Employee Relations Report: UK Policies and Employee Involvement

This report delves into the multifaceted realm of employee relations, examining the dynamic interplay between employers and employees within a corporate context. It begins by defining employee relations and its significance in a competitive global market, emphasizing the strategic importance of employee motivation and commitment. The report explores the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference, highlighting their impact on organizational dynamics and conflict resolution. It investigates the influence of trade unionism on employee relations, particularly in the UK context, and identifies the key players involved, such as CEOs, HR managers, and finance managers. The report then outlines procedures for handling various conflict situations, including identifying causes and determining effective solutions. Furthermore, it examines negotiation strategies in collective bargaining, assesses the impact of EU policies on industrial democracy, and compares methods for gaining employee participation. Finally, it evaluates the impact of human resource management on employee relations, providing a comprehensive overview of the subject.

Employee Relations

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Explaining the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference...................................................1
1.2 The impact of change in trade unionism on employee relations...........................................3
1.3 The role of main players in employee relations....................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 The procedures which an organisation should follow while dealing with different conflict
situations.....................................................................................................................................5
2.2 The key features of employee relations in a selected conflict situation................................6
2.3 Evaluating the effectiveness of procedures used by Ford Motor Company to solve its
conflict situation..........................................................................................................................7
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................8
3.1 The role of negotiation in collective bargaining ..................................................................8
3.2 The impact of negotiation strategy for a given situation.......................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Assessing the influence of EU policies on industrial democracy in UK............................10
4.2 Comparing methods used to gain employee participation and involvement in the decision
making process in an organisation............................................................................................11
4.3 Assessing the impact of human resource management on employee relations...................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13
Books and Journals...................................................................................................................13
Online........................................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
In the 21st century of hyper competition and globalisation, each and every corporate
entities are trying to make a competitive and winning edge in the vast and volatile international
market. For achieving its strategic growth and development, they are laying their major concern
over increasing their productivity and enhancing their performance in the tough trading business
environment. In order to attain such purpose, organisations nowadays are trying to implement the
concept of strategic management within their workplace (Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner, 2010). It
means that they are treating their employees as the core asset for their organisation rather than
mere cost to them. Doing this helps them to gain a strong sense of employee motivation, trust,
loyalty, confidence and commitment towards achieving the company's goal. With regard to this
context, the aspect of employee relations has shown an increasing phenomenon in the fast
trading corporate world. Employee relations can be defined as building a strong and positive
employer employee relationship within a corporate workplace to provide its employees with a
consistent and fair treatment and to gain a strong sense of job satisfaction and job enjoyment
from them (D'Cruz and Noronha, 2010).
In lieu of all this fact, the present report will highlight the crucial aspect of employee
relations within a workplace. The study will throw light on understanding the context of
employee relations against a changing background. It will also focus on gaining detailed
knowledge regarding the nature of industrial conflict and its resolution along with collective
bargaining and negotiation process. Furthermore, the report will throw light on understanding the
concept of employee participation and involvement in the decision making process of an
organisation.
TASK 1
1.1 Explaining the unitary and pluralistic frames of reference
According to Alan Fox, it is very important for an organisation to implement a strong and
positive employment relationship within a workplace. Generally, such a relationship reflects that
managers tends to posses three major alternative frames of reference. Frame of reference can be
defined as a channel through which one is able to see the relationship of an employer and an
employee within an organisation (Atkinson and Hall, 201). With this perspective, Alan Fox
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rendered the organisation with three ideal frames of references, which are, unitary, pluralistic and
radical. The most commonly used frame of references are unitary and pluralistic.
The following explanation will clearly focus on the concept of unitary and pluralistic
frames of references of an organisation.
The unitary perspective
As per the unitary perspective frames of reference, an organisation is completely viewed
as implementing total harmony and integration with its managers and employees who tends to
share common goals, objectives and interest in the line of achieving the corporate success. Under
such a perspective, an organisation seeks to have a perfect image encompassing a fascinating and
motivating team with a strong source of motivation, trust, loyalty and commitment among its
team members to achieve a common set of company's goals and objectives within the standard
time frame (Morris, 2012). Here, the aspect of conflict of interest and opinions is perceived as
unnatural and disruptive and arises by means of poor communication channels, work of agitators
or personality clashes. The unitary perspective in an organisation allows its employees to take
active participation in the company's decision making and problem solving process and treats the
employees as the essential asset for the organisation. Hence, it can be assessed that the unitary
frame of reference gives utmost priority to the personal and professional development of
employees in order to increase the company's productivity and performance in the global
marketplace. Here the role of trade unions does not play a major role and is considered as an
unnecessary restrictive practices and evil outmoded by agitators (Bach and Kessler, 2011).
The pluralistic perspective
The another alternative recommended by Alan Fox is the pluralistic frame of reference.
Under such perspective, an organisation is viewed as having a competing and powerful trade
unions and sub team management who have their own objectives, authorized loyalties and
leader. Simply, this approach encounters the concern and disagreements over sharing the
organisation issues and profits of the managers and the employees. Here, the disputes are
generally handled by the process of collective bargaining. Apart from this, the role of manager
under such an approach is more co-ordinating and persuading rather than enforcing and
commanding. Trade unions usually plays a crucial role in this perspective (McCarthy, Reeves
and Turner, 2010).
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1.2 The impact of change in trade unionism on employee relations
Employee relations reflects the strong relationship that exist between an employer and an
employee of an organisation. This relationship is directly mediated by two major institutions that
is the trade unions and the state. A trade union can be described as a group of workers in relation
with an individual employer. It role is strongly measured on the grounds of density, scope,
mobilization and extent. They tend to engage themselves with the employees in order to organise
and control them and to mobilize huge set of demands in a very significant way. Also, trade
unions engage themselves with the employers by actively participating in the process of
collective bargaining (Armstrong, Brown and Reilly, 2011). Furthermore, they also engage their
activities with the state in order to make high legislative demands. The state tends to create a
direct impact on the employee relations by implementing certain laws regarding wages such as
the minimum wages also it focuses on the working conditions like per hour work and many other
organisational matters. Apart from this, the state also influences the employment relationship by
acting as an employer in public sector entities. However, in the case of private sector entities,
employers tends to ignore the demand of trade unions using certain strategies. In the collective
bargaining process, they generally refuse to accept the huge pressures from the workers and the
trade unions regarding the increase in wage or other major benefits for the employees
(Kazlauskaite, Buciuniene and Turauskas, 2011).
In UK, Trade unions, joint consultation committees and worker representatives seeks to
grab a large position in public sector (82%) as compared to the private sector entities (43%).
There exist a common law which gives the exotic right of consulting to a public trade union and
representing the employees of that particular authority. The new legislative framework of
recognition of trade unions and the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA) is now applicable to
the services related to civil area (Svensson and Wolvén, 2010.). UK posses a well advanced
arbitration, enquiry system and conciliation. The country is not restricted to form trade unions.
The changes in trade unionism in UK influences the employee relations in a very significant
way. The employees are given the right to obtain essential information regarding the process of
collective bargaining and also posses the right to actively participate in the activities and duties
of trade unions.
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1.3 The role of main players in employee relations
There exist some key employee who tends to play a significant and vital role in managing
the employee relationship within a corporate workplace. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), HR
manager, financial manager and the employee trainee are some of the key actors who plays a
crucial role in the management of employee relations (Devonish, 2013).
Role of CEO in managing employee relations
CEO considers it as a philosophy or a skill-set and not as a principle function of
management. He takes into account the skills and major competencies of his employees in order
to gain higher and valuable business results. For accomplishing the leading heights of company's
success within the predetermined time frame, CEO lays its major concern over building a strong
employee relations within its workplace in order to increase its productivity and maximise its
sales thereby gaining a strong brand recognition in the increasingly competitive international
market (Torka, Schyns and Kees Looise, 2010).
Role of HR managers in building employee relations
HR managers are crucially responsible for implementing, controlling and managing the
overall employee relationship within the workplace. Their responsibilities reflects the designing
of jobs and planning and organising the workplace in order to increase and enhance the candour,
responsibility of employee and respect which seeks to develop and promote employee
relationship within an organisation.
Role of finance managers in developing employee relations
Finance managers are the excellent players in controlling and managing the employee
relations. They play a vital role in offering all the relevant and essential knowledge regarding the
rising need of such a relationship in finance department. In this way they seek to develop and
build a strong employee employer relationship within the corporate work area (Richards, 2011).
Role of employee trainee in promoting employee relations
The role of employee training assures that proper and effective training, development and
induction sessions are provided to the employees in order to make them clear about their roles
and responsibilities towards company's success. This helps them to build a strong and positive
employee relations within an organisation.
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TASK 2
2.1 The procedures which an organisation should follow while dealing with different conflict
situations
With a view to handle the various conflicting situations, an organisation is highly
required to lay its significant concern over implementing and undertaking the range of
procedures in a systematic and appropriate way (Thorne, Ferrell and Ferrell, 2010). The main
steps to deal with different conflicting situations includes identifying the major cause of conflict,
determining appropriate solution to such problem and implementation of such solutions. These
steps are explained as follows-
 Identifying the major cause of conflict- There exist wide range of reasons that may give
rise to conflicts within an organisational structure. Some of such reasons includes
▪ Lack of proper training management courses.
▪ Unfair and discriminating treatment with the staff.
▪ Ineffective communication channels.
▪ Unhygienic and unhealthy working environment.
▪ Monotonous and unfriendly workplace.
▪ Lacks in solving the major problems and grievances of the employees.
▪ Ineffective leadership.
▪ Harassment within the workplace.
▪ No source of motivation and encouragement to the employees
All such reasons becomes the vital cause for conflicts within an organisation. The
company fails to attain the level of job satisfaction of its employees and as a results faces higher
staff turnover in a very significant way (Robertson, Gockel and Brauner, 2012). Therefore, in
order to handle such a situation, it becomes mandatory for the corporate entity to identify and
analyse the reason for such conflicts in an appropriate and systematic way.
 Determining effective solutions to such problem- This step is also referred as the step of
management actions to solve the major conflict taking place within the workplace. There
exist various types of effective solutions through which the management of the company
can effectively eliminate the root cause of conflicts in a highly signifiant way. The
impressive solutions to eradicate the birth of conflicts within an organisational workplace
includes the following-
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▪ Continuous review of job descriptions.
▪ Developing and promoting the open sessions for the employees in order to share
their opinions regarding the work environment (Svensson, 201).
▪ Undertaking Health and Safety Regulation Act to provide a safe and secure work
environment.
▪ Listening to the major problems which the employee are facing in the work place
and taking effective measures to solve their grievances.
▪ Taking strict actions towards the harassment taking place within an organisation.
 Implementation of such solutions- All the above discussed measures to solve the
conflict can be implemented within an organisation by undertaking the following ways-
▪ Making the HR manager and the employee representative aware about such
solutions.
▪ Taking suggestions from the employee line and the employee representative about
the method used to solve the conflicting issues.
▪ Keeping a systematic record of conflicts that takes place within an organisation
(Chillas, 2010).
2.2 The key features of employee relations in a selected conflict situation
Employee relation, as discussed earlier lays its concern over managing a strong and
positive employee employer relationship within an organisational workplace. It is an important
aspect for achieving satisfactory and higher productivity in the volatile and international market
and also helps the organisation to gain a strong sense of motivation, loyalty and commitment
from its workforce (Kim, Park and Wier, 2012). The phenomenon of employee relationship also
shows a rising trend in solving major grievances, problems and conflicts arising within the
workplace.
With regard to the present case scenario, the report will throw light on explaining the
vital features of employee relations in a real life conflict situation that took place in Ford Motor
Company. It is one of the leading automotive company which deals in selling commercial
vehicles and auto-mobiles under its brand name, Ford. The conflicting situation that took place in
the concerned company reflected the lack of adequacy and management in providing effective
training and development sessions to its core employees. This resulted the company to face the
failure in achieving the minimum productivity of its products and services in the international
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market. Also, the organisation started facing the challenge of high staff turnover rate in a very
significant manner (Doherty and Manfredi, 2010).
In order to deal with such situations, the company laid its major concern over building a
strong employee relation within its workplace. For achieving this purpose, it focuses on
implementing effective employee engagement techniques to retain the best and eligible candidate
within the workplace and to gain a strong sense of motivation and commitment from its
employees towards their contribution in the organisation's success. Also, it provided its
workforce with knowledgable training sessions to improve their skills and knowledge regarding
their subject matter (Larson, 2015). Furthermore, Ford Motor Company laid its focus on
managing the employee employer relationship by implementing the concept of pluralist approach
of employee relationship management, that is, it divided the entity into different groups and each
group tends to posses a unique identification code.
By this process the employee relations crucially depended upon the following features-
 Organising the work.
 Pay process and compensation structures.
 Arrangement of security on staffing and employment.
 Training and development sessions.
All such features on the employee relationship management maintained by Ford helped it
to deal with the conflicting situation in a very effective and impressive way.
2.3 Evaluating the effectiveness of procedures used by Ford Motor Company to solve its conflict
situation
Conflict arising within a workplace reflects the lack of mutual understanding between the
employee and the employer of the organisation. Conflicts taking place seeks to destroy the strong
employee relationship in a very significant way. Conflicts occurring within the work area proves
to be hazardous and hampers the overall growth and development of the corporate entity in the
global marketplace. It reduces the productivity and performance of the company and results the
organisation in facing sudden downturn in its business operations (Darlington, 2015). If there
exist any type of conflict within an organisation, the employee efficiency suffers in a highly
negative way due to the mental pressure they go through from such conflict. It therefore,
becomes a mandatory phenomenon for every company to solve its conflicts in order to gain the
efficiency level of its employees and to seek a rapid increase in its overall production channels.
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In lieu of this fact, the measures adopted by Ford Motor Company helped the entity to
eradicate and eliminate the root cause of conflicts that were arising in its workplace. The
company was able to gain trust and loyalty from its workforce which in turn helped it to increase
its productivity and to enhance its performance in the increasingly traded business environment.
Furthermore, the concerned organisation was effectively able to maximise its sales and increase
its profit margin in a very significant way (Becchetti and et.al., 2012).
The effectiveness of procedures used by Ford Motor Company to solve its conflict
situations include the following- Providing knowledgable training sessions- Helped the company to gain eligible, skilled,
talented and knowledgable workforce which results in increasing the production if the
organisation. Listening and taking effective measures for employee grievances- Helped the said entity
to gain a strong sense of motivation, trust and loyalty from its workforce to work hard
with full dedication to achieve the company's goal.
 Providing safe and secure workplace- Benefited Ford to gain employee job satisfaction
and helped it to reduce its overall staff turnover.
TASK 3
3.1 The role of negotiation in collective bargaining
Negotiation can be described as the conversation that intends to take place between the
employee and the employer to identify the cause of conflicts and disputes and to bargain for their
collective and personage advantage as per their interests. It is usually considered as a primary
method of solving conflicts and disputes arising within a workplace. Collective bargaining, on
the other hand, reflects the method wherein the employees work in together with proper
coordination and cooperation to negotiate with their employers regarding the working conditions
normally in a written contract (Heilman and Wallen, 2010.). It is a kind of practice where the
company representatives and unions negotiate in a view to introduce a new and well designed
labour contract.
In context with this fact, the study will focus on explaining the crucial role of negotiation
in collective bargaining. The process of negotiation helps in increasing the productivity and
efficiency of individual employee within the corporate workplace. However, such a negotiation
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process tends to minimize the overall freedom and independence of the employer in a very
significant way. Effective machinery of collective bargaining helps the company to strengthen
the movement of its trade unions systematically. Apart from this, the role of negotiation in
collective bargaining makes easier for the management of the organisation to resolve the
grievances and issues of its employees by the process of collective bargaining rather than
listening to the individual complaints of its workers (Mesu, Van Riemsdijk and Sanders, 2012).
Also, it helps in preventing and settling the industrial conflicts and disputes in a very effective
and systematic way.
3.2 The impact of negotiation strategy for a given situation
Negotiation strategy creates a positive and strong impact on handling the disputes and
conflicts arising within a corporate workplace. As discussed above, it tends to increase and
enhance the overall level of productivity and performance of its individual employee within the
work area. It tends to develop and establish a strong sense of responsibility and self respect
between the trade unions and the employer of a company. Normally, there exist two major types
of negotiation strategies which are distributive negotiation and integrative negotiation.
Distributive negotiation also called as hard bargaining or positional negotiation seeks to create a
win loose situation and where the parties involved have never been attained the course of
interaction ever before (Verwijmeren and Derwall, 2010.). Integrative negotiation, on the other
hand, is known as principled and interest-based negotiation. This strategy attempts to enhance
and improve the likelihood and quality of the negotiated agreements by offering an alternative to
distributive negotiation strategy.
In lieu of this fact, the present study will highlight the crucial impact of negotiation
strategy on the London Transport Association (LTA) for its conflict with Tube Workers in the
past few years. The major success and overall failure of LTA is crucially dependent on the vital
impact of negotiation strategy undertaken by the said travel association. In the recent years, it
came to notice that there existed a strong industrial conflict and disputes between the LTA and
the Tube Workers. The major reason for the conflict taking place between the two parties were
solely based on the grounds of wages and safe and hygienic work environment. In order to
overcome such issues and to deal with such conflict, the said company implemented the
appropriate negotiation strategy in a very significant way (Emmott, 2015.). In this regard, LTA
laid its concern over undertaking the concept of integrative negotiation to enhance the negotiated
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