The Work and Employment Relationship: Unilever Stakeholder Analysis

This report examines the critical role of employee relations within Unilever, analyzing their impact on various stakeholders. It begins with an introduction to employee relations and highlights their value, emphasizing the importance of a positive work environment and collaborative relationships. The report then delves into the fundamentals of employment law, outlining the rights, duties, and obligations of both employees and employers. It provides examples of mechanisms for managing employment relationships, particularly in the context of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers solutions such as effective communication and feedback. A key component of the report is a stakeholder analysis, categorizing stakeholders based on their power and interest in the company's operations, and discussing the positive and negative impacts of employee relations on these stakeholders. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the significance of fostering strong employee relations for organizational success. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find a wealth of past papers and solved assignments.

BSc (Hons) Business Management (Top
up)
BMP6005
The Work and Employment Relationship
Assessment 1
How employee relations can influence the
behaviour of
different stakeholders
Submitted by:
Name:
ID:
Content
1

Introduction 3
An statement of the value and benefits of employee relations in
application along with explanation of the fundamentals of
employment law 3
Explain certain types of duties, rights and obligations of employee
and well as of employer working within the company. Also explain
several mechanisms for managing relationship of employment and
justified solution by providing organisational examples.
5
Elaborate stakeholder analysis for the company along with
stakeholder engagement analysis and explain how contribution can
support positive employment relationships. 7
Analysis of positive as well as negative impact over employee
relations on various stakeholders 8
Conclusion 9
References 11
2

Introduction
The relationship among the employee with its employers and other team
member working within the organisation is considered as Employee relation
(Chaudhary and Akhouri, 2018). The organisation comprises of employees having
good and positive attitude towards each other, which helps management in
achieving its goals & objectives effectively. The good relationship could also be
maintained by developing collaborative relation with each other. The particular report
will emphasis upon the relationship of employee with each other in context to
Unilever. The William Lever was the founder of Unilever, which was founded in 1929
dealing in consumer products. This reports includes the importance of having a
effective relation with employee present within the organisation. Along with the
fundamentals of employment law. The rights, duties and obligations of employees as
well as employer are also discussed. Further the stakeholder analysis along with its
positive and negative impact on employees are discussed.
A statement of the value and benefits of employee
relations in application along with explanation of the
fundamentals of employment law
The organizations comprise of certain employees which are having distinguish
behaviour. This is why its important to maintain a good and valuable relationship with
each other otherwise chances of conflicts arises (Duthler and Dhanesh, 2018). The
organizations get lot of benefits by having an effective relation with employees, some
of them are stated below - Employee loyalty – The employees become loyal when the organisation is
able to provide a positive working environment and culture to them. By having
a good relationship among each other they will develop habit of helping each
other which is important to accomplish the given task. The workforce of loyal
employees in Unilever is able to creates a positive impact over whole
organisation and are achieving its set goals effectively. Boosting Motivation – The motivation level of employees keeps on
enhancing by having a good relations and connection with its team members
along with whole organisation. The flow of effective communication takes
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places within Unilever by having a good relation among employees. They
collectively make efforts to perform task which motivates employees to put
extra efforts for the assigned task. Resolving conflicts – By having a good relation among each other the
changes of conflicts among employees can be avoided. With this, if the
situation of conflict arises then employees will concern with each other and
solve the issues. They are able to resolve the conflict due to good relation
they have with each other. The higher authorities of Unilever does not show
involvement in resolving any conflicts because of the good employee relation
with each other as they believe that they will resolve it at their own level. Building trust and confidence – The employees are able to develop trust
among each other by having a good relation with employees. They feel free to
share opinions and makes an effective decision upon it. The confidence level
also enhances as they are able to express themselves without any fear. The
employees of Unilever are having a good relationship with each other. They
feel free to share their though which develops trust and confidence among
each other which is necessary to produce a better output.
Employment law
The employment law in UK is being framed by keeping the benefits of both
employer and employee in mind (Freeman, Harrison and Zyglidopoulos, 2018).
These laws do not exploit interest of any workforce working within the organisation.
All the necessary holidays and leaves are considered at the time of making
employment laws such as dismissal holidays, maternity leaves, festival leaves and
so on. With this, each and every employee are provided with the fair wages, any kind
of discrimination has not made at the time of framing employment law. It is also
being mentioned that organisation have to provide a healthy and hygienic
environment to employees. The safety of employee while working within the
organisation is also the responsibility of organisation (A Comprehensive List of
Employment Legislation in the UK, 2020). The Employment law which are being
followed by Unilever are as follows - Equality Act, 2010 – As per the Equality Act, the fair and equal treatment
should be provided to every employee present within the organisation (Hur,
Kim and Kim, 2018). Any kind of discrimination on the basis of age, class,
religion, colour or gender should not be made within the organisation for any
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employee. The management of Unilever emphasises more on skills and
capabilities of employees and as per it they provide ample of growth
opportunities to them.
 Health and Safety at Work, 1974 – This act discusses that the employees
should be provided with the healthy and safe workplace. To take care of
hygiene factor is also responsibility of organisation. This is why, Unilever is
being involved in providing medial as well as insurance facilities to employees
to make them feel motivated.
By following these laws, the employees feel motivated and are able to
generate more revenue for the company. Thus, the organisations should effectively
follow the laws imposed by legislative bodies.
Explain certain types of duties, rights and obligations of
employee and well as of employer working within the
company. Also explain several mechanisms for managing
relationship of employment and justified solution by
providing organisational examples.
Rights of employers
 The employer can assign the work to any employee whom they want and and
also they can expect to generate more and effective output (Loureiro, Romero
and Bilro, 2020). The management of Unilever assign the work as per the
capabilities of employees and then monitors the output produced by them. The employer have right to pay fair wages to its workforce which can satisfy
needs of employees. Unilever is induce in paying fair salaries to its employees
though which they can feel satisfied and retain for longer duration.
Duties of employers
 The employers have to take care of employees’ safety and hygiene. It is their
duty to provide such environment in order to enhance productivity of
employees. Unilever may sure to provide hygienic environment to employees
and make them feel satisfied.
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 If any kind of discrimination or unethical practices are to be seen within the
organisation, then its duty of employers to take action against it. Thus,
Unilever terminate who so ever is found performing such activities.
Responsibility of employers
 The employers are responsible for providing an effective training for
employee. The human resource department of Unilever timely conducts an
effective training sessions in order to enhance productivity and efficiency of its
workforce (Markovic and Bagherzadeh, 2018). The resources required by employee for continuing its work in an organised
manner, it is duty of employer to make it available. Unilever is proactive in
providing required resources to its workforce.
Rights of employees
 The employee has the right that they can't work in an organisation for more
than 48 hours in a week. Unilever may sure to provide flexible timing to its
workforce. The right of employees that they should get equal opportunities without
making any discrimination.
Duties of employees
 The employees should may sure to provide necessary information to its
management on time which can affect working of organisation. This is why
Unilever delivers this information at the time of joining. The employee should keep precautions against their safety and hygiene.
Responsibility of employees
 It is responsibility of employees to keep all the information of organisation
confidential and does not share can internal news with anyone. The employees should be responsible for performing the assign task on given
timeline. Thus, employees over Unilever may sure of all its responsibilities.
Various mechanisms for managing the employment relationship
With the arise in situation of Covid – 19 it was quite mismanaging able for the
organisations to make an effective communication with its whole organisation
(Samimi, Cortes, Anderson and Herrmann, 2020). The culture of work from home
was started and employees were not able to interact with each other properly which
is total effecting performance of employees. Thus, the output of Unilever was badly
effected as their productivity keeps on declining. The certain mechanisms which can
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be used by Unilever in order to manage effective relationship among employees are
as follows -
 The most effective solution to resolve conflict is to have an effective
communicate among each other. Thus, the use of digital tools for
communicating or use of video call applications where popularly use by
Unilever for reducing chances of conflicts and enhancing productivity.
 The management of Unilever is also involved in taking timely feedbacks form
the employees for analysing and evaluation their actual working condition.
With this, if the employee is facing any hurdle then also they can interact with
them and try to resolve them.
 By conducting effective sessions employees feel motivated and also they are
able to learn quality of team work which is essential for good employee
relationship.
Elaborate stakeholder analysis for the company along with
stakeholder engagement analysis and explain how
contribution can support positive employment
relationships.
The persons who are involved in the operations of organisation and shows its
interest towards it are termed as stakeholders (Shen and Zhang, 2019). The
stakeholders’ analysis is conducted with the help of matrix which have four
quadrants. The analysis of those quadrants are stated below -
 High power, high interest – The stakeholder belonging to this type of
quadrant have high power with them along with this they are much interested
towards the operations or activity conducted within organisation. If the
organisation is performing well then they are the only one who are feels
satisfied. The Broad of directors of Unilever and its main chairpersons are the
one who belongs to this quadrant.
 High power, low interest – The stakeholder belonging to such quadrant
have high level of power with them but shows less interest. The employees of
Unilever belong to this quadrant as they are more focused towards getting
salary. They do not show their involvement in any organizational activities till
they are getting benefited from it.
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 Low power, high interest – The stakeholders belonging to low power and
high interest quadrant have less power with them but they show high interest
towards company. When Unilever planned to conduct any event the
customers have least power with them but shows their high range of interest
and makes organisation feels motivated.
 Low power, low interest – The stakeholders belonging to such quadrant
have low power with them also are least interested. The suppliers of Unilever
belong to this category as they do not care about the profit and loss of the
company. They are just focused towards providing services and generating
revenue through it.
Analysis of positive as well as negative impact over
employee relations on various stakeholders.
The most important as well as important stakeholder of the Unilever is its workforce,
with efforts of those employee’s organisation is able to attain its goals and make
growth in its businesses (Stone, Cox and Gavin, 2020). The relations of employees
with each other and management have the power to impact working of organisation
either positively or negatively. The bonding or relationship of employees determines
effectiveness of output produced by them along with the hurdles that may arise. The
analysis of stakeholder with its employee’s relations are as follows -
Positive Impacts
 The retention rate of employees increases by having a good and healthy
relations with employees. The employees of Unilever are enable to retain its
workforce for a longer duration of time along with boosting confidence and
productivity of organization as well as employees. The strong relationship of employees with each other results in having a
positive and stress free working culture. The management of Unilever
regularly conducts curriculum activities which can engage its workforce and
they feel relaxed. With also helps in improving the level of productivity as
employees feel energetic.
Negative Impacts
 The employees will lose interest on the work performed by them by having a
bad relationship with employees. Unilever also tries to keep environment
positive so that employees does not lose its interest over its work. Also they
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keep on taking feedback from its workforce so that they can check either
employees are feeling positive or negative towards their work assigned to
them.
 The employees do not feel comfortable for having a negative working culture
and having ineffective working relationship with its workforce. The negative
working environment can be created due to certain reasons such as
ineffective communication, diversified workforce, organisational politics and
many more. The supervisors or higher level of authorities of Unilever are
engaged in making efforts in direction to influence employees to work
together. By this employee will feel comfortable in sharing their thoughts and
they will be able to produce output as desired by its management.
Form the above evaluation of negative and positive factor it has being
analyses that the performance, productivity, satisfaction level and retention rate of
employees keeps on improving by having good relations with other members of
organisation (Zhong, Ren and Song, 2022). With this, conflicts among employees do
not take place and if this situation arises it will be easy to resolve it. By having a poor
relationship with employees the retain rate keeps on declining because they will not
feel comfortable in such working culture. The employees are not even able to share
ideas or through which negatively effect their performance and output of
organisation. They also start losing their interest on the work which they are
performing as they do not feel working culture comfortable. The changes of having
disputes also increases as they having an ineffective working culture.
Conclusion
From the above report, it has been concluded that providing an effective and
healthy employee relation is very crucial in order to enhance productivity of
companies. Unilever is being involved in improving relationship with its workforce
due to which the retention rate of employees increases. With this employee become
loyal as well as starts feeling confident by having a healthy employee retention. With
the help of certain employment act induced by organisation within its environment
they are able to grab attention of more employees as their brand value is improving.
There are certain duties, roles and responsibilities which an employee as well as
employer both have to follow in order to achieve goals of organisation. The
stakeholders present within the organisation are also ranked differently as per the
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power given to them and the interest they show towards organisation. The
stakeholders could have to face both negative as well as positive impact due to
employee relation. The employees who are getting negative working culture will not
be feel satisfied and the employee who are being provided with positive working
culture will also stand out in organisation and produce well.
References
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Chaudhary, R. and Akhouri, A., 2018. CSR perceptions and employee creativity:
Examining serial mediation effects of meaningfulness and work
engagement. Social Responsibility Journal.
Duthler, G. and Dhanesh, G.S., 2018. The role of corporate social responsibility
(CSR) and internal CSR communication in predicting employee
engagement: Perspectives from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Public
relations review, 44(4), pp.453-462.
Freeman, R.E., Harrison, J.S. and Zyglidopoulos, S., 2018. Stakeholder theory:
Concepts and strategies. Cambridge University Press.
Hur, W.M., Kim, H. and Kim, H.K., 2018. Does customer engagement in corporate
social responsibility initiatives lead to customer citizenship behaviour? The
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commitment. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental
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Loureiro, S.M.C., Romero, J. and Bilro, R.G., 2020. Stakeholder engagement in co-
creation processes for innovation: a systematic literature review and case
study. Journal of Business Research, 119, pp.388-409.
Markovic, S. and Bagherzadeh, M., 2018. How does breadth of external stakeholder
co-creation influence innovation performance? Analyzing the mediating roles
of knowledge sharing and product innovation. Journal of Business
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Samimi, M., Cortes, A.F., Anderson, M.H. and Herrmann, P., 2020. What is strategic
leadership? Developing a framework for future research. The Leadership
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Shen, J. and Zhang, H., 2019. Socially responsible human resource management
and employee support for external CSR: roles of organizational CSR climate
and perceived CSR directed toward employees. Journal of Business
Ethics, 156(3), pp.875-888.
Stone, R.J., Cox, A. and Gavin, M., 2020. Human resource management. John
Wiley & Sons.
Zhong, X., Ren, L. and Song, T., 2022. Beyond market strategies: How multiple
decision-maker groups jointly influence underperforming firms’ corporate
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Online
A Comprehensive List of Employment Legislation in the UK, 2020. [Online] Available
through: <https://croner.co.uk/resources/employment-law/legislation-list/>
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