Employee Relations Assignment(ER): HRM Assignment

Employee Relations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference......................................................................1
1.2 Changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations..........................................2
1.3 Role of main players in employee relations.....................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Procedures Marks & Spencer firm should follow when dealing with different dispute
situations.................................................................................................................................5
2.2 Features of employee relations in a selected conflict situation........................................6
2.3 Effectiveness of procedures used in a selected conflict situation.....................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Role of negotiation in collective Bargaining....................................................................7
3.2 Impact of negotiation strategy..........................................................................................8
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................9
4.1 Influence of the EU on industrial democracy in the UK..................................................9
4.2 Methods used to gain employee participation and involvement in decision making process
..............................................................................................................................................10
4.3 Effect of human resource management on employee relations......................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Employee relations refers to the crucial factor in a company that is important to be
maintained for gaining effective performance and making improvement in interaction between
individuals at workplace. The manager and also staff members should maintain harmonious and
healthy relationship in company in order to increase the profit level. Marks & Spencer is a retail
business firm that deals in many grocery products, clothing, books, electronic items, etc. In the
present report, unitary and pluralistic frames of reference will be discussed with assessing impact
of changes in trade unionism on employee relations (Avey and et.al., 2010). At the time of
dealing with the dispute situation, this organisation uses a particular procedure to resolve the
conflict. Main role of negotiation in collective bargaining is going to be discussed in this report
as well. Further, comparison of some methods which are used to gain the participation of staff
members and their involvement in the process of decision making in company will be studied
here.
TASK 1
1.1 Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference
Conflicts occur from the misunderstanding among staff members and also managers who
directly put their impact on the relationship of workers and managers. It affect the performance
level of company. If the relationship among employer and employees will be better, then it will
be helpful in developing a positive working environment at workplace. From this, the chances of
conflict will be reduced and people will work together for achieving the goals and objectives of
company. In Marks & Spencer, there are many employees working and the manager of this
company always motivate its employees to work together. In this, different types of frames of
references are given below as above:
Unitary perspective- It refers to the staff members and also, the understanding of
company as a family to its team members (Dreyer, Hauschild and Schierbeck, 2010). It means
the way of thinking, values, assumed perception and the attitude related with the membership of
company and also the management. This kind of frame of reference is based on a statement in
context of accomplishing the success, values, objectives and also, goals. This kind of perspective
searches an expression by the execution of vision and mission statements and also, determining
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success by the actual achievement of decided goals and objectives. In this, employees are loyal
towards the company.
Pluralistic frame of reference- In this kind of perspective, Marks & Spencer perceives as
most powerful groups and also various sub groups of people. All these groups are very loyal
towards company and set their own goals as well as leaders. In this frame of reference, there are
two sub groups included and these are trade unions as well as the management (Frone and
Trinidad, 2012). Under this, the main role of management is to control and make coordination
among employees. On the other hand, trade union works as the legal representative of workers
and resolve conflicts through collective bargaining.
Radical frame of reference- It refers to make some change in doing the any new work and
also use the different way of doing activities and also work. This approach is also known as the
Marxist approach.
1.2 Changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations
Change in trade union directly impacted on the conditions of both employees as well as
employers. Trade union was formed for the betterment of workers. It fights from the side of
workers regarding their interest, fair wages, working hours, etc. Basically, main aim of
developing the trade union is for better and good trading system in all over the world along with
rising staff members and situations of workers in a company. After emerging the trade union,
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Illustration 1: Industrial Relation Approaches
(Source: Approaches to Industrial Relations, 2017)