Employee Relations: Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Report

This report delves into the critical aspects of employee relations, examining conflict resolution strategies and negotiation techniques within an organizational context. It begins by exploring the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference, providing a foundational understanding of differing perspectives on workplace dynamics. The report then assesses the impact of changes in trade unionism on employee relations, highlighting the evolving roles and responsibilities of unions. Key players in employee relations are identified and their roles discussed. Furthermore, the report outlines procedures for dealing with conflicts, evaluating the effectiveness of these procedures, and analyzing the role of negotiation in collective bargaining. Finally, the report assesses the impact of negotiation strategies adopted by different parties involved in a conflict scenario, providing insights into alternative approaches and their potential outcomes. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of employee relations and conflict resolution, offering valuable insights for students and professionals alike.

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference...........................................................................4
1.2 Assess how changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations............................6
1.3 Role of the key players in employee relations.......................................................................7
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Procedure for dealing with different conflict by employer....................................................8
2.2 Explain the key features of employee relations consultant with reference to the above
conflict situation...........................................................................................................................9
2.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of procedures followed so far from both parties in this conflict
situation......................................................................................................................................10
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Explain the role of negotiation in collective bargaining as in the above conflict................11
3.2 Assess the impact of the negotiation strategies adopted by both parties in the above
conflict situation and comment on other negotiating strategies and the potential impact it could
have............................................................................................................................................12
Task 4 Presentation........................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................20

Introduction
Every workplace constitutes employers and employees due to which many times there are
conflicts that arises due to various reasons. This concept is important as if there are conflicts
among them then no productivity may occur in the organization and success of the organization
would also be suffered. So it is important to identify the conflicts and perform corrective actions
to resolve them in limited time period as if they are not resolved then success of the organization
may hamper. So in this concern many theories are made and analyzed that is discussed in this
assignment to resolve the grievances. Apart from that there are various ways to resolve the
conflicts that are also discussed. Collective bargaining is the approach that is shown in
presentation with its importance in resolving conflict.

Task 1
1.1 Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference
Employee relation is the important concept in the working of the organization. Managers and
their employees suffer many conflicts as the interest may differ from time to time. But both of
the parties want to make the organization in which they perform their work successful and long
running as well. So various theorist has stated many theories in relation to the state of conflicts
and criteria to resolve them also (Turek, 2015). There are various reasons for the origination of
conflicts so theories are made in accordance to determine the root cause and make necessary
amendments in that regards. Two such theories are the unitary and pluralistic theory that are
explained below-
Unitary theory
Every theory has certain assumptions similarly this theory assume that there are no conflicts that
are present in the organization in relation to employees and employers as they both of them has
common interest for the organization. It was seen that there are seven aspects that covers this
particular theory. They are explained below-
 Managers are the only persons that are authorized to manage the organization. No leaders
are present that can create hurdles in the organization.
 Mangers are designated to make their employees committed towards their work so that
these employees are productive for the organization.
 It is assume that there are no conflicts among the employees and managers and they all
are working towards the goal making organization successful.
 Harmony can only be possible when there are strong leaders that can create there impact
on the organization and its followers.
 For the betterment of the organization trade unions are not considered suitable approach
to resolve the conflicts of the organization.

 Differences that occur in the organization between employer and employees are treated as
the bad sign for the success of the organization. It is also assume that a good organization
with effective working does not have any such issues.
 It is important for the betterment of the relationship among employees of the industry as
well as this approach is independent (Tansel & Gazîoğlu, 2014).
There are many advantages of this theory as it showcases that organization does not consist any
conflicts which implements that they all wants the success of the organization and its
consistency. It also shows that all the employees are loyal to the organization and they do not
have personal goals and objectives. This also helps the management of stakeholders as
employees are also the imperative part of it. Another point is to consider is that leaders or the
managers are the ultimate source of giving command so it is important that there work are
effective and efficient that leads the organization to the success path. All the employees in the
organization required to behave wisely so that mutual goals can be achieved effectively. There
are certain disadvantages of this there are not always common goals. Due to competitive
behavior this approach may not be useful.
Conflicts can be resolved by providing various incentives to the stakeholders in terms of
financial and moral. Employees should be allowed to give certain designation in relation to the
authority so that they may able to connect with organization. Various human resource techniques
can be used to evolve better performance of the organization (Ntalianis, Dyer & Vandenberghe,
2015).
Pluralistictheory
This theory states that there is the existence of difference of interest between employer and
employees. This also states that there is the requirement of establishing trade unions so that
employees’ perspectives and interest be showcased to the managers in a systematic manner.
There are assumption in this concern that are listed below-
 There is the existence of different interest among the employees and employers.
 Leaders can be opposed on various occasions in the organization.

 Conflicts may be avoidable or non-avoidable. Most of the time they are unavoidable.
 Managers are required to solve these problems.
 Trade unions are legal and imperative to resolve the grievances and interest of the
employees.
 Many amendments are done to accomplish the goals of the organization and to reduce the
problems.
Trade unions are required to use all the fair means in dealing with the problems. Conflicts that
are unavoidable should be given the priority to get resolve. Trade unions are the main sources for
bargaining with the managers for the protection of interest. Rules and regulation should not be
rigid to solve the problems (Mathew & Jones, 2012). In addition to this, this approach is created
with various subgroups with the legal formalities and have their appropriate objectives. Further,
with the help of this. All of the groups can work in their terms and conditions that develops
positivity among the employees at workplace.
1.2 Assess how changes in trade unionism have affected employee relations.
Trade unions are the unions that are the representatives of employees to resolve the grievances.
They are formed to ensure and protect the rights of the employees and workers working in the
organization. They made certain bargains with the managements as and when needed to protect
the members of trade unions. It came into legal existence in 1872 for the betterments of both
employer and employees. Due to various emerging factors over the past decades has changed
the perspectives of the trade unions that has affected employee relations like globalization,
outsourcing etc. The main factors in that context are the shifting from public to private sector.
Like these unions are contracted with the other contractors that may not be able to understand the
problems of the members due to various barriers. Apart from that many women in the
organization required rights so it is also become essential for these unions to accomplish the task.
Similarly part time working in relation to women are also being concentrated. Employment act
and labor law has boosted the trade unions. So employee relations are affected with the changed

perspective to create the harmony among the employees and organization (Loretto, Lain &
Vickerstaff, 2013).
1.3 Role of the key players in employee relations
An organization requires various persons for the running of the business. Sometimes that arise
the conflicts among the employees and employers so various persons are required to perform the
role of creating harmony among the organization for the effective working. So certain key
players in this respect are mentioned as follows.
 Workers-Workers must be working towards the goals of making the organization
successful. They should also not only focuses on the personal goals but also work
towards the mutual goals. They should also try to resolve their grievances on time so that
no conflict may arise in future.Workers should try to create a harmonize environment for
better working.
 Managers- Managers should be effective leader. He must be role model to his followers.
If he wants to create a harmony then it cannot act bias among its employees. No
superiority complex should arise in mangers as it disconnects the employees from the
managers. For the effective working leaders should encourage competition among
employees but that competition must be healthy so that no conflict may arise among the
employees. A good communications system is set up by the leader so that grievances and
worries are resolved without hampering the work.
 Organizations- Organization must setup an effective and practical approach of
communication that can be practiced by all the employees and employers.
Communications and other aspects are made compulsory to be documented as they are
reliable source. Strict rules and regulations must be formulated and implemented for
punishing those who creates conflicts.
 Government agencies- These agencies mustformulate and implement laws and
regulations that would enable a proper employee relationship. Apart from that supervise
the works of trade unions so that no unfair means are taken into consideration. These
agencies must work with integrity to achieve its goal. A harmonize environment can only

be created if there proper working from the government agencies (Larsen & Navrbjerg,
2015).
 Trade unions- They are the group of employees who are together for protecting the
rights of employees in the conditions if the trade fair practices are unfair as it was
adopted by the employers. They are created with an aim for increase the voice against the
company which creates pressure on them.
Task 2
2.1 Procedure for dealing with different conflict by employer.
There are certain conflicts which have positive and negative impact and it affects the
workplace. As per the given case study conflict between the employers of NHS and junior
doctors issues related to the salaries of doctors. There may occurrence many conflicts that may
arise among the employees and the organization that can cause the trouble to the organization at
large. So it is important that these conflicts be resolved by the employer. Various steps are
followed by employer to solve the problem. These steps are illustrated below-
a) Understanding the problem- conflicts may arise at any time in the organization by the
employee or among the employees. So it is important to understand the situation to the
maximize level of solving grievances and conflicts. In this case, BMA are against the
new contract that result of their vote out from it. So employer has to understand the
problem and situation in this concern.

b) Collection of relevant data- Data is collected from the sources to analyze the problem
more effectively. Employer cannot take decision without any the information in that
concern. Here in this case, employer has to collect all the data that leads to dissatisfaction
among the BMA.
c) Analyzing the data- Now from the collection of all the data from all the relevant sources
the next step is to analyze the data so that problems are solved in an effective and
efficient manner. This is done by employer to identify the root cause of the conflict and
making decisions to solve the problems simultaneously. Here in this case, employer has
to analyze the root cause of such behavior in relation to the contract that is about to be
implemented by the government.
d) Make imperative steps- All the necessary steps that would help the employer to solve
the problem be taken into account. It is also important that these steps be taken within the
time limit as if it crosses the time limit then problem may increase to a great level that
may not be solved by the employer in time. In this case, NHS has to deal and negotiate
with the BMA to resolve the grievances. They also have to make necessary changes if
required to solve the problems by making certain changes in the contact.
e) Implement those changes- These changes that may resolve the dispute be made properly
and then be implemented in proper time period. These changes made should be taken into
consideration by considering interest at large. It is also important that changes may not
harm or create more conflicts in the organization. In this case, BMA point of view is
required to be considered by NHS to make necessary changes in the contract. These
changes should be decided in the mutual interest of all the parties associated with it
(Koca-Helvaci, 2015)
These are some of the steps which helps in identifying the corrective measures and taken by the
company for restricting the conflicts as it includes the discussion of the issues, analyzing the
major issue, impact of those issues at workplace and to develop alternatives for it so that it helps
the firm to identify appropriate solution to the problem.

2.2 Explain the key features of employee relations consultant with reference
to the above conflict situation.
Industrial relations are important for the effective working of the organization. If the
organizational wants to successful then it is important that it make necessary improvement from
time to time for harmonize environment of working. Many conflictsarise in the organization and
the work place so it is important that these problems be solved within time period.
In this case, NHS is the organization and BMA is the association of the junior doctors. BMA is
not satisfied with the contract that was already running due to which they decided to withdraw
there name from this contract. In regards to the objection, a new contract was formulated but that
again not able to satisfy the demands and the requirement of the association. Now they are
planning strikes in this regards. So as per the case study certain features in relation to case study
can be pointed out. These key features are listed below-
o Ideological framework- These are the set of rules that incorporates the working of any
organization. In this case, organization is the national health and safety that works in the
health and safety of the people. This organization is following all the rules and regulation
that are prescribed in the contract.
o Conflicts and cooperation- The conflict is the contract that increase thedissatisfaction
among the junior doctors. They are not happy with its formulation and now require
changes in it. But NHS and government are not satisfied with the demand. Now the BMA
has decided 4 strikes against it. There is cooperation among the members of the
association for the success of the strike.
o Consultation- A law suit is planned by the BMA to meet its demands in relation to the
contract. They want the removal of the contract that was formulated after the previous
disapproval of the contract. They are planning to file a law suit along with compensation
in this regards. Apart from that strikes are also planned in this concern.
o Negotiation- A negotiation may occur in future in that context. It is important that
negotiation must be made by taking all the interest into consideration. Negotiation was

made by taking the interest of patient as the priority by stopping the strike that was
planned earlier (Griffin, Bryant & Koerber, 2015).
2.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of procedures followed so far from both parties
in this conflict situation.
When the conflicts arise between the parties then it became important that these conflicts be
solved without any wrong means and force. It is important that the conflicts that are resolved are
in a systematic manner as if any unfair means are used by the parties then there are chances that
desired and appropriate result in that context may not be extracted that would ultimately leads to
damage at large to the people who are highly affected with it. In this case, both the parties are
trying to come on the mutual place so that no person is affected at large.
BMA is the association that is not happy with the contact that is about to get implemented so it is
trying to make various efforts to stop the contract. It is planning to file a law suit which is legal
in nature. It is also planning for around 4 strikes to get the desired result. There criteria are legal
but with the strike, patients will be affected the most as the working will be effective. So it must
not go to strike as they can simply file the law suit against the contract and carry out with their
operations.
NHS is the organization which is also the employer of the members of the BMA. It is on the
favor of the contract that is about to be implemented by the government. But due to the
reluctance shown by the BMA this contract is not able to come into force till now. They have
planned a proper and legal procedure in there context of working. They are also taking all the
necessary steps to stop the legal proceeding as it may hamper the goodwill of the party. Apart
from that company also trying there level best to stop the strike. But there efforts are not proper
as 4 strikes are planned by the BMA that would affect the working of the organization and
ultimately affect the patients at large (Griffin, Bryant & Koerber, 2015).
It can be analyzed that the process which is followed by both parties in the given situation
of conflict is highly effective. The process of negotiation can be used by both of the parties as it

can be resolved with the concern of both of them. The issues of junior doctors can be resolved
through the communication between the employee and employers that is carried out by the 10
days. Further, in the process of resolution of conflicts it has been analyzed the act of appropriate
leadership. This provides outcome as effective settlements and find out proper solution and to
end the issues among the junior doctors and NHS.
Task 3
3.1 Explain the role of negotiation in collective bargaining as in the above
conflict.
It is the way in which there is the negotiation between the employer and the union in which all
the necessary criteria that are required for the mutual benefit are present. It is important for the
effective working of the organization. So it can be said that this is the approach through which
conflicts can be resolved properly. Importance of the collective bargaining is mentioned below-
 It helps to boost up employees moral value and it also increase the rate of productivity to
work hard.
 It helps to maintain the power among employees that they have certain position in the
organization.
 It also helps in self-preservation of the esteem of the employee that ultimately creates a
great opportunity for success of the organization.
 By this bargaining there is the better communication that enables the better working of
the organization.
 It also helps to prevent the conflicts that can cause the damage to the people and the
organization at large.
