Employment Relations and Human Resource Management - Essay Example

and Section # of Human resources department or the personnel department at any firm is perhaps one of the most important firms in the modern day and age because people have been identified as a resource which can become a core competency of a firm if it is developed and managed according to the needs of the firm. Human resources is comparatively a new concept in management sciences because it was not deemed to be as important in the initial stages but as the corporate sector on the whole has grown the importance of having a department was much more prominent (Robert, 2007). Ever since the need for the department has become prominent, it has made great strides and has evolved completely, the functions that we see any human resources department performing today are very different from the functions that it performed 2 or 3 decades ago, this is ample evidence to judge the importance of the role that human resources departments now perform in any given company. Employment relations means the relationship that exists between the employer and the employees and the factors that affect this bond are some institutional factors which would be discussed in detail later on in the paper, these factors are basically the economic, political and the cultural factors and how they affect the relationship of the employer and the employee and the role of the human resources department in tackling the various issues that may arise due to the impact of these factors is looked into in detail. The employment relation also looks into the rights that the employees have over the employer and the rights that the employer have over the employee, it also defines what needs to be done in different situations when a breach has been made by either party. INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS Economic factors can also have an effect on the employment relation of the firm, for example in the micro economic context if the demand for the firms products goes down rapidly due to substitutes being now available at a cheaper market price then the firm would have to react to this negative factor in the environment and reply by having either lower prices or higher quality goods, but if the price has to be decreased some of the labor might have to be laid off and that can really hurt the relationship between the firm and its employees. If a labor union is involved then it would definitely protest against laying off for this reason and might threaten to halt all labor activities if the decision of the firm is not taken back. These are some decisions that the firm has to make very carefully and take the union into full confidence before announcing any such decision. On the other hand macroeconomic factors can also have a bearing on the firm and its relationship with the employees or trade unions, if the inflation level is extremely high and the company finds that it needs to cut down on costs or close a wing down then the same problems would ensue as those that have been mentioned above, but with measures such as negotiations and direct dialogue between the company and the trade unions such barriers can be overcome but there might be times when the issue would have to be resolved by putting the foot down, in that case the firm might have to pay a hefty price in the short term but in the long run it would be beneficial for the firm (Ed. 2008). Employees of any company have the right to join a labor union and that labor union has the right to represent that employee. Demand factors may reduce the facilities that are given to employees by the employer as this would translate into lower costs for the employee, this might be an alternative solution for laying off people and there have been examples where labor unions have accepted or brokered such deals where the whole labor force would accept a lower wage when economic conditions are bad so that no one from the organization is laid off. Another factor is the political scenario or the political situation of the country that the firm is operating in, it is a very crucial factor because political stability is required by the firm to operate to its maximum potential and deliver the highest benefits to its stakeholders. Some companies or the corporate have close ties with political parties, as they assist in providing funding for election campaign of the political parties, if the party that the company was supporting wins an election then the results would be extremely good for the company as it would be able to lobby and get the desired results for itself. On the other hand if some other political party wins then the company might have to pay a high price as it would not be able to have the same leverage available to it as in the previous scenario. This could hurt the firm's relations with the political parties and it can have adverse affects on the firm, if the general environment of the political situation is not good then the firm would face a situation where it would not be possible for it to make the maximum use of its resources. Cultural factors are very important in determining the employee relationship because the culture of where the company is operating needs to be followed because if it is not being followed then the employees would not be totally satisfied with the company and that could leave the company in a troublesome spot. Cultural harmony is very important because if people do not operate with in the culture that they expect to they might want to leave because of the negative feelings that they have acquired and this high rate of turnover can be very expensive for the company in monetary terms as well. The negative publicity that the firm acquires through word of mouth is also going to tarnish the image of the firm in the employee market and that could be a very difficult situation for the company as it may find its self short of labor because nobody is particularly interested in joining the firm. Although these 3 factors are different, they are pretty much related and have effects on each other so they cannot be studies totally in isolation of each other, these institutional factors can be the deciding factor between a successful company and an unsuccessful one. INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE The world today is a global village and it is interconnected in more than one ways, we might not always see the interconnection but they do exist in one form or the other and businesses that realize these interconnections are the most successful ones today (Ed, 2008). The 2007 recession or the economic meltdown that occurred in the United States of America had a impact on most nations of the world and businesses worldwide faced an adverse situation because of the low demand and there were layoffs all around the world, human resources departments need to recognize this fact and accommodate and plan accordingly. Economic factors such as tariffs and other duties can prove to be quite a problem for firms all around the world and this needs to be considered and given its due importance. Different cultures exist all around the world and when dealing at an international level, because cultural clashes can exist and employees need to be properly trained in an international context. Part of this training can be done through case studies of different cultures where different cases can be discussed and people can be explicitly told what they can expect of different cultures. Another training that can be undertaken is that there can be different role plays by different people who belong to different cultures where they would act out distinct features of their culture or another training tool that is used is the audio visual tool, where employees are shown videos of different cultures and then they discuss the culture with each other and point out the main features regarding that culture. Political situations vary all across the globe and there are can be different kinds of political situations all around the world and these need to be taken into context, this can only be done when there is a department looking at such situations and is catering to the needs of the employees and can keep the company's interests in mind when making business deals all across the globe. As a human resources manager one must keep in mind that the responsibility of the employees is also the responsibility of the company and hence employees should not be sent to places where there might be considerable turmoil or when a situation develops in some country where personnel of the company are posted already, there should be a plan to ensure their safety in that very region or an evacuation plan should be in place. (Bray, 2008) BIBLIOGRAPHY Rose, E. (2008) Employment Relations. Financial Times Prentice Hall. Palmer, G. (1997) Employment Relations. Palgrave McMillan Australia Cooper, B., Bray, M., Waring, P., Cooper, R. (2008) Employment relations: theory and practice. McGraw Hill. Mathis, R. Jackson, J. (2007) Human Resource Management. Read More