Tuesday, December 1, 2020

REWARDS AND HINDRANCES OF TRADE UNIONS AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONS



REWARDS AND HINDRANCES

Mainly the Trade Unions represent employees and work more towards attracting interest of the employees by winning employee rights (Zhu, Warner, & Feng, 2011). An actively engaged Trade Union pave the way to create more benefits & rewards to the employees compared to few hindrances encounter.

Table 1: Rewards and Hindrances of TUs


REWARDS

HINDRANCES

Trade Unions represents the employees to bargain (Visser, 2015) for higher wages (Counter-balance monopsony)

In different levels of the skills of the employees, Trade unions always pushes for higher wages that leads to high tendency for unemployment (Bartley, Ferrie, & Scott, 2006) in the competitive labour market (Unemployment)

Assist to implement new working practices with more effective and improving labour productivity (Hanson, 2016) (Productivity deals)

Claiming higher wages through strong unions may cause inflation (Cost-push inflation) (Schwarzer, 2018)

Trade unions improves the communication between employees and the management (Amir, et al., 2018) and represent the interest of parties (Co-operation)

Unions may lead the employees for strikes (Hodder, Williams, Kelly, & McCarthy, 2017) which decreases the productivity by creating idle labour hours (Time lost to strike)

Represent the employees (Regalia & Regini, 2018) at employment tribunals (Represent employees)

Can create confrontational attitudes which leads for disputes (Adamczyk, 2018) and loss of morale (Confrontation)

Improves motivation and productivity (Lehndorff, Dribbusch, & Schulten, 2018) of employees by claiming higher wages (Efficiency wage theory)

 

WORKING ON EMPLOYEE RELATIONS AND INTENSION OF THE PROCESS

In any organization, generally the employees together with the management expect positive relationships in performing the duties in collective platforms (Poon, 2019). Strengthening the employee relations improves the efficiency, productivity and brings many advantages towards the company objectives (Shahreki, 2019).

Employer, Trade Unions, Government and the other beneficiaries of the companies workout for the best to put forward the emotional, contractual, physical and practical exertions to strengthen the positive relationships among the employees to ultimately harvest the maximum output (Shahzad, Farrukh, Kanwal, & Sakib, 2018).Further, the above stated units perform as advisors, compensators for employee issues and work as meditators to develop mutual respect and trust while working on agreed policies to maintain transparency in all HR activities (Mondy & Martocchio, 2016) (Poon, 2019).

Methodologies of Employee Relations

~ Corrective Action Methodology

~ Supportive Action Methodology

~ Rule & Policy Interpretation Methodology

APPROACH IN IMPROVING EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

The companies promote communication, valuing the employees though recognition, appreciating and rewarding the employees, inspiring and equally treating every employee and by training and offering career development paths (Sigot & Vero, 2020). Sharing the company’s vision which viewed as a common target and making the employees feel that the workforce is a valued asset in achieving the ultimate vision (Poon, 2019).

THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Strong employee relations play a key role in achieving a company’s success and rationalize the sustainability of a company (Anthony-McMann, Ellinger, Astakhova, & Halbesleben, 2017). Employee relations grabs the best efforts of the employees while securing the development and growth coupled with productivity for work efficiency of the labor force. This very particular relation reduces conflicts and improves the approachability of the employees while increasing the revenues and employee loyalty through delegation of work with less hesitations in working environment(Zahid, Khan, Tariq, & Azeem, 2017).


References

Adamczyk, S. (2018). "Inside the trade union family: The ‘two worlds’ within the European Trade Union Confederation.". European Journal of Industrial Relations 24(2), 179-192.

Amir, Z., Popa, A., Tamminga, S., Yagil, D., Munir, F., & De Boer, A. (2018). Employer’s management of employees affected by cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer, 681-684.

Anthony-McMann, P., Ellinger, A. D., Astakhova, M., & Halbesleben, J. R. (2017). "Exploring different operationalizations of employee engagement and their relationships with workplace stress and burnout.". In Human Resource Development Quarterly, 28, no. 2 (pp. 163-195).

Bartley, M., Ferrie, J., & Scott, M. M. (2006). Health and labour market disadvantage: unemployment, non-employment, and job insecurity. Social determinants of health, 78-96.

Hanson, C. (2016). A guide to the Thatcher government's employment reforms. In Taming the trade unions . London: MacMillan Academic and Professional Ltd.

Hodder, A., Williams, M., Kelly, J., & McCarthy, N. (2017). "Does strike action stimulate trade union membership growth?.". British Journal of Industrial Relations, 165-186.

Lehndorff, S., Dribbusch, H., & Schulten, T. (2018). Rough waters: European trade unions in a time of crises. Brussels, Belgium: European Trade Union Institute (ETUI).

Mondy, R. W., & Martocchio, J. J. (2016). Human resource management. UK: Pearson.

Poon, T. S.-C. (2019). Independent workers: Growth trends, categories, and employee relations implications in the emerging gig economy. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 31(1), 63-69.

Regalia, I., & Regini, M. (2018, Jan 02). South European Society and Politics. "Trade unions and employment relations in Italy during the economic crisis." 23, no. 1, pp. 63-79.

Schwarzer, J. A. (2018). Retrospectives: Cost-Push and Demand-Pull Inflation: Milton Friedman and the" Cruel Dilemma". Journal of economic perspectives, 195-210.

Shahreki, J. (2019). "Electronic Human Resource Management and Employee Efficiency: Test of the Mediating Role of Impersonal Trust.". Journal of Soft Computing and Decision Support Systems 6.4 , 20-29.

Shahzad, I. A., Farrukh, M., Kanwal, N., & Sakib, A. (2018). Decision-making participation eulogizes probability of behavioral output; job satisfaction, and employee performance. World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development. 

Sigot, J.-C., & Vero, J. (2020). Subcontracting chain and workers’ participation in continuing vocational training: findings from the French, quantitative, linked employer–employee survey of training and career paths. International Journal of Training and Development, 24(3), 283-299.

Visser, J. (2015). Data Base on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts, 1960-2014 (ICTWSS). Netherlands: Institute for Advanced Labour Studies AIAS.

Zahid, S., Khan, E., Tariq, S., & Azeem, K. (2017). "Building Employee Relationships through Corporate Social Responsibility." . KASBIT Business Journals 10, no. 1, 120-141.

Zhu, Y., Warner, M., & Feng, T. (2011). Employment relations “with Chinese characteristics”: The role of trade unions in China. International Labour Review, 127-143.















24 comments:

  1. Role of Trade Unions:
    The trade union plays many roles in promoting the welfare of its members. For instance, trade unions play the role of bargaining power, minimize discrimination of any kind, sense of participation of the members, platform of self expression, betterment of employee relations (Employee and employee relationship, employee management, management and trade unions and trade union and other stakeholders of the organization) and sense of job security of Its members. However, they are reasons why union presence may have lower labour productivity, these are unions maybe associated with restrictive work practices, Industrial action may have an adverse impact, and finally trade union firms may invest less as compared to non union firms. Similarly, reasons why union presence may raise labour productivity are firms responses to union relative wage effects may result in higher labour productivity, unions may play a monitoring role on behalf of the employer and unions can stop exploitation of labour resulting in improved productivity. Restrictive work practices lower, labour productivity for instance in cases whereby there would be certain policies for overtime so that the effort is restricted during normal working hours in order to boost total pay through overtime. Industrial action may lower output or performance where it occurs, but the output might be made good by overtime. Therefore, such action or the threat of it causes uncertainty about output level and this tends to reduce the effectiveness of resources devoted to marketing and distribution. Hence a company will be impaired if delivery dates are not met(Seapei, 2011).

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    1. Productivity and business plans failing to meet internal deadlines lead to a company that is off course from organizations projected growth and once a company is off track, particularly if the series of missed deadlines cannot be explained by unexpected and temporary factors. Therefore the employee productivity through a happy employee is very much important to meet dead lines without hindrances(Haider, 2015).

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  2. Hi Kalum, agree with you The union plays many roles in promoting the welfare of its members. For example, unions play a role in the bargaining power, minimizing any form of discrimination, enhancing the sense of participation of members, the platform of self-expression, improving employee relationships and the sense of job security of its members. However, the presence of trade unions leads to lower labour product productivity (Josephine, 2011).

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    1. Ranga, lower productivity takes place when the employees are disheartened of the grievances, however an effective trade union can win the grievances to make a productive team of employees to the organization(Reyneri, 2001).

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  3. In relation to their union membership, all workers who are trade union members have such rights. An employee, for instance, has the right not to be disqualified for wanting to join or remain a member of a trade union. An employer can face allegations of automatic wrongful dismissal if these rights are found to have been violated. The key purposes of trade unions are covered by this subject, the Information and Consultation Regulations 2004 on Workers.

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    1. Agreed MAlinga, Union membership must be made up mainly of workers and is independent of any employer, therefore the union membership is freely available on the discretion of the worker(Kelly, 2015).

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  4. As per Gennard & Judge (2005), “employee relations is a study of the rules, regulations, and agreements by which employees are managed both as individuals and as a collective group, the priority given to the individual as opposed to the collective relationship varying from company to company depending upon the values of management. As such it is concerned with how to gain people’s commitment to the achievement of an organization’s business goals and objectives in a number of different situations.”

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    1. Agreeing with few of the points highlighted, the norm is "a collective voice is always powerful than an individual voice", therefore, the effectiveness of forwarding the needs/negotiations through a union is effective than an individual effort(Vandaele, 2018).

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  5. Degree to which employees’ feel that there is a climate of trust within the organization would impact the organizational structure, level of communication, job satisfaction as well as employee commitment (Zeffane & Connell, 2003). The creation of climate of trust is specifically essential between the managers and employees in order to generate positive results (Whitener, Brodt, Korsgaard & Werner, 1998). Further, in organizations, senior management needs the trust of its members to maintain direction over the process of implementing strategic decisions (Korsgaard, Schweiger, & Sapienza, 1995). Hence, it could also be noted that a study of trust with senior management and employee commitment would create novel insights as a factor affecting employee commitment.

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    1. Yes Chamila,ddding more to the comments, in an organization when the trust is in place, each individual in the oragnization becomes stronger, because each individual is part of an effective, cohesive group and when people trust one another, the group can achieve truly meaningful goals without drawbacks (Ravi, et al., 2011).

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  6. According to Subramanian,Kalpathy (2017) that Employer Employee relationship of business organizations and how companies resolve the inherent dilemma associated with the conflicting adaptive pressures associated with short-run efficiency and long-run effectiveness. Business Environment shapes the organizational strategy and since the environment is not static, adaptive pressures on organizations to continuously change and modify structures and consequent impact on employee and employer relationship can be appreciated.

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    1. Yes Isuru, Organizations set new rules and promote changes for a reason, whether that reason is safety, ethics, fairness, quality, or efficiency and therefore employees must respect same and embrace the changes to the fullest extent possible to operate in the long run(DeLoach, 2002).

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  7. Employer and employee or labor unions are o the opposite sides of the bargaining table and usually represent divergent interests, so their relationship can sometimes be highly adversarial. Both employers and unions can gain more out of their interactions if they improve their working relationship.
    Management Vs Union Needs Mutual Respect.- Organizational management and employee unions work better together if they both acknowledge that the other has a legitimate and valued purpose. As the organization needs a happy, healthy and productive workforce to meet its business goals and employees need a place to work, it is obvious that employers and employee unions are interdependent.
    Regular Communication is Key – If the employer is in constant communication with the employee union and involves them in formulating the best strategies to handle such market disturbances, the employer and union can maintain a good, conflict-free working relationship.
    Focus on Proactivity – This can boost the employee union’s confidence in the working relationship and prevent them from exerting undue pressure on the employer.
    Teamwork is Dreamwork – A successful organization is one that grows and expands and offers better terms and conditions to its employees. Employers and employee unions can work together to discuss issues affecting the business, the employers and the employees. Thereafter, they can jointly decide on the strategies they will adopt to support the business in the short-and long-term and the most effective way to achieve the best interests of all parties involved.(Mayhew. R 2020)

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    1. Yes Melissa, there is a trend in strategic management towards more collaborative efforts between people at different organizations thus creating less disputes between employees and employer which will eventually create a happy work place with expected productivity(Jiang, 2009).

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  8. Trade union can play an important and positive role in enhancing organization competitiveness through facilitating the implementation of High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) (Gill, 2009) . Trade unions can play an important role in removing barriers to the adoption of HPWPs by advocating long‐term investment in change that is positive for the firm (Gill et al.,2013

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    1. Yes, Asanka, unions play an important role and unionized workers typically earn more than their non-union counterparts facilitating high performance through the unions, and good labor-management relationships are more important to a company's bottom line(Doucouliagos, et al.,2017).

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  9. Ethical Trading Initiative (2010) states that ,Employers around the world understand that working with a recognized trade union can bring many benefits to their company. In particular, trade unions can help employers to:
    (a) Build trust among the workforce
    (b) Ensure workplaces are safe
    (c) Audit non-compliance with labour codes
    (d) Improve staff retention
    (e) Make better business decisions
    (f) Promote equality
    (g) Provide access to learning and skills
    (h) Save money
    (i) Increase productivity

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    1. Yes Madura, while agreeing with your comments, noteworthy to state that unions also help with safety issues, so that fewer days are lost as a result of work-related injuries and occupational illnesses and organize training and development, including access to government funds and support via union learning representatives(Harland, et al., 2005).

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  10. While agreeing with your statement it is further to mentioned that according to Armstrong (2014) employee relations policies express the philosophy of the organization on what sort of relationships are wanted between management and employees and, where necessary, their unions, and how the pay–work bargain should be managed. A social partnership policy will aim to develop and maintain a positive, productive, cooperative and trusting climate of employee relations.

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    1. Yes Sohan, moreover, employee relations delivers a decent employee experience in the workplace while positively impacts the motivation levels and improves the graph of employee satisfaction(Gregory, 2011).

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  11. According to (Fossum and McCall, 1997),conflicts over employee benefits are sharpened by the fact that social as well as economic issues are often central—health care, living standards for retirees, leisure time, child care, and other complex issues. To further address concerns with labor costs and to provide greater incentives for employees, contingent forms of monetary, non-wage compensation have also increased in importance in recent decades.

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    1. Adding more to your comments, Conflicts are incredibly useful as a creative, fine-tuning instrument to the employees own ideas and hearing the perceptions of other employees will help to mold and clarify the original idea or either will make more clearer and the conflict will open the eyes of the employees to new perspectives towards a better result(DeChurch & Marks, 2001).

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  12. The starting point of employment relationship is the Pay-Work Bargain. As per Marsden (2007), the core of employee relationship comprise of "Zone of acceptance", where employees agree to be directed by employer. This exists at different levels in an organization (Armstrong, 2013).

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    1. Definitely, employers are more successful in motivating employees when employee decisions are relevant, appropriate and acceptable in the particular organizational context and therefore educating workers on what is expected and what will receive in exchange, will increase the effectiveness of the organization's reward system(Govindarajulu & Daily, 2004).

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