Management of Industrial Relations - Assignment Example

Running head: MANAGEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS Management of Industrial Relations [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Management of Industrial Relations Answer 1 The Fair Work Act represents a dramatic shift away from Work Choices. In 2010 it was considered that the Federal Government's new Fair Work regulations may take the place of WorkChoices laws. This was being done to prevent unfair dismissal provisions in every kind of business it was hoped that under the new provisions, an improvement in the new industrial relations may be implemented and arbitrate to implement fair and just bargaining. . This shift may be noted in the fact that in the past years, productivity and growth went downward, in spite of the apparently dramatic shifts in the policy created due to the Work Choices amendments, and after that the Fair Work legislation. All evidence highlights the fact that the Fair Work regulations represented a dramatic shift for the work choice laws. The shift may also noted in the fact that to extent employers were getting flexibility to s hire the employees under enterprise agreements or individual flexibility provision that differ in award standards, mainly in relation to working time or penalty rates. The shift remains quite apparent as WorkChoices regime, the Fair Work reforms comprise important improvements, when the possibility to move forward the regime’s efficiency in attaining its objectives, and to endorse other principles of workplace regulation, as well as efficiency, participatory democratic system, and responsibility Answer 2 Fair Work Australia also may help in resolving unfair dismissal applications by using agreements. Unfair dismissal application involves the following: The Employee first lodges the complaint application After that the before mentioned application is checked to make sure that it is complete and legitimate Employer is then informed regarding the lodging of the application Employer then is supposed fill the response form, which he lodges to the Fair Work Australia and which is meant to respond to the applicant’s filed complaint Fair Work Australia reconciles the application to tries it’s level best to make the parties resolve the issues out side the court An unsettled claim is then determined by the Fair work. Moreover adverse action is also illegal where a person takes part (or does not participate) in legal industrial activity, this, may even be illegal if an employer discriminate against an employee. the Fair Work Act restricts people from implementing "adverse action" in opposition to another person in cases where it is implemented for certain reasons for example the custody of a "workplace right" it s implementation or projected exercise (section 340) and due to union membership or being a union spokesperson or participating in industrial acts (section 346). The function of those adverse action provisions has been the topic of a lot of discussion and commentary among workplace relations and Human resource professionals, consultant sand managers. For now , it may be enough to state that it may mean that all professionals and employers must be taken during any case in which involves the taking of action in opposition to an employee and is considered in reaction to a certain act that the employees has performed or something which he has said and it is debatable that it may have been done while he was a union member, representative or just taking part in their industrial activities (Frenkel,2002). Even though the Fair Work Act's provisions lie the adverse action they do not usually ahead those in the old Workplace Relations Act, however it may be noted that may vary in a number of important ways. In Fair Work Act's the company, and other human resource professionals , cannot take adverse action in opposition to employee as they have workplace rights, as they may or may not make use of the right, or because they intend or intend not to make sue of any such right. Answer3 Centralised IR results in inflexibility and, therefore, lower productivity, at the level of the individual work site. Pro It facilitated the income policies and thus helped to reduce the unemployment and inflation rates It encourages union participation. This at times is an asset to the organization as it helps to improve the relationship between the management and the employees by resolving any differences which have risen between them. It basically fulfills the responsibilities of human resource professionals, but in a more unofficial manner in which the employees trust them more. It even causes regular negotiations, in which the government, labor, and employers all participate, this leads to central agreements on salary, benefits, work conditions, as well as social policies Changes in the labour law and management practices have led a trend towards individualism and union exclusion (Waring, 1999 p291). Since this change, the number of industrial disputes has dropped to record low levels, and the nature of industrial action has become less dramatic. The growth of individualised employment has left little scope for now organization realize that unions need to be tackled by giving them less collective bargaining as they use It as an excuse to make the employees go against the management thus effecting the productivity (Guest & Hoque, 1996 p 25). Before the rise of individualised contracts, disputes were mostly handled by the unions and the employers. Cons Heavy centralisation of industrial relations is a weakness - a political and structural weakness. It does not increase productivity and is highly inflexible as it is based mostly on policies Highly encourages activities on the part of unions as well as barraging and resolving of employee issues on the part. Thus, this does not encourage enterprise bargaining and individualised form of work place agreements. Every employee has to follow the set agreement. The fact that it does not encourage enterprise bargaining makes the organization highly unproductive as there is no workplace focus involved in the entire process. A lot of literature proves that the centralized industrial relations are indicative of increasing employee satisfaction and better working conditions (Hyman, 1989; Kornhauser, Dubin, & Ross, 1954; Wooden, 2000). Nevertheless, a lot of studies found results in which employee satisfaction is not related to centralized industrial relations, thus proving the assumption that all centralized industrial relations do is negatively effect the productivity (Hyman, 1989; Kelloway, Cantano, & Carrol, 2000). Centralized system of industrial relations work place industrial strife. Bad attitudes such as lateness, failure to observe safety regulations etc will sometimes attract the wrath of Management and if not properly handled tend to distort relationships with the workers and their organization. Thus bad blood which is uncalled-for is exhibited in normal day-to-day consultations or negotiations between the parties (Yates 2009 p47). Metcalf’s (1989) view that productivity is a result of the interaction between labour, management and government it is difficult to conclude that system alone lower productivity. If the industrial relations climate between management and unions is adversarial then it is likely that the output will be less than if it is cooperative. Furthermore, if the input quality of capital and/or labour is low then the output is likely to be low, either in terms of quantity or quality. Low productivity may be the fault of poor management policies and strategies. Answer 4 For over 20 years Australians have been told that enterprises need to be more flexible in their operations to improve productivity yet the links between these terms is yet to be established. Explore the link between flexibility and productivity and argue for or against such a link. Industrial relations is an important field of study in which there is a apparent ideological divide, that clearly effects how people consider the link between flexibility and productivity , however it is still both feasible and enviable to based the discussion ion the before mentioned link by making use of valid evidence (Pinnington & Edwards 2000). Many researchers highlight the fact that there is indeed a link between flexibility and productivity does exit . inorder to prove the assumption the decentralized industrial relationship may be used. This is due to the fact that the introduction of such a flexible system has improved the productivity (Oswald 1992). However in many cases one may note that there is a productivity decline, especially in certain industries however it may also be noted that there is no evidence showing any link among this decline and modification in industrial relation laws it may also be noted that declining productivity also took place when workchoice was being used as the industrial relationship law , his proves that flexibility is indeed linked to productivity as the fair act law is more flexible then the work choice law and it has proven to be generate more productivity. Where flexibility exists, it influences a number of organizational activities. In organizations where flexibility does not play a strong role in the decisions making process the productivity is definitely affected as they cannot make any decision with their consent. This makes the administration feel as if their productivity is being affected as the industrial relationships within their organization is one sided (Waddington & Kelly 1995 p415). This in turn, produces managers who do not give priority to human resources, who are more reliant on the outside bodies;; and who adopt a reactive and remedial rather than a pro-active preventive approach to industrial relations. The evidence of Nickell, Whadwani and Wall (1989) and of Whadwani (1990) is important when considering the impact of flexibly on productivity. The conclusion that flexibility do not consistently or necessarily have a negative impact on productivity is indicative of the importance of what management and flexible industrial relations do together, with or without state intervention, rather than what they do as individual elements in the productivity equation. The view that flexibility has an impact on productivity appears to be established Answer 5 Employees have a number of ways to demonstrate dissatisfaction. These ways, manifestations or symptoms of conflict can be either overt (open) or covert (concealed). Overt are mostly demonstrated by the use of group action while Covert are methods of demonstrate dissatisfaction which are limited to individuals. Strategies to help avoid or resolve conflict Conciliation and Arbitration The human resource can use the Conciliation and Arbitration to resolve the conflict . Conciliation is like to arbitration as the human resource department in this particular context is supposed help the parties to reach an agreed solution to the issue. Unlike arbitration, the human resource department will convey a judgment regarding the merits of the conflict . However in this case scenario unlike arbitration and legal action, the human resource department will not pass judgment a decision regarding disputes for the parties. Conciliation may be an extremely feasible and quick method of resolving conflicts both overt and covert can provide a quick, cheap, confidential means of resolving Grievance Procedures Grievance Procedures is another extremely effective method of resolving issues. In an organization employee should have the right to express his issue, even if it is a minor problem, a serious issue, or to be forcefully made to complete a task or any issue and disagreement regarding the terms and conditions of employment. Grievance may be defined as: “Complaints affecting one or more individual workers in respect of their wage payments, overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, work assignment and discharge would constitute grievance. Where the points at dispute are general applicability or of considerable magnitude they will fall outside the scope of this procedure” (National Commission on labour 1969) These grievances have to be handled by the human resource department through meetings. They have to set meeting with the employee who has an issue and try their level best to resolve it. Weather by making him/her understands the reason behind the action to which he has complained or resolves the issue from the employees end. Collective Bargaining Collective bargaining is most commonly an organized procedure in which the problem related to employee, employer, and union problems are discussed rationally and settled on the basis of facts (Wood 1996 p49). The problems are usually discussed by employers and union representatives Collective bargaining is also managed by the human resource department. It is an extremely practical method for resolving conflicts and dissatisfaction of employees. Freedom of association guarantees the fact that employees and human resource department can associate to professionally discuss work relations. By providing employees the right to discuss their issues, providing good collective bargaining practices the human resource department can easily make sure that the employer and workers both can resolve their issues through an equal level of negotiation, where both parties can equally voice their issues. This will lead to a fair and equitable result on the part of the human resource department If the human resource department carries out fairly then .Collective bargaining May help both parties to discuss a fair employment relationship and may also help prevent expensive labor conflicts. Employees may use the unfair collective bargaining sessions to establish and maintain wage rates, hours and working conditions. The agreements are used to prevent strikes as well as lockouts, and to ensure settlement of all grievances, disputes, or differences that may arise. Consultation Consultation is method in which the human resource department helps the employee to resolve his/ her issue. In order to manage a proper method of consultation for conflict management, the human resource department has to realize that they have to play an important role in to resolve conflict situations. The organization, however, has the right, for consultation with the employee who is facing issue. This may help to clear the misunderstanding on the part of the employee and further strengthen the relationship between the management and employee (Wood 1996). Mediation Mediation is an important method of conflict resolution in which a neutral third party helps the two parties involved in the conflict to discuss the issue and helps to provide a solution which is acceptable and fair to both the involved parties. If the human resource department carries out the process carefully the mediation may also provide a voluntary forum for both the parties to even resolve other issue which may stop them from occurring. Such method saves money time and relationships. It allows the employer and employee to sit and discuss the possible solutions as the human resource department only help to facilitate both parties. References Frenkel, S. (2002). Workplace relations: Past, Present and Future. Australian Journal of Management, 27, 149-161. Guest, D., & Hoque, K. (1996). Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press Hyman, R. (1989). Strikes. London: Macmillan. Pp20-35 Kelloway, K., Cantano, V., & Carrol, A. (2000). Psychological Involvement in the Union. Journal of Behavioural Science, 32(3), 163-168. Kornhauser, A., Dubin, R., & Ross, A. (Eds.). (1954). Industrial Conflict. New York: McGraw Hill. Metcalf, D. 1993: 'Industrial Relations and Economic Performance.' British Journal of Industrial Relations. XXXI. pp255-283. National Commission on labour 1969 (1969) ; Labor National Commission & Industrial Relations Policy of 1969 retrieved from http://www.rahulgladwin.com/noteblog/business/IR/labor-national-commission-and-industrial-relations-policy-1969.php on may 16 2011 Oswald, A. (1992); Satisfaction and Comparison Income, Oxford University Working Paper p207 Pinnington, A.H., and Edwards, T.E. 2000. Introduction to Human Resource Management Oxford: Oxford University Press p23 Waddington J and Kelly J (1995); New prospects for British labour Organization (UK) Vol: 2; Issue: 3; p 415. Nickell, S. Wadhwani, S. and Wall, M. 1989: Unions and Productivity Growth: evidence from UK company accounts data. 1972-86. London School of Economics. Waring, P. (1999). The Rise of Individualism in Australian Industrial Relations. New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 24(3), 291-318. Wood S (1996) High commitment management and unionization in the UK The International Journal of Human Resource Management (UK) Vol: 7; Issue: 1; p49 Wooden, M. (2000). Industrial Relations Reform. Review- Institute of Public Affairs, 52(3), 14-16. Read More