Employee Relations Report: Analysis of UK Industry and EU Impact

This report provides a comprehensive overview of employee relations, examining key concepts such as unitary and pluralistic frames of reference, the impact of trade unions, and the roles of various contributors in worker relations. It delves into the procedures British Airways follows in conflict situations, highlighting characteristics of employee relations during conflicts and processes for managing them. The report also explores the importance of negotiation in collective bargaining, its impact on different situations, and the effects of the European Union on the UK's industrial democracy. Furthermore, it discusses ways to enhance employee engagement in decision-making and the influence of human resource management on employee relations. The analysis includes practical examples and recommendations for fostering positive workplace dynamics and effective conflict resolution strategies, drawing on case studies and theoretical frameworks to provide a well-rounded understanding of the subject.

EMPLOYEE
RELATION
Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Pluralistic frames and Unitary frames of reference...............................................................1
1.2 Changes in commercialism union that has affected employee dealings................................2
1.3 Function of main contributors in worker’s relations.............................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Procedure British Airways follows while dealing with conflict situation.............................3
2.2 Characteristics of relations of employees in a situation of conflict.......................................4
Process of managing conflicts in an organization.......................................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1What is an importance of negotiation in term of collective bargaining.................................6
3.2 Impact of negotiation strategy on a situation.........................................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Effect of European Union on democracy of industry sector in UK. ....................................8
4.2 Ways to increase employee engagement in decision making procedure...............................9
4.3 How human resource management effect employee relations............................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
In this modern world, relations with employees needs to be maintained effectively.
Relations with workers of an organization, which was formerly called as industrial relations, is a
concept used to depict a connection in between employer of an organization and its employee,
which includes physical, practical, emotional and contractual aspects. Employee relationships are
based on fundamental philosophy that are backed up through essential skills and attitudes. In this
report, unitary and pluralistic forms of references have been discussed in context of changes in
trade unionism that affect employee’s relation in an organization (Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner,
2010). Furthermore, effectiveness of procedures used in conflicting situation and role of main
players in negotiation in collective bargaining has been discussed. It can be said that European
Union has a great impact on democracy of industry and also various techniques are adopted to
enhance participation of employee and inn decision formation. Moreover, impacts of Human
Resource Development on employee relations is mentioned in assignment.
TASK 1
1.1 Pluralistic frames and Unitary frames of reference.
An organization is made up of four essentials which are land, labour, capital and
entrepreneur. If even one of the above factor is missing, whole of the working condition of
company degrades. For instance, labour plays a very important role in production of goods. And
so labour is one of the important factors of production. As labour has a direct contact with
management of the organization, and so management needs to look after their needs. In today's
time even government steps in to resolve any sorts of differences which arises between employer
and employee with the help of various legislation and negotiation tactics. In last 30 years way on
focussing on employee has changed. Workers are now being considered individually rather than
as a body of individuals and therefore employers have been asked to keep labours satisfied in
their company.
The merged and harmonious relation between managers and workers which share
common interest with each other can be defined as unitary view (Armstrong, Brown and Reilly,
2011). Organisation is viewed as a team which works for attainment of a common goal. There
exists only one focus of effort and loyalty towards organizational function is same from top level
management to bottom level management. Any type of disturbance or conflicts such as position
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clashes or poor connection are perceived as a disruption. Also trade unions are seen as mischief-
maker in company, in-case worker union is formed its functions are to be a part of decision
making and to look after professional and personal development of employees at whole.
While pluralistic perspective is quite different and is prevalent these days, under which
powerful sub-groups in an organizations are reasoned which have their own terms of
faithfulness. In simple words, this approach brushes the disruptions related to organizational
issues and differences in profit sharing. Trade unions play an important role in the concept of
collective bargaining concept and managers deal with problems through various techniques.
1.2 Changes in commercialism union that has affected employee dealings.
Modern organizations give job to workers in conditions which make them helpless, thus
exploiting them in various ways. Hence, in order to protect themselves from getting exploited by
companies, trade unions were formed. Concepts and their implementation in industrial relations,
have multifaceted throughout the ages. There are various nations which follow the prescribed
laws relating to labour standards, working time, incentives, wages, bonuses, allowances and
compensation of the workers through collective bargaining tactic. Trade unions were formed so
that working conditions of workers could be improved and their interests could be protected
(Becchetti and et. al., 2012). Labour relations has been defined as an inclusive work which stated
the relationship between employer and employee which develop skills of cooperating and
adjusting in both concerned parties. In addition to this TR also:
 Highlights industrial relations as a joint effort of workers and management to promote a
common interest.
 Helps in maintaining organizational discipline.
 Helps in following norms of production so that productivity of the firm could be
increased.
 To persist management to apply reformative and not punitive approach towards any fault
of labour.
 Harmonious relationship is also maintained and enhanced between labour and
management.
1.3 Function of main contributors in worker’s relations.
Industrials relations are interlinked and form a bunch of relationships between various
members of company. In order to eliminate conflictual environment from company and promote
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economic efficiency, a sound industrial relation system need to be implemented (D'Cruz and
Noronha, 2010). There are three parties which are involved in practising sound implementation
of relations in industry which include: Employees: Generally workers form clusters in order to persuade management to improve
their working condition and make them a part of decision making procedures. Also
workers need to address their grievance and exchange view points with the management.
In addition to this, they must take part in various programs which a company organizes.
Therefore by acting according to need of company, healthy relationships can be
maintained. Manager: As in case of employees, employers too have certain rights which they can
practice over labours, like they can recruit or fire any worker. Also workers interests can
also be affected by relocating of upgrading technological changes.
 Legislation: Government of both State and Centre plays an important role in development
of industrial relations. It regulates and acts upon agreements, laws and rules made
through its legislation. It also focuses on third party laws and tribunal courts.
TASK 2
2.1 Procedure British Airways follows while dealing with conflict situation.
There can be various types of disputes that can occur internally in a company. And to
manage such difficulties a formal procedure needs to be developed which is divided in three
steps and mentioned below:
1. Policy: A course of principal of actions can be prepared after consulting the staff,
organization members and outside customers (Do Paco and Cláudia, 2013). Where in, a
formal set of rules and policies would help in managing disputes in firm. Certain ideas in
formulating policies can be included:
 Customers interest should always be protected by any dispute arising in firm.
 Disputes and disturbances should be dealt with meetings.
 Any complain or grievance of members of firm should be raised and addressed inside the
company premises effectively and comprehensively.
 Any outside facilitator or a counsellor can be called in to work with the concerned group
in order to solve disputes within parties involved.
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 Immediate special meetings can be organized in case of resolving disputes or if
management meetings arise.
2. Operations: Once a policy guideline has been decided implementation of same shall be
done. And in order to practice the guidelines some options can be considered:
 A person who would address disputes should be made, this individual should be
accessible and acceptable by all people of firm (Dasgupta, Suar and Singh, 2012). The
concerned individual should try to solve the disputes but a final decision should always
be agreed upon by members of management.
 'Ambivalence' can become a normal management committees meeting agenda, giving a
common platform to raise issues (Eckhardt and singh, 2014). In addition to it, an conflicts
can be referred to as committee special meeting and should be acted upon as soon as
possible.
 A sub-committee can also be made in order to address recommendation regarding the
resolved grievances.
3. Process: Once a framework has been made, a detailed description of the rules and policies
then established should be informed to sub-committee and also establishing these procedures
should include basic principles such as:
 Clear and fair warnings should be given to concerned person.
 Decision making should be democratic.
 Provision of appropriate time limit for whatever has been decided.
 Clear communication.
2.2 Characteristics of relations of employees in a situation of conflict.
Features of a worker relationship is majorly interdependent with success of a business.,
because it is worker's contribution which is directly linked with the success of the business. So a
company must use certain features in context of improving relation with employees from time to
time. Key features analyzed as characteristics of ER are mentioned below:
 Employees of the firm should be given proper recognition and rewards, in order to
increase their level of performance.
 Flexible working hours should be given which include career breaks and also an
opportunity to leave for home an hour early.
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 Additional incentives like offering 10% discount to the employee of British Airways is
provided.
 Involving crew member’s engagement in certain strategy formulating task, can also be
helpful in developing sound relations with workers.
 A distinction should be made in between employer-employee relation and human
resource management (Harvey, 2012). More over employee relations is concerned with a
connection or a link between both parties, whereas manpower management deals with
executive policies and activities concerned with business as a whole.
 Leader-worker relationship is an integral part of a social system in an organization. And
so this relationship doesn't flourish in vacuum, rather it works with a composite result of
attitude and approaches which both parties hold towards each other.
 A multi-dimensional and complex relationship of management and workers doesn't stay
limited to relations between trade union and company rather its an extension to general
web of links between institution, employer, worker and government.
 The major purpose maintaining this relationship is to build a harmonious bridge between
labor and firm. Both the parties try to develop skills and techniques of adjusting with one
another, and also solve their problem through collective bargaining. Main issues which
would be needed to address are:
 Ethical code of conduct and general discipline.
 Grievance and their management.
 Upgraded technology for settlement of industrial disputes.
 Workers participation in management.
Process of managing conflicts in an organization.
During clustered disputes type of scenario in British Airways, efficiency and effectiveness of
procedures can be measured easily (Larson, 2017). Normally, in whole of the procedures, a panel
of managers and employees sit together to discuss over conflicting situation. This step has been
found to be appropriate as both female and male employees of Airways get chance to open up
about their opinions and thoughts about inefficient allotment of work in front of managers. At
time of discussions, employees can ask for relevant reasoning of an action taken by managers.
And conflict situation can be easily resolved if employers provide satisfactory answers to them,
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and in case, where each and every worker is not satisfied then he presents his issues to Director
of the organization.
Therefore, if this procedure is followed, conflicts can be easily resolved while providing a
positive impact on members of organization (Gupta and Kumar, 2012). Also after forwarding the
issue to Director of firm, a week’s timings can be given to him for taking an effective decision.
During final stage any disputes which occurs in the firm, is presented to conflict handling team
by the employees. This dispute handling team comprises of experienced and effective persons
who have the ability to reach to effective conclusions within a prescribed time and without being
bias. So in this ways the procedure followed by British Airways are recognized to be effective in
conflicting situations.
TASK 3
3.1What is an importance of negotiation in term of collective bargaining.
Any sorts of negotiations done in between employees and employers in terms of
employment is referred to as Collective Bargaining. Also collective bargaining helps in
providing a healthy platform to workers so that they can discuss about their issues within
organizations. In this whole procedure employees of British Airways, choose a steward from
among themselves as a representative, which steps forward on behalf of all the employees from
firm. And in this way, employees of firm can easily present their problems in front of
management and thus in an effective way issues are resolved (Mathew and Jones, 2012). Also
there are various roles that are present for formulating negotiation in collective bargaining
process, mentioned below:
 Bargaining helps in improving effectiveness of collective negotiation: The main aim of
perusing collective bargaining process is to resolve any disputes which arise in between
employers and employees. Furthermore any type of negotiation of specific issues are
further analysed and resolved in order to enhance the overall performance of firm and in
this ways firm is able to deliver the services to target market without any hindrances. And
because of presence of this clause of providing services in continuity, negotiation is plays
an important role in increasing efficiency of organization.
 Through negotiations, company reaches to an effective conclusion: Various steward
representatives of employees try to negotiate with employers so as to reach a certain
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impressive result in relation to the problems faced by them in organization. Following the
negotiation procedure, only workers can have a formal discussion with top level
management, in order to find a befitting solution to the problem and implement it.
3.2 Impact of negotiation strategy on a situation.
Basically, negotiation is a way through which a middle path can be found for dealing
with an issue that is faced by the employee. More over in this respect various negotiation
strategies have been formulated which have a deep influence on situations in a firm. Taking into
consideration activities like compromising, forcing and smoothing, the negotiation strategies
have been evaluated. As while practising compromising strategies, managers do not take part in
taking out middle path to be followed by employees, because in this either of the party has to
compromise on its objectives and goals. Whereas, management practices collective bargaining in
case of collective dispute then decrease in motivation level of members of organization can be
observed which in turn decreases the overall efficiency of firm. In case, if a brand like British
Airways follows this procedure then it will become difficult for them to raise motivation level of
employees (Mather,Worrall and Mather, 2012). On the other hand, forcing strategy's main aim to
carry out one's goal on the price of other's. Thus in concept of forcing strategy, senior personnel
of cited organization, attempts to satisfy the goals and objectives set by company. In case of
British Airways, if management of quoted company, follows this technique under clustered
disagreement type of condition, then there are major chances that a negative environment will
prevail in the organization for a very long duration. As result, it will become difficult for
management to retain and engage employees in various activities of firm, which will in turn lead
to high employee turnover rate. In addition to this, after analysing the situation which is faced by
employees of firm smoothing strategy is found to be most befitting in this time, because while
following this strategy management can give more importance to views and opinions of
members of staff. So this in turn helps in increasing employee motivation and depicts a
victorious situation for both organisations involved i.e employer and employee.
TASK 4
4.1 Effect of European Union on democracy of industry sector in UK. .
Industrialised democracy in a setup which involves workers taking decisions and sharing
authority as well as responsibility at a workplace (Uadiale and Fagbemi, 2012). It can be defined
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as a artefact that survives within an organisation where employees are given responsibility to
take crucial decisions in the firm. In few European states, anatomy of industrial democracy has
remained to be same from a very long time. But their existence did not work due to the
aggressive relationship held in past in between employer and employees. European Union has an
undeviating effect on the industrial democracy of United Kingdom and encourages a striking role
of employees in decision making process of organization (Vveinhardt, 2012). Industrial form of
government in a country like United Kingdom is affected by legislations formed by European
Union, for example if the Union passes an act regarding representation of staff members in
decision making procedure in a firm so the industrial democracy any how has to imply on the act
passed. Moreover, if any institution does not follow the guidelines issued by Union, it has to go
through conditions that have inauspicious consequence like lock outs and strikes from the
associates of the firm. In present era, association namely trade union functions as an
establishment which persists for education of management in a company regarding benefits of
involving workforce of cited company in decision formation. Therefore, worker’s involvement in
such activities regarding decision making have now come in practice and have affected
positively on employee’s performance and enhancing their contribution in organization.
Furthermore, concept related to partner based relationships is being developed due to European
Union (Tsirikas, Katsaros and Nicolaidis, 2012). This relationship eventually happens between
employer and employee in an organization so that common goal can be achieved.
EU provides different laws which industries have to comply upon and if the firm does not
comply with guidelines then it will face adverse effects for its activities. Consequently, all
organizations have an effect and regulation by trade union by which the manager makes sure that
the works are done in favor of societal people. It is responsibility of European Union to set
various standards as per job and particular working environment in organization so as to protect
staff members from being exploited.in this recent era, committee comprises of representatives
which belong from all department s and sections of company. The major function of this work
council is to handle tasks related to goals and aim of an enterprise and various strategies for
increasing potential in regard to future aspects of company are also suggested. These sort of
schemes have found success in UK's economy at a gross.
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4.2 Ways to increase employee engagement in decision making procedure.
There are wide range of techniques by which a company can utilise for employee
development and involvement in company. Techniques which can be used are: Suggestion scheme: It is a technique with help of which a company can increase
motivational level of employees.it can be noted that suggestion is method is a way in
which important means are there to include its employees in decision making Those
which do not turn out to be satisfied can put progressive opinions in front of higher level
of management. Attitude survey: Another method which is regarded effective through British Airways can
motivate its staff members to participate in company's affairs relating to decision making
procedures (Williams and Horodnic, 2015). These surveys are conducted through
questionnaires, focussed group discussions and interviews. Improvement group and
Quality circle can also be utilized in order to subdue issues which raised from top to
down management style, in which the knowledge possessed by others is ignored by the
quality team members of company. It provides a chance to expand and widen the are of
knowledge of staff members, who have an appropriate knowledge about those issues of
activities which may be concealed from them earlier. Job evaluation and performance are
also considered. After determining employee’s perception, British Airways carries out
changes relating to existing policies.
 Consultation: One of the easiest and most convenient technique taken by institutions with
an objective to motivate the staff of an organization to participate in decision making
process. Whole of technique used under consultation is that managers ask workers to
present their view points on certain issues in front of top level managers so that all round
development of firm can be done. Furthermore, it helps in raising motivation level of
employees.
 Direct Participation: By applying this method employees of cited organization can be
included in formation of decisions of the company which affects daily work activities of
company.
4.3 How human resource management effect employee relations.
Employees participation in decision making process shows a very essential role as it
affects the all-round execution of the employee in a organization. HRM has undeviating effect on
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retention of employees by which employees conducting their work activities for benefits and
advantages can be kept with them (Mather, Worrall and Mather, 2012). Moreover, it is notable
fact that rules and modulates settled by HRD of British Airways impacts on relationship and
connection in between employers and workers. The interconnection in between employees and
managerial personnel of a company can be made strengthen if only human represented positive
environment in their company. This ultimately results in keeping themselves employees and
assists in integrating motivational level. It can be noted that these kinds of surroundings can be
enhanced by taking culture of person within the area of premises of company. In the said kind of
culture opinion views and opinions are of significant importance which care for maximising the
level of motivation in company. (Kilroy and Dundon, 2015). The relation between all the
employees and HR department has different nature and HR department of a firm have to adopt
this to get its gain which is present in current scenario. For better relation between management
and employees, one of a finest method for this context is pluralist form. By applying this
approach in an organisation overall performance and productivity get enhance which is necessary
for an organisation (Larson, 2017). However company have to use appropriate method of
working which help them in making a better relationship with each other. By adopting an
appropriate systematic method it become easy for an organisation to improve their brand image
and their outcome get incline.
CONCLUSION
As per above mention report it is clearly get identified that managers have to maintain an
effective relation at workplace through which adequate outcome can gain. Also, with support of
this relation company can attain all their goals and targets on time. Moreover in taking any
decision, it is necessary for company to engage their employees into that. This leads to motivate
them and encourage them so that organisation can sustain for long term at keen competitive
market.
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