Employee Relationship, Social Partnership, and Economic Performance - Essay Example

NAME: INSTITUTION: LECTURER: SUBJECT: DATE OF SUBMISSION: Employee relationship The evolution and the modern concepts of Human resource management have narrowed down to address the various aspects that affect the productivity of the worker at the work place. Employee relations is an old field in the practice of human resource management. Employee relations can be defined as the concentrated efforts aimed at maintaining a good employer-employee relationship that leads to satisfaction and hence increased productivity to the organization as well as morale and motivation to the employees (Hollinshead, 2002). Employee relationship is thus aimed at resolving and preventing conflicts at the work place involving individuals who interact in their course of work. Managing a customer has been regarded as an easier task than managing the employees. A dissatisfied customer is likely to go for other service and good providers in the market whereas, a dissatisfied employee might resolve to go slow or malicious damage to the organization he is working with. This therefore calls for care when dealing with employees since they can work to the downfall of the organization. They know so much secrets of the organization and when the relationship with employer is not good, they might sabotage the whole organization or even give their competitors secrets of their organization. The parameters to guide the process of employee satisfaction are defined within the confines of he closeness that the employer and employee enjoy ,the communication between the two, goodwill manifested, sympathy and concern on the welfare of each, and the responses and sacrifice that the two are willing to undertake for the success of the other . The are several categories of employee relations at the work place and these includes; Relationship between an employee and the supervisor, worker to worker , between people in management as well as the clients and employee relationships. This therefore calls for a conducive environment with the employee, goo communication and better ways of handling employee complaints with the aim of avoiding a feel of dissatisfaction by the employees. Over the years, employee relationship has undergone a number of changes. For example, in military organizations, poor employee relations can result in diminished productivity. To counter this strict discipline is enforced training, thereby making them to have self-discipline as well as being aware of the consequences of their acts (Philip,2003). Initially, employee relations structured along these lines but ever since, it has evolved and the non-military organization were able to realize that they could not go far with very strict and punitive measures imposed to employees. Employees could therefore demand for their rights as well as move to companies that gave employees freedom to express their concern. The expansion of the job market during the era of post industrial revolution provided employees who had relevant skill the option of job mobility. After the dropping of the industrial age military method of management, the focus shifted to helping employees to manage their family relationships. This came to change after the realization that the work and home stress and challenges would have an effect on the family and vice versa. Studies indicated that the work place was a place of refuge to those with stressful situations at the home front. This affected the work output and organization started to realize production was greatly affected when more emphasis was place in resolving family issues. The recent focus has now been on employees to focus their effort in productive work for the organizations. Employees are paid to work not to engage in work place fights and petty politics. This requires for a great deal of compromise in the employees so as to accommodate varied characters and interests at the work place for mutual good. The bottom line in employee relations is communication, communication and more communications. This out lines the expected conduct mode of raising grievances and the available genuine channels to address matters in an organisation .Listening to the views of all involved at the work place is at times better than the verbal advice that a manager may give. Enabling the employees to achieve work and personal life balance is key to successful Employee relations management. This is how employee relations has evolved over many years and it is now believed that organization are experiencing good turn over compared to the period when employee were not given an avenue to talk and deliberate on way forward with their boses. REFERENCES LIST Philip L, Adrian T, Mark S, 2003, Employee relations: understanding the employment relationship, Financial Times Prentice Hall, Sidney Hollinshead G, Peter N, Stephanie T, 2002, Employee relations, Pearson Education, London The role of state Collective bargaining Every state is supposed to take care of its citizens and make sure they are not exploited since a countries workforce determines how fast a country can experience economic growth. Collective bargaining is a process through which employees representatives and employers negotiate on the conditions of employment that lead to a written contract that should be respected by both the employee and the employer. The contracts generally set out the terms of employment like the salary, the working hours and benefits for a duration of time. Collective bargaining is recognized in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a fundamental freedom to be observed by all. The international law that looks at issues affecting human rights allows employees to join unions of their choice that are expected to fight for their rights more so when the employer fails to honour their rights and in other cases, where the employees feel oppressed and not fairly treated. In 2007, the Supreme Court recognized the right of the people to join unions as a basic human right and that the states should focus on developing the same. Collective bargaining started in the late 19th century, a time when workers demanded for better treatment rights in their areas of employment. Specialised worker started using their skills as a tool to obtain a hearing from their employers. Other tactics adopted included influencing other workers to lay down their tools and go slow in their operations, thereby affecting operations in the industries (Kelly, 2008). Collective bargaining came in as a method to address the issues at a common front. The major areas of interest in the UK system is the collective bargaining for voluntary vocational training to address the absence of skilled labour that is being taken up by immigrants from mainly former soviets states. The major support for collective bargaining is always accorded by any incoming labour government as the case was in 1997.This is attributed to the long history of cooperation between the labour government and the trade unions in the UK. Misuse of the powering collective bargaining is the largest challenge to implementation of support by the government in the UK. Currently, the biggest scandal in UK includes a trade union (Wisconsin Education Association Council) misusing the privilege to force the school boards to buy premiums from their trust. This has resulted in using millions of pounds from the insurance companies leading to the disappointment of the government (Patil, 1993). The need for the government to cut on expenditure in times of economic crisis always coincide with resistance form the trade union and hence decline in the support of the concept of collective bargaining. So is the case in times in instances where the government is planning to raise taxes. Enactment of legislation that is anti labour unions seems to be a policy of conservative governments. This is the biggest ways for government all over the to prevent the freedom of the employees to join in strike and other actions recognised in law. The issuance of executive orders is another tool that is used. Other delaying tactics used in derailing the industrial right of trade unions and employees include court injunctions and constitutional interpretation suits. REFERENCE LIST Kelly Wilken, 2008, Collective Bargaining: Taking Control Away from the Players!, Author House, London Patil T, 1993, Collective bargaining: perspectives and practices, University of Press, Nevada TRADE UNIONS Trade unions are by definition institutions established by a group of workers in the same occupation, under the same employer or those with the same interests. The main purpose of trade unions is to promote and campaign in matters of pay and the conditions of employment. Their existence is based on the fact that an individual employee cannot have enough clout to influence policy and decisions made about his or her job (William, 2005). The relationship between the government and trade unions is that of necessity. The unions will always seek the support of the government in power to gain influence in their policy interests. They look for support from ministers, secretaries and other senior state employees to have their policies and interest be addressed by the government. The conservative governments in the UK have always held the opinion that industrial action against the businesses is an extra burden and thus this party has hostile policies against unions. However, conservatives still consulted with the union on unions in non binding terms. There are a number of legislations in the UK that affects the operations of the trade unions. They provide for protection against legal proceedings of the union members for any industrial strikes. However the unions must adhere to clearly defined areas of freedom and submit to the authority of the courts.  Employers normally invoke these provisions to stop action against unions. The employment act of 1990 has put the unions as liable for any out of law action that they may undertake. The compensation in these provisions is for clients and suppliers but not the business owners. Other action that is recognized in law includes picketing, with the exemption that only primary picketing is lawful. Trade unions in the UK still have a part to play, the challenges not withstanding. This include furthering the interest of their members by seeking and obtaining better pay, defending and protecting jobs of members, demanding better facilities and safe work places, and seeking motivation for targets that have been met and better job descriptions (Chris, 2002). The contribution of trade unions to economic development cannot be ignored as they are at the fore front in the recruitment and training of employees , civilizing dispute resolution and instilling discipline of the employees. The Unions also help in matters of settlement of employees after change of environment, job and after service. As part of the nation, trade unions help by advancing national integration when they reduce the incidences of industrial disputes. They also bring closer to the employees and the citizen the place for corporate social responsibility. The important role of enhancing communication between employers and business owners, negotiations in a rational way, nudging companies to invest in training, and their being catalysts for social change are important roles that can’t be wished away. the problems caused by trade unions of losses and reduced output in the times of strikes, fixed expenditure by businesses on idle machines, the possibility of poor future relations among many other negatives of unions cannot out way their benefits in the UK. References list Chris Wrigley, 2002. British trade unions since 1933, Cambridge University Press, London William Trant 1915, Trade unions: their origin and objects, influence and efficacy, American Federation of Labour, New York EUROPEAN UNION SOCIAL PARTNERS EU social partners is platform of employer or their representatives and trade unions comes together to discuss issues that are of common interest to them. The issues that are discussed at the forum are matters related to employee salaries and welfare, working conditions, pay adjustments in relation to organization performance among other important issues. The social partners engage in social dialogue as captured in the Single European Act (1986), to keep each other updated about the concerns of the employers and employees to avoid situations that would get out of hand. They are showed along the industrial design of conflict resolutions .They are quite significant for they at times have a say in employee social security and welfare (Bernard, 2002). They have developed as an alternative way of resolving conflicts and came about from the increased industrial unrests of the past. In a way they are regarded to have brought participation and democracy at the work place and opened up for smooth running of work place relationships. In the set-up, the social partners came into board as result of not having a representative from the national body. Civil organizations had the Interest to have their voices heard in the deliberations of the decisions and their interests championed from within. The social partners are recognized in the EU charters and it is mandatory to consult them and engage them to a point of agreement in matters that are of interest to their members. The civil and business organization had a presence at the EU right from the point of beginning and they were advocating for inclusion but they didn’t have an authorized basis to demand to be heard until relatively late. The recognised EU social partners are The European trade unions confederation(EUTC),The Union of industrial and employers’ confederation,(UNICE) and The European centre of enterprise with public participation(CEEP). In communication on the agreement on social policy, The right to be consulted for the partners was protected and the conditions laid were: That the organisation be cross industry so as to bring on board difference and be organized at the European level, that they consist of organizations from the member states of the EU and the member states have recognized the socials partners structure. The right for these bodies to be included in determining the social policy that was of interest to both employers and the employee was founded on The agreement of social policy in 1992.They have two avenues in resolving their deadlocks: either they enter into negotiations to agree in which case the principle of mutual recognition would apply or be involved in consultations to obtain an equilibrium of the interest without getting a satisfying agreement for both. In the UK these social partners are recognized in law and thus they have a say in matters of negotiating with the state on matters that are domestic. In the UK there has been a steady decline of trade unions since 1980 due to the hostility of the conservative government. This has a result of reducing the trade unions from being there in 2/3 of work places in 1980 to ½ in 1990. This was done by enacting legislation that weakened the union’s positions in the bargaining table. This lead to the fragmentation of the unions and other social partners (Blanpain, 2010) A remarkable differences with the social groups in Britain is that they are more conflict oriented, organized along job-related lines . British employers are represented by confederation of British industries and they represent the views of those in industry and commerce .The employees have a blanket union called the Trade Union congress which brings together 80% of all unionised members. This body has always had lots of influence in every labour government of the UK owing to the special link that they share. However this body only engages in indirect influence since collective bargaining is done by the individual smaller unions’ .Thus the EU social partners can only influence policy and lobby by the virtue of recognition at the continental level by flexing their lobbying and financial ability. References List Bernard C, Michael G, 2000, Social partnership and economic performance: the case of Europe, Edward Elgar Publishing, Lisbon Blanpain, 2010, Labour Law in Belgium, Kluwer Law International, Bombay Read More