Dunlops Model on Key Elements of Employment Relations - Jordan - Case Study Example

DUNLOP’S MODEL ON KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS-A CASE STUDY OF JORDAN {Insert university name} {Insert instructor’s name} {Insert student’s name} July 30, 2012. DUNLOP’S MODEL ON KEY ELEMENTS OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS-A CASE STUDY OF JORDAN An overview of Jordan Jordan is situated in South of Syria, Southwest Asia, West of Iraq, Northwest of Saudi Arabia and East of Palestine the West Bank. The Jordan Investment Board The Jordan Investment Board was found in 1995 and is the Jordan’s investment promotion agency. The body was assigned the duty of not only acquiring but also providing professional consulting services to domestic and foreign investors. Qualifying Industrial Zones (IQZ) are industrial parks that are responsible for housing manufacturing operations in Egypt and Jordan. They are free trade unions that are special with an aim of ensuring prosperity and stability in the Middle East economies. Most scholars believe that companies based on IQZs only hire foreign labourers but high percentage of Jordan women particularly have found jobs in the garment factories despite being inexperienced. The Dunlop’s model One of the key industrial labour relations theories was put up by John Dunlop in 1958 and it is argued that it has three key actors that is the workers, management and the government. According to the model, all the actors are important to each other. According to Dunlop (1958, p. 3) industrial relations system is usually perceived as an integrated aspect and a set of practices and institutions that regulate relations among the state, employers and employees with given cultural, economic and technological environments (Legge, 1991, p. 67). The change process in the Jordan industrial relations in relation to the Dunlop Model This entails the internal environment which includes the government, the employee’s representatives, employers as well as the interrelationship between them which is the change process, the goals of the players and the external factors that impact on them (Dunlop, 1958, p. 23). According to Al-hourani (2002, p. 45) the external factors are not only mutually influential but also dynamic. The ruling ideology that is dominant impacts on Jordan political system and is responsible for designing not only the legal system but also the social structure, economic structure and the technological level among others (Legge, 1991, p. 89). All the aforementioned interrelate with one another and play significant role in the economy of Jordan state and industrial/employment relations. Due to the fact that the key actors according to the Dunlop model are not static but rather dynamic in nature. According to Dunlop (1958, p. 32) change in one actor has great influence on other actors. If there is immense influence of globalization in addition to other international factors particularly in the economic sector, the result is not only a chaotic environment but also a rapidly changing one (Al-hourani, 2002, p. 60). From the Dunlop model and in Jordan industrial relations perspective, it is evident that collective bargaining, collective agreements as well as collective agreement implementation as well as conflict resolution are not only impacted external environment components but also internal (Dunlop, 1958, p. 4). Each player’s ideology affects the topic of negotiation in addition to the actions and tactics employed to attain their goals such as strikes and industrial actions. According to Dunlop (1958, p. 6) in Jordan, the output of the existing industrial relation is a reflection of the degree at which the actors present in the system to attain certain goals in the employment relationship. The focus of the Dunlop model in regard to the Jordan industrial/employment relations is based on internal as well as external components with an aim of ensuring zero games (Guest, 2001 p. 119). In other terms they are likely to result into a situation whereby one actor attains his goals while the other loses. For instance workers working in deplorable condition with low wages whereas employers having maximum gains. According to Al-hourani (2002, p. 78) the nature of the output drawn from the goals of the actors: the workers seeking employment security and better payment; the employers seeking improved efficiency, productivity and flexibility while the governments goals include: minimized noise in the existing market labour and economic labour market policy legitimization (Atkinson & Meager, 1991, p. 61). The analysis of the industrial/employment relations in Jordan using the Dunlop model indicates the existing relationship between the Jordan’s government role in the labour market and how the same impacts on the other actors and their capabilities to attain goals in the industrial relationships (Al-hourani, 2002, p.82). In order to understand, the industrial relations in Jordan, it is essential to examine the Jordanian trade movement structure. The Jordanian trade movement structure comprise of the united framework as well as the General Federation of Trade Unions (Legge, 1991, p. 90). The existing legal basis for the federation is based on the New Labour Law of 1996 (Atkinson & Meager, 1991, p. 43). The ministry of labour which is the representative of the government has the role dealing with trade unions and General Federation (Morely, Gunnigle & Collings, 2006, p. 57).The body is also responsible for registering all the trade unions, monitoring elections as well as mediating in any form of disputes between the unions and the employers (Legge, 1991, p. 67). The Jordanian government has been greatly involved in the running of trade unions. According to Atkinson & Meager (1991, p. 34) the government authorities have gave support to the employers in resisting trade union establishments. Additionally, there are limited as well as more circumscribed committees and institutions policies as a result of influence from Employment, Training and Economic Consultative Committee and the Social Security (Ozkaplan, 2000, p. 67). In the event of globalization, there has been arbitrary dismissal of employers without any form of technical or compelling justification resulting into the need for efficient human resources management (Ozkaplan, 2000, p. 4). Despite this the numbers of cases that have resolved via collective bargains are limited. This is due to the fact that the structure of Jordan trade unions has not been changed to conform to changing world (globalization).the structure has been static for several years (Storey, 1991, p. 67). The existing trade union structures do not permit workers to perform their duties and exercise their membership rights that a manner that is not only active but also continuous. Additionally, globalization resulted into an increase in the labour dispute cases. This is because there was continued influx of migrant workers which not only wage levels but also job opportunities of the Jordanian workers (Bellace, 1994, p. 42). Furthermore, high percentage of the migrant workers was of low professional and educational level an aspect that has negatively impacted on the workforce. This is because; they not only attracted low wages but also manual jobs. In a parallel way, the government of Jordan increased public sector privatization (Guest, 2001, p. 23). Atkinson & Meager (1991, p. 56) as a result of increased impacts of globalization, workers lost confidence in the possibility of the them improving their wages and enhancing their living conditions making them to distance themselves from trade unions. According to Atkinson & Meager (1991, p. 63) in the 1980s, there was great regression in the Jordan’s economic growth. This caused a reduction in the labour bargaining power. This was as a result of the increasing unemployment rates as well as competition emerging from foreign employers who did not only accept lesser benefits but also lower wages an aspect that can be attributed to globalization (Al-hourani, 2002, p. 90). The mentioned resulted into Jordan trade unions experiencing various challenges which included wage levels preservation and restricting foreign workers from seeking employment in Jordan (Morely, Gunnigle & Collings, 2006, p. 49). However, as a result of the implementation of the policy which aimed at neutralising all the existing political influence of all the opposing forces existing in the Labour Movement, the union went ahead to disregard the democratic union practices violations (Ozkaplan, 2000, p. 67). Human resource management emergence in Jordan According to Storey (1991, p. 23) the aspect of collective bargaining is influenced not only by decentralization, but also emergence of human resource management and the decline of trade unions. Ozkaplan (2000, p. 2) human resource management has laid emphasis on individualism instead of collectivism with an aim of making the employers to be committed in ensuring that workers’ rights are adhered to. In the face of globalization, human resource has made people to be committed to the goals and objectives of the company by ensuring that employers satisfy the workers and providing them with the means to express themselves (Guest, 2001, p. 43). Recommendations In line with the above analysis, the following recommendations need to be implemented: Both the internal and external players mentioned in Dunlop’s model should formulate policies that are line with globalization. Employers, the government and the trade unions should have effective policies that will address the grievances of the workers for instance those that ensure good working conditions and better wages. Moreover, the actors should aim at encouraging effective training so as to curb the element of underpayment to inexperienced workers. Additionally, the element of collective bargain should be encouraged by not only the employers but also by the government and Jordan trade unions. Finally, it is essential for the modern day human resource managers to emphasise collective bargaining in ensuring better wages and working conditions for the workers. References Al-hourani, H. (2002). The Jordan labour movement: History, structure and challenges. Bonn:Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Atkinson, J. & Meager, N. (1991). Changing patterns of work. London: NEDO. Bellace, J.R (1994). The role of the state in industrial relations. In J.R Niland, C. Verevis and R.D. Lansbury (Eds).The future of industrial relations: global change and challenges. London-Newbury Park: Sage. Dunlop, J. T. (1958). Industrial relations systems. New York: Holt, Reinhardt and Winston. Guest, D. (2001). ‘Industrial relations and human resource management’, in Storey, J. (ed). Human resource management: a critical text. London: Thomson learning Legge, K. (1991). ‘Human resource management’ A critical analysis in Storey, J. (Ed). New perspective on human resource management: London: Routledge. Morely, J.M.,Gunnigle, G & Collings, G.D. (2006). Global Industrial Relations. London: Routledge Ozkaplan, N. (2000). Trade unions responses to globalization. Management research news, 23 (2-4). Silver, B. (2003). Forces of Labour. Workers movement and globalization since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Storey, J. (1991). New perspective on human resource management. London: Routledge. Read More