Work and the Employment Relationship Individual Report

This report discusses the importance of employee relations, employment law, psychological contract, stakeholder analysis and impact of positive employee relations on different stakeholders. It focuses on the case of Marks and Spencer, a British grocery retailer and food company. The report covers the rights, duties and obligations of employees and employers, and the impact of positive employee relations on different stakeholders. It also includes a stakeholder analysis using the power interest grid matrix.

Work and the
Employment
Relationship

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
TASK...................................................................................................................................................3
1.The value and significance of employee relations....................................................................................3
Employment law..........................................................................................................................................4
2. Right,duties and obligations among the employees and employers........................................................5
Psychological contract.................................................................................................................................6
3. Stakeholder Analysis................................................................................................................................7
4. Impact of positive employee relations on different stakeholders...........................................................8
CONCLUSION...................................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Employee relations refers to the efforts of an organization which create and maintain a positive
relationship with its employee. If the employees feel satisfied with their achievements and
environments, they are persuaded to make efforts to improve themselves. Good relations within
the company motivate the employees to work hard(John,2020).Motivated employees turn out to
be great team leaders and encouraging their peers to do better. In this report company is being
chosen is Marks and Spencer, which is one of the largest British grocery retailers and food
companies, headquartered in London, UK.It was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas
Spencer. It provides great food, quality of clothing and homeware to millions of customers
across the world. There are various kind of factors which are being discussed in this report such
as the value and importance of employee relations and to provide an evaluation of the
psychological contract and support for employee work life balance in relation to rights, duties
and obligations of the employment relationship & stakeholder analysis of M&S. In addition to
this, stakeholder analysis is being conducted with its positive and negative impact on employees
and employer relationship.At last, it covers the impact of both positive and negative employee
relations and different stakeholders.
TASK
1.The value and significance of employee relations
Relations of the employee is very crucial for the success of the company. Motivated employees
turn out to be great team leaders and they also encouraging their peers to do better. Employee
relations is a part of human resource strategies that are particularly created to ensure effective
use of human resources to achieve the mission, vision and goals of a business organization. It
deals in physical, emotional as well as contractual set-up between the employer and employee so
that both the involved parties can benefit from the enterprise. In Mark and Spencer every
individual shares a certain relationship with their fellows and workers(Poon, 2019)(Teague and
Donaghey, 2018)( Barry, Olekalns and Rees, 2019)(Hodgson, 2017)(.Coyle-Shapiro,
et.al.,2019.)( Serravalle,et.al.,2019)(.Koromila, et.al.,2022.)(Liu, et.al., 2017. )(Jacoby, 2018. )
(Esoimeme, 2020.). Because they also need people to talk to, share feelings, sorrows, happiness
and discuss ideas with each other’s. If the organization is empty then people will not feel like
being there and working. So, it is essential that working in a organization Masses have to be
bounded with each other at workplaces because an emotional touch between employees can

create an easy path for discussing their ideas and projects. Moreover, it is helpful to relieve their
mind from stress. If any organization lack to create friendly environment, then workers feel
burden and that thing demotivate them which may be responsible for companies’ loss. Therefore,
it is necessary to maintain a healthy and friendly bond between individuals and a group of people
with positive mindset which is beneficial for company. Mark and Spencer apply the policies to
promote an environment free from harassment, victimization and discrimination. The
organization is such a place where everyone treated well and the decisions taken to employment
law which based on their work criteria.
Employment law
It is defined as the law which is concerned with the legal rights of the employees and the
employer. This is constitutes the statutory rights of the employees within the company.This
basically determines the regulations and the rules which are helpful to analyse the relationship
among the two. Such law cover the rights of the employees and define the minimum needs of
working within the business. Employees have rights which set out by Mark and Spencer are
given below:
 The right to holiday,parental, sick and maternity leave pay.
 National Minimum Wage Act 1998, it is the in which employer are liable to give the
minimum wages to the employees who are working within the organisation.Mark &
Spencer also follow this act in order to give the minimum wages to the employees.
 Health and Safety at work act 1974, as per this act employers have the responsibility to
ensure the good health and safety of the employees. M&S strictly following this act such
as identifying,assessing and controlling health & safety hazards. Employees also have
right to know,right to refuse unsafe work and the right to participate.
 According to the Equality Act 2010, certain conserved characteristics that cannot be used
for any workplace unless it didn’t get proper arrangement to regulate them in the
organization.
 A right to written terms which framework their job rights and responsibilities, as a
minimum.

It is important that the management promotes healthy employee relations at workplace in
order to perform better. Communication is must between the employees and the team members
to know each other issues and feelings. It is important to praise the employees for their work
performance and encourage them to work well in the organization. The organization should
organize parties such as Christmas, birthday and new year party etc. These activities will help the
employees to create good bond with each other. Let them enjoy and have fun because a healthy
relation among employees creates a positive atmosphere at the work place and employees feel
happy as well as satisfied with their work. They will work hard to the team and the organization
goal for growth and success.
2. Right,duties and obligations among the employees and employers
Mark and Spencer have some specific regulations put in the places to protect their employees
rights to fair treatment(Poon, 2019). Manager is responsible to protect the health, safety and
welfare of their employees and other individuals who might be affected by their work activities
and the regulations for industry.
Rights and Responsibility of the employees
 Employer require to ensures the better health and safety measures within the
workplace. It is the responsibility of an employer to provide employees
safe,clean and friendly environment and and offer them aid accordingly.
 The workers should get workers should get at least national minimum wage
and workers should get discrimination free environment
 They should get paid holiday each year and workers should get 20 minutes
break if they work longer than 6 hours.
 The employers should discuss the offer which is eligible for employees such
as statutory sick pay, paternity leave ,leave policy,holidays and statutory pay
for maternity etc.
 The company M&S should ensures to create healthy and friendly work
environment by which employees should feel motivated and take interest in
their job role.

Duties of employees and employers
Manager should give the equal and fair opportunities for all the staff. Also, according to the
employment right act 1996 addresses employees rights regarding pay and the protection of it. As
well as providing a payslip that contains details of calculations of payment and deductions.
Moreover, an employee should maintain safety for himself and other persons who may be
affected by his acts or neglect at work. Hence, employers and employees have some rights and
responsibilities towards each other. Employees should know their rights and obligations which is
very helpful to prevent form workplace problems. If employees are aware about their rights so
they can raise issues with their employer before they become a problem(Teague and Donaghey,
2018). M&S offering certain rights and responsibilities for the employees including Right to get
training,Right to refuse dangerous work,Discrimination,etc. Furthermore, manager instruct and
train employee’s on how to deal with risk in at workplace. Whereas, employees have to give
their best performance for the company’s profits. Also, by maintaining positive, constructive
employee relations, organizations want to keep employees loyal and more productive. Examples
of the employee relation issue are:- workplace conflicts, workplace bullying, workplace safety.
To avoid that kind of issue it is necessary to educate and communicate.
Psychological contract
The term Psychological contract refers to the individual’s expectations,ambitions,obligations
and beliefs as perceived by the employer and the worker. The concept emerged in the early
1960s and is core to understanding the employment relationship ( Barry, Olekalns and Rees,
2019). Basically, the psychological contract may cover the following aspects of the employment
relationships and how they interact with each other such as career prospects,training
&development ,job security as well as perceived fairness of pay and benefits. There is a strong
importance on managing both individual and collective employee relations in the workplace. For
example, individual employee relation may relate to an employee having concerns with another
colleagues. In which case, a good manager would address the concerns and manage the conflict
effectively. On a collective basis, employees may raise concern about such issue as their pay
being less than competitors, incorrect pay, or safety in the workplace. An effective employer can
solve these issues by speaking their team in a effective manner because a good talk can raise

main issues facing by the employees. Asking for feedback can improve employee relation and
can also useful for improving the business.
3. Stakeholder Analysis
It is an important project management tool and technique which is used to identify the
projects of stakeholders who are linked to the organization. Stakeholder Analysis helps to
identify and understand people who influence over the project(Hodgson, 2017). The Stakeholder
Analysis and management techniques for Mark and Spencer which includes- Identify
stakeholder's group, understand the stakeholder ,provide a road map to them, be specific and
develop strategies for action& communication. The aim of stakeholder analysis is to provide
decision makers with information about the individuals and groups that may affect the
achievement and their goals. Managing stakeholders can help to ensure that the projects succeed
where others might fail(Liu, et.al., 2017).Stakeholder engagement and contribution can support
positive employment relationships in Mark and Spencer. Engaging with stakeholders can
ultimately save time and money. For performing the stakeholders analysis of M&S . The power
interest grid matrix will be used by which each stakeholder can be analyzed.
Power Interest Grid
It is the matrix that is used to categories the stakeholders as per the power and the interest of the
individual which are explained as follows:
 High power - High interest : This basically includes the stakeholders that are decision
maker of the company and also having the huge impact on the success of an organization.
The requirements and the needs of the such stakeholders have to be closely
monitored(Coyle-Shapiro, et.al.,2019). Example- the top level management of M&S is
considered for such category since they are having the high power and high interest with
in the business organization.
 High power - Low interest : These are the stakeholder who are having the major change
in the business which is related to the overall working since they are having power even
if they are lacking with the interest. Such type of stakeholders must be dealt cautiously
and they can apply their power in the negative means(Florisson and Mandl, 2018).
Example- the employees of M&S can be rightly included in this category as they are
having less interest and more power.

 Low power – High interest : Such stakeholders who is having the information about the
needful actions to be taken within the company. Customer are the vital for M&S as they
are the buyers of the given product (Koromila, et.al.,2022).They do not have much of
power in the given business as they posses high interest within the company.
 Low power – Low interest : In this, government has less interference in the overall
working of the company. These are the stakeholder who are important for M&S but not
to the greater extent.
The stakeholder engagement and contribution can support positive employment
relationships such as-
 Communicating to the Stakeholders directly will help the company to have the new
insights on different issues( Serravalle,et.al.,2019). This will help the M&S to have the
competitive benefit in the target market.
 Getting a new prospective to the business also allows the company to make the more
effective decisions. M&S can ensure the effectiveness and efficiency within the business.
4. Impact of positive employee relations on different stakeholders
Employees
Positive Impact
 A healthy workplace relation gain the motivation of employees to work harder and give
their best for the success of the organization Organization should recognize their
employees work efforts and praise them it will help in enhancing the motivation in them
as well as work life balance (Jacoby, 2018).
 It will help in maintain good relations with them as well as employee feel satisfied with
their work and happy. A positive relationship between employees leads to higher
employee engagement and motivation.
Negative Impact
 If the employee have lack of focus and interest towards their work then it leads the
organization delay in the task. The poor employee relation can spoil the image of the
organization.
 If the employees doesn't feel satisfied and happy with their job , it leads them to stressful
situations and also decrease their morale which makes negative impact at the workplace.

Employers
Positive Impact
 It is important to maintain better and positive environment at the workplace because it
develops the healthy relations between employees and employers(Esoimeme, 2020).
Positive relations may decrease the chance of conflicts at the workplace.
 Introducing the measures and conducting better engagement surveys also beneficial to
increase the good relations among employers.
Negative Impact
 The main reasons for unhealthy relations among them are poor wages and poor working
conditions in the organization.
 The bad relations between employers and employees can affect the entire
organization,because the good relation between them are very essential for the success of
the company.
Customers
Positive impact
 The familiarity in the relationship between employees and customers influences the
customer satisfaction because the satisfaction of customers worth the product and
services is important for the success of the company.
 Customers are the very essential part for every business because without customers a
business would not have any way of making money and cannot be successful.
Negative Impact
 If the employee doesn't able to make good relations with customers then it leads customer
to dissatisfaction.
 It is important for the employees to understand the needs and wants to their targeted
customers,it will also helps to increase the customer loyalty towards the company.
CONCLUSION

From the above report it has been concluded that the employees relation is the major
aspect which ensures the success of any business organization. This directly impact the overall
working culture and environment of the entire company. Then the second part of the report
discussed about the right , duties and obligations of an employee in the organization. It also
conclude the Stakeholders analysis of Mark & Spencer which is helpful to to provide decision
makers with information about the individuals and groups that may affect the achievement and
their goals. The positive impact of stakeholders engagement is communicating to the
Stakeholders directly that will help the company to have the new insights on different issues.
This will help the M&S to have the competitive benefit in the target market. At last this report
summarized the impact of both positive and negative employee relations on different
stakeholders such as Employee, Employers and Customers. It will help in maintain good
relations with them as well as employee feel satisfied with their work and happy. A positive
relationship between employees leads to higher employee engagement and motivation.
REFERENCES
Book and Journal

Barry, Olekalns and Rees, 2019. An ethical analysis of emotional labor. Journal of Business
Ethics, 160(1), pp.17-34.
Coyle-Shapiro, et.al.,2019. Psychological contracts: Past, present, and future. Annual Review of
Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6, pp.145-169.
Esoimeme, 2020. Using the risk-based approach to curb modern slavery in the supply chain: The
Anglo American and Marks and Spencer example. Journal of Financial Crime.
Hodgson, 2017. Individual duty within a human rights discourse. Routledge.
Jacoby, 2018. The embedded corporation: Corporate governance and employment relations in
Japan and the United States. Princeton University Press.
John,2020. Employer branding: A decisive means of employee relationship
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Koromila, et.al.,2022. Stakeholder analysis for safe LNG handling at ports. Safety science, 146,
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Liu, et.al., 2017. Energy Performance Contract models for the diffusion of green-manufacturing
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Poon, 2019. Independent workers: Growth trends, categories, and employee relations
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pp.63-69.
Serravalle,et.al.,2019. Augmented reality in the tourism industry: A multi-stakeholder analysis of
museums. Tourism Management Perspectives, 32, p.100549.
Teague and Donaghey, 2018. Brexit: EU social policy and the UK employment model. Industrial
Relations Journal, 49(5-6), pp.512-533.