Contemporary Issues in Employee Relations at Babcock International

This report provides an executive summary, literature review, methodology, discussion, evaluation, recommendations, and conclusion regarding employee relations at Babcock International. The study focuses on the importance of employee relationships, the impact of employee relations on company performance, techniques for maintaining healthy employee relationships, the need for digital communication, and the effects of digital communication on employee relations. The research utilizes qualitative methodology, primary and secondary references, and questionnaires based on interviews with Babcock International employees to evaluate the company's activities and explore the benefits of digital media communication, aiming to assist the organization in becoming a successful global association. The report also addresses resistance to change within the organization and offers suggestions for improved performance.

CONTEMPORARY
ISSUES

Executive Summary
This research is conducted for exploring the Communication and Employee Relations at
the Babcok International by evaluating the sectors of Information Technology and employ
relationship. In addition to this, resistance to change is also going to discussed in relation to the
given organisation. The models involved are primary and secondary references. The research
relied on the qualitative methodology. In addition to this questionnaire is also formed by taking
interviews of workers of Babcock international. The conclusion and recommendation is drawn
here for giving suggestion to the organisation so that they can perform effectively.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature review.............................................................................................................................3
Methodology ...................................................................................................................................9
Discussion / Analysis.....................................................................................................................10
Evaluation .....................................................................................................................................11
Recommendation ..........................................................................................................................11
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
1

Introduction
Babcok International Group Plc is a British multinational corporation whose headquarter
is situated in United Kingdom which is popular for its support services that is used to manage
complex assets and structure in safety and mission- critical environments. Although, this
organisation is having civil contracts, but it is doing its main business with public bodies,
specifically the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and Network Rail (Akaiwa, 2015). This
venture was founded or established in the year of 1891 which is conducting its business at
international level in world wide. It is found that this firm is having around thirty hive thousand
workers in the year of 2017 and was earned a net income of approx UK£291.1 million in 2016.
The cited corporation is having four operating divisions that are Marine, Aviation, Land and
Cavendish Nuclear with foreign activities based in Australia, Africa and North America. This
firm is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is considered as a constituent of the FTSE 100
Index.
The company is facing issues in maintaining healthy employ relations and that is why
they are not performing well as various conflicts are rising day on day within the working place.
Additionally, some changes are occurring in the marketplace as well as within company which
are acting as threat for Babcock international. Some of the such threats are emergence of
rivalries, standards of communication is updated regularly, lack of trust and misinterpretation
among workers, etc. So, the present report is going to introduce various company activities in
order to maintain good employee relations and also . It is also going to explore the benefits of
using digital media communication with the all of the workers. By this way, the role of
Information Technology Communication at the Babcock International gets more cleared. This
also outlines the performance greater appreciation of Employee Relations and how this can
assist organisation to become a successful association at global level.
Aim : To evaluate the company activities of Babcock
International employees relationship : A case study on Babcock International.
Research objectives : Some of the research objectives are given below :
 To determine the importance of employee relationship
 For examining the impact of employee relations on the performance of venture
 To identify the theories and models for maintaining healthy employee relationship
 For determining the need of digital communication
2

 To recognise the affect of digital communication on employee relationship
Research questions : Some of the important research questions are mentioned below :
Q 1. What is the role or importance of employee relationship in an organisation ?
Q 2. What is the impact of employee relations on the performance of company ?
Q 3. What are the techniques that are utilised for creating a good employee relations ?
Q 4. What is the requirement of digitalised mode of communication ?
Q 5. What are the affect of digital communication on employee relationship ?
Literature review
Employee relation is a term which can be simply defined as relationship between
employers and employee that is developed for the reason of achieving common objectives. A
positive and healthy relationship among all the workforce should be ensured by the management
in order to create a sound working environment within the firm (Payne, 2014). Commonly,
Human resource department is responsible for taking care about the areas of employee's relations
in a company. Due to the misunderstanding, different disputes emerges between managers and
employees which affect adversely on the overall performance of enterprise. Various methods can
be used for dealing with such kind of conflicts such as cooperation, engagement, participation,
etc.
On the other hand, Digital media communication is also playing an important role in the
venture regarding or for the maintenance of employee relationship. From this, Information
technology come into picture. Modern technologies are developed so much that can be utilised
for the purpose of doing effective communication with employers as well as employees. Such
techniques are like social media (e.g. Face book, What's app, Email, Yahoo, Twitter, etc.) these
all can be used for sharing relevant information in all of the staff members. Apart from this,
resistant to changes is also needed to be done as various changes are occurring that is considered
as threat for the Babcock international.
According to Popli, and Rizviv (2015), maintenance of a cordial cooperative environment
is an obligatory for the smooth functioning of any type of company either it is small or large
sized. There are different issues which can not be handled by a single person. He would require
the guidance as well as advice of others also. Rodrigues, Carsello and Rainbolt (2016)says that
some of the time, individual miss out on important points but their friends or fellow workers
might come out with a superb ideas which may assist them in acquiring their targets at more fast
3

rate. The advantage and limitations of every plan needs to be examined and evaluated on an open
forum before executing it as each and every worker has the right of expressing their views freely
on that. This has also a benefits as no one cannot decide the faults occurred in their work but
other determine those errors effectively and if any one does not maintain good relations with
others no one would ever come to aid you. Sangwu (2015) has described the importance of
employee relationship as follow :
Work becomes very easy if it is shared among all : A sound relation with colleagues will ease
the work load or pressure on some one's head as he can not do each and every thing on his own.
Responsibilities have to be segmented among the team members in order to complete the task
within allocated dead line. If an individual has a good resonance with their fellow workers, then
he or she would always be eager to help him in his assignment and by this way the work get
more easier.
The firm become a happy place to work if the personnels do work together as a family :
there is a possibility of losing focus as well as concentration when any one is always clouded
with unwanted stress and tensions. It has been seen that if people discuss and talk things with
other one or with one another, then stress get automatically evaporated and they feel good. They
would feel comfortable by trusting others. One man do not desires to go office if he is not having
a good relation with other persons sitting next to him as human is a social animal who wants to
be in a relation and feel better by talking their issues with their relatives. As workers spend more
than seven hours in their work place and this is practically impossible to do work in a
continuation without taking any break. In the lunch break, every wants to share their lunch and
do some personal discussion with some one. But if people fight with each other than no one
would be emotionally strong and this hampers a lot of work done by them.
Healthy relationship with employees minimise conflictual situations and disputes among
individuals : If there would a sound relations among all of the employees , no one do fight with
one another. This helps a lot in their working as people will engage in their work comfortably as
by this individuals would not waste their time in meaningless disputes and conflicts. They will
start treating one another as friends and also attempt to compromise and make every one happy
in their office.
A healthy relationship between employees reduces the issues of absenteeism at the working
location : People are very serious about their work and desires to come Office on regular basis.
4

They would not take leaves in continuation and start enjoying their duty. Workers also stop
complaining amount each other and will give their 100 %.
It is wise to share a warm relationship with fellow workers because no none knows when
they need them : Any one requires the help of their colleagues any time. Thus, it is very
important to maintain a good relation with them. If they will not do so then no none will be
present at the time of their need. In the case, if some wants to take leave at genuine basis then
they expect with their colleges to manage their work on behalf of him but there would be a bad
relation with others then this can not be happen and they have to manage their task by
themselves only.
Therefore, it is seen that maintenance of employee relation is very important within organisation.
This creates a positive environment and in turn production of the company increases in a
dramatic way. So, it is very important that workers feel comfortable with each other in order to
give more focus.
According to Supanti, Butcher and Fredline (2015)employee relations is giving a positive
on the organisation as it helps in increasing the working capacities or capabilities of personnels.
By this way, overall turn over of the company enhances a lot in very less time period. On the
contrary, Van De Voorde and Beijer (2015) stated that if there is not a sound relations among
the workers, large number or several types of issues get created on regular basis and the whole
time of management would get wasted in dealing with those problems. So, organisational
management should be concentrate more on establishing a positive working scenario wherein
every work by supporting each other. People can also play the role of team leaders of their
colleagues and direct them right path for attaining aims and objectives of their work. This
eliminates the need of specific team heads as personnels show right path to each other and solve
their issues by themselves.
On the other hand, Nguyen and Cragg (2012) says that there are several issues between
employers and employees. These problems also should needed to be short out as if not done then
workers may go to a strike and do not give their contribution in growth of venture. Some of the
issues that may emerges between work force and management are problems regarding terms and
policies, issues in context of working hours, wages and the working facilities, etc. Company can
impose different rules and regulations that are not supported by their employees so management
should talk with them by arranging a meeting and come to a conclusion that they will make new
5

policies that are in favour of all workers. Another dispute would created when the working
hours are more and wages are not provided according to that. This de motivates people and as a
result negative relation would built that should not be occur. So, management have to give wages
as per the working hours and should offer additional money in case of extra work.
Working facilities is also a important factor that impacts on the performance as well as
quality of work. If safety and security is not provided to the staff members then they would not
become interested in doing their jobs and can also migrate to other organisation in the search of
better working facilities. Therefore, venture ought to give basic facilities like light, water, food,
safe and secure machineries, first aids, doctors at the work place, camera, etc.
Lee, Park and Hwang (2015) stated some of the models or approach that can be used for
maintaining sound relations between employees. Important models are described below :
Unitary approach : This frame of reference give suggestion to personnels to work collectively
for achieving a democratic aims and objectives. In this, all of the work force give their equal
contribution in attaining the targets and this is the duty of management of evaluating the
efficiency of team members. For example, overall workers within Babcock international perform
their obligations which are allied with the satisfaction of customers. This unitary approach
reduces the possibilities of doubts and misinterpretations as all the team members here share
equal activities and conceptualisation in order to complete the task.
Pluralistic approach : In this approach two or more sub groups are present which have different
goals and objectives from one another in the corporation. Such sub groups would be trade
unions, employees itself, management, etc. Trade unions are a group of members that negotiate
with management and take stand for the rights of workers. Babcock can use this approach in
those sectors where goals and targets of a grioup is different in comparison of other one.
As per the view point of Lapidoth (2017) , communication is the basic need of a firm as
whole works depend on this. Staff take any of the decision by making a effective discussion
therefore, good communication is very essential. In past or previous days, technology had not
been developed so much and that is why organisation is not achieving their goals and objectives
in a proper way. But in the current era, digital technology has been improved so much which is
helping venture in attaining their aims and objectives in a better way and in very less time period.
On the other hand, Lee and Chan (2016) thought that Babcock should take use of digital
6

communication for making good interaction among their work force. They can take use of social
media such as Face book, what's app, twitter, email, yahoo, etc. in doing effectual and healthy
communication. These all medium builds an outstanding employee relationship as every one is
connected with other and share any kind of information among themselves. Employers can also
connect with their employees on this social network and create a good relations between them.
Even they can talk effectively on serious topics on these mediums. For example, some one is not
able to come office due to their illness then they can leave a message on What's app group or can
take permission of leave on it. This is a very fast mode of communication that only requires
internet connectivity.
According to Lamm and Meeks (2009), with the help of modernised mode of
communication company is doing their task in very efficient ways. Every one is interacting with
each other and are taking decisions by doing a good discussion as opinions of all of the members
are keep into consideration. Employers are making a kind of family relation with their staffs as
they are connecting with them on social networking sites. They can upload their images captured
in official parties and post that on the sites like Face book, What's app, Instagram, etc. After that
other workers or employers comment on this. This creates a friend circle and by this way a
harmonious environment can be built where every one is free to express their feelings and
opinions without any hesitation.
On the other hand, Hur, Moon and Jung (2015)says that Babcock international should
take proper use of digital communication in increasing their efficiency. Managers of the cited
organisation can inform their workers about any new rules and regulations. They can give
important notification to all of them of happening any event or activities. This as a result help
management a lot in doing their jobs in very less time period.
Resistance to change can be simply defined as an action that is taken by team members or
individuals when they understand or realise that a change is occurring as a threat to them. Work
force of Babcock International is perceiving that some of the changes like entrance of
competitors in the marketplace, lack of understanding and trust among workers, behaviours is
not same as personality, regular change in communication's standards, etc. So, company is
making strategy for continuing their growth both United Kingdom as well as on global level.
This can be done by making positive relationship with customers and also by maintaining good
7

quality of engineering or technical expertise. In addition to this, strong safety records should
maintained. In order to resist the change in standard of communication , Team members of this
firm present in UK should adapt to world requirement and overpass the obstacles of culture and
languages. It can said that most adaptable team would be more resistant to change. The group
members having the logical and scientific approach would be achieve success in attaining the
goals and objectives.
The Kurt Lewis theory and John Kotter's theory:
The Kurt lewis theory is established in 1940 and it is introduced by John R.P French.
This is three stage model of change which is known as refreeze and unfreeze model that required
pre learning to be disapproved and ordered with other method. Lewis theory defines the
behaviour which states the energizing scale of working forces in alternate direction.
On the other hand, John kotter and Leonard Schlesinger are founded in 2008. in this
model, the change is not experienced in pleasant and it will lead the resistance in an organisation.
The authors are creating six change approaches which help in minimising resistance and these
are as under:
 Education and communication
 Participation and involvement
 Facilitation and support
 Negotiation
 Co-optation and manipulation
 Explicit and implicit coercion
Brazil culture is important for the Brazil as well as UK team as to support each other for
attaining common goals and objectives in proper manner. They also help in creating sound
environment where they mainly deal in improving business operations. The main objective of
these people are that they try to expand the international business in all over the world. They
need to achieved major target and goals which is mainly double in size for maintaining
international business. The culture and behaviour of UK and Brazil team members are that they
properly communicate with each other and also update their standards. The scenario of behaviour
and thinking are different sources. The culture and attitude are people are mainly attracts large
number of customers towards the company. They have lack of trust and some time lack of
misunderstanding between them.
8

Methodology
Research methodology can be simply defined as a process that has been used by the
researcher for attaining their goals and objectives of research in very effect – able manner.
Questions of research are resolves on the basis of this so that whole impact of digital
communication as well as employee relationship can be determined on the performance of firm.
This is considered as very important section of project as it aids in moving complete assignment
towards a right direction for getting proper outcome from that (Eldor and Harpaz, 2016). In fact,
here researcher determines which methodologies is going to used for conducting whole research
in appropriate manner. Moreover, this technique is mainly focused on deciding which mode of
method is good for collecting realistic information and facts.
In this sector it is decided which is most appropriate methodology of gathering
information by examining different approaches. Commonly, investigator has to choose a better
method of designing activities in proper way by taking whole project in right direction. Research
can be quantitative or qualitative in nature because these two approaches is very effective in
accumulating correct and realistic data that can be utilised by Babcock international in attaining
their aims and objectives. Quantitative method of research is shown in a statistical format that
means whole information is gathered in terms of monetary that can be sued for calculating any
thing (Akaiwa, 2015). On the other hand, qualitative method represents better quality of data
which can be utilised by team members of research in making accurate decisions. It is to be
noted that in this research project, only 'Qualitative methodology' is used for the purpose of
aggregating appropriate information and figures as the title of present report is based on the
impact of employees relationship and digital techniques on performance of venture.
This portion is also considered very essential because it helps in representing the blue
print for regulating the whole operations of research in effective way in order to meet the
objectives of this project. In this technique, proper research design approach has been utilised by
investigator for understanding the whole affect of employee relation on the organisation. There
are variety of design techniques like explanatory, co-relation, descriptive, etc. (Albrecht and et.
al. 2015). In this project research, descriptive technique is used for the intention of formulating
design of research so that deep understanding of information can be done.
There are commonly two types of approach that are inductive and deductive. As per the
necessity, inductive research approach has been used by investigator in this project for
9

developing the theories on the ground of their assessment. The another reason of choosing this
approach is that whole project is depending on qualitative methodology. Therefore, it has been
recognised that this structure is very much suited in order to reach the final destination.
By examining all the above portion of this project, it has been calculated that research
philosophy is also an important part of this research because it provides various information from
the point of views of different authors or scholars. In fact, this region is divided into two parts
that is interpretivism and positivism that are totally different from one another. It is to be noted
that interpretivism approach has been used for all other activities because of its benefits while
achieving relevant data and information by selecting different sources.
Data sampling is a technique of selecting the example that repeats from first population.
It is the responsibility of investigator to choose better process of examining information so that
they can utilise probabilistic or non – probabilistic method of testing. Here purposive testing
method had been used as this is a piece of probabilistic sampling method that supports in
achieving proper example from all population. In this project, researcher chooses the sample of
20 representatives who are presently working in Babcock international for developing their
living styles.
Information collection is considered as one of the essential portion of this research report.
Here analyst gathers data by taking use of primary and secondary resources. In this project,
researcher is making proper decisions so that they can keep together all the substance as per the
suitability. Here the data is going to be collected via primary as well as secondary resources as
there is a need of appropriate information in context of theme of the project.
Discussion / Analysis
This is another essential section of this report as analysis of data helps in observing the
complete work or the collected information in order to do change in the business structure of
company. This is done by creating proper and relevant questionnaire which are linked with the
current title. Moreover, data analysis involves interpretation of data by taking support of sample
size. This helps venture in taking decisions effectively. Here , the interpretation is done by
making graphs and diagrams. Therefore, it has been examined that investigator prefers this
portion of getting feedbacks from employees which helps them in making their plan, policies and
strategies.
10