Employment Relationship: Legal Frameworks and Union Decline, Australia

This essay examines the employment relationship in Australia, focusing on the decline of trade unions. It highlights the importance of legal frameworks for unions and the impact of legislative changes, such as the prohibition of mandatory unionization, on membership. The essay discusses the rise of casual and freelance employment, which reduces union membership, and the shift towards workplace-specific employee forums. It also explores the role of good business strategies and managerial practices in organizational success, emphasizing the importance of employee engagement, rewards, transparency, and proper implementation. The essay concludes that while good practices are essential, successful outcomes depend on proper implementation and external factors. The essay references key academic articles to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running head: EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
Employment Relationship
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

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EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
It is the legal framework in which unions must operate which is the central and
critical factor of Union decline in Australia
It is very important for unions to maintain structure and function within a legal
framework. Deviance from a structure or a framework makes a union inclined to unorganized
operation which leads to chaos, commotion and confusion. In Australia, Unions are facing great
setbacks which traditionally used to have large concentration of memberships. A sense of
alienation and indifference can be seen in the attitudes of people after the enforcement of
legislative changes which prohibited the mandatory unionization of the workers in the country
(McAlpine and Roberts 2017). However, the reason of the same is also because of the rise of
employment across many industries which do not necessarily demand full-time employment.
These sectors have given rise to casual or freelancing employees. These employees are less
likely to be interested in being members of a union. There also have been structural and
institutional changes which were done to cater to the needs of the employees in a workplace or
an institution. This lessened the importance of concentration of power, in a Union which would
raise concerns of the employees.
Employees should also the liberty to have their own forum which empowers them to raise
their concerns. Through Unions, it gets easier to negotiate about the disputes, complaints and
wages the workers should get (McAlpine and Roberts 2017). Eradication of unions may also lead
to exploitation of the workforce, as it will get easier for the organizations to enforce strategies
which do not benefit or uphold the rights of the workers.
However, having said that, the newer legislative measures have regulated practices of
compulsory unionization at workplaces which often forces the employees to have memberships.

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EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
It also leads to making relation between employees and the employer sour, which should not be
the case. Therefore, Union decline has reasons which are justified to great extent.
Good Business Strategies and good managerial practices will result in a successful
organization
Effective managerial strategies and management practices can take an organization to
newer heights and be successful in an industry. Good practices in an organization encourages
employees to improve their performance as well as reward them for delivering such efforts
which, as a result, contributes in the growth of the company. These strategies help in engaging
working to perform in materializing the vision of the company. The workers become more
enthusiastic rather than being passive or indifferent towards the work that they do. They start
taking up responsibilities while being accountable for the same which helps in bringing positive
results (Green et al. 2009). Reward encourages the employees to push their limits and put in their
best efforts. The employees feel more valued and when it is assured to them that the employees
will not be subjected to exploitation. This helps in building loyalty. It should be ensured that an
organization maintains transparency with the employees which builds a sense of belongingness
and therefore are motivated to focus on the collective good.
Good business practices and effective strategic measures can often can fail to yield
successful results when the implementation is not done properly. Implementation is very
essential to build a cultural cohesiveness in workplace. A gap between expectation and
performance often act as a factor which diminishes the chances of success. External factors can
also operate as barriers (Green et al. 2009). An organization might implement good practices and
strategies to build an effective management to uphold the organization but the external factors
which operate within an industry might pose limitations to reach success.

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EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
However, good practices are the keys to success for any organization but proper
implementation should be ensured in order to meet successful results.

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EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
References
Green, R., Agarwal, R., Van, R.J., Bloom, N., Boedker, C., Sampson, D., Gollan, P., Toner, P.,
Tan, H. and Brown, P.J., 2009. Management Matters in Australia: Just how productive are we?.
McAlpine, K. and Roberts, S., 2017. The future of trade unions in Australia. Chris White Online.