...Different Perspectives Of Employment Relations For the employment relations, there is complicate and compelling area of study which involves relationships with employees, employers, trade unions and government on a regular basis. At the same time, there are three perspectives which are unitarism, pluralist and radical, each offers a special perception of workplace relations and explain the actions, statements and employers behaviours and trade unionists, such as workplace conflict, role of unions and job regulation vary differently. Based on the UK employment relations structure, the essay will analysis which perspectives appropriate for employee relations in the UK. Unitarist pespective The unitaty perspective is based upon the assumption that the organisation is, at the same time, the unitary perspective organisation can be as an integrated and harmonious whole with the ideal of "one happy family", where management and other members of the staff are all share a common purpose, emphasizing mutual cooperation(Naukrihub, 2007) and they have a set of common values, interests and objectives. Furthermore, unitarism has a paternalistic approach where it demands on all employees loyalty, being predominantly managerial in its emphasis and application. For unitary perspective, there are two important implications stemming from this. The first one is that conflict as the expression of employee dissatisfaction and differences with management is perceived as an irrational activity....
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...Australian trade unions prospered for much of the last century but have suffered membership decline since the late 1970s (Spooner, Innes, Mortimer 2001). Australian Union membership has declined in Australia, as it has in many other economies, over recent years. The decline in Australian Union membership can be attributed more so to local factors such as legislative change, the changing composition of employment and Australians changing attitude toward Unions, rather than that of global factors such as the shift from manufacturing to services and technological change. To aid understanding in the falling of union numbers, it is important to become familiar with unions, be aware of who they are and what their fundamental purpose is. This paper aims to show that a focus needs to be on the micro rather than the macro, that is, issues in Australia rather than global issues to identify what is causing falling union numbers in Australia and outline what can be done to halt the decline of their numbers. The primary objective of a Union is to improve the wellbeing of it members. Unions are, first and foremost, an agency and a medium of power, with their central purpose being to permit workers to exert, collectively, the control over their conditions of employment, which they cannot hope to do as individuals (Hyman 1975). Individuals initially joined unions for different and varying reasons, however there are three reasons that dominate; dissatisfaction with economic aspects of the...
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...Employee Relations What are the implications of the decline in union forms of representation for effective employee voice within workplace? Introduction: Union has been a very important part in employee relations. This was actually the voice of employees towards the management/ employers at workplace. Basically union is “an association, combination, or organization of employees who band together to secure favourable wages, improved working conditions, and better work hours and to resolve grievances against employers” (Bagchi, 2003). Unions always try to protect workers right and maintain a balanced relationship between workers and management. Unions’ existence can be traced from the 18th century, when the rapid growth of industrialisation took place. This industrial growth drew attention of women, children, rural workers and immigrants to the work force in different roles and actions. This unskilled and semi-skilled work force continuously organized them to fit in to the system from the beginning; and later become an important arena for the development of trade unions. In recent age the relationship between employee and employer has changed so does the process of representation process. The relationship between employee and employer should have some sort of equality in it. But as a matter of fact this has rarely be a case when an applicant or employee gets the choice to select the desired workplace or work itself from the employers. It’s rather more driven by employers’...
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...of the diminution in union forms of representation for the efficiency of employee voice within the workplace In the first decade of the 21st century, HR has been set a large significant number of issues and many subjects such as employee relationship, strategic HR approaches, employee rewarding, people resourcing, management ethics and so forth have attracted great deal of attention, concern and study to analysis their role, effect and contributions in organizations. Even though there are wide ranges of subjects playing different roles in human resource practices, an appreciation of operating the relationship between employees and employers has become an essential position of business and management recently. Traditionally, employers in employee relationship tried to maintain the control of the workforce with the goal of enhancing business performance. Clearly, if workers are treated fairly and respectively, in addition, they have appropriate influence on managerial decision-making, it could better for them perform improvably. Managers prefer grater work outcomes, nevertheless, it could bring employees’ requirements being disregarded or undermined (Budd, 2004). Therefore, employees bond to express their voice appropriately and their interests should be respected. The main way in which workers tend to voice their interests and representations in the workplace is to participate in collective unions so that they could in a position of greater strength; trade unionism has been regarded...
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... 1. Employment Relation 3rd Edition, Ed Rose. 2. Dubin, R. (1954) ‘Contruction aspects of industrial conflict’ in Kornhauser, A., Dubin, R. and Ross, A.M. (eds)Industrail Conflict. New York, McGrew-Hill 3. industrialrelations.naukrihub.(2013). Importance Of Collective Bargaining. Available: http://industrialrelations.naukrihub.com/importance-of-collective-bargaining.html. Last accessed 20/11/2013. 4. Rita Donaghy (2005). The Changing Landscape of Employment Relations in Britain [online]. Available from:http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/irru/wpir/warwick_paper_2005_lowry.pdf. [Accessed 20/11/2013]. Main Discussion: Importance of Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining involves employers and trade unions negotiating terms on behalf of employee, however collective barging does not only include negotiations but also includes the process of resolving labour-management conflicts. Therefore, some could state that collective bargaining is a recognised way of creating a system of industrial theory of law. Collective bargaining could be seen as a method of introducing civil rights in the industry, meaning management should be conducted by rules than uninformed decision making. It establishes rules, which define and restrict the traditional authority exercised by the...
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...collective agreements and collective bargaining are no longer the most efficient and productive form of workplace arrangements for business. With the extrinsic pressures that come with an increasingly global market, business has to look at ways to increase productivity and profitability in order to stay competitive, and this requires greater levels of flexibility in the workforce. The key components of this argument are direct and indirect employee voice, and which is better for both the employee and employer. Are Trade Unions relevant as their bargaining position has been weakened by both a more global market, changes to more atypical labour types and Government legislation that emphasised individualism over collectivism (Hayter 2010). Collective agreements are agreements between employers and employees which regulate workplace terms and conditions as a collective. This is generally instigated as a result of collective bargaining by a third party, primarily Trade Unions. Individual agreements, however, are between an employer and an individual employee, and can be instituted outside of any existing collective agreement. Collective agreements, are by nature, a more Pluralist approach to workplace management, whereas Individual agreements are aligned with a more Unitarist approach. Both of these management theories bring in to consideration managerial prerogative and employee voice in the workplace. Employee...
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...industrial relations climate will become increasingly adversarial”(Business Guardian, 2011). This type of conflict and balance of power issues in the long-term can have adverse economic consequences as well as a negative effect on international competitiveness. The term ‘Industrial Relations’, in a broad sense, covers the employment relationship between employers and employees either directly or through their representatives. An explanation of Industrial Relations which clearly identifies the principal actors is:- “the relationships between employees and employers within the organisational settings. The field of industrial relations looks at the relationship between management and workers, particularly groups of workers represented by a union. Industrial relations are basically the interactions between employers, employees and the government, and the institutions and associations through which such interactions are mediated” (Naukrihub.com). Actors and their roles A key actor identified in the definition is the employer. The employer according to Burchill, 2008 may be from the Public or Private Sector, and the employer can exercise his contractual rights over the employee directly or through a manager. Burchill, 2008 therefore defines the role of mangers as exerting ‘power and line authority’ on the owners’ behalf. Associated with the employers are...
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... | 3 | 1.1 What is trade union | 3 | 1.2 Type of trade union | 4 | 1.3 Trade union’s function | 4 | 2.0 Structure of Trade Union in Malaysia | 5 | 3.0 How do Employers Perceive of Trade Union | 6 | 3.1 Conflict | 6 | 3.2 Controlled by purposely | 6 | 4.0 Do trade union membership decline | 6- 8 | 5.0 Why trade union decline | 9- 12 | 6.0 Why employee still join trade union | 13 | 7.1 Received Benefits | 13 | 7.2 Protection of Rights | 13 | 6.3 Collective Bargaining | 13 | 7.0 Conclusion | 13 | 8.0 References | 14 | 9.0 Appendix | | Introduction Trade union can be viewed as helpful or unhelpful by employer. For example, according to Maimunah (2007, p133), Japanese viewed union as an assisting tool, because many objectives are achieved by Japanese unions, therefore they are still using union. On the other hand, some countries believe that union is limiting the power of management and tends to discourage employee join union. Such as UK and USA, employers are strongly viewed union as an enemy. Therefore, this assignment will discuss about trade union and why is it declining and why some countries still using union. Besides that, we also will...
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...Article Introduction: Causes, consequences and cures of union decline European Journal of Industrial Relations 17(2) 97–105 © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0959680111400893 ejd.sagepub.com Alex Bryson NIESR and Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK Bernhard Ebbinghaus Universität Mannheim, Germany Jelle Visser Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands In 2000 the political leaders of the European Union declared that strong economic growth and advance towards a knowledge society, together with a high degree of social cohesion, would be the pre-eminent goals for the subsequent decade. A question never asked was what would happen, and what remedial action would be taken, should the conditions conducive to growth and the knowledge economy conflict with the political and institutional underpinnings of social cohesion. What if strong employment growth turned out to be founded on the destabilization of the standard employment contract, or if the advance towards a knowledge economy brought about a sharp rise in social inequality and polarization between skilled and unskilled workers and between those with and without stable jobs? Would trade unions be willing and able to counteract or attenuate such trends and bridge the differences between the new haves and have-nots? Or would they be marginalized, slowly but irreversibly, together with the stable employment relationships...
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...Do you believe that trade unions have a strong future in Australian industrial relations? If so, why? Trade unions have been described as organisations of workers set up to improve the status, pay and conditions of employment of their members and associations of workers who by means of collective bargaining endeavor to improve their working conditions, economic and social position (Salamon, 1992). Trade unions face many implications, declining union density, rapid expansion into casual labor market and decline of the manufacturing industry as a job provider.Trade unions have played a major role in the development of Australia and will continue to do so, however its critical that they adopt a form of union renewal to apply to the changing environment of Australia, as these changes can influence and affect the conditions for renewal and also can affect the way unions organize and regroup. Hymen (2002) suggest that in last three decades have seen a radical transformation of global capitalism with the liberalisation of currency markets; the acceleration of transactions through advances in information and telecommunications technologies; and the breakdown of the American-dominated post-war system of international monetary stabilisation. Deprived of much of their previous room for shaping macroeconomic policy, governments too have typically embraced policies of 'deregulation' to increase flexibility in labor markets. While the extent of such challenges varies substantially cross-...
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...Identify and explain the main changes that have occured to the employment relations environment. A successful employment relationship is the fundamental element of any successful business or organisation, hence, it is essential and the reason of all the organizations continues seeking methods to improve and maintain these relationships. There are many philosophers and writers have studied and written lots of different theories and approaches that are related to employment relationship. These theories and approaches have changed rapidly from the classical era to the modern era. Furthermore, illustrating issues that have evolved through changes in the employment relations environments such as the nature of work, technology, managerial regimes, regulation, policy and globalisation. The purpose of this essay is to identify and explain the main changes that listed above. The second part of this essay identifies those changes or improvement of employment relations environment that can benefit both the employers and employees by creating a healthy and supportive working environment. Employees who have strong employment relationships, are more satisfied and keen on work, also, they tend to have helpful and friendly co-workers as well as high levels of employee trust and commitment with employer. The establishment of regulation and policies such as labour law, minimum wages, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) enhance safety and security in workplace. Thus, strong employment relationships...
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...INTRODUCTION The term "Industrial Relations" has developed both a broad and a narrow meaning. Originally, industrial relations was broadly defined to include the totality of relationships and interactions between employers and employees. From this perspective, industrial relations covers all aspects of the employment relationship, including human resource (or personnel) management, employee relations, and union-management (or labor) relations. Since the mid-twentieth century, however, the term has increasingly taken on a narrower, more restricted interpretation that largely equates it with unionized employment relationships. In this view, industrial relations pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labor-management relations, while human resource management is a separate, largely distinct field that deals with nonunion employment relationships and the personnel practices and policies of employers. Both meanings of the term coexist in the twenty-first century, although the latter is the more common. ORIGINS The term "industrial relations" came into common usage in the 1910s, particularly in 1912 upon the appointment by President William Taft of an investigative committee titled the Commission on Industrial Relations. The commission's charge was to investigate the causes of widespread, often violent labor conflict and make recommendations regarding methods to promote greater cooperation and harmony among employers and employees. Shortly...
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...Employment relations is the contemporary term used to refer to what has traditionally been called ‘industrial relations’. As both an academic area of study and a set of organisational activities, industrial relations has traditionally referred to the management of the relationship between trade unions and management and associated processes including collective bargaining, negotiation and consultation and industrial conflict. The use of the term ‘employment relations’, rather than industrial relations, reflects a range of developments in the political, economic, social and legal context of the employment relation- ship that have taken place over the last three decades. The advent of new forms of employee management, such as HRM, alongside shifting industrial structures to a service-dominated economy, declining trade union power and influence, political antipathy towards the union movement, greater individu- alisation and flexibility in the management of labour and changing social attitudes have created a more diverse employment landscape. Subsequently, employment relations is concerned with the management of both the individ- ual and collective employment relationship, both in union and non-union workplaces and in all industry sectors. CIPD (2009h) suggest that employ- ment relations is best understood as a skill-set or a philosophy for employers, rather than as a management function or well defined...
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...considerable liberalisation of the expansive labour laws. * There is a large rural sector and a large ‘informal’ sector in which unions and collective bargaining are rare. Trade union membership overall is low but membership and collective bargaining coverage is higher in the public sector and large enterprises. There are weak laws regarding trade union recognition and representation and poor enforcement of labour laws and collective agreement provisions. Current concerns include lack of protection for workers who have been made worse-off by the market-based labour reforms, poor growth prospects in key parts of the labour market, high rates of contract and casual workers, increasing downsizing and a low-value added IT sector. The Indian industrial relations system is rooted in British common law * The unionisation rate is low at 5% of the total workforce due in part to large rural and informal sectors, which are not unionised. Most union are concentrated in large enterprises and government-related sectors. Introduction: employment relations in India—old narratives and new perspectives Debashish Bhattacherjee and Peter Ackers Introduction: employment relations in India—old narratives and new perspectives Debashish Bhattacherjee and Peter Ackers Introduction: employment relations in India — old narratives and new perspectives...
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...THE TRADE UNIONS IN UK INTRODUCTION Historically, trade unions in the United Kingdom have been viewed as: (1) collective employee organisations established to protect employees from arbitrary actions by employers in matters of pay and working conditions, and (2) as promoters of the legitimate interests of people at work. In practice, they have also played an important role in the political life of the nation, and, to a lesser extent, in its social affairs. The ability of trade unions to exercise power and influence over users of their service depends on the relative demand for that service. Thus, when demands for skilled labour in the economy are high trade unions are in a relatively powerful position to negotiate a high price for the use of labour. They are also able in such circumstances to employ a wide range of sanctions against employers (and even governments). When demand for labour is slack and unemployment begins to rise, trade union power to influence events becomes more limited. In Britain the boom period for trade unions was during the 1970s when membership reached a peak of 13.2 million (1979). At that time the demand for labour was high, many skills where in short supply and there were few legal controls over collective action by unions. By 1990 the situation had changed dramatically with a deep recession, record levels of unemployment, changes In working practices brought about by new technology and last but not least, a substantial framework of labour legislation...
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