Comparative Approaches in Employment Relations - Assignment Example

Comparative Approaches in Employment Relations Comparative Approaches in Employment Relations Human resource involves the organization, the recruitment and the structures of employment and labor management in the country. Employment Relations refers to the way in which the employer and the employees relate with one another. It involves the set rules and regulations that govern the way the employer and the employee should relate with one another. The Human Resource Management commonly known by the initials HRM is tasked with all the issues that involve the employments and the laying off of the workers (Alexander, 2006, 25). In every country HRM determines the country’s labor force and the rate of either employment or unemployment is equally dependent on this vital body in a country’s structure (Bamber, Lansury and Wailes, 2011, 61). The employment relations, also cuts across the way in which the employees are treated by the government and their employers. It also stipulates the way in which the employees can fire their grievances and the rights and privileges entitled to them. However, the HRM and the ER vary from country to country depending on the development status of the nation. It is determined by various factors that hold the country’s GDP and economic status of a country Bamber (2011, 112). Basing our comparison between two nations of different economic status, therefore, it is important to narrow our discussion on Nations of two different classes. That is a developed country and a low developed country or rather an underdeveloped country (Barry, 2011, 91). To begin with, a developed country is a country in which it is has fully or effectively utilized its existing natural resources and whose per capita income is relatively high and most of its citizens are able to acquire or live according to the trends of standards of living. On the other hand, an underdeveloped country is one which has not utilized its existing natural resources, and the level of standards of living is low. The GDP of such a country is too low, and the per capita income is also too low. To consider and compare the HRM and ER in such countries has a number of factors to consider. In a developed country such as Australia, which has a stable economy and a high GDP, the human resource management is well established. Australia is known to be the twelfth nation in the economic power as far as GDP is concerned as well as total wealth of 6.4 trillion dollars. It has a population which is approximately 23.13 million, and the labor force is approximately 12.15 million. In such a country, the levels of employment are high. In such a country, one will encounter very many companies, industry firms, and other sectors that need large pools of workers. To secure a job in such a country, one will find jobs are readily available. In under developed country, for example, in Cambodia, there are few firms and sectors that are in need of workers. In this effect therefore you will find out that the mass that is in need of work is too large for such a country to secure it the employment. This, therefore, poses a great challenge as no enough jobs are available to cater for its large population in need of jobs. You find that in such a country the rate of employment is too low and also the rate of productivity is equally too low (Caves, 1998, 98). By the beginning of 1990s, this is when the Cambodiaan economy started to drop. The GDP and the per capita income dropped by three quarters. This drop was brought about by the inter-conflicts between Cambodia and the neighboring DRC (Taylor, 1992, 59). Additionally, the drop was brought by the decline in the export and revenue from the agricultural sector and payments to the veterans of the war liberators. The country was faced by high inflation rate and bans in the world market as well as international sanctions. This adversely affected the workforce. The governments inability to pay all its workers; therefore, there was a very big challenge in the employment sector. There was a decline of about 228,600 jobs between the year 1988 and 2002 in formal employment followed by a further decrease of 150,000 jobs in the agricultural sector, which was a big challenge to the HRM sector (Dereli, and Sarica, 2014, 28). This difference in HRM is brought about by factors such as the population density. In a developed country, the population is not large in comparison to the economic development rates while in the low developed countries the rate of birth is very high leading to high population. Since there are little opportunities required for job opportunities, one will find out that most of the people will go unemployed. Comparing to Australia, which has a low birthrate, one find out that the population is small and this enhances the acquisition of job opportunities (Entwisle, 2000, 215). The HRM; however, looks into many aspects when it comes to the recruitment process. Such include expertise level. Expertise level involves work force that is well skilled to ensure there is good production, and the quality of production is satisfactory. Considering such; therefore, the level of training is a major consideration. For the already developed nations such as Australia, the level of training is very high (Frege, 2013, 74). Such is due to the availability of good technology that helps citizens to acquire good skills since the citizens are able to access these trainings unlike the un-developed countries where it is very costly to afford the required expertise. This, therefore, reduces the labor force since only those with skills will be needed for recruitment. This is a challenge that comes as a result of poverty and poor education systems (Geare, and Edgar, 2007, 207). For the developed countries, there are even more than enough skilled manpower and therefore there is a high rate of employment in Australia compared a country like Cambodia. Basing on such a factor, there is a great challenge which can be blamed on the education systems on various countries. There is a lack of standardization in skills due to disparities in the education advancement and the technological advancement of different countries. The other challenge is the nature of the population. A country like Australia, the nature of the population is characterized by more ageing population compared to the youthful population. This is due to decreased birth rates since most of the people prefer having few children. As a result, the young generation is minimal and baring in mind that it is the major active group in the population that helps in labor. In Australia, you will find that the HRM is challenged in terms of replacement of the old with a younger and energetic population. Additionally, one finds that the ageing population faces the greatest danger in the employment sector. You may find that some of the experienced workers are leaving their jobs and leaving a great challenge to fill the void left. Centrally, you find a majority prefer working past their normal working ages or the retirement age (Clarke, 2000, 18). This means that they will continue earning pension, salaries, and other benefits that come with the employment. Such an aspect is of great challenge to a country to sustain them in the work and their efficiency to work may not be so perfect. The HR, therefore, needs to devise a mechanism of sieving the older generation and leaving only the experts with the required working capacity (Mouret, 2006, 29). Also, the other challenge is that some of the older generations are more good managers compared to the young generation. Comparing to the low developed countries like Cambodia, the old generation is very minimal in the labor force. Mostly, the working generation is comprised of the youths. Since the birth rate is high in such a country, you find out that the number of youths seeking for employment is equally large. For such a country, the management of various sectors may not be so good since the experiences on the youngsters is not as good as that of the old generation. This may lead to failure of some sectors and also may lead to misappropriation of funds. By instituting the young generations, into the workplace presents some challenges. High unemployment rate for a nation with youngsters might face a challenge when the whole generation may leave the labor force completely hence leading to a lost generation. Therefore, in ensuring the expertise of those left in the job market and the productivity and performance is good enough to attract people to the work force (Beaumont, 1995, 27-28). It is, therefore, upon such countries to collaborate with the institutions and the companies to create solutions that will help to solve these adverse effects that will arise from this trend. The institutions should upgrade the training and skills offered to ensure that they will enhance the future of these sectors. Another great challenge in the HR sector is the gender biases. Mostly you find that in the top managerial positions those that occupy are mainly the men (Blanpain, 2008, 205). In Australia, this trend is being solved by the company’s collaborations with the government and struggling to maximize the potential of the women in this sector. This has been done by increment of the posts given to women as CEO in companies rose to a relative percentage which equates them to the men. The approximate percentage is 55% (Casale, 2011, 82). This has encouraged development in these sectors as most of the most performing sectors have been found to be headed by women. Coming to the other side, in Cambodia, for example, since the country is ruled by barbarism, only men are entitled to the leadership. This is because they have most of their beliefs tied to the traditions that men should always lead. This makes the women feel so demoralized, and their spirit of working is hindered (Locke, 1995, 55). Mostly they poster fake allegations to justify themselves for not giving women good chances as they do to men by saying that of the women have most of their time dedicated to family issues and duties hence may end up not performing well in work but in the actual sense this is not true. The other reason for this has been the lack of female role models to be emulated. Some of the governments; however, have created vacancies in the governments to be reserved for the women. In the developed countries that are in the European Union, Australia being one of them, have proposed that the percentage of women in the non-executive positions of directors in companies should be up to 40% as stipulated in its legislature (Frege and Kelly 2013, 38-41). Also, the chance as of promotions and payment between men and women is larger in undeveloped countries, while in the developed countries like Australia it is a thing of the past. To countries such as Cambodia, one needs to wake up to the realization and harmonization of the salaries. It has been found out that in Cambodia the youth and the women have got low chances of securing employments in the formal sector as compared to the men. The other milestone that needs to be overturned is corruption. The HRM has always faced this as one of its biggest challenges. Unlike the developed countries where most of the jobs are entitled to be approved and the appointees pass through a scrutiny by set boards to ascertain that the required qualifications have been met, in countries like Cambodia most of recruitment is done by the managers alone, which is a process that may easily land them to temptations of demanding some pay for one to secure the job (Frege, 2013, 64). This is a big challenge since most of these under developed countries may not have enough money to set up oversight bodies. Those who mainly land to the job are not the best and the most qualified. As such, the work done will be a shoddy one and not to the required expertise and standards (Townsend, 2011, 64). Viewing it on the developed countries’ perspective, each and every position has got its own way of recruitment. Since the countries have got enough money to put in place oversight bodies, it is very hard for one to acquire any position by underhand methods. With properly laid foundations, the HRM in both countries can have a good way to ensure there is fairness in the recruitment exercises (Bamber, 2011, 46). Another challenge that may be faced by both nations is the menace of racism, tribalism, and nepotism. This is one of the global challenges in the human resource management. Those in power will always grant chances to their relatives or people of their own race at the expense of others (Frege, 2013, 94). At the end of it, only same families will accumulate wealth and power while others will die in dire poverty. This keeps widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The more the gap, the more the poverty level and the country’s development lag behind (Mouret, 2006, 63). On the other hand, the employee relations are also a major factor in the workforce (Stuart, 2004, 19-21). Mostly, such is important for the human resource to understand the priorities that the employees give interests to. Is it the compensation? Or is it prestige and autonomy at work? Such are the important issues worth noting to the HR. This will help it to adjust to the wishes of the workers to ensure that there are good relations between them. Such will help the companies retain, satisfy, and avoid a scenario where the workers may leave work at any time. This is a way of avoiding losses such as turnover costs and wastage of the investments spent on the training of the workers (Nankervis, 2004, 175). In employment relations, there are three key players involved. That is the employer, the employee, and the government. The main link between these three bodies is their representatives who are the employers association and the trade unions, which is the representative of the employees. These three parties are affected by the market, the labor force, and the power of parties as indicated by Ruysseveldt (1995, 93). Australia, being a member of the European Union, has various organizations that serve as the employment regulation bodies. These are the likes of the European Works Councils Directive of 1994 and the Maastricht Treaty on Monetary Union (Rose, 2004, 81). These two treaties led to the acquisition of the states independent currency which benefited Australia as a nation significantly. This currency made each of the countries to regain its identity as a European nation, stabilize its currency and enjoy low costs of trading. The European workers council was aimed at meeting once in a year to discuss various development issues both economically and socially. In Cambodia, there are also some bodies that have been formed to deal with the issues pertaining the workers and the employers’ relationships. Such bodies include the Solidarity Center and ACILS. This union is tasked with bargaining for the rights of the workers to the employers. There are four ethnicities in the Cambodian history which have been to the work force. These include Khmers, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Cham, from which the foreigners seem to get better opportunities in comparison to the locals. In earlier times before the independence, the black workers used to go through the tortures like being disciplined just like a father does to the little kids. Since there were no trade unions, the grievances would not be heard or fired. This led to the formation of the trade unions in 1980 (Katz, 1997, 34). In Australia, the unions representing the employee’s grievances have been allowed to air their grievances and have formed legal teams to represent them. Whenever the employees find out that their rights are suppressed, they are entitled to seek legal process to sue either the employer or the government (Pot, 2000, 135). The situation ensures that their rights are protected, and they enjoy a serene working environment. In Cambodia, so is the case though there are some little challenges involved in it as a pressure mounted from the reigning regime. But all the same the employees at last their grievances are heard (Bach, 1999, 106). The problem is that these bodies are influenced at times by the government to serve their interests. Also on the legal basis they are also faced by the challenge of relying on the courts that have much of the government influence. In Australia, there are industrial courts which act independently and hence are free of any government intrusion. In such a country the workers’ rights are secure (Bamber, 2011, 20). However, some of the unions in Australia are characterized by rivalry, pluralism and fragmentation and challenges on the financial abilities. This has led to poor organization and hence has been losing its members over and over again in the recent years by splitting to five groups divided on religious lines (Wanrooy, 2013, 79). In the Australian union confederations, there were three unions under it which are tasked with candidate nominations in the employee representation, to represent the nation and other affiliated parties and to collectively bargain for the whole firm (Eaton, 2000, 68). However, these unions later declined because of the restructuring of the economy of Australia and the enveloping flexibility in the contracts in the labor force. Also, these unions broke as a result of the employer’s taking the initiative to directly converse with their employees and solve the problems and the unions speed to act had also tremendously declined. It had also happened that the leaders of these unions had developed some behavior of creating a gap between them and the members which angered the members and created much rivalry even between them. There were also other reasons to split which had been fuelled by even people, not amongst the members being entitled to an equal share as the real members did. There had been a system of bureaucracies and there being no mutual benefit to the members. Among these many factors, then the French union broke up. In Cambodia, there was such kind of challenges, though mainly they were prohibited by the government as it did not respect they say that the unions had and mainly were dictatorial. Ideally, such is a major challenge facing the employee relations systems (Pot, 2000, 135). To solve this problem, there was the formation of the employment participation act which served as a scale out for the employees to run out of dangerous working environments. There was the formation of a collective bargaining act for the employees to meet and bargain on their pay and the hours that they were supposed to stay in work. There were three bargaining fronts that were formed which include the multi-industry, industry, and enterprise or the plant level (Balnave, 2007, 77). These were done with the aim of ensuring that the employees had good representation and that their rights and privileges were not suppressed. In general, there are challenges facing the human resource and the employee relations which are a common challenge globally. It is, therefore, upon various nations to improve and solve them in order to see the advancement both economically and socially. References Alexander, R. (2006). Employment relations. South Melbourne, Vic: Thomson Learning Custom Publishing Australia. Bach, S. (1999). Public service employment relations in Europe transformation, modernization or inertia? London: Routledge. Balnave, N. (2007). Employment relations in Australia. Milton, Qld.: John Wiley & Sons. Bamber G, Lansury R & Wailes N (2011) International and Comparative Employment Relations. 5TH edition, Sage. Bamber, G. (2000). Employment relations in the Asia Pacific: Changing approaches. St Leonards, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin. Barry, M. (2011). Research handbook in comparative employment relations. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Beaumont, P. (1995). The future of employment relations. London: SAGE Publications. Blanpain, R. (2008). Challenges of European employment relations: Employment regulation, trade union organization, equality, flexicurity, training and new approaches to pay. Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International ;. Bradley, H., & Healy, G. (2008). Ethnicity and gender at work: Inequalities, careers and employment relations. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan. Caves, R. (1998). Readings in international economics. Homewood, Ill.: Published for the Association by R.D. Irwin. Casale, G. (2011). The employment relationship: A comparative overview. Oxford: Hart Pub. ;. Clarke, L. (2000). The dynamics of wage relations in the new Europe. Boston, Mass.: Kluwer Academic. Dereli, T., & Sarica, Y. (2014). Labor and Employment Relations in a Globalized World New Perspectives on Work, Social Policy and Labor Market Implications. (Online-Ausg. ed.). Dordrecht: Springer. Dobbins, J. (2008). Europes role in nation-building from the Balkans to the Congo. Santa Monica, CA: RAND. Eaton, J. (2000). Comparative employment relations: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. Entwisle, B. (2000). Re-drawing boundaries work, households, and gender in China. Berkeley: University of California Press. Frege C & Kelly J (eds) (2013) Comparative Employment Relations in Global Economy. Routledge. Geare, A., & Edgar, F. (2007). Employment relations. Dunedin, N.Z.: Otago University Press. Ginsburg, M. (2011). Preparation, practice, and politics of teachers: Problems and prospects in comparative perspective. Sage. Katz, H. (1997). Telecommunications: Restructuring work and employment relations worldwide. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press. Locke, R. (1995). Employment relations in a changing world economy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Mouret J, (2006) “Collective relations in Australia: a multi-layered system in Mutation”, in “Decentralizing Industrial Relations and the role of Labor Unions and Employee Representatives”, JILPT REPORT, n.3, , p.33 Nankervis, A. (2004). Employment relations. Southbank, Vic.: Thomson. Pot, F. (2000). Employment relations and national culture: Continuity and change in the age of globalisation. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Pub. Rose, E. (2004). Employment relations (2nd ed.). Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Ruysseveldt, J. (1995). Comparative industrial & employment relations. London: SAGE Publications. Stuart, M. (2004). Partnership and modernisation in employment relations. New York: Routledge. Top of Form Bottom of Form Taylor, J. (1992). Paved with good intentions: The failure of race relations in contemporary America. New York: Carroll & Graf. Townsend, K. (2011). The future of employment relations: New paradigms, new developments. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Wanrooy, B. (2013). Employment relations in the shadow of recession: Findings from the 2011 workplace employment relations study. Read More