Employee Relations and Conflict Resolution

This assignment delves into the concept of employee relations within the National Health Service (NHS). It examines two perspectives – unitary and pluralistic – on workplace conflicts and how they influence resolution strategies. The report highlights the importance of considering employee needs in organizational decision-making and analyzes the effectiveness of negotiation as a conflict resolution tool. Real-world examples and insights into the complexities of managing conflict within the NHS are discussed.

Carmen Ioana Chicea
HNDB 12357
Nikolaidis Konstantinos
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 1
TASK 1: REFLECTIVE ESSAY.............................................................................................................1
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Procedure to be followed by NHS employer for dealing with the different conflict
situation.....................................................................................................................................3
2.3 Evaluation of the effectiveness of procedures followed so far from both parties in this
conflict situation........................................................................................................................ 5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................ 5
3.1 The role of negotiation in collective bargaining as in the above conflict.............................5
3.2 Assessment of the impact of the negotiation strategies adopted by both parties..............6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................ 7
4.1 Influences of the EU on industrial democracy in the UK......................................................7
4.2 Comparison of the methods used to gain employee participation and involvement in the
decision making process in organizations..................................................................................7
4.3 Assess the impact human resource management approach has had on employee
relations..................................................................................................................................... 8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................. 8
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Employee and employer relationship is the major concern at the workplaces, which
makes remarkable impacts over the businesses. Employee relation is fundamentally
relationship between the higher authorities and the subordinates within the organisational
framework. The organisation identifies the requirements of the employees and initiates to
maintain healthy interactions with them as it lays a direct impact over the performances as
well.
The present report is being carried out with the intention to address various aspects of
employee relations at the workplace. It would evaluate the implication of unitary and pluralistic
framework within the organisation and would focus on diversified aspect of employee relation
management. It would be assessing the impacts of changes on trade unionism on the employee
relation. The report would also evaluate the key feature of employee relations in a conflicting
situation specifically. Furthermore, the role of negotiating in the collective bargaining in any of
the conflicting situations would be evaluating in the report. It would even assess the effects of
negotiation strategies being adopted by the conflicting parties effectively. Additionally, the
report would evaluate the EU influences on the industrial democracy in UK effectively. It would
be even assessing the impacts on the employee relations of human resource management
approach effectively.
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TASK 1: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
1.1
Conflicts in the general terms are the disagreements over any of the specific situation and leads
towards the enlarged issues.It are being the most widespread situation being faced at the
workplaces. These conflicts are generally occurred due to the various disagreements or other
reasons within a group of people or between the individuals. In context to the conflicts, there
are various perspectives being found within the organisational framework. Among those,
unitary and pluralistic frame of references are the most common aspect of the perspective over
the conflicts. The pluralistic frames of references state that there are different interests of the
employees and the managers over a single factor. The pluralistic perspective largely focuses on
the evaluation of the bargaining contracts and involves the collective bargaining conflicts as
well (Clarke.et.al, 2015). It has been found that the unitary and pluralistic perspectives towards
the conflicts mainly include different manners and are inclined towards the resolution of the
conflicts effectively.
On the contrary, to this, the perspective of unitary frames mainly involves the manners
of thinking, assuming, practices, attitudes and the values, which are focused with the
managerial and organisational framework within the business. It is being a harmonious system
which permits the employees and the management of the organisation to exchange the similar
goals, objectives, interest, etc. and perform their responsibilities towards the achievement of
the shared goals. The unitary framework of perspective claims to have loyalty of the employees
among each other (Levinson, 2013). Per my learning, the major focus of unitary perspective of
conflicts is on the evaluation of the workplace so that to find out the root cause of the conflict
and analyse the situation as well. Along with this, the unitary perspective frame is focused on
the individual engagement of the workforce in various areas such as conflict negotiations,
leadership, responsibilities, etc. while the Pluralistic framework indicates the engagement of
the stakeholders in those fields of organisation.
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1.2
Change is an ongoing process, which includes various initiatives and impacts over a specific
area or concerns. The changes in the trade unionism would have a remarkable impact over the
employee relations and would influence the employees to the great levels. Trade unionism is
defined as a principle and theory of the labour unions. In other words, these are the group of
people working in a similar trade practices. It is an attempt by the employees with the purpose
to bring corrective improvements in the status by uniting the actions or the leaders specifically.
These trade unions are mainly framed with the intention to work towards the betterment of
the employees along with the social acts against them. It has been observed that the trade
union plays a significant role in creating and maintaining a relationship between the employees
and employer (Bryson et al. 2013). These unions are the common links between the employees
and the employers, facilitate them in conveying the requirements of the both to each other,
and make the employee work towards the desired profitable goals. Concerning the changes, I
could state that there had been both positive and adverse impact over the employee relations.
In that case, the initiatives made in favour of employees would motivate them to work with
their best efforts while having an unfavourable decision would make them stand against the
organisation or the employer significantly in ways of strikes or severe disagreements over any
of the situation. It is very much important for the trade union to identify the needs of the
employees and meet the expectations of the employer as well.
Thus, the general rules and regulations of the trade unionism are made under the laws
to protect the ethics of the workers in the organization, for the reason the roles of the
worker or the employees along with the employer is very crucial in this matter. Both the
employers and the employees need to co-operate to make this legislation successful as this
not only help them, however, it also would improve the reputation of the workplace. The
trade unions are made thinking about the payment system and working schedule of the
labors, for the reason the responsibility automatically comes to the employees in case of
buying or selling any product and service of the institution. Thus, to co-operate with this
service the employees need to obey the rules of the trade unionism.
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1.3
In addition to this, I even found that there are various key players in employee relations,
which play an important role in the fields. The Employee relation is fundamentally a
relationship between the higher authorities and the subordinates within the organisational
framework. Employee and employer relationship is the major concern at the workplaces, which
makes remarkable impacts over the businesses. As per my observations, the key players of
employee relations are the employees, organisations, government, managers, etc, which
acquire either indirect or a direct role in the employee relation aspects. The employees are the
top most influencing forces, which directly affects the decision taken within an organisation. It
has been usually found that the authorities of the organisation has to consider the employee
requirements also while making any of the decisions as it could impact the action in the future
terms. Managers are the next key player in employee relation as they are the superiors and
acquire power to make decision over any of the workplace situation (Gumbrell-McCormick and
Hyman, 2013). It has been found that the employees do not acquire any such right to make any
of the modification in the decision made by the managers, which leads them, towards the
protests by standing against the decision in different forms like strikes. Another player is
government had contributed in the enhancements and management of the employee relation
by making various rules and legislations towards the rights of the employees or the employers
within the framework. Organisation also plays an important role in employee relation as it
provides with the suitable environment depending upon size and patters of the business. Even
it has been identified that trade unions of the non-profit organisations do not acquire any such
collective bargaining power as compared with the other profit making organisations.
On the other hand the conflicts between the employees and varies according to the
situation. For an example, the employees might differ in their values or interests while working
in the workplace. If any employee or worker is unable to maintain the workplace diversity then
complications might arise. In addition, the difference in the interest in the employees might
cause issues in the workplace, as to work in a particular project many employees are there
those work together and their mentality might not match with each other, while doing the job.
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In addition, the communication gap also might disrupt the work culture in the institution the
communication gap might occur between two or more employees or with the employees and
the senior executives. Thus, maintaining the employee relations is a crucial matter in this
section.
TASK 2
2.1
Conflicts in the general terms are defined as the disagreements over any of the specific
situation and leads towards the enlarged issues. It is being the most widespread situation being
faced at the workplaces. These conflicts are generally occurred due to the various
disagreements or other reasons within a group of people or between the individuals. As per the
give case, the NHS employer must make effective initiatives towards the varying conflicting
situations and resolve the same effectively (Jones and Saundry, 2016). The case indicated some
crucial disagreements of BMA or the British medical association towards the government over
the contract of junior doctors specifically. To implement an effective solution for the conflict
over the contract, NHS employer must go through some specific procedures and deal with the
issues effectively. In this case, NHS could make use of negotiations to solve the conflict and
acquire certain levels of agreements over the situation. It has been identified that NHS
employer could follow some of these ways and reach to the resolution over the conflicts
effectively:
Mediation: Mediation basically involves a third party for negotiations and makes action to
direct both the conflicting parties i.e. BMA and NHS employer and make them reach to an
agreement effectively. However, the mediating party or the third-party does not have any
authority over the final decision made by them.
Conciliation: In this method, the third party attains a discussion with the conflicting parties
individually with the purpose of reducing the stress and identifies the perception of both the
parties in detail. The decisions over the solutions would be then made based on the facts and
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information collected and compared from the conflicting situations and then states a final
decision which would have to be agreed by all of them (Latreille and Saundry, 2016).
Fact finding: This initiative would help in finding out the resolution by appointing a third party
for evaluating and finding the actual reasons of conflicts and would review the evidences of the
situation of conflict effectively. Then the third party would report the observations made from
the review of the conflicting parties.
Arbitration: Here in arbitration, both the disputing parties identify a third party to review the
facts and information and then make relevant decisions over the situation. It has been found
that the decision made by the third party must be agreed by both the conflicting parties i.e.
NHS employer and the BMA respectively.
2.2
The employee relationship helps an organisation to make a sustainable growth in the
organisation and it also assist in their personal growth. The ethics of the employee relationship
widen the organisational perspective and manage the skills of the workers. It maintains the
discipline and grievance between the workers. The employee relation matters the most, as it is
the outcome of the ethics and policies of a particular organisation, where both the two sections
of the institution have co-relation between them, one is the employee and the other one is the
employer. The conflict of the third parties or the conciliation and the arbitration procedure
could be solved easily maintaining this factor.
The relationship needs to be collective relationship, where both the employees and the
employers have their own individual identity to focus on the relationship (Pruitt, 2013). The
collective relationship considers not only the relation between the employees; however, it also
consists of the relation with the Trade Unions. The relationship could also be multi dimensional
where the relation along with the employees, employer and the Trade Unions also extends to
the relationship with the government. It assists to diminish the unethical practices in the
institution that may hamper the relationship procedures.
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Thus, these policies would help to resolve all the previous discussed problems regarding the
third parties. As it was evaluated, the introduction of the third parties sometimes gives birth to
the conflicts between two or more employees for the communication gap. for the reason the
dynamic relation development concept change most of the organisational structure in a
positive way. it helps the employees to contribute themselves to make a sustainable economic
structure in the organisation. The human resource management in this matter plays a crucial
part here, where they deal with all the loopholes that are observed to maintain the relationship
between the stakeholders of a particular organisation.
2.3
It has been largely seen that conflict resolution includes immense complications and is
been considered to a difficult act. With respect to the present case of the conflicts of NHS
employer and BMA, it has been identified that the case had taken a severe phase by involving
strikes against the employer. This acquires taking strict initiatives against the conflicting parties
such as negotiations, collecting bargaining, mediating, etc. and bring the situation under control
(Rubin and Brown, 2013). The procedures being made to resolve the issues mainly include
negotiations which contributed in resolving the conflicts by extracting the root cause of the
conflict referring the NHS employer and the trade union both. However, it has been identified
that negotiating would lay an adverse impact over the conflicting group as it is doubtful that the
entire group of employees agree upon the negotiations and might not be fully satisfied with the
resolutions.
On the opposite side, having a negotiation with the employee demands and providing
them with the satisfactions would help in resolving the conflicts but then it would not fulfill the
demands of the employer and thus would be leading towards the misinterpretations within the
parties. Concerning the effectiveness of the procedures used by the parties to reach the
solution of the conflicts, it has been identified that the negotiation would be profitable if
carried out with the mutual consents of both the conflicting parties and involving a third party
for the unbiased decisions (Sidaway, 2013). Having a mutual consent would make both the
parties to adopt the decision made by the third party positively and reach to the agreements
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over the conflicts. Therefore, the conflicts between the British medical association and NHS
employer would be resolved effectively.
When the NHS employer and BMA deals with the third parties, then a pricing factor
usually comes along the way, while making relation with the third party the organization needs
to maintain an appropriate budget, so that the business would be able to grow in a sustainable
way. Thus, while negotiating with the third parties interruption might arise between them, as
the collaborating with the third party means a huge amount of money needed to be allocated
for a particular project and the for the reason the salaries of the employees for the particular
project might come. Thus, because of this, the employee’s opinion might differ with each other
and it directly or indirectly affects the relationship between them.
TASK 3
3.1
Collective bargaining is basically a process of negotiation between the spokesperson of
the employees and the employers. This is usually found when the trade unions communicate
with the higher authorities to ensure the betterment of the staff members and protect the
rights of employment, compensation, working environment, etc. The negotiations are however
considered as supreme means for collective bargaining and assist the conflicting groups to
reach to mutual agreements (Young, 2015). It has been identified that there is a vital role of
negotiation in collective bargaining as it facilitates in establishing communication between NHS
employer and BMA effectively so that to reach to the desired solutions. With respect to the
collective bargaining, it has been seen mostly that it could lead towards the dismissal of the
conflicting situation rather than having any of the solution as both the parties have different
demands or requirements to be accomplished. Focusing on the current scenario, the
disagreements of junior doctor with the NHS employer and the government, it is important to
negotiate in a collective bargaining so that to acquire effective resolution benefiting both the
parties. However, the identification of the negotiating parties could be recognized from both
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the internal and the external sources of the organization and reach to the final solutions
effectively.
Win-win strategy: the win-win negotiation strategies involved the procedure in which
both the parties have their own benefits. Elaborately it encourages making a work procedure,
where both the parties are satisfied with a common deal. In this strategy, the parties
concentrate on the interests not on the positions they acquire. They generally aim the result
based on the objective of the business.
Win-lose strategy: The Win-lose negotiation strategy is completely the opposite of the
previous discussed procedures. In this section the negotiation procedures becomes a huge part
of the negotiation structure. In this scenario, both the parties maintain a competitive
environment between them. In this matter, one party makes most of the profits in comparison
to the other.
3.2
Negotiating strategies had impacted the decisions and the conflicting parties to the
great extent. It has been found that negotiating could lay either a positive or a negative impact
on the parties as it is unsure that both the parties agree to the decisions. It could be found that
the decision might not be found to be favorable by any of the conflicting party. Utilizing the
negotiation strategies had contributed in satisfying the needs of both the parties and made
them establish a mutual understanding and agreements. As per the case of BMA and NHS
employer, it has been seen that the negotiating strategies had helped in acquiring an
agreement over the junior doctor’s contract and reach to an effective solution. Moreover, it has
been observed that both NHS employer and BMA could make use of the different types of
negotiation such as integrative strategies, distribute strategies, etc (Pruitt, 2013). These
strategies contribute in the achievement of the mutual agreements and consent over the issues
and would lead to the resolution of the conflict effectively. Negotiation had been even found to
be profitable to NHS employer and BMA in many aspects such as establishing the rights and
duties of the employees and the employer both so that to maintain their levels of requirements
and demands. Additionally, negotiation had even facilitated the conflicting parties with
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effective communications and made them exchange their perceptions over the situation which
significantly brought them towards the agreement. It contributed in the decision making of the
parties and establishes an effective resolution over the conflicts with mutual agreements of
both the groups.
The directives of the negotiate strategies are to make profit for the organization. In this
scenario, the BMA and NHS employees face all the consequences for the negotiation. As it is a
profitable organization most of the negotiate policies they maintain are the win-lose policies,
where the organization tries to retain most proportion of profit in comparison to the opposite
party. For example, while recruiting the junior doctor, they try to hire them at the minimum
wages that they can give and in the matter of the third parties, the profit ratio the organization
tries to maintain is huge, for the reason in many scenarios some general contradiction arrives
making the mutual agreement between two or more parties.
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TASK 4
4.1
The democratic practices being made by the employers and the employees of an
organization is being mainly referred to the industrial democracy specifically. European Union
had made various influences on the industrial democracy of UK. It has been observed that the
link between the employee and the employer is maintained by the EU councils. According to
the EU norms, the employees must also be involved in the decision-making process and the
related aspects at the workplace of the organizations. EU had facilitated the employees with
the authorities to make relevant action towards their rights and the requirements within the
workplace. It has largely contributed in the development of the industrial democracy in UK. EU
had also helped in establishing communicational patterns and the business procedures in UK
which made the organizations grow in a positive way (Kong.et.al, 2014). Concerning the
influences, it has been found that EU had made remarkable influences on industrial democracy
and had made the organization reach to effective decisions as well. It has contributed in
meeting the demands of the employees and makes the decisions in favor of both employer and
the employee effectively. However, the NHS employer would be facilitated in carrying out a
negotiation with BMA in an effective manner as the industrial democracy authenticates the
engagements of the employers and the employees in a decision making by sharing the
responsibility and duties among both.
Thus, the influence of the EU in the Industrial world include not only all the corporate
organization. However, it also influences the workers decision and making each of their
responsibility effective in a positive way. Their new partner related corporate decisions assist
the organization to fulfill almost the same objectives and policies. Along with that, the long-
term objectives of the organization could be also evaluated with the influence of EU. the role of
different councils matters the most in this scenario. On the other side, there is also a fear that
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the European Monetary Union policies would pay the employees less than the required amount
of money.
4.2
Employee participation and involvement is being considered as the most important
activity in the present times as it helps in identifying their perception and preferences towards
the organization. With respect to any of the organization, decision making is the most crucial
activity which includes highly sensitive and important initiatives or actions taken to meet the
organizational objective effectively. Employee engagement is an important activity which helps
an organization in acquiring the ideas and preferences of the staff members which enhances
the efficiency of the decisions made by them. Employee participation allows the discussions
with the employees on specific situation and makes them reach to the effective outcome
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). With the purpose to enhance the employee participation in the
decision making of the organization, there are wide ranges of the methods which could be used
by the organizations. In context to the case of NHS employer, the organization could utilize the
industrial democracy leader which would contribute in the decision making effectively. An
effective leadership practices would assist in conducting a formal interaction between the
employers and the employees having a focus on the rights and duties towards the business. The
method of implementing leadership is found to be an effective manner as it would motivate the
employees to get involved in the decision making and contribute their ideas as well.
4.3
Human resources management is a widespread aspect which includes the management
of the resources effectively. It has been found that the HRM approach had laid an extraordinary
impact over the employee relations as it mainly focuses on the roles and responsibilities of
maintaining the needs of the staff members and contribute in meeting the same effectively. It
has been even identified that the approach assists in encouraging the employees and provide
them with the effective direction towards the accomplishment of their roles and make them
put their best efforts towards the organizational goals.
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The human resource management basically works upon the development of various
policies or procedures relevant to the safety and security, wages, working hours, perquisites,
etc (Pettigrew, 2014). These policies help in providing the employees with better facilities and
motivate them to enhance their performances as well. Influences over the perceptions of the
employees are another impact being laid by the human resource management in an
organization. It even regulates the trade unions and the ways of employee thinking towards the
organization to make them work positively and peacefully along with the mutual agreements at
the workplace. The initiatives also help in enhancing the employee relation as motivated and
satisfied employees would not stand against the organization. Therefore, the human resource
management practices had made an effective impact over the employee relations to the great
extent.
CONCLUSION
The report thus concludes that the employee relation is a relationship between the
higher authorities and the subordinates within the organisational framework. With the help of
this report it has been found that the unitary and pluralistic perspectives towards the conflicts
mainly includes different manners and are inclined towards the resolution of the conflicts
effectively. It has been usually identified that the authorities of the organisation have to
consider the employee requirements also while making any of the decisions as it could impact
the action in the future terms. Even it has been observed that NHS could make use of
negotiations to solve the conflict and acquire certain levels of agreements over the situation.
The report revealed that negotiating had laid an adverse impact over the conflicting group as it
is doubtful that the entire group of employees agree upon the negotiations and might not be
fully satisfied with the resolutions.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bryson, A., Barth, E. and Dale-Olsen, H., 2013. The effects of organizational change on worker
well-being and the moderating role of trade unions. Industrial & Labor Relations
Review, 66(4), pp.989-1011.
Clarke, N.J., Willis, M.E., Barnes, J.S., Caddick, N., Cromby, J., McDermott, H. and Wiltshire, G.,
2015. Analytical pluralism in qualitative research: A meta-study. Qualitative Research in
Psychology, 12(2), pp.182-201.
Gumbrell-McCormick, R. and Hyman, R., 2013. Trade unions in western Europe: Hard times,
hard choices. Oxford University Press.
Jones, C. and Saundry, R., 2016. A Crisis of Confidence? Front-line Managers and the
Complexities of Conflict. In Reframing Resolution (pp. 105-125). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
Kong, D.T., Dirks, K.T. and Ferrin, D.L., 2014. Interpersonal trust within negotiations: Meta-
analytic evidence, critical contingencies, and directions for future research. Academy of
Management Journal, 57(5), pp.1235-1255.
Latreille, P. and Saundry, R., 2016. Transforming the Culture of Conflict Management: Lessons
from In-House Mediation. In Reframing Resolution(pp. 315-338). Palgrave Macmillan
UK.
Levinson, C., 2013. International Trade Unionism (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Pruitt, D.G., 2013. Negotiation behavior. Academic Press.
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Rubin, J.Z. and Brown, B.R., 2013. The social psychology of bargaining and negotiation. Elsevier.
Sidaway, R., 2013. Resolving environmental disputes: from conflict to consensus. Routledge
Young, O.R., 2015. The intermediaries: Third parties in international crises. Princeton University
Press.
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