Unit 20 Employee Relationship Assignment

Program	Diploma in Business
Unit Number and Title	Unit 20 Employee Relationship
QFC Level	Level 4

Introduction:

Unit 20 Employee Relationship Assignment has analysed the two main aspects of conflicts such as the Unitarist and Pluralist with their implication over the working of an organization. Next it had made an assessment of the trade unionism over the relation with the employees.

Entirely Employee Relationship assignment has made an overview about how the employee employer relationship can be maintained healthy with some decision making clear that it is the HR role and the assistance of the employer which can actually bring the best ever result in terms of working and maintaining a healthy working environment. According to Argenti (2015), Trade Union has its biggest effect over the employee employer relationship.With their various enforcements of applications they can actually help the employers to bring the best consequence from an employee. By Scott and Lodge (1985), HR has different roles to play so as to make the perfect team of workforce and help the company in earning high

Task: 1

1.1  Unitary and pluralistic frames:

The two main aspects of conflicts are:

• Unitarist: It is defined as a unit which will assume that all the people working in an organization belongs to a team offering the similarpurpose. The entire team will be having Human Resource Management as their central concern and will share the common objectives.(Bach and Kessler, 2011).
• Pluralist: These are the people who make an observation that the managers and the workers offer common and divergent interests (Hendrixet al. 2012).

Unitarist vs. Pluralist: According to the definition, both the terms differ between each other in their approach and definition. The former moves with the concept of working together for the welfare of a company whereas the latter, that is Pluralism, works with the belief of finding the different requirements of the employees and acknowledging such by fulfilling their demands.As per the policy of the ‘Unitarists’, if some conflicts have risen, both the management and the workforce will seat for a resolution. According to Armstrong and Taylor (2014) such a meeting with the same agenda is termed as ‘Unitary Outlook’.On the other hand ‘Pluralism’ says that everyone is needed to follow a particular system in an organization. According to them, power gets dispersed finely instead of being concentrated in a single hand. Infact, they move with the opinion of voicing out individual queries whereas Unitarism gives option of remaining in an organization as a big family.

The different methodologies for avoidingthe frequently raised industrial disputes include:

• Communication and consultation with the staff who are involved in the making of decisions through an employee representative and regular sessions for feedback as well as workforce meetings (Edmans 2011, p. 621).
• An effective procedure to exhibit your grievance and been settled and arranged by the workforce. This are needed to allow all the employees in telling about their concerns before any kinds of major problems get developed (Amstadet al. 2011, p.152).
• No agreements for holding strikes will be given to any employee. To put a stop to such, the employers will be paying high wages under a suitable working environment where Unions would not be permitted to take any kinds of industrial actions within prescribed time period (Kim and Rhee, 2011, p. 244).

1.2  Trade unionism effect over employee relations:

Five primary theoretical approaches have been set out for defining the conflict origins and such are as follows:

• Unitary
• Pluralism
• Radicalism
• Theory stating about Labour Regulation
• Dealing of the Transaction of Cost Economics

According to Newsom et al. (2012), the Unitary Perspective is defined as a concept where all the employees are taken care of and they can share their views as an individual, which is given enough importance in decision-making of the organization. On the other hand the Pluralist Theory mentions that every employee is individual and all the individualistic needs required to be fulfilled by the organization (Smith, 2012).

Industrial Relations: It primarily focuses on the rules, systems and procedures that are being used by the employers and the unions for the purpose of determining rewards for efficient efforts (Van Buren et al. 2011, p. 209). Moreover IR is concerned with the several other employment conditions for protecting the employed interests as well as the awareness of the employers with a way of regulating in the similar way(Wilkinson and Fay 2011, p. 74). According to Christian et al.(2011) employee relation stands as one of the most comprehensive subjects which will be including all the kinds of aspects that human resource management offers where each of the employees are needed to be dealt collectively. It will be covering:

• Welfare of the Employee
• Development of Each Employees
• Remuneration collection of all the employees including their welfare, safety etc.
• Participative Management

1.3  Role of the key players in employee relations:

The main people who have their direct involvement with the employee relations have been shown in the diagram below:

The role includes creation as well as maintenance of the motivation of each employee with obtaining a form of commitment fromthe workforce. The key players would be responsible in creating conjointly beneficial channels for communicatingwith each other. Moreover they would be responsible in the achievement of high efficiency level. There would be a negotiation of employment terms and conditions with sharing of decision making along with the staffs present so as to have the best outcome of each service engaging in the struggle of power alongwith the trade unions.

Now comes the role of the Trade Union. They would be liable in collective bargaining about the diverse employment terms and conditions with an individual representative in any conflicts with the management (Kim and Rhee, 2011, p. 267). Additionally they would have the responsibility in regulating a good relation with all the trade unions and making an improvement to the employees’ abilities for influencing events inside the workplace (Morris, 2012). According to Kelly (2012), the Trade Unions will actually be acting as the voice of grievance and gratitude towards the employers and with their power of exchanging ideas and view bring an improvement to the overall conditions of the employment. They would be taking part in decision making as well as would be maintaining and creating a harmony and peace at work (Newsom et al. 2012). With these Unions a rule framework can be created for fair conducts in terms of maintaining a healthy relationship with the organization.

The role includes creation as well as maintenance of the motivation of each employee with obtaining a form of commitment fromthe workforce. The key players would be responsible in creatingconjointly beneficial channels for communicatingwith each other. Moreover they would be responsible in the achievement of high efficiency level. There would be a negotiation of employment terms and conditions with sharing of decision making alongwith the staffs present so as to have the best outcome of each service engaging in the struggle of power alongwith the trade unions.

Now comes the role of the Trade Union. They would be liable in collective bargaining about the diverse employment terms and conditions with an individual representative in any conflicts with the management (Kim and Rhee, 2011, p. 267). Additionally they would have the responsibility in regulating a good relation with all the trade unions and making an improvement to the employees’ abilities for influencing events inside the workplace (Morris, 2012). According to Kelly (2012), the Trade Unions will actually be acting as the voice of grievance and gratitude towards the employers and with their power of exchanging ideas and view bring an improvement to the overall conditions of the employment. They would be taking part in decision making as well as would be maintaining and creating a harmony and peace at work (Newsom et al. 2012). With these Unions a rule framework can be created for fair conducts in terms of maintaining a healthy relationship with the organization.

Task: 2

2.1 The procedures an organisation (NHS employer) should follow:

Industrial Conflict or dispute is defined as some disagreements which take place between the representatives of trade unions and management. These areserious enough to include in the industrial actions (Kersleyet al. 2013).

Such refers to the perspectives which are connected with the relationship of the employment (Christianet al. 2011, p.90). But it is to be noted that the industrial conflicts does not contain any kinds of interpersonal conflicts (Becchetti et al. 2012, p.1629).On the other hand Industrial Action is defined as the measures which the workforce have adopted for lessening, slowing down or halting of outputs so as to give the management a pressure during their industrial arguments such as go-slow, overtime ban, strikes, work-to-rule and so on (Poole, 2013).

The various types of Industrial Conflicts include:

• The Conflict Nature
• The Conflict Perspective
• The Work Conflict
• Overt and Strike Conflicts
• Ways of resolving or avoiding of conflicts

The different variations of Industrial Actions include:

• Picketing
• Strikes
• Sit In
• Go Slow
• Banning of Overtime
• Work to Rule

The Conflict Perspective is of two types as discussed earlier:

• Unitarist
• Pluralist

The approaches of avoiding disputes include:

• Communication as well as consultation with the staffs in taking decision through regular meetings with the employee representatives as well as making feedback sessions (Jacksonet al.2013)
• An effective procedure of showing grievance  with which the staffs are allowed to put their complaints in front of the management agreed by all the other employees (Cina, 2013)
• No agreements in terms of posing strikes in return for either working conditions or for low wages. Infact it is the union who would be agreeing not to take any kinds of actions related to industry for some period of time (Broom et al. 2013)

2.2 Key features of employee relations:

The key features have been discussed below:

• The relations termed as ‘employer-employee’ can be considered as the best ever outcomes as per industry standards. Such a relationship will never be existing without the presence of both the parties such as the ‘Employees’ and the ‘Employers’(Becchettiet al. 2012, p. 1629). The industry will be providing the setup for establishing relationship between the employer and the employee (Robbins et al. 2012, p. 235).
• Such a kind of bond exists in both the collective as well as individual relationships (Ng and Feldman, 2012 p. 222). The later, individual relationship, implies a relation established in between the employees and the employer. Whereas on the other hand, collective relationship implies a relationship made in between the trade unions and the employers’ alongwith the State who will be regulating such relations.
• The employee employer relationship is multi-dimensional as well as complex one. Such a concept will never be limited within the Trade Union to employer relations but it is more than that. It will be covering unregulated and regulated, individual and institutionalized relations.
• The developing and a dynamic concept is the employee-employer relationship which undergoes changes within the industry circumstances as well as the changing structures. The entire idea cannot be taken as some static concept. Instead it stagnates or flourishes and even decays alongwith the social and economic institutions which will have its existence within the society.
• The ‘employer-employee’ relationship moves with the sole purpose of maintaining a pleasant relationship between the labour and the management. And accommodation remains the prime focus. The people involved get a training of maintaining a harmonious environment as well as cooperating each other while working as a team.

2.3 Evaluate the effectiveness:

The different methods of avoiding the industry related disputes are as follows:

• Communication and consultation with staff involvements for decision making through the various employee representation with sessions of feedback
• An effective procedure of grievance which is actually a way of making complaints in front of the organization management. Such a thing will be allowing all the staffs to voice out all their concerns in front of the employer which are raising issues (Gupta and Kumar, 2012)
• No agreements on strike for a mentioned period of time
• Single agreements for Union where all the employees will be agreed to get represented by a single Union. The advantage will be that it would be making simpler negotiationsfor putting prevention to the rivalries taking place in between the manifold Unions (Sirota and Klein 2013).

The different methods for resolving disputes of industries have been mentioned below:

• Finding of facts: This comes up as soon as you are asking someone about the reviews of the conflicts as well as the evidence and facts of some situations and to make a reporting of their observation inside the group (Dozieret al., 2013)
• Conciliation: The third party will have a separate view with the sides having a lot many disputes so as to make a reduction of the tensions and henceforth make a development of the process of resolution enabling a common position to agree by all (Bak, et al.2013)
• Mediation: According to Jacksonet al., (2013), here the third party will be participating in the process of negotiation and making attempts for helping the sides with disputes so as to get some way outs

Task: 3

3.1 The role of negotiation in collective bargaining:

Definition of Collective Bargain: According to Van De Voordeet al. 2012, p. 392, it is defined as a voluntary negotiation took place in between the organization of the employer and the worker or the employer itself keeping a view about the terms and conditions and its regulations of employment alongwith a collective agreement. The collective bargaining contract is needed to be acceptable as well as a standard by the management with union membership, union representatives and the management (Sirota and Klein, 2013).

Trade Union – The Work from Shop Steward:

• It is the shop steward which is one of the important trade union of people (Poole and Jenkins, 2013)
• Sometimes it is termed as the union representative
• A shop steward gets elected by their members present at the workplace so as to represent them as a representative to maintain the everyday raised issues
• It primarily works with four significant roles such as:
• Representation of the Union Members
• Recruiting new team members of the Union
• Making a information communication in between the headquarters of the Union with that of its members
• Informing all the members about the decisions and its changes with alterations and modifications

Trade Union – The Work from Shop Steward: Problems faced at the Workplace:

• Whenever the members of the Union faces any kinds of challenges, they turn to the Shop Steward
• Then the Shop Steward will carry forwards the matter raising it in front of the management and then consulting with the officials of the Union offering more knowledge about the problems
• The commonest problems which are often asked to them is about paying, the conditions under which the staff will be working, the situations under which health and safety norms will be applied, holidays and overtime span (Van De Voorde et al. 2012, p. 393)

Trade Union – The Work from Shop Steward:

• The Shop Stewards will be responsible in the encouragement of the non-members for joining the Union
• They will be putting up the posters for outlining the several advantages of the Union Membership with distribution of leaflets
• As soon as the new workers will be joining, the shop Steward will meeting them and will try to convince them for joining the Union
• They will be providing every kinds of information regarding the current circumstance of the organization and make arrangements for the different types of subscriptions so as to get paid with direct means of debit through the bank accounts of the members

3.2 Assess the impact of the negotiation strategies:

Definition about Negotiation: It is defined as a kind of conversation took place in between two parties so as to get a solution (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). This takes place in order to find out a resolution of getting into a joint agreement about the severalviews or requirements. It will be involving making use of ‘persuasion’ so as to make others understand as well as agree the different viewpoints. It will be working with individuals who are moving with an attitude to be successful in whatever they are doing (Fossum, 2014).

For negotiation, the skills which are necessary are:

• Skills of communication
• Good skills of analytical psychology
• Conflict skills of resolution
• Assertiveness
• Marketing management
• Sales skills

Henceforth negotiation can occur between people like:

• Two partners in a business
• Employee and the boss
• Seller and his customer
• Between Spouses
• Between children and parents

The need of Negotiation: People never think in the same way (Purce, 2014). With different levels of thinking and behaviour under separate circumstances with diverse requirements,negotiation becomes one of the primary solutions to the ‘conflict’ problems (Kearney and Mareschal, 2014). Therefore, to remain under the same shelter happily at all professional, personal or business level, disagreements and conflicts are needed to be resolved.

Negotiation and its Principles: A few basic principles are there which can commonly get applied to the several negotiations types under every situation (Storey, 2014). The basics have been discussed below:

• In the process of negotiation atleast two parties are needed to have their involvement
• Both the parties are required to have atleast one common interest which will be bringing them together
• Generally it is believed that both the parties make negotiation for solving their differences
• The term negotiation will only have its effect when there is a difference of opinion

Negotiation being taken as a form of art:

• By negotiation, finding some good solution poses as a form of good art
• If you think that you are lacking such kind of talent, then you can train yourself in it with the proper practice
• People with a good speaking power might not be good in negotiating (Larson, 2015). It is because, the key term is actually an understanding about your requirement and what the other is looking for (Dastmalchianet al. 2014). So instead of having a good communication skill you need to be good in sensing the others problems and necessities (Anitha, 2014).
• Everywhere, the term has its own impact (Storey, 2014). You might need to negotiate with almost anything, be it with the deadline of your project or with some issues raised at your office (Hancock et al., 2013, p. 574).
• Before you are thinking of using the term, you are required to be aware of the facts for which you will be using the word ‘negotiation’ (Dunahee, and Wangler, 1974).

Conclusion:

Finally the report has put a conclusion stating that the best organization will contain the happy employees whose smiles will 100% depend on the behaviour of the employer. It is infact not the role of the employer only to boost up the employees but the HR, acting as a mediator between the employer and employee; to implement the best ever plans for cheering up the employees in giving the company the finest rewards. Implementation of the different boost up plans will enhance as well as enable the organization in applying the different methodologies with 100% best result in terms of earning profit. Trade Unions have its effect whose influence has also put its impact over the condition of the employment.

Reference List:

Books:

Bach, S. and Kessler, I., 2011. The modernisation of the public services and employee relations: targeted change. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hendrix, J.A., Hayes, D.C. and Kumar, P.D., 2012. Public relations cases.Cengage Learning.
Morris, T., 2012. Innovations in banking: business strategies and employee relations (Vol. 22). Routledge.
Kelly, J., 2012. Rethinking industrial relations: Mobilisation, collectivism and long waves.Routledge.
Newsom, D., Turk, J. and Kruckeberg, D., 2012. Cengage Advantage Books: This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations. Cengage Learning.
Smith, R.D., 2012. Strategic planning for public relations.Routledge.
Kersley, B., Alpin, C., Forth, J., Bryson, A., Bewley, H., Dix, G. and Oxenbridge, S., 2013. Inside the workplace: findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Routledge.
Poole, M., 2013. Industrial relations: origins and patterns of national diversity(Vol. 4). Routledge.
Cina, C., 2013. Creating an effective customer satisfaction program. Journal of Consumer Marketing.
Bak, C.A., Vogt, L.H., George, W.R. and Greentree, I.R., 2013.Management by team. Logistics Information Management