Employment Relations

INTRODUCTION

Employee relations entail the body of work concerned with sustaining employers-employees relationship that leads to efficiency, inner drive morale and satisfaction (Sparrow, 2000). Fundamentally, employee relations is all about preventing and providing solutions to the problems involving people in the workplace. Supervisors are offered advice on how to handle employee misdemeanors and poor performance (Oup, par). In such cases, regulatory progressive discipline and other needs ought to be deemed in carrying out corrective actions, and in providing solutions to employee complaints and pleas (Storey, 1992). As noted from Bawey and Thorpe (2000), information is offered to workers to promote a good understanding of management’s policies and goals. It also assists the workers on how to handle poor performances and to tackle their personal matters that have an effect on them in their workplace. Besides, the workers are advised on application of legislations, rules and bargaining agreements plus advise concerning grievances, favoritism whistleblower protections and appeal rights (Projections, par).

Even though the employee relations are well-read in business schools in the English-speaking countries, employee relations scholar roots are strongly traced in the social science and a meticulous academic custom back in the nineteenth century (Thatcher, 1993). The matter focuses on a broad list of “employment related matters”; however, it also has a healthy analytical concentration that may be reviewed as the “governance of the employee relations”. First and foremost, it views the employee relations as a managerial with all ambiguity, inconsistency and potential for disparity that such a relationship contains. The workers receive intangible and tangible remunerations in return as a right way of an employer to lead them make their bidding (Thompson, 1995). It reimburses specific regard to the multifaceted, multilevel governance or regulations engaged in the use of an employer’s unrestricted rights (Business cases studies, par). This cuddles organization work design, structure, personal strategies and exercises, legislation that the state brings in an effort to strike, a balance between security intrinsic and litheness to the employee relations, and the attempt of workers, professional organizations and trade unions to manipulate the regulations and policy-making processes (Bawey and Thorpe, 2000). Therefore, in stipulations of its approach, the employee-relations can be viewed as an area of learning rather than authority. In fact, its idiosyncratic aspect is that it is a multi-disciplinary further concerned with expanding theory in employee relations than expanding of theory of employee relations. For instance, the three approaches to theorizing employee relations can be found in such literature as critical realism, social realism and constructivism (Torrington and Hall, 1998).

The overriding one, nevertheless, estimates that critical realism employee relations seek out to make out main regularities and enquires why they happen as they do, what the fundamental systems that turn them out and any disparities are, what outcomes they contain and what the situations under which they take place are. To obtain such knowledge, “employee- relations” have constantly put more stress on empirical inquest, employing both qualitative and quantitative techniques. In the United Kingdom, this has been underpinned with the frequent undertaking of the “representative workplace employment relation survey”. In current years, there has been rising propensity to merge induction with inference, where the researcher starts off with hypothesis or a proposition originated from the well-known theoretical postulations or facts.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. PAY SYSTEMS

Definitions

According to studies, pay is a major factor that sways relationships at places of work (Armstrong and Murlis, 1998). An organizations efficacy is significantly influenced by the distribution of benefits and pay. Besides, workers stimulation and productivity is also influenced. As a result, it is important for companies to adopt pay systems which are suitable, which fairly reward employees for job performed and which offer value for money.

Pay systems are techniques of rewarding workers for job performance, skills and contribution in a company (Armstrong and Murlis, 1998). Preferably, such systems ought to be simple and clear so that employees can be aware of how they are impacted. In addition to financial and pay benefits, organization should also adopt other stimulators including recognition and engagement, intrinsic satisfaction, training and job security (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2005).

Paradoxes

However, although most companies make use of pays systems to reward their employees there are various paradoxes linked with pay systems (Brown, 2001). For instance, although incentive pay has continued to be extensively used by organizations, there is proof that it does not stimulate the staffs. However, pay is linked to increased performance but it puts pressure on managers to set higher goals and objectives for their workers.

Pay-for-performance has also evidenced to have a number of predicaments especially for engineers, for example, the disparity in extent between objective and their creativities that took place in long-time-span. There tends to be motivation depression that rise from the gap between engineers intentions and pay system. Besides, educational researchers and administrators are in agreement that merit pay that is based on employee performance has not been successful in the public sectors. Nevertheless, governments have continued to convey their backing for merit pay despite the findings. According to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2005) current pay systems operationally are not strategic. They have failed to attain in practice that which they are expected to. In fact, efforts to employ pay strategically have generated an array of negative and unintended results.

Tensions

Tensions can be described as controlled hostility or strained relationships between individuals or groups of people. In the workplace, tensions are most likely fueled by lack of contentment in decisions, pay systems or policies involving employees. In Korea recently, the workers union of KIA Motors was given a direction to reduce the number of full-time officials to 19 from 181. Nevertheless, tensions rose since the workers union made a demand that the current number of unionists be maintained and that the company continues to pay their salaries.  

2.2. Employment Relations

Management of Employment Relationships is generally the responsibility involving guiding programs that enhance good connections between the employer and the employee in the workplace. It includes selecting, compensating, training and developing employees, classifying, administration of civil service ordinances, staff support in the bargaining of negotiations and agreements and provision of equal employment opportunities.

Employee relationship has the responsibility of sustaining employer-employee rapport that adds up to staff motivation and stimulation, satisfactory productivity, as well as morale (Brown, 2001). Basically, employee relations works to ensure that issues that come up and impact working environments are prevented and resolved. Organizations with efficient employee relations have emerged to be successful. There are various management features of employee relationship one of them encompassing reward systems. As noted from Coca Cola Company, through proper reward systems, employees are well motivated and stimulated which then adds up to the organizational productivity as well as improving employer-employee rapport (Hays, 2004).

An employee is any person who has concurred to be working under an agreement of service that is to toil for some form of payments including salary, commissions, wages and piece of rates. These are types of fixed-term and casual employees. The notion of a fixed-term employee occurs when an employer has an authentic reason based on sensible grounds to provide a fixed term of employment (dol, par). This has to be made clear at commence plus stated in the written agreement, and the employment agreement ought to state how the employment gets to an end and reasons. For instance, a work may be for a period of time such as six months, or until something happens, for example, when the project or completion of the work ends. Such workers possess the same rights as the other workers, apart from the fact that their work will finish at the end of the fixed term (Tyson, 1995). The other type of employment involves casual and part-time workers; in this case the rights for full-time workers apply evenly to part-time workers, also these rights are applicable to casual workers, except for the way in which yearly holidays, passing away leaves and sick leaves applied can differ for these workers (Heyes and Nolan, 2009).

Management Features

            Management is the processes of achieving goals and purposes through and with individuals in groups that are formally organised. It refers to the art of getting things done by use of people.

Management is a process that is never ending and always in continuity. It mainly involves directing, controlling, planning and organizing. These duties are normally executed by the manager of the premise continuously.  This is the most common feature in all institutions. Additionally, managers get things done by dedicating duties to individuals. The management works to achieve results in science and art for example increases in the market share, addition of profits among other results. These features serve to clearly define management in any institution for example the McDonalds team which is an international company. In order to run such a developed institute properly, certain features like the above mentioned and others have to be strictly followed. Therefore another feature of management is strict adherence to established principles for example division of work, unity of command, maintenance of discipline etc. Moreover, management relationships are situational in nature. Plans, calculated decisions and policies are implemented in line with the situation at hand. Management is also all-pervasive and intangible. In order to run any institution be it a school, business, religious setting or educational institution, management is required. Although it cannot be touched, management can be realized and felt by the results achieved.

2.3. Additional Employment Relations

Good Faith

Setting up and sustaining good faith relations is the foundation of employee relations system in various countries, for both personal and collective arrangements. Good faith usually entails employing practical common sense and treating others in the manner you would prefer to be treated, that means dealing with everyone openly, sincerely plus with mutual respect. From Heyes and Nolan (2009), operating in good faith lessens the peril of conflict and problems, and it is also a prerequisite of the “employment relations act”, but there is no particular set of requirements because each work place is diverse. Therefore, employers must have good measures and procedures for dealing with problems, and they should ensure that workers are aware of them by making certain that each one in the workplace is aware of what to expect; however, the employer and worker should act in good faith and bargain in a fair way with each other (Dawson, 1995). 

When Problems Arise

According to Heyes and Nolan (2009), a problem is anything that damages or may damage employment relationships and examples of these problems from an employer perspective include: poor performance, tardiness and absenteeism, not to comply with health and safety measures, and breaches of company rule. Some of the problems may be based on personal complaints, which need precise treatment under the act of employment relations (Gilson, 2011). According to Edgar and Alan (2005), the first and foremost step, after attempting to solve the problem directly is to contact the department for help of a mediator; if mediation does not solve the issue, personal grievances can be heard at the “Employment Relations Authority.”

Preventing Employment Relationship Problems

Problems are less likely to occur when everybody in an “Employment Relationship” acts in good faith. A number of simple exercises can facilitate to make relationships smoother and avoid issues in the workplace (Matlay, 1999). For example, workers must be well-informed concerning their responsibilities and employment rights, changes to agreements have to be put in writing since this will prevent misunderstandings and solve problems if they arise later. It should be comprehensible that the provided terms of employment are only those in the written agreement, and the employer must avoid giving promises that are conflicting with the written agreement and take time to converse clearly, because poor communication frequently leads to misunderstandings and arguments (Abbott, 2006). Therefore, it is good to record significant communications in writing, particularly where the communication is related to the performance issues (Edgar and Alan, 2005).   

In conclusion, any kind of problem that arises in the workplace can be successfully solved by both the employer and the employee by first checking the facts. They should dialogue so as resolve the issue, possibly engaging a support union or association representative in the discussion. They can get information about rights and obligations from the department, and if the issue cannot be solved by talking, either a worker or an employer can contact the department of labor and find the solution to the problem, and if it remains unsolved, then it can be taken to the court of employment or employment relations authority.

3. METHODOLOGY

In this chapter the researcher focus on the method used to collect and analyze data, in which is the researcher will use qualitative approach to come up with different observations, the results, nature of compensation management, model of rewards and job analysis, government pay, and case study for evaluation (Hytta corporation) to illustrate the paradoxes and tensions of pay systems and the problems they create for the management of the employment relationships.

Qualitative method shows that you cannot measure the variables and get the amount in quantity. It refers to non-numerical assessment of different observations in order to come up with conclusions about the meaning of different relations. Qualitative research goes across different disciplines concerning various issues, which involve coming to know more about behavior of human beings and the reason why they behave in such a manner. In a study by Ackers (2001), a theoretical framework was put into use to be able to examine the importance of reward management. The way a system of reward is designed is very critical within the organization and surrounding area. The model for payment is seen to put more stress on maintaining equity internally and on completion from outside. Compensation management nature was analyzed and compensation model was considered. On top of that, options of compensation were also outlined, and analysis of different jobs was done and compared with the model of reward. Evaluation of work was carried out using different methods and their compensation in different organizations depending on the model was used. The impact of the government on management of remuneration was also determined and examined.

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