Manage Employee Relations - Literature review Example

Client inserts his/her name Name of tutor Name of institution Course title Date of submission Manage Employee Relations Summary Management of Employee relations has received much attention with many researchers carrying out researches in this field to explain in detail what is required for effective management of employee relations. Employee relations which can be generally be defined as the relationship that exists between employers and their employees requires effective management skills and expertise. Healthy employee relations form a crucial element that determines the success of any organization in today’s’ competitive markets. Therefore, many organizations in the 21st century markets have given employee relations management great emphasis. In order to achieve healthy employee relations, studies have argued that it is important that managers understand how to adopt a strategic approach. The strategic approach should align with the organizational culture and structure to ensue that they bring out the desired results. Effective communication skills are also needed to ensure healthy employee relations. Ensuring that the appropriate and desired organizational culture is maintained is also another strategy of enhancing employee relations within an organization. Lastly but not the least, employers should ensure that they meet their various legal obligations to their employees in order to cultivate a healthy and positive relationship between them and their employees. Contents Summary----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Employee relations management strategies------------------------------------------------------- Communication and employee relations---------------------------------------------------------- Policies and procedures for implementing employee relations management strategy------ Culture and employee relations--------------------------------------------------------------------- Legal requirements and employee relations------------------------------------------------------- Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction According to an article by the University of Ballarat, employee relations can be defined as the overall interactions that occur between the employer and his or her employees (7). Bartol et al gives employee relations a general definition by stating that it is the management role which entails attracting employees, maintaining them and developing their careers in the process of employment relationship (359). To ensure healthy employee relations, it requires an employee manager to fully understand the management of human resource and maintenance of industrial relationships. Human resource management requires strategies that align employee management activities with the wider organizational needs. Through this way, the best strategies to achieve effective and efficiency from employees are put into practice. University of Ballarat defines industrial relations as the formal association that exists between employee management, employees’ unions and the government through work responsibilities, policies and contracts. Industrial relations involve some aspects of human resource management and require the considerations of some environmental factors of high significance to industrial relations. There are various issues that need to be addressed in employee relations such as workforce diversity, the increasing employee needs among others. Employee relations also involve an organizational culture. An organization’s policies describe the form that employee relations should take but in some instances, the organizations may accept organizational behavior that is quite different from what is stated by the policies. For these two concepts to align and take the same direction, good employee management abilities and clearly stated organizational strategic directions are required. From a strategic point of view, external factors such as employee unions, government policies and regulations, external stakeholders and customers also affect employee relations. Employee relations management strategies Considering all the factors that are known to affect employee relations, it becomes hard to determine how a manager impacts on employee relations in workplace. According to Bartol et al, Strategic choices make managers focus on employee relations (363). Strategic choice is based on the assumption that every manager must make choices and it is these choices that determine the direction that employee elations will take in the organization. The identification and development of a strategy prevents an organization’s employee relations from being affected by haphazard actions of people outside the organization. According to University of Ballarat, effective management and maintenance of employee relations helps in mitigating the impact of external events on employee relations. External events such as changes in industrial relations, changes in economic, social and political environment may greatly impact on an organization’s employee relations. (Bartol, 72) defines these external conditions within which an organization operates as the mega-environment. Through looking at employee relations, one is able to understand the development and implementation of strategic plans. Studies have revealed that through the use of strategic approach, employee relations managers achieve the energy needed to meet the various employees’ needs, ensure healthy employee relations and hence achieve organizational goals. Strategic approach involves effective communication throughout the organization, in order to direct and align all the line managers within the organization and achieve a healthy organizational culture. Organizational culture can simply be defined as the way things are done in an organization. In order to develop and maintain effective employee relations, managers have to ensure that the organizational culture, strategic directions and organizational structure align. Bartol et al argues that effective employee relations are of much significance in ensuring a health organizational culture. The need to align strategic goals and with maintaining effective employee relations is made necessary by many factors. One of these factors is employee recruitment strategies. HR managers and other managers within an organization need to understand the behavior required from employees in order to ensure that such behavior support the proposed organization culture and hence steer the organization towards achieving its strategic goals (University of Ballarat, 10). For instance, an organization which is in the development stage requires managers who have the ability to guide and build effective work teams. Understanding of organizational structure is also important in implementing employee recruitment strategies as it also impacts on employee relations. For instance, an organization with flexible work projects requires employees with abilities to fit in these changing projects and easily adapt to them. According to (Bartol, 36) this concept of aligning recruitment strategies with organizational structure is referred to as organizational fit. Communication and employee relations As the article by the University of Ballarat points out, the ability of a manager to effective involve, direct and manage employees, highly depends on his or her communication skills (13). The manner in which an organization communicates with its employees determines the development and maintenance of employee relations. Effective communication also ensures that all the stakeholders are aware of all the employee relations strategies being employed within the organization. Without effective communication, there can be no effective strategy implementation. Various studies have argued that communication needs to be tied to employee relations strategies in order to ensure their effectiveness. Communication strategy takes into account, the format that formal and informal forms of communication will take in an organization, factors that enhance it and the how the barriers to effective communication will be overcome. Effective communication in an organization is a two way phenomenon from employers to managers going down to all employees and from employees going upwards to managers. One of the effective ways that organizations communicate is through policies. Therefore, for effective communication to take place, organizations should ensure that their policies are clear to all their employees. Policies and procedures for implementing employee relations management strategy According to (Bartol, 78), policies and strategies form one of the most common formal ways that are used by organizations to translate strategies into action. From a human resource management perspective, policies and procedures entails the way organizations direct their employees and determining the information that should be passed to employees to guide them in the day to day activities. From an employee relations point of view, policies and procedures also require an organization to ensure employee wellbeing and safety. Policies and procedures cover a wide range of areas in an organization. Employee attraction, recruitment and maintenance are one of the areas that are covered by an organization’s policies and procedures. It through effective policies and procedures, that an organization is able to attract employees and retain them. Policies and procedures are also important in implementing change in an organization. The importance of formalizing policies and procedures is to ensure that the changes occurring in an organization are of relevance and appropriate in accordance to the policies. Several studies have pointed out that there is need for regular evaluation of policies in order to ensure that there is effective communication between managers and employees. This is of great importance on ensuring health employee relations. Policies that involve employee in evaluating communication strategies within an organization have been regarded to be highly effective as they enhance employee relations within the organization. Culture and employee relations Culture can be simply be defined as the way organizations do things. According to University of Ballarat article, culture starts with what the employers or founders of an organization do (15). The way through which the business owners or founders communicate their business visions and expectations greatly contribute to organizational culture. Since organizations keep on growing and expanding, the organizational culture is therefore not impacted by the founders’ behavior only. The founders need to recruit role models that will guide employees in confirming to the desired behavior by the organizations hence achieving the desired organizational culture. Employee relations roles such as employee motivation, rewards and job performance management will determine whether employee embrace the behavior which is required to attain the preferred culture within an organization. Various studies have argued that effective performance management and commitment from employees will ensure employee job satisfaction and improved employee engagement resulting into healthy employee relations. Performance management should be linked to appropriate reward system in order to reinforce and encourage appropriate behavior among employees and hence enhance organizational culture. However, when reward system may be viewed by employees as inappropriate, not transparent and discriminatory, it might result into negative employee relations within an organization. Therefore, (Bartol 83) explains that managers should ensure that there reward systems are done in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner in order to ensure healthy employee relations. Legal requirements and employee relations According to University of Ballarat article, legal obligations by employers and employees are one of the most important external forces that shape and determine employee relations within any organization (25). These legal obligations form an important part of the legal-political environment that constitutes the mega-environment that impacts on employee relations within an organization (Bartol, 77). Legal obligations of an employer to employees come from various sources such as the federal, the state, industrial agreements among others. As Bartol clearly highlights, there are various legal obligations of an employer to his or her employees (78). Employers are required by law to pay the correct wages to their employees and at the agreed dates. Such a legal obligation is much of importance in enhancing healthy relations as it ensures that the employees remain committed and motivated since they are sure of their salaries at the expected time. Employers are also required by law to provide safe working environments for their employees. This is of great importance in enhancing employer-employee relationship within an organization. By prioritizing employee safety, an employer is able to directly show them that he or she cares about their wellbeing and this result to improved relations between them. Above all, an employer is required to act in a manner that does not damage the trust necessary for a healthy employer-employee relationship. On the other hand, employees are also required to meet various legal obligations as stated by their unions. Conclusion From the paper, it is clear that management of employee relations is not an easy task within an organization. Employee relations, which has been defined as the interactions that occur between employees and their employers requires effective management skills to be attained and maintained. Managers need to adapt a strategic approach in order to ensure healthy employee relations. Strategic approach requires that managers should align their employee relations strategies with their organizational culture and structure in order for them to be effective. Managers are also required to have efficient communication skills in order to achieve healthy employee relations within their organizations. Ensuring that the preferred organizational culture within an organization is achieved and maintained also enhances employee relations within an organization. Above all, managers should ensure that they meet their various legal obligations because by doing so, they enhance their relationship with their employees. Work Cited Bartil Kathryn, Tein Margaret, Matthews Graham, Sharma Bishnu, and Scott-Ladd Brenda. Management: A Pacific Rim Focus. 6th edition Australia McGraw- HillISBN: 9780070284968, 2011. University of Ballarat. Manage Employee relations, 2012. Read More