Employee Relations and Engagement - Assignment Example

Employee relations and engagement Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Objectives and supporting points 3 Intended strategy 4 Assessment of other team may seek 5 Roles 6 Learning Outcomes 7 Conclusion 8 Introduction At the start of the industrial revolution the demands of the employees were normally not given much consideration. The conditions of the work environment in which employees have traditionally worked in an industry have been very bad and derogatory and the employees did not have the power to negotiate. However with the changing times unions developed and these unions were given the responsibility to negotiate on behalf of the employees. The company in question over here is a provider of amusement. The company has been a traditionally family owned business with the Cowell family holding its reigns for close to 50 years. The company has incorporated and added new forms of amusement in order to attract the new generation of visitors to the park. The company is seen to employ about 250 people and amongst them 200 are members of the union and have collective bargaining rights. The company management and the union sit down for negotiations each year and decide on the demand that they approve upon from both sides of the table. The following page discusses the negotiation process between the management and employee of the organization on different lines and issues. Discussion Objectives and supporting points The objective of with which we went into the management in this negotiation is to ensure that the demands of the employees in the form of increase in salary should not be accepted. We found that the union will place a demand for increase in the no. of holidays. This cannot be allowed. On the part of the demands to be placed by our part as management, we would like to place the condition of retrenchment of some of the employees. We would also place the point that we will indulge in the career development or the skill training of the employees of the organization (Mehta, 2009). We think it to be necessary on our side to negotiate and try to establish the above points as because our company has been finding it difficult to make profit since the last six years. An amusement park has opened in the 10 mile radius of our company in the past 6 years and has taken a share of the market and the visitors. This has resulted in the fact that our company has been able to just breakeven in the last 4 years and made a loss for the first time in the last year. Due to the increased competition and loss of market share it has become necessary for our company to introduce new entertainment machinery which is called the wow factor. To maintain the market share and profitability it is required that our company should invest in new technology, games and training facilities for the employees. All these processes will require capital investment on the part of our company. In order to invest in these processes it will be required on part of our company to cut investments in other sectors. Our company aims to achieve this through the retrenchment of some of the employees of the organization. However there is bound to be some resistance to these points as we will put them forward on the negotiation table. We representing the management will try to counter the resistance by giving the employees certain perks in the form of providing the employees with discount cards. Another way which we will be using is to show the financial performance data of the company and the need on the part of our company to invest so that our company can survive the competition and stay relevant (Fernie and Metcalf, 2013). Intended strategy While going into the negotiation process the union will be given the first chance to place their demand and then it is on our part as the management to ask the union to clarify their demands. In is estimated that the demands of the employees will centre on asking for a salary hike which they feel that they are entitled to due to rising inflation. While assessing the demands that can be asked by union of the company it is revealed that the demand of the employees cannot be accepted by the management of the company as because there are major investments that are lined up for the current year and if our company is able to make those investments the company will not be able to increase the salary of the employees as proposed. This is for the simple reason that the company currently pays a total salary bill of £3,200,000. Increasing this by 10% will mean £3520000 to be paid in salary in the following year. This will be a burden as our company is already under financial losses as seen in the last year. Our company also plans to make some investments in order to increase the visitors count to our amusement park. In view of this matter the strategy we as part of the management of our company will be taking is to let the union know as to why we can’t keep the demands of the union. Instead of keeping the demand proposed by the union we as part of management will be trying to make the proposal of going in for other benefits. It is estimated that the union will not concede with this demand and may threat to go on strike in which situation we will try and make a bargain in the form of increasing the salary by a moderate percentage level (Langdon, 2006). Assessment of other team may seek The union of Cowells has sent its agenda to the management team. As per the agenda the management team assessed that it cannot increase the salary of the employees. The management team cannot accept this demand of the trade union because presently the company is not having much profit. For this reason it cannot provide much salary to the employees. Moreover the productivity of the employees is not up to the mark. Increasing their salary will not be beneficial for the company. The trade union wanted an in house counsellor for the employees which is not accepted by the management team (Price, 2011). This is because the management team thinks that an in house counsellor will become an extra burden for the company. As a union extra item the management has developed a plan for making fifty staffs of the company redundant. By this process the management can reduce the extra cost of the company. The staffs that are not performing well will be fired by the organization. For holiday entitlement demand, the organization will provide 29 holidays to the employees. Presently the company has 28 holidays which are perceived insufficient by the trade union. For this reason the union has demanded for more holidays. But only one holiday is granted by the company. The management team of Cowells think that by providing more holidays the productivity of the company will become low. For increasing the productivity of the company the management team will try to make each day productive. So increasing the holidays will negatively affect the revenue of the firm. As a management extra item the company will conduct career development program. This will help the employees in enhancing their skills and capabilities. The management team things that this programme can become very helpful for the employees. The productivity and performance will be increased by career development program. The management team has not accepted the demand of the trade union regarding maternity and paternity leave. Roles Members of the management team negotiate with the employees involved in the trade union. Each member of Cowells management team plays a vital role in the negotiation process of the company. Responsibilities of each management member differ from each other while negotiating with the union members. Roles of various members in the management team while doing the negotiation process are as follows: Chairman of the company: He is one of the important pillars of Cowells management team. The Chairman will represent the views and opinions of all the members of board of directors. The final decision of the management team will be taken by him. He will analyse the issues and demands of the trade union. The chairman of the company plays a vital role in implementing any organizational policy or practice. Therefore he is the most appropriate person who can judge the importance and requirement of the demands placed by trade union. The major role of the chairman will be to understand the reason for which the trade union is making the demand (Buhlungu, 2006). Human resource head: The trade union of Cowells has placed its demand for increasing the salaries of the employees. The human resource head will be the best person to decide the salary structure of any employee. Therefore the human resource heal will play a significant role for determining the amount of salary that needs to be increase. He will analyse the salary structure provided by the trade union and will evaluate the potentiality of the employees for drawing that much of salary. Finance head: In the management team against the trade union the finance head of the company will also be present. He knows the financial condition of the company in a better way. So he can say whether the increase of employees salary will be beneficial to the company or not. He will analyse the present financial condition of the firm and based on that he will negotiate with the members of trade union regarding their demands. He will also analyse the productivity and performance of the employees in terms of the revenue earned by the company. Based on that, he will give his opinions on trade union demands. Learning Outcomes After participating in this group work that was related to negotiation in the workplace I understood about how to work constructively in a group work. While working as a part of the group I also learned about how negotiation takes place at work place. In analyzing these facts I actually learned and have grown up as an individual. The learning that I got as part of doing the group work is bound to help in my future role and work at the workplace. I also understood how to work effectively and constructively in a group. Conclusion It is found as a conclusion to the above discussion that negotiation plays an important role in the decision making process of the management and settlement of disputes in between the management and the union. The issues have been discussed in the above pages and the strategy that the company management can adopt in succeeding in the negotiation process is discussed. The strategy on part of the management should be aimed at devising a counter to the negotiation argument that is put forward by the union of the company. It is found that the key to success in the negotiation process is that both the parties of the negotiation process should be ready to compromise on certain issues to ultimately arrive at a conclusion. That is the negotiation process should be approached at with a win-win perspective. References Buhlungu, S., 2006. Trade Unions and Democracy: Cosatu Workers Political Attitudes in South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press Fernie, S. and Metcalf, D., 2013. Trade unions: resurgence or demise? NY: Routledge Langdon, K., 2006. Succeed at negotiating. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited. Mehta, S. G., 2009. 112 ways to succeed in any negotiation or mediation: secrets from a professional mediaton. Bloomington: AuthorHouse Price, A., 2011. Human resource management. UK: Cengage Learning. Read More