Employee Relations Report: Tesco Case Study Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of employee relations, exploring various perspectives and strategies within the context of a Tesco case study. It begins by defining and differentiating between unitary and pluralistic frames of reference, examining their implications for workplace dynamics. The report then delves into the impact of alterations in trade unions on employee relations, highlighting the roles of key players such as employers, employees, employer associations, and the government. A significant portion of the report is dedicated to conflict resolution, outlining processes organizations can follow when dealing with different conflict situations, along with an examination of the main features of employee relations in such scenarios. Furthermore, the report addresses negotiation strategies in collective bargaining, exploring their effects and the methods for employee participation in decision-making. Finally, it evaluates the influence of the EU on industrial democracy in the UK and the role of human resource management in shaping employee relations.

Employee Relations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Explanation of unitary and pluralistic frames of reference...................................................1
1.2 Impact of alteration in trade union on employee relation.....................................................2
1.3 Key players role in employee relation..................................................................................3
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Process an organisation can follow while dealing with different conflict situation ............4
2.2 Main feature of employee relation in case of conflict situation............................................5
2.3 Effectiveness of various methods that are used in resolving conflict ..................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Role of negotiation in collective bargaining in present conflict situation............................7
3.2 Affect of negotiation strategy................................................................................................8
TASK 4 .........................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Affect of EU on industrial democracy in UK and changes after exit of UK from EU.........8
4.2 Methods to gain participation of employees in decision making process.............................9
4.3 Affect of human resource management on employee relations .........................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
All the companies want to make a connection with their workers because, now, they
understand that they are one of the main asset of an organisation. Employee relation is basically
deals with proper communication between employee and their employers. This concept is getting
popular due the increasing need of quality workforce. Their was a time when most of the firms
do not consider human resource as an important part of the business (Frone and Trinidad, 2012).
They treated them like machines which can be considered as the prime reason the enterprises in
old time fail to earn loyalty of staff members. HR department do not only focus on removing
conflict between management and workers, they also work as a bridge between both sides. Tesco
is a successful company in retail sector and almost 500,000 people are working in this
organisation. This file will discuss about impact of changes in trade union and their affect on the
employee relation. Role of important players in an organisation will be discussed under this
report. The process for resolving a conflict will also become part of this assignment. Some
negotiation strategy will get cover in this file. Various methods of employees participation will
get discuss under this project.
TASK 1
1.1 Explanation of unitary and pluralistic frames of reference
These two perspective are very popular in this era, both of them are completely different
from each other. The working environment various corporations differ because of their vision
and culture. Below are two approach for maintaining employee relation:
Unitary perspective – This theory runs on an assumption that interest of both employer
and employee is same. Management of a company do not like to hear any suggestion for the
change from workers sides because they considered it irrational. Conflicts is not a good thing
according to this perspective, top level managers do not support the idea of involving staff
members in the process of decision making (Maurer and Chapman, 2013). They argue that when
both sides share same objectives and their thinking is also same then how can personnel give
some valuable advice. The idea of trade unions is also against the thinking of employers in this
perspective, they assume that employee are loyal to them and they also support the idea of single
authority.
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Harmony in the organisation is basic assumption of this concept, dispute is also
considered as an unnecessary point and conflicts is only happen in exceptional cases. According
to this perspective, complete organisation work as a single unit and views of two people are
similar to each other. This theory expect that if a trade union is formed in the enterprise then its
main aim will be enhancing the loyalty of the workers towards the employer.
Pluralistic perspective – This approach is considered better then earlier one because it
does not neglect the role of workers in the employee relation (Fernet, Austin and Vallerand,
2012). It assumes that there are some sub groups in every organisation and employee choose
their leader according to choose. Once they make this important call then they do not refuse the
order given by their chosen manager, group members are loyal towards their leader. Employee
union and management are two form of sub groups. According to this theory, the prime cause of
any conflict is distribution of the revenue which is earned by an organisation. Companies always
feel that they are paying more money to the staff members compared to skills, on the other hand,
personnel feel that they never get the actual remuneration for the performed job. Trade union can
raise their voice in-front of the management in order to express the problem of workers.
1.2 Impact of alteration in trade union on employee relation
The concept of trade union gained popularity in 18th century. In this era, employer were
not concerned about the issue of workers and they were treating them like slaves or animals.
When people get basic knowledge about their rights then they formed various types of trade
unions for raising the troubles in front of the employer. Courts in UK gave many decisions in the
favour of workers and they earned legal power for filing a case against management. After some
time, trade unions started to use their power in the wrong manner (McClean and Collins, 2011).
In 1920, this problem touched its peak point. Large number of employee raised an issue
regrading decrement in their salary. Demand of coal mineral was decreasing in this time so
employer could not pay them remuneration according to the promise which they had made to
them. But workers did not concern about this genuine problem and they argued that manager are
eating their share of profit. A person died at the time of protest and the relation between
employee and employer suffered badly.
Gradually companies concentrated on the important of good connection with personnels.
This gave a rise to human resource department. In present era, every small or big corporation has
this division in their organisation (Snodgrass, 2012). An employee can go to HR team if they
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have any kind of issue in the enterprise. This wing is responsible for raising any problem which
is faced by workers. They do represent employer's side, they work as a neutral body. The concept
of trade union has completely disappeared in this business environment. Human resource
department do not only focus on solving dispute between two sides they are also responsible for
finding the training needs of workers. They also decide attractive incentive schemes so talented
and hard working employees can earn more remuneration compared to others. These kind of
thinking was missing when the number of trade unions was high.
1.3 Key players role in employee relation
Employer – They are considered as main part of the employee relation (Farndale and et.
al ., 2011). It is the role of management of a company to provide positive environment at the
workplace. This is a basic demand of many employees, they want clean toilets, food courts, A/C
rooms etc. They must assure that staff member do not feel any pressure of workload because this
is the main issue behind dispute between two parties. They must decide an impressive incentive
scheme in order to retain the talented employees. It is the responsibility of management to follow
various rules which is made by government, these regulation are neutral and they assure that both
workers and employer get their equal rights. Managers have to show their cooperation at the time
of conflicts, they should not ignore the troubles of staff members and try to solve them at the
point of their generation.
(Source: Employee Relations ? 2017)
Employees – Enterprise basically demand one thing from the personnel i.e. loyalty from
the workers. Staff members should not raise unnecessary issues in-front of the management.
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Illustration 1: Employee
Relations ?

They must communicate with HR department and other senior members of the organisation
before initially any protest (Mowday, Porter and Steers, 2013). They should also try to
understand the problem of employer because sometime time also face troubles and seek support
of employees. Workers should behave in a proper way, they represent whole enterprise so they
should care about goodwill of the firm. Personnel should not misuse the facilities and assets of
the employer. If they think about these points then they make a positive contribution towards
employee relation.
Employer association – If the changes are done at large level then it will automatically
get reflected in every single organisation. Employer association should bring changes at industry
level in order to assure better employee relation (Employee Relations, 2017). They should raise
any problems which is faced by either workers of employers in-front of government so they can
make necessary rules and regulations.
Government – When any side either workers of employer face any severe trouble than
they seek help of government. Governing authorities has to play significant role in this situation
by making necessary rules for making strong connected between employee and employers.
TASK 2
2.1 Process an organisation can follow while dealing with different conflict
situation
Tesco is a big corporation and millions of people in this organisation. Management have
to deal with different type of conflicts which are as follows:
Problem with single employee – In case an employee have an issue regarding any matter
then manager should call him/her and ask them about heir problems (Crespo and et. al ., 2011). If
his/her superior fail to solve the trouble then they should take assistance of the top level
management. It is important to understand the problem of worker before starting a negotiation
process. Company must follow scalar chain and should not send worker directly to the higher
authority. Issue should get resolve on priority basis other other employee may also raise their
voice against organisation. It is easy to solve the matter of single person compared to a group
problem.
Between two employees – When large number of people work in a single place, conflict
between two workers is normal. This happen because of different thinking and culture also.
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Management should bring both staff members on a table and listen their views on the matter. If
they successfully understand the whole issue then they should make a judgement on the side of
an employee who is not committed anything wrong. In case they fail to do so, they must ask
workers to resolve their matter by own and outside of the workplace so other employees do not
get disturb (Schumacher and et. al ., 2016).
(Source: Conflict resolution. 2017)
Group of personnels – All the manager consider it as a very difficult situation because
significant number of staff members have issues with the organisation. Management of company
should ask workers to make a call regarding their leader because board of directors cannot talk to
everyone. After this they have to set some common grounds of talking. Both sides must raise
their concern in-front of each other and then start bargaining procedure. They should explain
their offers and must get ready to compromise on some demands. If the issue does not get solve
through this process then taking assistance of court is the last option (Conflict resolution, 2017).
Both sides should keep this thing in their mind that this option will make a negative impact on
employee relation.
2.2 Main feature of employee relation in case of conflict situation
Situation – A large segment of employee of Tesco went on strike because they were not
happy with the working environment which they were getting at the stores. They had various
kind of demands like less working hours and better condition of stores etc.
By suing following ways, Tesco can resolve this issue and assure strong employee relation:
Ideological framework – If someone try to find the prime cause behind a conflict then
they will find two things, first is miscommunication and other is difference in the ideology
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Illustration 2: Conflict resolution.

(Chaudhary, Rangnekar and Barua, 2011). In the case, both sides should try to understand the
views of each other and then make their own perception. Workers may feel that the facilities
which they are getting is not sufficient but management of Tesco may feel that they are
providing everything according to the standards of the industry and policy of the company.
Cooperation – Employer and employee should keep one thing in their mind that they will
not get everything which they are asking. Both sides should decide their priority and identify the
needs that they can sacrifice. Cooperating with each other can solve the matter in less time and
without making a negative impact on employee relation. Managers in Tesco can reduce working
hour, they can install new technology in order to reduce the efforts of workers. They should ask
them to learn new working techniques. Staff members should also leave some of their rigid
demand and stop doing protest.
Consultation – This is one of the most best method of resolving any conflict situation.
Management of Tesco can play phycological games with employee and provide them necessary
mental satisfaction. They should ask worker to decide their leader and then try to make them
understand that they are helpless. Their financial condition is in poor shape and they have a huge
burden of debt. If they invest money on renovation of their stores then company can fave major
losses in upcoming time and this may result in retrenchment process (Shuck and Reio, 2014).
Negotiation – Both sides should start bargaining in order to reach at a single point. In this
process, they can bring their offer on the table, generally parties asking for more then they need
so they can get their actual requirement. In this scenario, managers at Tesco can improve
working environment but at the same time they should ask staff members to increase their
working hours specially on weekends.
2.3 Effectiveness of various methods that are used in resolving conflict
The first method i.e. ideological framework is difficult to execute because employees are
not concerned about industry standards. They can raise the argument the other companies other
stores of various firms offer better working environment. Standards are just basic rules which
every enterprise has to follow, this does not mean organisation like Tesco cannot provide extra
benefit to the employees at the workplace (Shuck, Reio and Rocco, 2011). Cooperation would
not also be a perfect solution in this case, if workers were ready to cooperate then they would not
have started at protest at the first place. Tesco is not presently in a situation where they invest
money on improving working condition. Negotiation is the normal approach which is adopted in
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these scenarios. This method would not be perfect option for solving this conflict. If Tesco adopt
this option than it will cost them millions of pounds. Mentioned firm has thousands of store, if
they try to improve working environment of one store then other will also raise their voice. This
costly choice is also not appropriate in this situation. Consultation can be considered as the best
method of resolving various issues. Top level management of Tesco should ask the leader of
employees and tell them real situation of their company. They can explain them the implication
of fulfilling this demand (Van Dijkeand et. al., 2015). If managers communicate their views in an
effective manner then they can save millions of dollars of the company and reach the solution
without hampering the relation between workers and employer.
TASK 3
3.1 Role of negotiation in collective bargaining in present conflict situation
The main demand of working is the poor working condition of the retail stores. They
argue that if company can invest more money in technology and other areas then why they do
not care about the working environment. Negotiation can play significant role in resolving the
dispute in less time (Cai, Jo and Pan, 2011). Management of Tesco can make a counter offer
against the demand of employee that if they fulfil workers demand then they have to spend more
hours in store on weekends and at the time of peak loads. Protest and denial to work is
considered as the worst situation. Negotiation can immediately stop the protest and bring back
staff members in their work arena. Both sides should understand that the process of negotiation
take lot of time, they should try to reduce this period in order to move forward towards a
solution.
If employer shows staff member the data relating to financial position of the company
then worker may get a second thought in their mind. They can ask workers to call off their strike
in order to initiative the process of negotiation (Lee, Park and Lee, 2013). If management of
Tesco communicate their actual situation in an effective manner personnels can reduce their
demands. Solving issues of employee is crucial for the success on an organisation, mentioned
company should also keep this thing in their mind. Instead of saying no to the employee, they
can ask them for sometime and then start renovation process. It is not essential to improve
working condition of every store in short, managers can tell staff members that this whole
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procedure will take more than 5 years because company have thousands of store. In this time
period, employees should not protest otherwise it will result in more conflict.
3.2 Affect of negotiation strategy
The process is negotiation is lengthy and a good negotiators can easily attain success in
fulfil the demand of own side. In this conflict situation, integrative negotiation strategy can be
adopted by any side. This tactic basically focus on a win-win situation and both parties leave the
table with happy face after completion of negotiation process. In this approach, Tesco and its
workers can think about a solution which is beneficial for both of them. This will assure good
relationship between employee and employers. Staff members can get agree to work for more
hours in order get better facilities at their workplace (Koster, De Grip and Fouarge, 2011). If they
will work for more hours in same salary then it will reduce the expenditure of company on hiring
more people in the organisation. They can use this amount for improving the bad working
conditions. Both sides will get what they want and this will also provide strength to the employee
relation.
If employer and employee adopt disruptive negotiation strategy then this may resolve
they problem for short period of time but it may arise after sometime. In this approach, both
sides must analyse that someone has to loss something other the problems will remain at its
place. If employee force management of Tesco to focuses on the working environment then this
will result in unproductive investment of millions of pounds. They are also demanding to reduce
their working hours (Allen, Ericksen and Collins, 2013). This type of bargaining very important
in this scenario because manager has to send a message that they cannot agree on every single
demand of the workers. If this stegy is adopted in present case then it can result in bigger protest
which will not be beneficial for both sides.
TASK 4
4.1 Affect of EU on industrial democracy in UK and changes after exit of UK from EU
Companies in UK understand that cooperation for the side of workers is essential for
smooth running of the organisation. This thinking was already popular in UK but the legislation
made by EU provide strength to this concept. Government can make rules up to a limit, their
regulation are not applicable in all the countries so enterprise can easily breach them in other
nation but they regulations made by EU should be followed in all the members countries.
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Recently EU promotion of a new idea i.e. “parter based relationship”. In this programme they
will try to set common objectives for both employee and employers. This will play significant
role in removing various types of conflicts between both sides. EU is also thinking about about
starting a training session for employers so they can understand the importance of keeping
healthy relation with workers.
Post Brexit, UK can see some major changes in this area. The current rules relating to
employee relations are not very effective. In upcoming time, the business environment will get
favourable for companies. This will result in more dominance from their side. They can easily
enhance working hours and do not focus on crucial issue like providing fine working
environment to the workers. Brexit will make a negative impact on the demand of various
commodities. This means that financial condition of many companies will get suffer. They will
stop spending money on the HR team (Kim and Rhee, 2011). Training and developing of staff
members may get hamper because of this decision and it will make a negative impact of
employee relation. Government of UK has to play an important role in this scenario, if they make
strict and neutral rule in regular interval of time then maintain strong connection between
worker and employer will be an easy task.
4.2 Methods to gain participation of employees in decision making process
Tesco has quality workforce and if they use them in effective way then they can get
surprising results. Following are some significant methods which can be adopted by mentioned
firmed for involving employees in the procedure of decision making:
Allot top position – If board of direction of Tesco give a seat in high level committee a
normal employee then the problems of workers can get solve in short period of time. This person
can communicate their issue in-front of significant people of the company (Van Dijke and et. al.,
2015). This will also be beneficial for the organisation because the person who work at ground
level understand the troubles of customer and workers.
Part in partnership – Giving shares to the employee will motivate them to work hard.
Management of company will earn more profit if workers are involve at the time of taking
significant call. One staff members understood that the profit of organisation also contain their
parts then instead of focuses on conflicts and other problems, they will keep their concentration
on increasing productive of the enterprise.
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Collective bargaining – At the time playing zero some game, employee and employer can
set some basic rules which they will follow on the procedure of bargaining. This will assure
equal power to both sides and worker will not feel inferior at the time of communicating with
employees.
Quality circle – Popularity of this methods is continuously increasing. In this approach,
management of Tesco has to identify talented workers from each department and make their
team. This group is known by the name of quality circle. Board of directions can ask for their
advice in important cases (Hogh, Hoel and Carneiro, 2011). This will play crucial role in
improving the morale of worker and they will do hard work for getting selected in this team.
They will also get a confidence if they will find someone from them in the advisory board.
4.3 Affect of human resource management on employee relations
HR department has now become most important division in any organisation because
they are responsible for selecting right people in an enterprise. If appropriate workers are
recruited in the company then employer will not have much problem in maintaining fine
relationship with them. Most of the workers raise issues like poor working environment, low
salary etc. HR divisions solve these type of troubles and they raise various matter in front of the
senior managers of the corporation. Their work play significant role in maintaining good relation
between staff members and employers. At the time of presence of trade union, conflicts among
both sides were normal thing. But after the emergence of HR departments the number of dispute
has gone done. Complexity in business is continuously enhancing but this division try to keep
healthy connection between personnel and management of the company (Ahmad and Shahzad,
2011). Human resource wing does not only take side of workers, they also communicate the
message of top level management to the employee so they can know basic things about
organisational culture and policies of enterprise. This help in reducing the conflicts because
personnels are already about the working environment of the organisation.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that maintaining good relation with workers is
beneficial for both parties. The concept of trade union has already lost its charm in this era
because every organisation has human resource department who is responsible for resolving
conflicts in the enterprise. Besides worker and employer, government and employer association
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are other key player who have significant role in providing strength to the employee relation.
Their are various methods of resolving a conflict, one can opt consultation which is not very
expensive while negotiation is another option. If disputing parties successfully find the solution
of a problem then it is good for them because taking matter in court may make a negative affect
on employee relation. Post Brexit, the relation between employer and worker may get suffer. The
rules made by EU regarding employee relation will not be applicable after some time and this
may result in conflicts between these two sides.
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