Unit 20 Employee Relation Assignment - British Medical

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 20 Employee Relation
QFC Level	Level 5

Introduction

Employee relation assignment  in concentration with Employee Relation. Report will help in developing better set of understanding with employer-employee relation in large enterprise. Information regarding role of trade union and its history will be shared employee relation assignment. For better understanding case of British Medical Association and NHS Employers is taken in this report. Case is regarding the conflict in which British Medical Association voted to strike over the continuing disagreement with the government. Impact of negotiation in collective bargaining is shared as the conflict was resolved with the help of negotiation among the Association and junior doctors of NHS. Study also includes information related with industrial conflicts and the types of disputes which could affect decorum and the working environment of the organization. This study will help in developing effective set of plans so as to resolve the conflicts and maintaining the decorum of the organizations.

Task1

1.1 Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference explaining the implications of each of the perspectives for the appropriate means through which conflict is to be resolved.

Unitary Frames: The reference to the way of thinking, mind set of an individual in the way he makes the assumptions, attitudes, various values and practices which relates to the management and to the organizational behaviour. Such type of perspective is based on the statement that is being put in order to achieve the success, members of candidates of any organization, despite the roles that they play, sharing same goals, objectives and values. Expression in the unitary approach could be found by the expression of implementing the mission statement and measures the success through actual achievement of the objectives that are set. It is considered that workers should remain loyal and role of the management is being accepted as parental which could be seen in the best interest of every person. It is necessary for management to focus on loyalty (Rodin, 2016).

Perspectives of Unitarists on industrial Conflict: There is no basis of conflicts, mistakes and poor communication are the two main reasons for conflict, occasional outburst is a form of conflict, workplace is a focus of analysis, communication is termed as one of the means to minimize the conflict, and division between two sides is termed as an unresolved conflict.

Pluralistic Frames: Pluralistic frames undertake the perception of being made up of the powerful and different sub groups. Each group holds its own legal loyalties consisting of their own set of objectives and goals which are being lead by a leader. There are two major subgroups in pluralistic frames they are the management and union. In this management focus less upon enforcing and controlling but more upon influencing and bringing coordination among the employees. On the other hand Trade Union is legal representatives of the employees. Trade Union focuses upon the conflicts which are dealt by collective bargaining (Kirov, et. al., 2015). It does not consider conflict as a bad thing as it could be managed and could be modified into the positive change for the organization.

Perspectives of Pluralist on industrial Conflict: When organized division gets divided then the situation of conflict occurs, dispute of interest or right is termed as the reason for open conflict, Conflict could be formed by collective bargaining, focus of analysis is done by  aspect of contract, they adopt better procedures to minimize the conflict and unresolved conflicts are termed as shop floor level, limits of institutions and role of state (Dar, et. al., 2014).

1.2 Assess how changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations.

Employee Relation: Interrelationships both formal and informal between the manager and the people who he manages is known as employee relation. Employee relation is the aspect that could get affected by any kind of change (Castanheira, et. al., 2015). Change in the trade unionism had a great impact on employee relations. To gather appropriate information regarding the aspect it is necessary to understand the history and evolution of the trade unionism to understand its impact on employee relation:

Trade union is the union of the labor who comes together so as to attain common goals like protecting the integrity of the trade, improving the safety standards, achieving the higher pay and various benefits like health care, retirement, increase in the number of employees, assigning an employer to complete the tasks, and availability of better working environment.

In 1901 trade union become very powerful due to which court decided to sue it for the damages that were held due to the strikes mainly for the taff vale case. During the period of 1923-1929 conservative government was faced by Britain. It was the time when general stick was held by trade union. Due to the decline in coal mining in 1920 employers cut the wages of the employees in 1921 (Bailey, et. al., 2016). A proposal of reduction in the wages and increase in the working hours was presented by the employers in 1926, due to which miners went for the strike and appealed other unions to help them. Some of the general workers died in that stick, due to which May Day or Labor Day is being observed. After that incident trade union comes to form which had a great impact on the employee relation. Relation between the employee and employer started to get affected from the formation of very first trade union. After trade union took the shape and came to its real form employee relationship started developing (Sanders, et. al., 2016).

Due to trade union business environment started getting change. With the help of analysis it was get to know that political parties started taking interest in the labor and developed certain policies which were in relation with safeguarding the labor from fraud activities of employers, with guidance of trade union new technologies were adopted at the workplace which made the work of employees more easy and simple, employees got the social acceptability and were started being treated equally by the employers, there were certain major legislations introduced in relation with trade union like; Trade Dispute Act 1965, Equal Pay Act 1970, Industrial Relation Act 1971, Trade Union and Labor Relation Act 1974, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Employment Protection Act 1975 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975, so as to protect the interest of the employees and to build positive relationship between employees and employers, there were certain economic changes also that took place after trade union were formed which provided benefits to the country as employment was generated due to which unemployment got reduced (Arrowsmith, et. al., 2013).

1.3 Explain the role of the key players in employee relations.

There are certain key employees who plays important role for the managing positive employee relation at workplace. Some of the main players who play a very vital role in employee relation are workers, managers, organizations, government agencies which are concerned with the workplace and the communities (Wiggenhorn, et. al., 2016).

Role of Manager in Employee Relation: It is necessary to develop a healthy relationship with the employee as it helps employees to find their work interesting and performing at their level best. It is necessary that manager should understand that conflict must be avoided at the workplace as it is nothing but just a mere waste of time (Brander, et. al., 2016). A manager should understand the importance of team work and should try that the subordinates that are working under him should work as a team rather than working individually. It is necessary that manager should develop the working environment in which individuals could make them comfortable and enjoy the workings. Manager should take the help of the employees in decision making aspects; this will also help in building effective relationship with the employees.

Role of Trade Union in Employee Relation: Trade Union is working since 1930s for the welfare of labor or the employees working in the organization. Trade union resists through the domination of the employers over employees and to represent the interest of the workers in employment relationship. With the efforts of the union workers started getting various benefits, better pay and working conditions. Efforts of trade union were really beneficial as employees started getting treated with dignity and respect at the workplace (Griffin, et. al., 2015). With the help of Trade union employees were granted for equal bargaining power with the employers, union fought for better terms and conditions for the workers. Trade union represents the workers interests and secured various benefits, like higher wages, work life balance, job security and protection from arbitrary action.

Government in Employment Relation: It is difficult to define the role of government in employee relation because it encompasses more than a single actor and various departments. It is often reasoned that the objective of the government in intervening in the employment relation is to achieve economic as well as social goals for the nation as the whole. Government has certain prime targets and one of the prime targets of the government is to manage the economy for which government has decided to meet four economic policy objectives they are:

• To ensure that the high level of employment could be maintained
• To ensure that the price could remain stable
• To ensure that the balance of payment could remain maintain and surplus could be achieved
• To protect the rate of exchange (Tansel, et. al., 2014)

Task 2

2.1 Explain the procedures an organization (NHS employer) should follow when dealing with different conflict situations (such as with a single employee, between employees, with a group of employees).

Conflict is the situation which affects the work as well as working environment of any organization. NHS is the workplace where it becomes that conflicts should remain managed and changes of occurrence of the conflict could get reduced. There are certain positive and negative aspects of conflict. Sometimes conflict is treated as a positive force which can bring the necessary changes to the business environment of NHS (Gill, et. al., 2013). Conflicts that remain for the long period of time have the negative consequences as people who remain under certain set of disputes feel very stressed which takes the physical tolls. Such types of conflicts also results in reduction in the productivity. Ongoing conflicts could result in anger which could result in disruptive to the organization like sabotaging the equipment.

Conflicts at industrial level are of various natures like interpersonal conflict, intrapersonal conflict, structural conflict and strategic conflict. There are different set of procedures that could be adopted by NHS so as to manage the conflict they are:

• Compromising: One of the conflict management strategies that could be adopted by NHS is compromising which means that the parties involving in the conflict could settle on the solution which provides both the parties what they want. Solution provided is a mid path in which no party gets exactly what it wants but neither gets loss in accepting the solution provided to them.
• Avoiding: There are certain conflicts which are not pleasant and can be ignored. In that situation management as well as employees avoids the conflict (Wiggenhorn, et. al., 2016).
• Forcing: Sometimes avoiding and ignoring the conflict does not provide any solution for the resolution of the conflict in that situation supervisors directly approach to end up the conflict. One of the possibilities that occur is to force the conflict. In this situation person having the power decides the outcomes.
• Resolving: Resolving the conflict is the most direct as well as most difficult way of ending up the conflict. Resolving is a conflict management strategy named as conflict resolution. In this problems of both the parties are being listened by an authority so as to analyze and understand the main reason for the conflict. After this, areas are being identified in which everyone could get agreed and the way by which both the parties could get benefited. It is necessary that both the parties should take their time so as to think upon the solution and make the decision.

These are certain procedures that could be followed by NHS employers so as to resolve the conflict (Tuckman, et. al., 2014).

2.2 Explain the key features of employee relations (ideological framework, conflict and cooperation, consultation, negotiation etc) with reference to the above conflict situation.

In this situation conflict is between the British Medical Association (BMA), NHS Employers and the Government over the new junior doctors. In this situation members of British Medical Association voted to strike because of the continuing disagreement with the government. A new contract was agreed in May 2016 after several strikes but junior doctors voted against the contract. It is a conflict between the association, employers and the government. Conflicts are of various natures like ideological framework, conflict and cooperation, consultation and negotiation. It is necessary that the nature of conflict should be understood before providing the solution to it.

To manage the conflict it is necessary that the individual should be a skilled communicator, which include that he should create an open communication environment so that employees could get encouraged, like in this situation it is required for the junior doctors. To foster the situation it is necessary that the employees concern should be listened and understands the sayings of junior doctors by asking certain set of questions and focusing on their perception (Bailey, et. al., 2016). It is necessary to acknowledge that the difficult situation exists. In the situation of British Medical Association, NHS employers and Government honesty and clear communication will play a vital role in the resolution process of the conflict.

In the situation of this conflict mediation will be considered as grievance has been filed by the junior doctors. Although mediation is not a formal venue for the resolution of the conflict but it includes the involvement of department management and appropriate labor and employee relations analyst. It is necessary that all the parties should agree on the solution that is being provided by the government so that the clock could stop on grievance processing (Rodin, 2016).

2.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of procedures followed so far from both parties in this conflict situation.

Conflict Resolution: When two or more parties involves in a conflict situation it becomes necessary to resolve the conflict constructively otherwise conflict will go away on its own and will affect the organization, employers as well as employees. In the conflict between British Medical Association, NHS Employer and Junior Doctors, government is playing a very vital role in managing the conflict. Procedure followed in resolution of the conflict is really effective as in this situation a new contract was formed as the solution in which 68% of the eligible candidates took part. In this voting 42% voted to accept the contract and 58% voted to reject it. In this situation health secretary announced that the contract is agreed. Hence adopting such type of solution process is one of the best options available in relation with conflict resolution. This was the process in which all the eligible candidates were taken into consideration and on behalf of their acceptance final decision was taken (Kirov, et. al., 2015). Contract was the best possible solution that could have provided to resolve the conflict for which court also has taken the fair decision to suspend the further strikes and to maintain the decorum of the organizations.

It could be evaluated that the procedure that was being followed was effective because it was a fair decision made in relation with resolving the conflict. Resolution of the conflict includes compromising as the possible solutions were availed to the parties so that both the parties involving the conflict could get benefited. After refusal forcing was applied which again was an effective decision with the effect of which government became successful to suspend the strikes and to manage the conflicts accordingly (Dar, et. al., 2014)?

Task 3

3.1 Explain the role of negotiation in collective bargaining as in the above conflict.

The process of negotiation between the employers and the group of employees aimed at the agreement to regulate the working wages, working conditions and various other benefits and the rights. Negotiation is one of the aspects that play a very vital role in managing the conflicts. It is the process in which two parties agrees on a single solution which could provide them the benefits. Negotiation in collective bargaining ensures that the parties involved in the conflict could get benefits and could agree with the aspect of not indulging in any kind of conflict in near future (Castanheira, et. al., 2015).

For the focus for the study Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining were selected because they help in enabling the rights which makes it possible to promote the decent working conditions. In the above conflict between British Medical Association, NHS employers and government negotiation in bargaining played a very vital role. It helped in promoting consultation and cooperation between the British Medical Association and junior doctors. It helped in prohibiting the discrimination or adverse action against the workers or the representatives, it ensured that the association should allow its doctors to establish and join representative organization. Collective bargaining included the provision for the settlement of disputes arising over the interpretation and application and for ensuring the rights and responsibilities that are mutually respected (Sanders, et. al., 2016).

3.2 Assess the impact of the negotiation strategies adopted by both parties in the above conflict situation and comment on other negotiating strategies and the potential impact it could have.

Negotiation is the aspect that always provides positive results in managing the conflicts among the parties. In the case of British Medical Association, NHS employers and government the negotiation process that is being adopted is very effective which resulted in providing positive benefits and maintaining the conflicts. Negotiation process includes:

• Preparation
• Discussion
• Proposition
• Bargaining
• And agreement

This is the negotiation process that was being followed in the case. Proper set of preparation was being done before indulging in any kind of negotiation process, then discussion regarding conflict was held with the parties involved in the conflict, the certain solutions were proposed to the parties so that they can agree on one of the possible outcome. After proposition bargaining between the junior doctors and British Medical association was done which ended up with developing a contract for which voting were done in which eligible candidates voted on the basis of which end result for the agreement on the contract was taken by the government so as to manage the conflict and resolve the issue.

Negotiation that is being adopted in the resolution of conflict was compromising. It is the strategy in which most effective solution is provided to the parties which provides the benefits to both the parties. Applying this strategy was a wise decision as it helped in resolving the conflict among British Medical Association, NHS employers and government (Arrowsmith, et. al., 2013).

Couclusion

With regards to the process of employee relation in NHS, it is clear that employee relations processes in this organization are distinctive and complex and involves the interactions of both internal as well as external variables. NHS is not free from conflicts, but a try to develop better employee relation could make the organization free from all the conflicts. Trade union plays a very vital role building positive relation between an employer and the employees and ensures that employees should get their rights. In British Medical Association, NHS employer and government conflict, government played a very vital role and provided the most effective way to resolve the problem and helped in resolving the conflict among British Medical Association and Junior Doctors.

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