Contemporary Development in Employment Relations PDF

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Contemporary Development in Employment Relations
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Question 1
The term indeterminacy of employment relations refers to the need to transform labor resulting
from an employer into positive outcomes for the organization (Herper, 2015). An employer buys
the ability to perform at work but he has to transform the ability in individuals into something
that brings benefits to the organization. In employment relations, there is a complex and
delicate area of study which involves relationships with the government, trade unions, employers
and employers on regular basis. There are three perspectives which provide a clear perception of
relations in the workplace and demystify the statements, actions, and role of trade unions.These
perspectives include pluralist and unitarist as well as radical perspectives. The essay below
presents the literature around employment relation, factors which impact these relations and a
brief analysis of the unitarist and the pluralist approaches(Herper, 2015).
Employment relationship can be defined as the legal relationship between an employer and the
employee. This relation happens when an individual agrees to carry out a task or give a service
under certain conditions in return for a fee. This relationship can be affected by both internal and
external factors. These factors can be analyzed by the use of tools of analysis such as the
PESTLE, PRIMO-F and the SWOT tools. The PRIMO-F( People, resources, innovation,
Marketing, Operations, Financial) models help in the analysis of the internal strengths and
Weakness while PESTLE(the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and
Environment) tool helps in looking at the opportunities and threats. External factors that impact

the employment relationship include political, social, economic, technological, legal and
environmental factors (Lasrado, 2018).
Different Perspectives of Employment Relations
According to (Burchill 2008), unitary perspectives are based on the common objective and
possibility of a harmonious relationship in the workplace. The management team has the right to
make decision and control issues which are deemed acceptable, authorized and reasonable and
any deviation from this is regarded irrational. On the other hand, the pluralist approach is
concerned about the handling of the conflict in ways that minimize disruption. Pluralism
approach views conflict in the workplace as inherent such that the disagreements between the
workers and their managers for instance over profit as inescapable or normal. The two
approaches can generally be termed as ideologies meant to help employers and managers.
Unitary perspective also focuses on concepts of leadership and team spirit rather than power.
According to this approach, both the employees and the employer share the same goals. But this
notion is not supported by the pluralist perspectives which postulate that the managers of
employers do not share similar goals and hence they may want to express themselves through
other trade unions or independent institutions. Therefore, the role of a manager is to balance and
identify the legitimacy of the conflicting interests in the organization which calls for support
from sections, groups or parties in the breakdown of conflicts (Dang et al, 2012).
In conclusion, employment relations create a contract that is not equal between the employee and
the employer. The relation consists of several implied conditions which are not included in the
contract. This is due to the fact that employees are overpowered by their employers because the
employee needs the job earning to survive the current job market. Hence the presence of trade

unions and other bodies are important in safeguarding the rights of workers and foster harmony
in employment relations.
Question 2
In legal terms, contract of employment consists of the legally abiding agreements between two
parties; the employer and the employee. The contract is made up of written terms and implied
terms which are not stated in the employment contract. It is true to say that if one is not starting a
new job, then they are most likely given an employment contract but surprisingly not everyone
one know what that actually means. The length of the literature on the employment contract may
maybe enough to force a person to just put a signature in the dotted line without clearly knowing
what they are committing themselves to. As much as the employment contract is supposed to
give rights as stated in the state laws, some employment contract may have put limits on certain
rights which the signing parties should have prior knowledge before committing.
Common legal rights for the employee in the contracts include the right to be on salary during
the holidays, obligation to be enrolled in a pension scheme by the employer, and the right to get
paid the national minimum wage. These rights are however not always implemented because
some employers force the employees to sign the contract, for example, to get paid an amount that
is less than the minimum wage and if for any reason the employees raise concerns he or she is
fired. Additionally, most of the employment contracts are in written form but we also have other
undocumented contracts like oral agreements which are prone to misuse. In cases when the
contract terms are broken by the employer, one is supposed to seek solution informally. If for