The Relationships between Employer and Employee - Essay Example

? Labour Markets Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 3 Critical Analysis 5 Why do you think this goal is important for different parties to employment relationships? 5 How can organisations and other parties try to achieve this goal? 6 In the context of the current labour market, what might be some of the problems for organisations seeking to achieve this goal? 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Bibliography 11 Introduction Most of the organisation in the age of globalisation aim at providing better work profile and work life for the employees in order to create a harmonious work environment. The Chartered institute of Personal Development has the aim of enhancing the impact of their service on the productivity of the organisation. The three pillars of the agenda of the organisation include the intension of making the future work satisfactory for the employees, to keep up with the changes in the cultural background and the attitudes of the employees working in the multicultural organisations of the globalised world, as well as to make a free flowing culture in the place of work where the organisation is established. The theme of improving the quality of work life is a widely discussed topic since a long time. This report aims at providing a critical analysis of the various issues that are of concern to the human resource managers. In the initial part of the report a literature review has been done to highlight the issues that have been addressed in the international literature. The main section of the essay deals with multitude of questions including the extent to which the goals are important for the relationships of employer-employee in the different cases, the procedure of achievement of such goals as well as the problems that may crop up in the scenario of the present day labour market. Scholarly resources like books, journals as well relevant websites have been consulted to conduct a review of the literature that have been written on this topic as well as the critical analysis on this question. Literature Review This section of the literature review is an attempt to link the three main aspects of work life balance which includes the work that the person does the workforce in the organisation and the place of work of the employees involved. It is essential for every organisation to have a proper balance between family and work which otherwise would give rise to issues of conflict according to Greenhaus and Beutell (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985, pp. 76-88). The environment at work affects the performance health of the employees. There is a high correlation between the work units and the effectiveness of the work systems in which employees perform. Each department in an organisation comprise of teams and the performance of the teams in a collective manner contributes to the total productivity of the organisations. Thus the performance of the teams is extremely important from the point of view of the organisation. It has been observed through various works of research that the sum of the performances of the individuals would be less than that which would be contributed by an entire team (Parker, 1990, pp. 63-86). Hence the commitment and dedication of the team are important for the growth of the organisation and the progress of the employees. Researchers have made studies regarding the work hours of the individual employees, the level of job satisfaction, the health and the well-being of the employees. It has been found that all these factors have a direct correlation with the level of performance of the employees and the way they are committed to the work they have been assigned. The business processes are directly linked with the work life that the employees have. It has been found that the people who work in organisations which guarantee a good work life balance are more involved in the work at office (Williams and Adam-Smith, 2010, pp. 26-49). The diversity and flexibility in the organisation culture make the workplace conducive for the employees. A flexible workplace has a major role to play in the success of any organisation. In order to have a flexible workplace the opinion of all the employees across all levels of hierarchy has to be considered in every step of decision making in the organisation. In today’s world of globalisation there is a lot of uncertainty, the entire process of workflow involves a lot of complexity. There is a change experienced in every field of the organisation especially in the context of the employee relations. Along with this there is a continuous necessity to upgrade the skills of the people in the company so that no employee becomes useless with the introduction of the new techniques. Dedication among the staffs is important for delivery of the day to day activities. Most of the employees of an organisation try to deliver honest and sincere work. But lack of feedback has an adverse effect on the behaviour of the employees (Porter and Lawler, 1968, pp. 23-79). The employees have been found to remain attracted to those organisations which provide proper work life balance and a nourishing workplace even though the salary paid to the employees is less. Critical Analysis Why do you think this goal is important for different parties to employment relationships? Employment relationships may be of different types as are the types of jobs available in the market. It is therefore imperative to point out the differences between employment relationships and work. The work can be considered as something that an individual is made to do against the payment of money. On the other hand employee relationship is beyond this and would require a proper exchange between the employer and the employee. The International Labour Organisation perceives employment relationship as a full time involvement of an individual with an organisation which would necessarily include a contract of employment and would thus be protected from any such case in which the employer might fire the employee in an unjust manner. The goal of the employees to have a good work life is because of their person development as well as to maintain a good balance between home and work. Often the organisations act as a support to not only the employee but also to the spouse and the children of the employees by providing medical benefits. The organisations thus should not perceive the employees as individuals providing labour against money but as the major driving force of the organisation in a way that the development of the employees would have a positive effect in the future of the organisation. The aim of the government of every country is the achievement of full employment. The permanent employment of the organisation would ensure that the government can provide a positive outcome of their policy making to the general public. There is a high involvement of the trade unions in the process of the employee–employer relations. Most of the trade unions get involved in the collective bargaining process by way of which they try to negotiate the terms of their employment or the wages and benefits the employees should be enjoying. Though most of the private organisations do not have a trade union, it is common in case of the public sector organisations especially and they generally have a particular political colour in such cases (Ellis, 2012, pp. 3-11). How can organisations and other parties try to achieve this goal? There are a number of ways in which the organisations would try to achieve this. CIPD aims at guiding the organisations in the right way to achieve these goals. First of all, it is important to point out the different aspects of workplace and work-life that would contribute to the success of the organisations. The human resource department of the organisations have to ensure that the employees remain motivated in the work that they perform. This can be done by making the work interesting for the employees, providing enough autonomy and task identity of the work that is being done. The organisation on the other hand has to set up such a policy framework that would ensure that the people are satisfied in the workplace and the work life that they have in the organisation (CIPD, 2013, pp. 12-26). A good organisation culture would make sure that the employees can have enough opportunity to express their opinion and their creativity and skills can get a proper acknowledgement. It should also be mentioned the government should make up the legal and regulatory framework in such a way that it would provide adequate protection to the workforce of the country. In case of any issue of dispute in the employer employee relation proper methodologies should be present for the employees to get a relief. The labour laws should also comprise of the designated time of work for the employees and the minimum wage that should be paid to the employees (Maslow, 1954, pp. 92). In the context of the current labour market, what might be some of the problems for organisations seeking to achieve this goal? At the present day, the labour market in the UK is offering service based jobs rather than jobs which are focused on the industrial sector. The major part of the GDP of the UK Market is contributed by the services sector and the income in this sector of the economy. Large populations of UK are moving towards the urban areas where the requirement for the jobs is more. The manufacturing sector is more concentrated in the emerging nations. Hence the youth of the country need to be highly skilled in order to get a job in the UK market (CIPD, 2013, pp. 7-14). This is because the jobs in the UK market are more knowledge intensive being service based chiefly. The boom in the employment in the UK has been in the technical as well as professional services. Thus having the updated knowledge of the work process is essential for getting a job. Unless the skills are upgraded from time to time the people cannot remain in work because a technological gap would arise otherwise. The globalisation also resulted in the international mobility of labour force. Along with that the availability of workforce especially from the emerging nations has posed very tough competition from the countries like China, India and Korea (Van Wanrooy, Bewley, Bryson, Forth, Freeth, Stokes and Wood, 2012, pp. 2-4). The expectations of the fresh employees who are young are often not met by the work that is being offered by the companies (Bandura, 1986, pp. 37-49). This results in the drop in the motivation of the employees and a degradation of the skills of the employees. There are various reasons that add to the lack of the communication between the young generation and the employers who may turn out to be conservative in their outlook (Bradley and Frederic, 1997, pp. 337-353). The employees are also facing problems due to the recessionary pressures of the present times in which the employees are paid comparatively less and made to work more than what is expected from an average person. Thus for these set of employees it might be difficult to maintain a proper work-life balance (Carver and Scheier, 2001, p. 460). Conclusion From the above analysis it is clear that CIPD has provided with the right goals to provide a comprehensive human resources management for an organisation. It has been found that several factors have contributed to the work life of the employees of an organisation. Attempt has to be taken to reduce the level of Absenteeism, work stress and communication barriers that may arise out of the wrong human resource policies on part of the organisation. Thus in the present state of the UK, the government has to take some prudent step so that the employees of the countries remain updated to the skills and the technological knowhow that is prevailing in the world. References Bandura, A., 1986. Social foundation of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. New Jersey:Prentice- Hall. Bradley, J. H. and Frederic, J. H., 1997. The effect of personality type on team performance. Journal of Management Development, Vol. 16(5), pp. 337-353. Carver, C.S. and Scheier, M.F., 2001. On the self-regulation of behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press. CIPD , 2013. Employers are from Mars, Young People are from Venus: Addressing the young people / jobs mismatch. CIPD: London. CIPD, 2013. Labour Market outlook. CIPD: London. Ellis, C., 2012. Contemporary Developments in Employee Relations’ in Taylor, S. and Woodhams, C. Managing People and Organisations. CIPD: London. Greenhaus, J. H. and Beutell, N.J., 1985. “Sources of Conflict between Work and Family Roles.” Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10(2), pp. 76-88. Maslow, A., 1954. Motivation and personality. New York, NY: Harper. Parker, G. M., 1990. Team Players and Teamwork. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Porter, L. W., and Lawler, E. E., 1968. Managerial Attitudes and Performance. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. Van Wanrooy, B., Bewley, H., Bryson, A., Forth, J., Freeth, S., Stokes, L. and Wood, S., 2012. The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study First Findings. [pdf]. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210103/13-1010-WERS-first-findings-report-third-edition-may-2013.pdf [Accessed on 1 January, 2014]. Williams, S. and Adam-Smith, D., 2010. Contemporary Employment Relations: A critical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bibliography Robbins, S. P., 2004. Organizational Behavior - Concepts, Controversies, Applications. London: Prentice Hall. Parker, M., 2000. Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage Publication. Baron, R. A. and Greenberg, J., 2008. Behavior in organizations. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Read More