party (Anon., 2009). Comparison between two companies in terms of employee participation: Wal-Mart is an American public corporation that runs a huge chain of stores throughout the world. This is an organization that shows care and concern for all the workers. They fell motivated and compelled to give their very best in order to increase the rate of productivity still higher. Wal-Mart is known for setting mission statements that define the shareholder returns that are expected by the organization. Then, in an order to achieve those set criterion, all the employees are encouraged by the higher administration to work harder by granting them exclusive bonuses (McMillan, 2010). No organization can turn into a worldwide conglomerate without showing concern for the employees. This is also true in case of Adidas, which is another organization that is also a giant of the consumer products in the market for a very long time. The motto of this worldwide conglomerate is that employee empowerment plays a major role in managing employee relations within Adidas Group (Adidas Group, 2008). 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