Theoretical Perspectives on Employee Relations and Impact of Changing Global and National Contexts on Employee Relations

This article critically evaluates theoretical perspectives on employee relations and the impact of changing global and national contexts on employee relations. It also discusses the importance of employee relations for organizational performance, using Tesco as an example.

RUNNING HEAD: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 0
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name Anwar Ali
Task 2 Critically evaluate theoretical perspectives on employee relations and the
impact of changing global and national contexts on employee relations.
For selected organisations, critically evaluate the importance of
employee relations for organisational performance
Word Count 2400
Date 12th December 2018
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Table of Contents
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................2
Introduction............................................................................................................................2
Part 1.......................................................................................................................................2
Theoretical Perspectives on Employee Relation................................................................2
Impact of changes in Global and National context on Employee Relation........................5
Part 2.......................................................................................................................................6
Importance of Employee Relationship in Tesco.................................................................6
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11
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Task 2
Introduction
The employee or employment relations are mainly concerned with the managing as well as
maintaining the relationship of employees (Tansel and Gazioglu, 2014). It involves managing
the pay-work bargaining of the employee and dealing with the practices of employment, their
terms, and conditions, the issues which are arising from the employment in addition with
providing a voice to the employees and communicating with employees (Valizade et. al.,
2016). It is the approach or method which is adopted by the employer or manager to manage
and deal with their employees either collectively through their trade union or individually
(Tews et. al., 2015).
In the following context, there will be a detailed discussion on the different perspectives
related to employee relations as well as the impact of changing the national and global
environment on employee reaction.
Part 1
Theoretical Perspectives on Employee Relation
In the concept of the employee relation, managing relationship with the employee,
employers, trade union, as well as government on regular basis are a complicated and
compelling area of study. There are mainly three perspectives of employee relation which are
unitarism, pluralist, and radical which represent the different perception of workplace
relations (Bratton and Gold, 2017). These perspectives also explain the statements, actions,
the behavior of employers and trade unionists for example conflict in the workplace, the role
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of unions and job regulation vary differently (Scott, 2015). Based on the employment relation
structure in UK cover in the following points:
Unitarist Perspective
The perspective of unitary is based on the assumption that the organization can be as an
integrated as well as harmonious whole with the idea of “one happy family”, where the
management of organization and other members of staff share a common purpose as well as
emphasizing the mutual cooperation among them (Zhang et. al., 2014). They have a set of
common values, objectives, as well as interest. Moreover, the unitarism has a protective
approach, where its demand on the loyalty of all employees which are being primarily
managerial in its prominence as well as application. For unitary perspective, there are two
main essential implications reducing from this. The first one is, the dissatisfaction expression
of employees, as well as a difference with management, is perceived as an irrational activity.
The conflict may create a bad impact on the organization and should be curbed through
coercive means. Secondly, it is related to the trade union which is regarded as unnecessary
since the loyalty between the employees and organizations which are considered as mutually
exclusive. This conflict is perceived as disruptive which result in a communication
breakdown. Therefore, the unitary perspective is a simple theoretical; device which is mostly
used to identify the climate of industrial relation within the specific types of organization
which covers both historically as well as currently (Johnstone and Ackers, 2015).
Plural Perspective
In the concept of pluralism, the organization is apparent as being made up of powerful as well
as divergent sub-groups, each group represent with their own legitimate loyalties as well as
their own set of leaders and objectives (Siebert et. al., 2015). The two predominant subgroups
are trade union and management. The main assumption of pluralist perspective is that the
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individuals in the organization are divided into different groups which have their own aims,
interest, as well as leadership. These interest as well as aim often conflict as well as compete
with another group which creates tension within the organization that most of the
management is facing. In the pluralist approach, the organization sees the conflicts between
the manager and worker for interest and disagreement (Guest, 2017). The conflict of
management-employee is both the inevitable and rational. Consequently, the management
role would less depend on enforcing and controlling, as they move towards the persuasion as
well as coordination. A trade union is perceived as legitimate representatives of employees.
The perspective of Pluralist admits that the workers have constancies to organizations, other
than their own management as well as the trade union is a legitimate source of these
constancies (Harney, Dundon and Wilkinson, 2018).
Marxist Perspective
The Marxist perspective mainly focuses on the fundamental division of interest between labor
and capital. According to the Marxist perspective, the conflict in employment relationship
reflects the structure of society. This approach has a broader scope which mainly emphasis on
the importance of collective action as well as the organization explained in them of
mobilization theory. When the belief of Marxist perspective changes then the society and
organization will also change (Kaufman, 2018). The Marxist perspective argued the
weakness and contradiction of the capitalist system which may lead to the revolution and the
ascendancy of socialism over capitalism. In the social conflict, the economic inequalities
exist specifically within the arena of industrial relation and industrial conflict. There is some
assumption of Marxist that the change in society can lead to class conflict as, without such
struggle the society would stop following, inequalities also cause conflict in class which
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arises in the distribution of economic power in the society. According to the Marxist
perspective, the conflicts are structural as well as essential (Williams, 2017).
Impact of changes in Global and National context on Employee Relation
 The recession of 2008, was one of the major economic downturns worldwide. The
recession of 208, cause the financial crises at a greater level. Most of the countries
such as the U.S, Europe, China, and Ireland and so on were greatly affected by the
recession. From such a recession, the big companies came in a serious trouble because
of which 10 million people lost their jobs. From such incident, the companies faced
the issues of maintaining the employee relation within their organization. Not only the
employees who lost their job suffered from such relation but the existing employees
of the companies also lost their hope which greatly affected on the overall
performance of the companies (Bansal, Jiang and Jung, 2015).
 The minimum wage rate in the UK for between the age of 21-24 has been increased to
European dollar 7.50. Due to the changes in the minimum wage rate, some of the bug
companies in the UK enhanced the salary of the employees as well as update their
employees. it helps in enhancing or improving the employee relation among the
employees which motivate their employees to work in a more efficient manner
(Dolton, Bondibene and Stops, 2015).
 The improvement in technology and their impact on the workforce has become a
focus of attention world over. The advancement in technology has a great potential to
increase the productivity of the companies as well as help the manager in strategic
decision making whereas from the change in technology at the global level, the
employees or labor are greatly affected as labor-saving innovation are dispersed more
widely. It increases unemployment as well as abating somewhat when the
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employment and economy are expanding. It affected the employee relation within the
company. As most of the employees are dissatisfied for such changes which create a
gap in between the organization and company. It hampers the employee relation
within the organization (Stone et. al., 2015).
 The European Union regulation and their initiatives greatly affect employee relation
in the UK. A number of articles in the original treaty of Rome been referred to the
promotion of the improvements in the working conditions as well as the requirement
to develop a dialogue between the two-sided of the industry. The EC Directives such
as those concerning work councils and the working hours affect the conduct of
employee relations in Britain (Williams and Horodnic, 2015).
Part 2
Importance of Employee Relationship in Tesco
Tesco is one of the leading company in the retail industry of UK as well as the company is
being a highly significant retailer at the global level. The company is operating in twelve
countries and spread their root globally. Tesco manages approximately 500,000 people as an
employee in their company worldwide. Therefore, the employee relation in the company
Tesco plays a significant role. To compete in the competitive market at the global level,
Tesco needs to concentrate on the performance of the company as well as need to satisfy
them to retain for long-period. Tesco adopts the concept of two-way communication in which
the employer listens to the issues of the employees and then acted on the answer. The
employees saw the improvement as well as receive a regular communication which enhances
as well as improve the relationship between employees and employer (Moon, Uskul and
Weick, 2018). The employee relationship plays a significant role in the performance of the
organization. The importance of employee relation is explained in the below points:
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Enhance productivity
The efficient employment relation in Tesco directly affected the productivity of Tesco. In the
recent, the company has now spread their branches at the global level. It cannot be possible
for the company without the performance of the employees. The employees of Tesco are
highly satisfied which enhance the productivity of the company as well enhance the overall
performance of the company as greater level. It has been said that when the relation between
the employer and employee are great, then employees of the company tend to be more
satisfied and thus end up being more productive at work when the employee is more
productive then the overall productivity of the company will enhance (Padma and Wagenseil,
2018).
Enhanced loyalty among the employees
The employee relations in an organization boost the level of loyalty among employees to a
greater extent. Tesco creates a pleasant as well as productive work employment which has
drastically affected the loyalty of the employees. Increase in the loyalty among the employees
of the Tesco increases the chance of retention in the company. It has been analyzed that 80%
of employees in Tesco are filled by their existing team members. Therefore, the efficient
management of employment relation in Tesco increases the loyalty among the employees
which directly affect the overall performance of the company.
Motivate the employees
The employees of Tesco always feel motivated because of efficient employment relation
adopted in the company. The company always give importance to their employees and try to
resolve their issues in a limited time period which motivate their employees to work
efficiently and effectively in the company. The employer of Tesco always gives importance
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to the issues of employees which is the main reason of the employees to remain in the
organization. The efforts of the company always lead to a better possible working
environment which motivates the employees to work in a more efficient manner. This trait
helps the company to enhance their overall performance of the company in an effective
manner.
Work Together
There is some sort of issues occur within the organization which an individual cannot take the
decision alone, they need guidance as well as advice. Before implementing any plan, Tesco
evaluates the pros and cons of an open forum where the employees of the company get
opportunities to express their opinion freely. It helps the company to enjoy the good relation
as well as a bond between each other in the company. They work together as a family which
makes the healthy environment in Tesco. Therefore, the employees of Tesco help in resolving
issues of each other which increase the productivity of the company in an effective way
(Mandal, 2017).
Discourage Conflicts and Fights
A healthy employee relation in the organization discourages the conflicts as well as fights
among the employees of the company. The company Tesco maintain a healthy employee
relation in their company. The coordination between employees and employer help them in
reducing the conflict among them which encourage a healthy working environment in Tesco
as well as discourage conflicts and fights within the organization which enhance the
performance of every individual in the company and collectively increase the performance of
the company as well (Goswami and Agarwal, 2015).
Reduce issues of Absenteeism
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The employee relation affected the company at a greater level. The employees of Tesco are
more serious towards their work as a comparison to other companies as they feel like coming
to the office on regular basis. The employees of Tesco do not take frequent leaves as well as
start enjoying their work. Due to the healthy employee relation, the employees of Tesco
reduce their complaints against each other as well as try to give their best. Thus, the
employees more concentrate on their work rather than on clashes or issues which decrease the
absenteeism within the company and increase the productivity as well as the performance of
individuals which affect the overall performance of the company.
Resolve Issue
With the help of employment relation, the issues of the employees are resolved in a
prominent manner in Tesco which make them more satisfied as well as motivated towards
their work. Any employees will feel motivated if company value their issues as well as take
action on that. Tesco has set up a separate department of employee relation in which the
employees feel free to discuss their issues. The issues are mostly resolved by the department
of employee relation or promptly action been taken against the issues. Therefore, the
employees of Tesco feel more confident towards their company that enhances the
productivity of the company.
Conclusion
From the above, it can be concluded that employee relation plays a prominent role in the
success of any business due to the reason that employees are the main keys to success in the
organization. Therefore, the satisfaction of employees is the main focal point for the
companies. To maintain a healthy relationship among the employee as well as the employer,
the employee relation department has been set up in many companies. The employee relation
manages the pay work bargaining of their employees as well as managing their issues. There
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are mainly three kinds of the perspective of employee relation such as unitary perspective,
plural perspective as well as Marxist perspectives. Organizations adopt different perspectives
according to their situation. The incidents of global as well as national changes created a
great impact on the employee relation; it damages the trust as well as confidence among the
employees which directly affected the productivity of the big companies. One of the leading
companies Tesco prominently plays a vital role in the employee relation. The employees of
Tesco are highly satisfied which increase the productivity of the company, increase retention
ratio as well as decrease absenteeism of employees. The company is able to deliver a healthy
working environment for the employees which are the key success for Tesco.
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