Employee Relations: Strategies and Challenges at British Airways

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of employee relations, using British Airways as a case study. It explores the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference, examining their impact on employee management. The report further investigates the influence of trade unionism and discusses the roles of key players in employee relations, including managers, government bodies, employees, and unions. It then delves into dispute resolution procedures, negotiation strategies in collective bargaining, and the impact of EU regulations on industrial democracy in the UK. The report also assesses the impact of human resource management on employee relations, offering a holistic view of the strategies and challenges faced by organizations in fostering positive employee relationships and resolving conflicts effectively. The report also includes the use of strategies to find relevant solutions for employee relations.

Employee Relations

Table of Contents
INRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...................................................................................................................................................3
1.1Unitary and Pluralistic Frames of References..............................................................................3
1.2Impact of changes in trade unionism on employee relations......................................................4
1.3 Role of the key players in employee relations............................................................................5
M1. Use of the strategies to find relevant solution. ........................................................................6
TASK 2....................................................................................................................................................7
2.1 Procedures which British Airways can adopt to handle different types of disputes...................7
2.2 Important characteristics of employee relation in dispute situation. ........................................8
2.3 Effectiveness of the ways used in a selected conflict situation. .................................................9
M2. Designing and applying certain methods and techniques. .......................................................9
TASK 3....................................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Role of the negotiation in collective bargaining. ........................................................................9
3.2 Impact of negotiation strategy.................................................................................................10
4.1 Influence of EU on industrial democracy in UK.........................................................................11
4.2 Methods which can be used to gain employee participation and involvement in the decision
making............................................................................................................................................12
4.3 Assess the impact of human resource management on employee relations............................12
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................................14
Books and Journals.........................................................................................................................14

INRODUCTION
No business prevailing in the current market can attain their goals and objectives
without the contribution of employees, so each organisation put their efforts to ensure
employee satisfaction through practising strategy of employee relation. Employee relation
can be defined as the art of satisfying the requirements and making coordination between
them so that they can perform their work in efficient way (Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner,
2010) . Better relation with the staff guarantees achievement of targets in specific time period
thus it can be said that relation between the employees and employees has crucial role to play
in the success of an organisation. In the presented report a descriptive analysis about
employee relation has been done through taking the case scenario of British Airways which is
one of the top airlines group based in UK. This will cover unitary and pluralistic frames
which can adopted by them according to their relevancy. Other than this different approaches
which can be used in the different conflict situation and with this the hole of human resource
department in this is also highlighted.
TASK 1
1.1 Unitary and Pluralistic Frames of References.
Unitary and Pluralistic Frames are concerned to the employee relations and are the
features of it. With the help of this, British Airways can manage and handle their employees
in effective way.
Unitary approach highlights the decision making for a specific situation through defining
the role of management in it. It briefs that in an organisation the decision making power is in
the hands of any one person or any single authority. In British Airways, the top level
management take various decisions for different context (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). The
management is well aware of the fact that if moral level of the employees is high than this
will make them flexible in working in difficult situations and this way they will easily able to
handle the hurdles coming in their way. With practising this, the main objective is to increase
the efficiency of the workers and they also to make sure that all the disputes between the
employees and employers of British Airways are sorted out. Unitary approach criticizes the
role of trade union in employee relation and sees them as the conflict creating body and states
that it hampers the working of the organisation in negative way.

Pluralistic approach states that the place where staff perform their role has various
attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours and it is the management department of the company
that perform their duty as a middle man between the employees and employers. On the other
hand, trade union also plays the same role and ensure that there is participation of the staff in
the decision making process. Negotiation approach can ensure stability in the employee
relations between the employees and the management of the company. For this they have to
follow collective bargaining procedure (Edmans, 2011).
To know the effectiveness of both the approaches, it is necessary to apply them in the
organisational context and know which is best suited them.
1.2 Impact of changes in trade unionism on employee relations.
Trade union is considered as the organised associations and is formed when certain
number of individuals working for an organisation come together in order to protect the
interests and rights of the employees. They put a common demand in front of the
management and these demands may be either to increase the wages, asking for better
workplace and etc. Any change in trade unionism impacts the employee relations. All the
changes which are taking place in the trade unionism is normally due to external factors
which are available in the business environment (Ferner, Edwards and Tempel, 2012) . But at
the same time modification is also necessary so that they can attract, grow and retain the
membership from the new staff and should we aware of the fact that alteration in them is
quite important according to the changing scenario at the workplace. If today’s demands are
compared with the demands which was 25 years, it could be analysed that there has been
significant change has come. This thing has happened due to increase of knowledge and
awareness in the employees. Trade Union needs to focus on education, training, research and
communication, if these are used to influence the attitudes and behaviours British Airways
will see rise in the satisfaction level of their workforce. With the training they will able to
increase the knowledge of the workers on the labour management issues.
Trade Union brings a balance in the market as they impact the social policies and settings.
They put forward the demands and concerns of the employees at a particular platform.
Changes in the political factors like change in the policies to suppress the operations of the
trade union are the elements which is one of the reason why today trade union has lost it
importance as a result the employees are losing their interest in trade unions (Gallicano,
Curtin and Matthews, 2012). There has been decrease in the membership of the trade unions

because the living standards of people has increased. 1970 is the year after which companies
started upcoming their doors for the employees to take part in the decision making process as
they have made avail them certain communication platform where the employees can put
forward their demands. Certain new industries existing in the market does not follow the
concept of trade union as they things that this hamper their working.
It has been analysed that changes in trade unionism has affected the employee relation
from past time but now the concept of trade union has been just restricted to some industries
and segment (Guest, 2011). British Airways management is also ensuring that the employees
should be aware of the certain rights adopted by.
1.3 Role of the key players in employee relations.
 Manager:- They are the people who are considered as supervisor and are given the
responsibility to manage the work force at British Airways. So it is necessary that
they should have full knowledge about the people who are part of the organisation.
They can frame the strategy and plans through taking the suggestions of the
employees (Hendrix, Hayes and Kumar, 2012).. Knowing there opinion is important
because this way they can get an idea that what are the things which are necessary for
their growth. It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that everyone in the
organisation is treated properly. This thing will ensure that the employees are happy
from whatever they are getting. Manager make sure that the employees have reach to
him fro any communication they wanted to do and for that they should introduce a
platform where any staff get put their views. Managers ensures transparency in the
British Airways
 Government:- It includes all the government bodies who impact the employee
relation. They frame the policy for the businesses and has crucial role to play during
any situation related to employee relation (Kersley and et. al., 2013). For example; the
police which is a government body will play their part during any strikes by the
employees in the organisation. Courts gives verdict on any dispute which has arise in
British Airways and if it goes into the court. They are the authority who frame laws
concerned to Health & Safety Act, Minimum Wages Act and etc.
 Employees:- It can be said that employees are the individuals who has important role
to play in British Airways. It is the contribution of the staff they ensure that all the
goals and targets are attained in time with proper effectiveness (Kim, 2017). But at the

same time employees have a duty to follow the guidelines given to them by top
officials thus also following the organisational culture. They should put efforts at their
own level to do any task or operation in effective way. Employees at British Airways
should try to show their interest in certain activities carried out by the company as this
will increase the moral level of their subordinates to take part in such activities.
Whenever they feel that they are facing some sort of issue at any stage so at that time
they should inform to the company officials about it.
 Union:- It is the trade union who unite, protect and improve the working condition of
the staff at the work place. It can be said that they are the body who ensure that the
interest of the employees are remained and aware them about their rights. They should
ensure that the unite the staff who belongs from different background whether social
or economic and by this they are making them adapt according to their working
condition at British Airways (Larson, 2017). They can create a positive impact on the
organisation as they try to resolve the issue through taking care of the interest of the
employees and employers thus acting as mediator.
 Collective Bargaining Agent:- There are certain factors which define the relation
between the employees and employers thus making a mutual relation between them.
So collective bargaining agent is the process through which an agreement between the
employers and employees are signed and it consists of terms and condition concerned
with the wages, benefits, working hours and the condition in which they will be doing
their work (Meyer, and et. al., 2010). Collective bargaining agent act as the middle
men between both of them thus take the demands of the staff after that it put forward
in front of the management of the British Airways thus asking their views on it. After
certain negotiation a collective decision is taken out and through it they ensure that it
includes interest of both the parties.
M1. Use of the strategies to find relevant solution.
It can be said that there is lots of strategies which are available in the context to
handle and manage different situation. Few of them has been listed below:-
Organizing Activities:- If the manager wants to make the employees realize the
importance of employee relation they can organise certain events for that.

Promotion of Team Work:- Leaders has the most important role of promoting the
culture of working in team as this yields better results and at the same time also resolves the
issues related to the operations carried out by the company.
Appraisals and Rewards:- Introducing the concept of appraisals and rewards ensures
that the motivational level of the workers gets increases thus resolving various issues.
Using the Feedback:- To solve the conflict or any problem feedbacks from the
employees can be taken and look for the best available option and for that manager will lead
the things.
TASK 2
2.1 Procedures which British Airways can adopt to handle different types of disputes.
To solve any disputes or conflict the first thing which is necessary is to know the
types of conflicts which can come in the organisation.
 Intra-personal conflict:- This is kind of conflict which comes when any employee
face the problem of selecting any one goal.
 Interpersonal conflict:- This is conflict where there is involvement of two parties
and the parties may be manager, employee or a consumer (Poole, 2013).
 Structural conflict:- There might be conflict related to the structure followed by the
British Airways. Like there can be conflict between the marketing and production
department of the organisation.
 Strategic conflict:- This is a condition where management and individuals knowingly
bring conflicts to achieve an objectives.
To resolve all the above conflicts British Airways can follow the certain strategies that are as
follows:-
Compromising:- This can be an effective way to resolve any dispute as both the
parties which are part of the conflicts gets some benefits. It can be win-win condition for both
of them (Robbins, Ford and Tetrick, 2012).
Avoiding:- In such condition where the conflicting parties analyse that there is not
result of the dispute then they avoid it.

Forcing:- Ignoring and avoiding does not let the issue to eliminate as it still prevails
in the organisation so it is the duty of the higher authority to decided what will be the
outcome.
Resolving:- The most suitable way and straight method is to manage the conflict is to
face it and resolve it. To solve the dispute both the parties sit together on a common place and
after listening what they have to say certain agreement by both of them is made. To gain
better outcome it is necessary that both try to understand each other feeling.
2.2 Important characteristics of employee relation in dispute situation.
Having good communication skills helps in resolving all the issues as through it
manager can know what are the issue faced by the employees of British Airways. They need
to form an environment where employees gets the freedom to out their stand on certain issue.
It is the management who looks at the requirement of the staff rather than looking at the
solution and after that they see the benefits of certain solution (Saunders, 2011). They look at
the areas where the conflicting parties can show common interest.
After that situation it has been analysed that whether conditions has improved or not
and if still there is not improvement than the manager look for the new resources which can
be used in this context. The person who is again again repeating the intolerable behaviour
should be given the warning (Scullion and Collings, 2011). The employees can be given the
training or an arbitrator can be called to resolve the issue which are prevailing in the
company. Following are some of the steps which can be used to solve any conflict:-
 The initiation of this starts through analysing the problem and after knowing various
aspects of it is evaluated so that it can be ensured that these areas does not hamper the
growth (Shields and et. al., 2015).
 In this process certain tools and techniques are prepared to for resolving the issue. At
the same time the staff are prepared with certain certain which is going to occur.
 The evaluation of the solution is the next thing which has to be done whether the
solution is suitable or not according to the dispute.
 It is ensured that the interest of both the parties are taken care of in the solution.
 Through use of certain tools and processes the solution is implemented.
 The next thing which has to be done is to know whether implementation process has
taken place properly or not.

2.3 Effectiveness of the ways used in a selected conflict situation.
Conflict Resolution at the Workplace
It is the duty of the manager to take appropriate action when the dispute between two people
has came as it is the fact conflict stretched for a longer period of time would hamper the
growth. This can make the conflict situation more complicated, so manager should look at the
behaviour and try to find out the people who can be changed and who cannot.
Responding to a Dispute
It is the manager at British Airways who is going to respond to the situation through
his actions. It depends on him that what thing he adopts to improve the situation.
Understanding the Dispute
Manager try to analyse all the areas of the conflict and for that he takes the feedback
from the employees and employers (Van Iddekinge and et. al., 2011). It is ensure that both
the parties put their views and if it does not happen the decision may be biased.
Working on Solution
After having full fledge knowledge of the conflict situation, an environment is
developed where all the employees can work in a team for a solution. For this agreement on
the particular areas are necessary.
M2. Designing and applying certain methods and techniques.
There is availability of various approaches and methods which can be used by the
management of the British Airways. With the promotion of the teams and individuals they
can bring competitive culture in the organisation where the teams will give their efforts to
perform well. Those people or teams who are working well should be give some sort of
rewards. This thing will directly impact the growth of the employees thus increasing their
moral.
TASK 3
3.1 Role of the negotiation in collective bargaining.
Collective bargaining is on of the strategy which is used to resolve the disputes in the
British Airways. During the conflicting situation trade union raise the demands and asks the

management of British Airways to fulfil it. Following are the use of negotiation in the
collective bargaining process that are as follows:-
Negotiation for better result:- With the conversation with the management the body
who is representing the employees can agree on certain points so that particular solution is
taken out of the situation (Choi, 2011). Having discussion is the best way to put forward the
demands to the directors of British Airways. They are well aware of the fact that it is the
only a middle way to make any decision which gives advantage to both the employees and
employers.
Negotiation assisting in improving the effectiveness of the collective bargaining
procedure:- Using the collective bargaining process conflicts between the employers and
employees can be solved with this. Employers get help in making the their employees in
understanding that what were the real reason and circumstances in decision is taken for the
employment at the place. To ensure that no discrimination things happen in the organisation a
anti-discrimination policy has been introduced through taking the suggestions and views of
the employees and also analysing their interest. Through the negotiation both gets some sort
of benefit and profits.
3.2 Impact of negotiation strategy.
In the organisation, disputes can arise among employees and it can be affect on their
performances or organisation's goals so in the negotiation, it is emerging bargaining process
as decisions are making with mutual interests of employees to resolve their disputes and
manage conflicts among them.
there are some negotiation strategies that helps to resolve conflicts at the workplace. these are
as follows:
 Assess the preferences: in this defines as to know about the worker's preferences,
questions can helps as it helps in knowing about job satisfaction and performance
reviews of employees by doing survey research (Walby, 2013). As British Airways
company gives priority to its worker's preferences to make any decisions.
 Consider gender difference: decisions should be favourable as to keep both sexes
male as well as female in mind and then take decision or make any rules or policies to
avoid partiality feeling on employees mind. This company can use this strategy to
resolve problems regarding fare treatments and treats fare with both as men and
women without doing difference among them.

 Compensations negotiations: to satisfy the employees with their job, decision should
be take towards their compensations which helps to contributes in work performance
as satisfied employees do their works as effectively and efficiently so British airways
company support to equal compensations as it compensate its worker according to
their performances as well as work or compensate in any circumstances if occur
which help in avoiding labour unions in the organisation.
4.1 Influence of EU on industrial democracy in UK.
Influence of the EU on industrial democracy in the UK- This term is basically related
to the arrangement of organisation and employers relation, decision making power, sharing of
responsibility and right or authority to workers in the industry. Some European countries
have their organisation sizes are very large but their ideas and strategy is not as well to
provide a relation between their workers and management. For this they needs to influence on
their industrial democracy structure as-
Organisational Culture- To making a positive relation between their employers and
also achieve organisations goal they need to maintain a culture for working and a facilitating
environment for them. This term is depends on which kind of people want to work in the
organisation and their ability for the this. Some how there structure should have to follow
their social, economical and political ethics as well (Amstad and et. al., 2011).
Visa Norms- Due to strict reasons, these countries rule and divide policies are
changed. The results of this important decision is that, they have to make changes in their
visa norms. At the last its impactful changes are directly shows on their clients. Somehow
these improvement can be positive in future but at present it concern with lot of problems.
Import Duty- This is a type of tax which is calculated on the import of raw material.
In it taxes are be income for organisation, government and companies growth is also
depends on that.
Wages standard- When workers are provide their services in an company than they
get some income on the behalf of this (Amstad and et. al., 2011). In the terms of wages, EU
recommend new policies which is strictly followed by its under going firm and maintain a
legislation with rules and regulation of government.

4.2 Methods which can be used to gain employee participation and involvement in the
decision making.
Decision making is wide and crucial process in organisation generally higher
authority took accountability in this action. It directly affect to company's ultimate end. To
make grater involvement of employees in organisational activity, firm has to create or use
some methods.
One's performance in this procedure helps company in attainment of goals ans also facilitates
staff members with numerous benefits. There are several tricks to drag individual on decision
making steps with superiors.
 Performance measurement- the prominent technique, used by organisation. In
indication of, company sets it's standard or bench mark for employees through they
looks after individual actions in process to attainment of objective, by these mark
point firm analysis performance and took steps in accordance. It provides one's a
reason to participate in decision process. This also reduces negative behaviour of
employees (Fossum, 2014)..
 Reward and appraisal- when individual feels to neglected by firm, this methods apples
them. Employees are always seeks for special recognition at workplace which helps
them to be in conduction. So, organisation use this to make a person's work countable
and also boosting his confidence .
 Training and motivation- learning seminars are conducted by organisation as if they
sees requirement in building strong skills and enhancing knowledge of employees.
These are bes tool which provides individual to make some increment in his
capabilities and productivity. It also helps them to generate innovation in firm.
Feedback- A most important segment or activity is taking reviews of employees which
improves organisational internal power, cause if they gets any issues or roadblock in between
work or one's, Then will be resolved by authority, in a very short time period.
4.3 Assess the impact of human resource management on employee relations.
HRM system plays vital role in managing relationships among employees as by
providing equal remunerations, compensations, training and developments programmes
whenever need to support individual's performance, performance appraisals systems that
helps to increase work productivity or work efficiency. It is the responsibility of human
resource manager to maintain the harmony system among the workers by resolving their

conflicts and disputes and treat them equally. There are several way to improve the relations
among employees and make organisation effectively. Such as:
 Proper communications system: it is very important to build the relations between
employee and employer because communication gaps can create barriers and it can be
affect employees performance so company's manager provide proper informations to
the workers regarding any issue in the organisation.
 Involvement of worker in decision making process: harmony can be build by
giving opportunities to employee as to show their talent and ability through
participation in decision making (Batt and Colvin, 2011).
 Motivate to the employees: by motivating to the workers, strong relations can be
made as providing them rewards and awards as well as monetary and non monetary
benefits for making work effective and support them to perform best through
motivation or providing training that it will helps in increasing productivity which is
good for the company and also employees will contribute in profits or attains its best
outcomes and results.
Team work: team spirit is must be required to make organisation successful as it help to
work together for achieving common goals and objectives. British airways company believes
in doing team works that helps in building good relations among the people and make the
company effective.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been summarised that for each and every organisation
needs to understand the importance of employee relation so it is necessary that the
management of respective company should know the ways through which they can manage
their workforce. If the customers are satisfied British Airways can experience growth in their
revenues and profits. The policies of EU impacts the UK's industrial democracy and various
concepts are used to solve the conflict arises in the company. It is the role of human resource
department to ensure that each employee is part of the decision making process.

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