Career Success Factors: Individual, Situational Variables & Employee Relations

This assignment delves into the multifaceted aspects of career success, drawing from key studies in the field. It requires a comprehensive understanding of individual and situational variables that influence one's professional advancement. Additionally, it examines how employee relations, as discussed by McClean & Collins (2011) and Schumacher et al. (2016), impact job insecurity and employee commitment, as per Mowday et al. (2013). The assignment also explores the role of diversity in fostering innovation (Østergaard et al., 2011), the relation between firm age, employee age, and growth (Ouimet & Zarutskie, 2014), and the impact of employee engagement on well-being (Shuck & Reio Jr, 2014). It encourages a critical evaluation of these factors to develop strategies for enhancing career success within organizations.

Employee Relations

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Implications of various perspectives as a means for handling employment relations..........1
1.2 Affect of change in trade unionism on employee relationship in UK...................................2
1.3 Roles of key players in employment relations......................................................................3
PART 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Procedures an organisation should follow when dealing with different conflict situations. 4
2.2 key features of employee relations with reference to this conflict situation.........................5
2.3 Effectiveness of the procedures followed in resolving this conflict....................................6
3.1 Role of negotiation at the time of collective bargaining in this conflict...............................6
3.2 Negotiation strategies and their impact.................................................................................7
PART 3............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Influence of EU on industrial democracy in the UK and likely changes after UK exit.......8
from EU......................................................................................................................................8
4.2 Methods that are used to gain employee participation and involvement in decision............8
making process...........................................................................................................................8
4.3 Impact human resource management approach has on employee relations..........................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
..................................................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Non living things like computer, chair, air conditioner, etc. can only perform secondary
tasks in an organisation. Human being who works on same goals in order to complete mission of
a company are knowns as workers. Employee relation is an attempt to create healthy relationship
between personnel and employer. Human resource department play crucial role in this process,
they concentrate on enhancing loyalty and commitment of staff so they can give their best. This
report is divided into three parts, first one will discuss about regulation which are present in UK.
In second task, this assignment will cover a case study with is related to junior doctor and NHS.
Existing rules in European union will also become part of this file (Ahmad and Shahzad, 2011).
This project will also focus on importance of this topic because it can help an organisation in
overcoming the failure and bring them back on the right track.
PART 1
1.1 Implications of various perspectives as a means for handling employment relations
Thinking of every enterprise differ because of their background and environment where
they are operating. Following are some perspective for handling employment relation:
Unitary perspective – This point is based assumption that all the worker has same value
and interest and they are will focus on same targets so they can achieve their broad objectives.
According to their philosophy, conflict is not good for company, they consider it as a 'bad' thing.
Their may great attention on mutual cooperation between both sides. Trade do not agree with
they concept of trade union, according to them when employer and employee have same thinking
than chances of dispute is not possible. They restrict entry of trade union in decision making
process because they can not bring something new on the table (Allen, Ericksen and Collins.,
2013).
Pluralist perspective – This concept is based on assumption than in every organisation
some sub groups take place, they choose their manager and objective and put their best efforts in
order to achieve their set targets. People in this team are loyal towards their squad. In general,
their are two types of sub group, one is employee's union and other is management. This theory
states that the core reason of dispute is distribution of profit. Worker think that they do not get
remuneration according their potential, on the other hand employers feel that they can hire more
skill employees for a less price so they do not pay them according to their demand. Trade union
1

plays crucial role in presenting the issues of personnel in front of high authority so they can take
action accordingly.
Maxist perspective – This theory got more popularity than other two because it talks
about big issues like politics, society, economy, etc (Cai, Jo and Pan, 2011). This point firmly
believe in participation of workers in process of decision making. They criticism concept of
capitalism because it enhance probability of monopoly where one entity will get majority of
power which will increase the gap between rich and poor people. Wrong distribution of capital
will create various kind of conflicts which will make a negative impact on industrial relationship.
They main fear about three kind of disputes, first is related to differentiation in class, second
focus on inequality in society and last one is about economic imbalance. According to them,
social and political institutions are main reason of most of the disproportion.
1.2 Affect of change in trade unionism on employee relationship in UK
At the beginning of 18th century, this concept started getting popularity because workers
realise that they need to appoint their representative who can deliver their message and raise their
issues in front of employer (Kalemci Tuzun and Arzu Kalemci, 2012). After sometime i.e. in 19th
century court gave an order than every organisation has to make a trade union in their enterprise,
this group will have power to file a case against their firm if they do not treat them properly .
When judiciary system take important decision on this issue, governments also get serious about
this topic. They made strict rules which were is complete favour of workers. For sometime,
things remain normal but gradually employers analyse that employees are misusing their right
and they are suing them for no reason.
This situation saw worst phase when in1920. Demand of coal was going down in this
year, companies were facing severe losses so they cut the pay of workers. Trade unions started a
protest at national level, according to them, employers did not want to bear any loss. They were
2

getting more and more richer because their profit which they were taking home was the same
which they were getting before decrease in demand of coal. The matter went to court and
employees went on strike (Kim and Rhee, 2011). A person died while he was protesting for his
rights. All of these incidents make a huge negative impact on employee relation. After sometime,
companies started to understand importance of worker, they made a human resources department
who was responsible for raising the various types of issues of personnel in front of top level
management. The idea of trade union is outdated in this era because organisations understand
that employees are one of the most important asset which are present in their enterprise. They are
commencing different kind of incentives scheme and focusing on work life balance.
1.3 Roles of key players in employment relations
Employer – Their first responsibility is to pay fair salary to their employee, sometime
they give more money to a person who does not deserve it. These incident create conflicts which
are not good for any organisation. It is duty of the employer to provide positive and healthy
working environment so workers can do their job without any hindrances. They should provide
basic amenities like food court, toilets, etc. in factories and offices, this facilities are essential at a
workplace (Koster,De Grip and Fouarge, 2011). Sometime manager and employee get involve in
a dispute, employer is responsible to stop these kind of conflicts so other workers can do their
job without any tension. They should fix working hours according to law, if they want personnel
to spend more time in offices than they have to pay them overtime. They should give them
proper number of holidays so they employees can maintain proper work-life balance. If a person
who is working is organisation is facing some issues relating to salary and human resource
department is failing to solve them them employers must take this severe matter into their hand
and resolve this problems as soon as possible. They must give reward to workers who are
performing better than the expectation of company. They should make an effective system for
for promotion so deserving employees can reach to their right place. These step will make
positive impact on the relation between both sides.
Employee – They have main a decent level of loyalty toward their employer because they
are paying them money. They have to pay attention toward the misuses of assets and other
facilities which are present in organisation. In any company, population of employees is highest
because they are responsible for executing the tasks which top level management has given to
3

them. They are considered as the face of enterprise so they should not do any act which reduce
goodwill of the firm (Lee Park and Lee, 2013).
Trade unions – The main reason of their existence is to raise the problems which
employees are facing at their workplace. This will must deliver the message of worker to top
level management so they can stop various kind of conflicts at the point of their generation. They
have certain rights, with more power comes more responsibility so they should not misuse their
rights by blackmailing employers of managers.
Employer association – They play crucial role in solving major troubles which are
present in an industry. They are responsible for proving healthy environment to the employees so
they can get basic facilitates which are essential at a workplace. Sometime they have to confront
with some matter which is out of their hand (Maurer and Chapman, 2013). They should raise
these topic in front of government so they can find an appropriate solution.
Government – They are responsible for making law which give necessary rights to both
sides. The should take some step which improve employment relations.
PART 2
2.1 Procedures an organisation should follow when dealing with different conflict situations
National health service is one of the oldest institution in healthcare system of England.
They get funding from public. Below is the process of solving the issues relating to conflict:
In case of single employ – The person who is facing trouble should be called by top level
management. They should make a proper channel of communication so they can understand his
problem and work on available solution. They should try to find a solution before this matter
come in limelight. If things do not get resolved easily than they should start a negotiation process
with employee so they can a mutual consent. Right action should be taken in short period of time
because late justice is considered as no justice. Solving issue of one person is easier compare to
resolving trouble of a group (McClean and Collins, 2011).
Between employees – When more people work together they get involve in various kind
of conflicts because thinking of two people is different. Highest authority of the organisation
should call both sides like NHS did in this case. After this they should hear their argument so
they can find root cause of the issue. If top level management get success in finding appropriate
solution than they should force them to accept it but they do get fail than they should not get
4

other of the matter and leave both sides to resolve their trouble out by using their own brain.
They should warn them that this problem should not effect other people who are working in
office. Matter should get resolve out of the organisation.
Group of employees – This is the most complicated situation because management has to
deal with more than one employee. In order to solve the matter effectively, first they should ask
group to decide their leader because talking with every member of team is not possible. After
this, they should make a guidelines about how they are going to resolve present issue. They
should start a bargaining procedure and both sides should put their offer ion their table. If, at the
end, they do not reach to an agreement than they should take matter in court (Mowday, Porter
and Steers, 2013). This should be kept last option because it may make a negative impact on
relation between employer and employee.
2.2 key features of employee relations with reference to this conflict situation
Following are some effective ways which NHS can adopt for solving various kind of
matters relating to employee relation:
Ideological framework – The main reason behind every conflict is difference in ideology.
Thinking of two person never matches to each other. Employer feel that they are giving more
than to employees which they do not deserve, on the other hand workers think that organisation
are not paying them according to the job which they are doing at workplace. The best way of
solving this problem is to generate a proper channel of communication between both sides. They
should try to come to come on same page by talking with each other in regular interval of time.
Cooperation – Both parties can not get everything which they are asking for. They have
to sacrifice some demand so they can make a mutual consent and resolve the issue in short
period of time. The solution should fulfil demands of employer and employee which keep at a
prioritised level. NHS have to give training to their employees so they can make improvement in
their current performance. This training will provide give worker an idea about the problems
which will assist them in understanding the root cause of trouble. They can pay money 10000
working days to junior doctors so they can earn some livelihood until matter get resolved.
Consultation – In this approach, employer need to listen and understand what employees
are trying to say. It they will take interest in problem of workers than it will provide them high
mental satisfaction. This physiological game will provide strength to the relationship between
employer and employee (Østergaard, Timmermans and Kristinsson, 2011). NHS should talk to
5

junior doctor and explain them that hey are helpless in this kind of situation. The matter is not in
control so they can not resolve it.
Negotiation – This is a bargaining game where both sides put various kind of offer on the
table. They debate about different issues and so they can move towards a solution without
hampering current relationship. NHS can sign an agreement with junior doctors that they are
ready to pay money for 60000 working days. It will be a compensation for the loss which they
are facing form last two years.
2.3 Effectiveness of the procedures followed in resolving this conflict
NHS has has three options, first is co-operation where they have to pay them money for
10000 working days, this move will enhance financial burden on organisation. NHS get their
funding from public, if they adopt this option than they have give an explaining which will put
them in an awkward situation. This issues is not getting solved because of BMA, they NHS did
not do anything wrong so if pay them than they have to face its negative consequences. At the
time of voting, BMA voted against the agreement so they should be considered as defaulter in
this situation. If they would have voted in favour of agreement than this matter could have gotten
resolved easily. Negotiation is another option where they have to pay a huge amount to junior
doctors. If NHS will pay them compensation for 60000 working days than it will make a
6

negative effect on the financial position of national health service (Ouimet and Zarutskie, 2014).
This method of resolving conflict will may create dispute in the management of NHS.
The best option for solving this problem will be consultation. Cited organisation should
call junior doctors and explain them that BMA is not were the main reason of cancellation of
agreement because they voted against it. They should tell them about their efforts so they junior
doctors can understand whole matter. NHS have to become a good listener in this whole process,
they have communicate with disputing party in regular interval of time because this issue is
complex and explaining them all point will not be possible in one meeting. This conflict will not
end without a proper commitment from NHS's side. They have to tell them that government is
planning to bring new contract which has capability to end complete issue in short period of
time. Member of committee who are making this new agreement are confident that BMA will
cast their vote in favour of this bill. Judiciary system is reviewing about legitimacy of this
agreement but government is sure that they can remove any trouble that will come in this whole
process.
3.1 Role of negotiation at the time of collective bargaining in this conflict
After complete study of the matter, government analyse that have to change current
arrangements because they are outdated. Current rules and regulation were made a long time ago,
they are not going to work in this and upcoming era. Minister decided to add some provisions in
2012. This was the point of generation of conflict because junior doctors were not ready to
accept new rules. Government made a committee who ask doctors to choose their leader so they
can start a proper channel of communication. They did lot of meeting but at the end they fail to
make a mutual consent. For sometime this matter got out of the eyes of public but in 2015
ministers made an announcement that they are going to execute this contact (Schumacher and et.
al ., 2016). BMA challenged this order in court because according to them this bill will create
inequality and women will not get their proper right. Government got ready to enhancing basic
pay of junior doctors but they did not come on board because this was not their primary demand.
In current scenario they have to give their services from Monday to Friday, their shift lie
between 7am to 7am. They earn huge amount of money from their private clinics. If they do
overtime in hospital than they get overtime which is higher than standard rate. But after
implementation of this rule, if they work on Sunday than they will be paid according to standard
7

rate. They have to give more time to hospital where there are working. This will make a big hole
in their pocket because they will not get much time for extra earnings.
This matter could get solve by through negotiation process where both parties can tell
about their proprieties and sacrifice some of their demands. In 2012 this process begin but
medical practitioner were not ready to comprise their income. Ministers tried their best but they
could not stretch this matter for a long time so they announced that in summer of 2015, they will
implement this new law. On some point they came on a commo0n ground but at the time of
voting they BMA did not cast their vote in favour of new provisions. Their main reason of
dispute was salary, government paid their point clear that they want to give better service to the
patients so they can not raise the charges for facility. If doctors want to earn more money than
they have to spend more time in public hospitals.
3.2 Negotiation strategies and their impact
Although think of parties were different but in this case the strategies which they adopt
for process of negotiation were almost same (Shuck and Reio Jr., 2014). At the initial stage
government was willing to solve this matter in short period of time but junior doctors adopted the
strategy of ''willing to walk away''. Their other plan was ''keep it light'' which is considered as
one of the best trick of negotiation. They wanted to take this matter in court but minister were
trying to solve it without creating any legal trouble. After a series of meeting government made
an important decision in 2015 that they will implement this new plan and if anybody have
problem with that than they can know the door of judiciary system. This was the same attitude
which junior doctors adopted in 2012. Minister were ready and to walk away and they keep
things light. They did not consult anything thing with with medical practitioners. The case went
to court where jury gave decision in favour of government. All the strategies which minister and
junior doctors adopted did not work because they fail to reach to a common conclusion.
PART 3
4.1 Influence of EU on industrial democracy in the UK and likely changes after UK exit
from EU
An important part of industrial democracy is to involve worker in process of decision
making so they can understand their importance in organisation (Shuck, Reio and Rocco, 2011).
This was not a new idea for European countries because they were familiar with it legislation
8

from EU enhanced their significance. In recent development they started a new programme
'partner based relationship', they wanted to create same goals for management and employees.
They took responsibility for providing training to management so they can realise the importance
of fulfilling demand of employees.
After Brexit, experts thing that UK will see some major changes in employee relation.
The rules will get diluted and companies may take wrong advantage of this situation. They can
increase working hour and reduce the facilities which they were giving employee before Brexit.
Currently they are allotting huge sum to human resource department but now they will recruit
less people in this department. This will made negative impact on employee relation because
worker will not get proper representative who can deliver their message and issues to the top
level management. In upcoming time, government has to make some strict rule and regulation so
both sides can get equal power and rights.
4.2 Methods that are used to gain employee participation and involvement in decision
making process.
Tesco is a leading company in retail industry. They are operating more than 12 countries
and proving employment to almost half the million of people. Below are some effective method
for involving personnel in process of decision making:
9

Give position at highest level – Top level management should select one person from
existing employees and give him/her a seat in their committee. This person can raise various
issues which are faced by the workers (Snodgrass, 2012). He/she can also provide some valuable
advice to the manager of Tesco, they work at ground level so they have better understanding of
customers need.
Part in partnership – If salary of employees get effected by earning of cited company than
they will try to give their best which will be beneficial for workers as well as for organisation.
Personnel will feel their importance in enterprise.
Collective bargaining – Both sides should make some common standards so they can
resolve various issues at the point of their generation.
Complete control – In this approach, worker have to manage all the business operation.
They hold all the position in top level management control all the activities which cited company
performing. If Tesco do not achieve success in forming healthy relation with workers than they
can adopt this option.
Quality circle – In this method, management selected expert from every division and take
their advice in critical situations. This approach will improve morale of worker, if they will find
their college at good post than their confidence will get increase.
4.3 Impact human resource management approach has on employee relations
Harvard map of HRM is considered as a soft approach (Van der Aalst and et. al., 2011).
This concept give lot of importance to worker because they see them as a significant assets than
an organisation can have in their enterprise. This method focusses on four areas, first is human
resource flow, second is reward system, third is employee influence and last one is work system.
This approach solving various troubles smoothly so employee and employer can maintain
healthy relationship between each other. Idea of this model is similar to Japanese people
management, according to them human resource should be treated in different way because no
organisation can exist without them.
Michigan school of business disagree with above approach because their model is harder.
They believe that all the resources must be treated in same way. They do not give any special
attention to employees of an enterprise. They think that workers and raw materials should be
managed in same way. They do not focus on work- life balance, it is a less humanistic approach.
Most of the experts of this field criticise this model and organisation denied to execute it in their
10

firms (Van Dijke and et. al., 2015). They believe that it will increase the gap between worker and
employer which will make a negative impact on company in long run. It is an old method
manager decision is considered as last decision.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that healthy relation between employee and
employer will be beneficial for parties. Their was a time when trade union were responsible for
raising issues of worker in front of top level management but now there is a big question mark on
their existence. Human resource department of an organisation solve all the problems of
personnel. Their are different types of method for resolving a trouble and an organisation should
properly evaluate them before picking right method.
11

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmad, S. and Shahzad, K., 2011. HRM and employee performance: A case of university
teachers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in Pakistan. African journal of business
management, 5(13). pp. 5249.
Allen, M.R., Ericksen, J. and Collins, C.J., 2013. Human resource management, employee
exchange relationships, and performance in small businesses. Human Resource
Management, 52(2). pp. 153-173.
Cai, Y., Jo, H. and Pan, C., 2011. Vice or virtue? The impact of corporate social responsibility
on executive compensation. Journal of Business Ethics, 104(2). pp. 159-173.
Chaudhary, R., Rangnekar, S. and Barua, M., 2011. Relation between human resource
development climate and employee engagement: Results from India. Europe’s Journal
of Psychology, 7(4). pp. 664-685.
Crespo and et. al ., 2011. Worksite physical activity policies and environments in relation to
employee physical activity. American Journal of Health Promotion, 25(4). pp. 264-271.
Farndale and et. al ., 2011. The influence of perceived employee voice on organizational
commitment: An exchange perspective. Human Resource Management, 50(1). pp. 113-
129.
Fernet, C., Austin, S. and Vallerand, R.J., 2012. The effects of work motivation on employee
exhaustion and commitment: An extension of the JD-R model. Work & Stress, 26(3).
pp.213-229.
Frone, M.R. and Trinidad, J.R., 2012. Relation of supervisor social control to employee
substance use: Considering the dimensionality of social control, temporal context of
substance use, and substance legality. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs, 73(2), pp.
303-310.
Hogh, A., Hoel, H. and Carneiro, I.G., 2011. Bullying and employee turnover among healthcare
workers: a three‐wave prospective study. Journal of nursing management, 19(6). pp.
742-751.
12

Kalemci Tuzun, I. and Arzu Kalemci, R., 2012. Organizational and supervisory support in
relation to employee turnover intentions. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 27(5). pp.
518-534.
Kim, J.N. and Rhee, Y., 2011. Strategic thinking about employee communication behavior
(ECB) in public relations: Testing the models of megaphoning and scouting effects in
Korea. Journal of Public Relations Research, 23(3). pp. 243-268.
Koster, F., De Grip, A. and Fouarge, D., 2011. Does perceived support in employee development
affect personnel turnover?. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 22(11). pp. 2403-2418.
Lee, E.M., Park, S.Y. and Lee, H.J., 2013. Employee perception of CSR activities: Its
antecedents and consequences. Journal of business research, 66(10). pp. 1716-1724.
Maurer, T.J. and Chapman, E.F., 2013. Ten years of career success in relation to individual and
situational variables from the employee development literature. Journal of Vocational
Behavior, 83(3). pp. 450-465.
McClean, E. and Collins, C.J., 2011. High‐commitment HR practices, employee effort, and firm
performance: Investigating the effects of HR practices across employee groups within
professional services firms. Human Resource Management, 50(3). pp. 341-363.
Mowday, R.T., Porter, L.W. and Steers, R.M., 2013. Employee—organization linkages: The
psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press.
Østergaard, C.R., Timmermans, B. and Kristinsson, K., 2011. Does a different view create
something new? The effect of employee diversity on innovation. Research
Policy, 40(3). pp. 500-509.
Ouimet, P. and Zarutskie, R., 2014. Who works for startups? The relation between firm age,
employee age, and growth. Journal of financial Economics, 112(3). pp. 386-407.
Schumacher, D and et. al ., 2016. Explaining the relation between job insecurity and employee
outcomes during organizational change: A multiple group comparison. Human
Resource Management, 55(5). pp. 809-827.
Shuck, B. and Reio Jr, T.G., 2014. Employee engagement and well-being: A moderation model
and implications for practice. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(1).
pp. 43-58.
13

Shuck, B., Reio Jr, T.G. and Rocco, T.S., 2011. Employee engagement: An examination of
antecedent and outcome variables. Human resource development international, 14(4).
pp. 427-445.
Snodgrass, R.T. ed., 2012. The TSQL2 temporal query language (Vol. 330). Springer Science &
Business Media.
Van der Aalst, W. and et. al., 2011. Conceptual model for online auditing. Decision Support
Systems, 50(3). pp. 636-647.
Van Dijke, M. and et. al., 2015. Willing and able: Action-state orientation and the relation
between procedural justice and employee cooperation. Journal of Management, 41(7).
pp. 1982-2003.
Online
What is Employee Relations ?. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.managementstudyguide.com/what-is-employee-relations.htm>. [Accessed
on 2nd August 2017].
14