Partnership in Employee Relation - Term Paper Example

Employee Relations Together, the management and the workers can only put an organization on the path of success with their knowledge, skill, hard work etc, etc. Success in the sense, they will contribute their part for optimum production, profit, etc, by forming and working as successful work teams. When one speaks or thinks about an industry or an office or an organization, the ‘mental picture’, one visualizes is of machines, smoke outlets, sirens etc, etc (in case of industries) and papers, computers, cabins etc, etc (in case of offices). But, the crucial thing that the mind ‘crops out’ is the picture of a working human. Without delving deeply into why mind always associate industry and office with non-living things, the point is, humans are the crucial things who can put an organization in a cruise mode in terms of production, sales, profits, etc. So, the workers only form the crucial ‘cog’ in the running of the organization. Only if these crucial workers are recruited or staffed optimally through an effective recruitment process, the organization can achieve optimum success. Even with automation and computerization happening in every segments of organization, all the important processes inside the organization mainly rests with the humans. Even though, all the important processes starts and ends with the leader or the management team, the workers will also be included, as part of “successful work teams” or “Partnership for Progress”. “Partner for Progress” is the organizational term given to the UK government policy which spelled out how employees should work in partnership as teams for the successful functioning of the organizations. That is, since late 1990s, the U.K. government has laid more emphasis on the concept of ‘Partnership for Progress’ and ‘Partnership Working’ and importantly selected it as the preferred model of UK employment relations policy and practice. So, this paper will critically evaluate how the state initiated concept of ‘Partnership’ is implemented in the organization and how it will have an impact on employee relations, promoting partnership as well as derailing partnership. Involving the employees productively and creating partnership . In any organizations, the successful Partnership can be successfully set or established, if the head or the management team of the unit put their thoughts, strategies and also the organizational goals for discussion among the other organisation officers or workers. This way the workers as a form of work teams can be involved productively. That is, the workers can input their gained knowledge and experience in the decision making process. This strategy will have unexpected at the same time favourable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. “Lewin’s change theory (1951, in Murphy, 2006) suggests a bottom up approach, emphasising the necessity of the full participation and involvement of all staff that will be potentially affected by change, in order to increase their likelihood of accepting the change. That is, if the employees are given important responsibilities, they will optimize their mental and physical abilities to complete the given work successfully. As it is a matter of proving oneself among the group of fellow workers, the employees will come up with feasible and effective suggestions, ideas, etc in-group and thereby will incorporate partnership, to help the organizations function effectively. So, involving and allowing co-workers to play a part as work teams will yield optimum results, as it create as well as optimize partnership and thereby performance among the employees. As pointed out by Johnstone, Wilkinson and Ackers (2004) through the case of UK utility company, Energy Co, partnership had been successful, with benefits including improved industrial relations and importantly increased legitimacy of decision making. Successful partnership among the employees can be established successfully, by having an interactive decision making process in the appropriate stages. Organization’s working environment will aid partnership The partnership in working or works teams can be successfully implemented, if the leader or the management team provides a perfect and comfortable working environment for their workers as well as for the Trade union members. That is, if the workers are provided an obstacle free, favourable working environment, it could break all the barriers of communication and importantly will motivate the workers to participate in partnership and not as self-centric individuals. There is evidence to suggest that partnership arrangements and the resultant communication channels can help unions develop a good profile ensuring good communication as well as extend access to members and potential members. (Wills 2004). That is, in the organisation unit, team work and the resultant communication encouraged because face to face interaction as part of the team would surely bring in more ideas and contributions to decision making process. It will be better than an officer or employee calling on the head or superior officers in a closed room and having a closed discussion (but closed discussion is the only option when the situation or the issue is of serious or sensitive nature). Also minimization of the use of status symbols such as private offices, special dining rooms for superiors, etc, would increase opportunities for interaction, which could also contribute to the establishment of work teams or increase partnership in working. That is, these measures will give the lower staff, the feeling that they all are treated equal, irrespective of the salary, experience, etc. According to Taylor’s scientific management tehory employees could be motivated if the leaders or management give or reveal the benefits that could be incurred if they follow the optimal management practices. “…simply alerting workers and employers to the benefits that could be generalised by a scientific approach to management would ensure knowledge became the “master in industry” (Nyland and Heenan, 2005, p. 1359). So, this kind of impartial environment in the organisation unit will make the workers’ stay at the unit, an enjoyable at the same time encouraging experience. Encouraging experience in the sense, they including Trade union members will be able to interact as teams with the heads or superior officers, contributing their thoughts and ideas to the important decisions, thus making the establishment of work teams a success and the government initiative of Partnership in Progress a success. Non-committal attitude could obstacle partnerships Committal attitude is the requirement which is needed for the creation of work teams, but could not be found in many organisations and its various units. That is, the successful partnership among the employees cannot be established when the workers working in the organisation unit show non-committal attitude towards the decision making process. That is, when the workers of the unit become lethargic, self-seeking troublemakers, having many bad attributes under various influence including Trade unions, he/she would not participate in the decision making process with full interest as a team, and will mainly avoid contributing ideas to the process. Actually these types of employees could be the obstacles in the establishment of work teams. That is, apart from not making contribution to the decision making process, they will also derail the decisions that have been made as part of the decision making process, and will eventually lead to the destruction of the team and will block the government initiative of “Partnership in Progress”. That is, they will not work effectively to make the team decisions a success. In those cases, it would be better if the leaders show his/her authority and weeds out these individuals as well as control specific Trade union members, who might be behind this. Goldratt’s theory of Constraints advises the leader to minimize the diversions of the workers and thus focus them on the organizational goals through subordination. This way, the organization could be placed on the path of success. ” Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate non performing individuals in important jobs” (Drucker). So, the committed attitude of the workers or officers is the important organizational requirement for the formation of work teams, but as discussed above workers may not involve themselves in the group decision making process all the time, and this lack of commitment will surely impede formation of partnership among the employees. Trade Union’s mixed role regarding the concept of partnership Organization is a structure with a ‘collage’ of humans doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader, for the benefit of the organization as well as them. These workers will normally be apportioned into different departments by the management for better arrangement or streamlining of work. But, worker on their part will apportion or integrate into entities within the organizations known as unions. The main advantage with these unions is that it gives the employees a kind of group backing fulfilling partnership in another way. When the employees want any benefits or favours from the organization, instead of asking ‘singularly’, if they ask as a group in the form of a union, it will have a strong impact. Also, unions can play a crucial role in negotiating productivity deals for the employees, thereby providing them good salaries and financial benefits. That is, there will be organizations, who will not ethically and aptly ‘share’ the profits with the employees, by not giving good wages and other incentives. In those scenarios, unions can play an optimal role in providing the employees what is due for them exhibiting partnership. “Among employees who see management as unwilling to share power, more than 70 percent say they would vote for a union.” (Casico 2005, p.508). Unions can also safeguard employees from exploitation and other industry related health implications, by upholding the crucial health and safety rules and legislation. For many trade unionists, health and safety had become an extension of collective bargaining. (Beck and Woolfson 2000). They may do it unintentionally or intentionally to garner more profits for the organization or as a cover up for some of their mistakes. But, the disadvantage with unions is that it can indirectly lead to job losses, wrecking the concept of partnership and showing it negatively. That is, if the unions indulge in strikes and other protests with the employees for unfeasible and avoidable reasons, the organization could act tough and suspend or fire the employees, leading to job loss for them. The other negative remark against the union is that they may only consider the interests of its members, disregarding the plight of workers from other unions and also non-unionized workers. That is, they could do self-centric deals with the management behind the backs of the employees, thereby leaving the employees and the concept of partnership in the lurch. Wills (2004) points out how this type of unfair practices were carried out by the Trade unions at Barclays and how the Trade union representatives could not prove to their membership that they did not had any influence ‘behind closed doors regarding certain decision. Similar problems were reported in the Barclays-Unifi agreement. Also, unions sometimes indulge in long strikes or protests and this will affect the productivity as well as profits, even leading to the closure of the organization. That will be a loss to all the stakeholders including the employees thus negatively impacting partnership. Because of these disadvantages of Unions, the concept of partnership is being encouraged by various sectors of the industry from New Labour, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Confederation of British Industry, and even the EU has come up with legislations, to complement this UK government’s initiative. As Upchurch, Richardson and Stewart (2006) points out that how non-union employee representative mechanisms such as partnership is positively influencing on the effectiveness of employee to come up with optimum performance Conclusion Unison of humans into a partnership with an urge to usher an organization into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavour, if the leader or manager of the organization show undaunted and unabated conduct or function. If the government initiative of partnership is incorporated throughout the organization, then the organization would have a successful presence all over the world. That is, with partnership has the main strategy, organisations can first form a good relationship with the Trade Unions. Trade unions for their part should minimize their negative streak and contribute to the partnership. Organisation and its leader can optimize partnership further by productively involving the employees in the decision making process. Although, there will be non-committal attitude from some employees because of negative influence from the Trade unionists, it is up to the organisation and its leaders to optimally tune the employees with good working environment and by productively involving them and thereby facilitating partnership to the maximum. Reference Beck, M. & Woolfson, C, 2000, The regulation of health and safety in Britain: from old Labour to new Labour, Industrial Relations Journal, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 35-50 Casico, W. 2005, Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Work Life, Profits, The McGraw−Hill Companies, New York. Drucker, P, Leadership, viewed on December 9, 2009 http://photos.state.gov/libraries/newzealand/19965/eSpotlite/ESpotlite- Leadership2007.pdf. Johnstone, S., Wilkinson, A and Ackers, P 2004, Partnership paradoxes, a case study of an energy company, Employee Ration, Employee Relations, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 353-376 Lewin, K. 1951, Field Theory in the Social Sciences. New York: Harper & Row, cited in MURPHY, F. (2006) Using change in nursing practice: a case study approach. Journal of Nursing Management, 13(2), 22-25 Nyland, C and Heenan, T 2005, Mary van Kleeck, Taylorism and the control of management Knowledge, Management Decision Vol. 43, no. 10, pp.1358-1374 Upchurch, M., Richardson, M and Stewart, P 2006, Employee representation and partnership in the non-union sector: a paradox of intention? Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 393-410. Wills, J 2004, Trade unionism and partnership in practice; evidence from the Barclays – Unifi agreement, Industrial Relations Journal Vol. 35, No. 4. Read More