The Employment Relationships - Essay Example

The Employment Relationships Employee relations is one of the most critical and sensitive issue that the human resource department has to handle. A few years ago the issue was only perceived to be secondary but over the years it has come to be seen as one of the most important. It concerns itself with resolving problems that arise in the working environment and how to go about preventing those problems from occurring again. The employment relationships according to Gennard and Judge (2005) are based on factors such as: how successful the enterprise is, the building of employee trust, boosting the satisfaction that employees get from their work and providing employees with the voice of influence. Employee relations ensure that a certain professional relationship is maintained between the employers and the employees and this helps to achieve adequate productivity and creation of morale and motivation among workers. Gennard and judge (2005) say that employee relations involve collective bargaining by both parties about grievances and appeals that arise in the course of employment. This paper will address the factors influencing the change in employee’s relations and give recommendations. Introduction Since employees relations is an ongoing process, changes are bound to occur. Such changes include: change in the choice of communication method that the management chooses to use e.g. use of memos, briefing and so on. Change may also occur in the choice of payment method. It could be done in a performance oriented way. Training and development employees could also change. Those are just some of the few changes that may occur. A change in the schedule of working hours is among the major factors that influence working relations. Employees agree to work for several hours that are spread over a given period of time. This allows workers to perform their duties as expected and also have time to do their own personal things like care for their families, take holidays and so on. An organisation that has favourable working schedule for its employees has increased staff retention, absenteeism is reduced and there is also increased productivity. On the other hand if an organisation has a too tight working schedule it will be strenuous to the employees and this will lead to a conflict between them and the employer because they will not perform their duties as expected due to fatigue leading to a decrease in productivity. A tight schedule also means that the employees are sometimes absent since they are trying to look for time to do their own personal things. Dicker (2003) argues that change or the working time and schedule is inevitable but in order to avoid the conflicts that arise from it the employees should be fully involved in creating a schedule that is favourable to all. Training and development of employees also influences change in employee-employer relations (Purcell et al 2003). Training ensures that employees are up to date with the latest ways on how to perform their duties. This ensures that they perform their duties even better and more easily. They also get more experience in the training and development sessions that they attend. If employees do not continue the relevant training then performing their duties becomes strenuous and they lag behind. This also affects the performance of the whole organisation. A change in management also has an influence in employee relations. Dicker (2003) in her book gives an example of a television repair firm that kept on changing managers. Each and every manager had their own approach in managing the firm. This brought some sought of confusion in the firm and a strenuous relationship between the employees and employers. To solve this Lauren suggests that an organisation should create a policy that creates a standard management procedure that will make sure that there is continuity in the management process that if one manager leaves the one coming will continue from where the other one left. Difference in political, legal and economic systems is one of the factors that cause change in employee relations. Different countries have different systems and a multinational organisation would therefore face a challenge creating an integration that would ensure smooth running. Dowling et al (2008), argues that due to this fact the overall management has no other alternative but to create a decentralisation programme over employee relations by delegating the subsidiaries in various countries to act on their own. All the activities must be coordinated to ensure a successful productive strategy. A change that would be implemented at the head office would affect all the subsidiary branches in all the countries and may not necessarily auger well. Employees’ relations in the subsidiary branch would have to change and sometimes those changes would have to differ with the cultural practices of the people working for the organisation. It is therefore important to let the subsidiary country act own its own bearing in mind the political, economical and legal settings manifested in that particular country. The general manager should however bear in mind that any implementation to be made must put into consideration the company’s policy, core values and objectives. Performance management is also another factor that causes a change in employees relations. Performance management enables a multinational organisation to conduct evaluations and continuously improve an individual. Peter (2008) says that the management should be done against pre-set goals and targets that are to be achieved. A change in the structural and cultural ways of doing things among employees may also influence the employee relations. Structural and cultural relational changes are implemented in order to create a healthy environment for working and also reduce conflict in the workplace. The employee’s Relation Journal (2008) quotes that in order to strike a balance in the area the organisation should pay attention to the employees’ needs and support them positively. This is to ensure that they become well integrated in the working place. Performance of appraisal of international employees mainly the expatriates should be carefully addressed. Many considerations that have to be made before they are sent off to work in foreign countries, for example a compensation package prepared and allocated to the expatriates, the task that they will have to perform should be clearly spelt out as well as the cultural adjustments they will have to go through in the new environments must be clearly made known to them (Briscoe and Schuler 2004). Such issues also cause a change in employee relations because some will not want to be sent as expatriates. This is because they may feel as though the compensation package that they may be having is too little or that the environment that they may be sent to may be too hostile. Recommendations The elite hotel is being faced by the issue of expatriates wanting to leave because the idea of working in Baku does not appeal to them. Those that are expatriates also complain about the remuneration package that they receive not being enough and the organisation management does not have enough funds to allocate funds for that purpose. To deal with this problem therefore, it is in the best interest that the general manager creates a training program for the natives who work in the hotel, or they may also employ managers from Azerbaijani those that have professional training. This way there will be no need of bringing people from other countries to work there. It will also be cost friendly since there will not be a remuneration package that will have to be paid. The choice of the autocratic style of management has definitely done a great deal in the hotel. The general manager should come up with some form of reward program for the employees in order to recognise their excellent work, that way the employees will be motivated and also feel that the management appreciates their hard work. The fact that it is in the culture of the people to be contented and stay in their jobs should not be taken to mean that the employees cannot leave to search for better opportunities hence the organisation should ensure that they also provide the best working conditions. This way the employees will not only be compliant with their work but they will be committed to it. There is the issue of employees feeling as though the expatriates are treated better from the promotions awarded to them. Having such an attitude and perception from employees is not a good thing. The manager should therefore award promotions to the native residents, this way they will feel that their ambitions and enthusiasms are rewarded. The general manager should develop a policy that will allow the culture of the Azerbaijani to be incorporated in the business in a positive way. This will avoid instances where the employees will start adopting western values. This will also enrich the business such that people coming to the hotel will have a taste of the local culture. References Briscoe, D & Schuler, R 2004, International human resource management. 2nd edn, Prentice hall, Routledge. Budd, P, Gollan, J & Wilkinson, A 2010, Journal of human relations, Vol. 6, pp. 44. Dicker, L 2003, Employee relations: How to build strong relations with your employee, Singapore, midland typesetters. Dowling, Festing, M & Engle, A 2008, International human resource management, 5th ed, Seng Lee press, Singapore. Gennard, J & Judge, G 2005, Employee relations, chartered institute of personnel development, London. Gennard, & George, H 2005, Employee relations, chartered institute of personnel development, London. Purcell, J Et al 2003, Understanding the people and performance link: Unlocking the black box, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. Tanya, G 1998, Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication, Colorado University, www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/gudy6816.htm Read More