Lecture 04:People & Organisations London Metropolitan University MBA Programme || Module Number: MN7181 || Lecturer: Mr Laleen Katagodage || E-Soft batch-14 - Employee Relations

Introduction to 'Employee Relations' 

The term 'employee relations' refers to a company's efforts to manage relationships between employers and employees. An organization with a good employee relations program provides fair and consistent treatment to all employees so they will be committed to their jobs and loyal to the company. Such programs also aim to prevent and resolve problems arising from situations at work. (Mayo E and Gennard J et al., 2002)

According to Armstrong, (2007) employee relations can be define as “Approached and methods adopted by employers to deal with employees either collectively or through their trade unions or individually”.

According to Blyton and Turnbull, (2004) Employee relations is summarized as per the below,

• Work dominates the lives of most men and women.

• The management of employees, both individually and collectively, remains a central feature of organizational life.

• Within organizations a common interest between employer and employee cannot be assumed, willed, or managed into existence.

As explained by Mayo, (1933) the ‘Employee relations' as knows as the term ‘industrial relations’ in more common use.  The question of whether there are genuine differences attached to the meanings and uses of these two terms are briefly examine the issues of nature of employment relationship, whether it is characteristically issued by conflict or compromise, the significance of perspective and the relevance of expectations, interests and the notion of a psychological contract.  You are also introduced to the questions of 

• ·         what creates good industrial or employee relations?
• ·         what is quality of work means to an employee?
• ·        what it looks like and, perhaps even more relevant to make employee satisfaction?
• ·         whether we can measure it in any meaningful sense? 

Gospel H and Palmer G., (1993) an “industrial relations” system and its limitations as a theory of “employee relations”, and, in this context, outline of framework that centers upon the employment relationship between the employees.

The employee relations of individual needs have been identified many years ago by American researchers such as Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939), Maslow (1943) and Herzberg (1966), and which encompass equity and justice, security and safety, recognition of worth and input, and self-fulfillment.

This model of a psychological contract, where fulfilled, provided the means for employees to derive intrinsic as well as extrinsic satisfactions and rewards from their work

  The main objectives of empl0yee relations system are:

1.      To safeguard the interest of labor and management by securing the highest level of mutual understanding and good-will among all those sections in the industry which participate in the process of production.

2.      To avoid industrial conflict or strife and develop harmonious relations, which are an essential factor in the productivity of workers and the industrial progress of a country.

3.      To raise productivity to a higher level in an era of full employment by lessening the tendency to high turnover and frequency absenteeism.

4.      To establish and promote the growth of an industrial democracy based on labor partnership in the sharing of profits and of managerial decisions, so that ban individual’s personality may grow its full stature for the benefit of the industry and of the country as well.

5.      To eliminate or minimize the number of strikes, lockouts and ghettos by providing reasonable wages, improved living and working conditions, said fringe benefits.

6.      To improve the economic conditions of workers in the existing state of industrial managements and political government.

7.      Socialization of industries by making the state itself a major employer

8.      Devolving of a trademarked interest of the workers in the industries in which they are employed.

Conclusion

when people truly loved their employment, it because they were treated like an important part of the team? and probably had an interest in seeing the business succeed, like a stakeholder of the company because of the relationship bond between the employee and the employer as the employee needs are met at their utmost satisfactory level.

Reference

Armstrong, M. (2007). A Handbook of Human Resources Management Practice (10th ed). London: Kogan Page.

 

Blyton P and Turnbull P (1994) The Dynamics of Employee Relations. Basingstoke: Macmillan.  

Blyton P and Turnbull P (2004) The Dynamics of Employee Relations. (3rd edn). Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Gospel H and Palmer G (1993) British Industrial Relations (2nd edn). London: Routledge.

Herzberg F (1966) Work and the Nature of Man. Cleveland, OH: World Publishing Company. 

Maslow A (1943) A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–396.

Mayo, E and Gennard J et al., (2002) Employee Relations. London: CIPD. 

Roethlisberger and Dickson,(1939) Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.