The Concept of Employee Relations - Literature review Example

The purpose of this literature review is to outline the concept of employee relations in an organisation and its significance especially as far as performance of the organisation is concerned. The review will specifically deal with an umbrella view of a range of literature resources that are related to this topic. The review begins by outlining major perspectives, approaches as well as definition of the concept of employee relations. This will be followed by an outline of what various authors have written in relation to this subject. After a critical review of this topic, a summary will be given at the end so as to wind up the major points underlying the concept of employee relations and how it is applicable to the organisations during the contemporary period. Various authors use different terms and concepts when they discuss the more collective aspects of the employment relationship. It is imperative to begin by defining the concept so as to gain a clear understanding about issues related to this approach. According to Swanepoel et al (1998:611), “employee relations as a topic is thus taken to refer predominantly to those aspects related to conflict, cooperation, involvement, and communication in the relationships between the managers and non-management employees, irrespective of the type of work or industry concerned and irrespective of the presence or the absence of trade unions.” From this definition, it can be noted that aspect of interaction within an organisation is very important in as far as mutual understanding among people within an organisation is concerned. This topic can be discussed from many different angles and these range from legal, economic as well as sociological or psychological factors. From a multi disciplinary perspective, it can be said that many aspects related to the field of study of industrial or employment relations can be analysed from the point of view of various academic disciplines. With specific reference to collective dimension, the student of labour economics can for instance study collective bargaining between trade union and management representatives from the angle of its economic and labour market implications (Swanepoel et al 1998). On the other hand, from a psychological perspective, employee relations can be studied with regards to the human behavioural aspects related to negotiations or conflict dynamics between the representatives of labour and the employer. From a sociological perspective, attention can be given to trade unionism and the labour movement as a phenomenon in society (Grobler et al 2006). Thus, from a broader perspective, the notion of employee relations is specifically intended to add the dimension of one on one, or individual relationships at work. These include the daily human relationship especially between the subordinates and their superiors which is the basis of such an important element of our working relationships. An employment relationship is essentially one of exchange which comes into being when a person is employed by someone to be available to work in exchange for some form of remuneration. Without the employment relationship, then, there can be, by definition no labour, employee or industrial relation (Salamon 2008). It is an inherently complex relationship exhibiting a simultaneous need for cooperation between non management and management employees due to mutual interests and a natural state of conflicting interests, perceptions and needs (Swanepoel et al 1998). It can be noted that the employment relationship is complex partly because of its multi dimensional nature. The economic dimension of this relationship derives from the fact that the primary parties are engaged in a relationship of exchange. It can be seen that the employees give the energy, skills abilities in return for some sort of reward which includes an economic or financial aspect (Swanepoel et al 1998). The legal dimension is that the primary parties enter into a legally binding agreement and that there are specific laws and formal rules which have an official bearing on the relationship between the employers and the employee (Swanepoel et al 1998). The legal dimension can be individual in nature where the relationship between an individual employee and his or her employing organisation as a single legal entity. In this regard, one can think of the common law which forms the basis of the contract of employment between the employer and the employee. On the other hand, the social dimension gives the employment relationship its informal character, this revolves around the interaction and behaviour between people associated with the human activity of employment or work (Swanepoel et al 1998). This essentially refers to human behaviour in organisations within the context of the way they relate to each other. It can be seen that human beings as individuals or as a group have certain feelings, needs, attitudes as well as perceptions which shape the way they relate with each other within the organisation. The behaviour of the humans has to be controlled in order for the organisation to be better positioned to achieve optimum performance where there would be a cordial relationship among all the members. In this essence, the notion of employee relations can be attributed to the way humans in an organisation relate to each other towards the attainment of the organisational goals. “Employee relations involve the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale (http://ohcm.gsfc.nasa.gov/employee_relations/whatis.htm). Preventing conflicts as well as resolving problems that may be encountered by the employees during their work is the essence of maintaining employee relations. There are likely problems such as poor performance or employee misconduct that can be encountered in any organisation and the essence of employee relations will be to deal with such cases in a corrective manner. In order to ensure that the employees are conforming to the dictates of the organisation’s requirements, there will be need for constant monitoring as well as regulating the discipline of the employees while at the same time ensuring that the employees’ grievances are addressed in an appropriate manner. The employees in an organisation may lack understanding of some important things that affect their conduct at work and it is the duty of the supervisors or the management to ensure that there is harmony in the organisation. “There five forces that constantly interact in as far as employee relation is concerned and these are: management, work and organisation; voice and representation; work, family and community; institutions, processes and outcomes; and new forms of work and employment (http://jir.sagepub.com/content/52/5/539.full.pdf+html). This primarily calls for the nation states, different institutions to put measures to regulate work so as to ensure that there is relationship among the members of the organisation in order to avoid conflicts. Essentially, it is the role of the management to make sure that they provide the right information to the employees so that they will have a common understanding of the goals and policies of the organisation that will help them to understand the way they should conduct themselves (Werner et al 2003). This role of giving information to the employees will also be meant to address various issues that can affect performance at the workplace. Through dissemination of information, the employees will also be made aware of the rules and regulations in the organisation, legal framework that guide their operations as well as their bargaining of powers. In most cases, issues such as discrimination in the workplace are the major causes of conflict or misunderstanding so it is the role of the seniors in the organisation to ensure that there is a peaceful environment prevailing within the organisation (Schultz et al 2005). This will also motivate the workers to be productive in their work if there are good relations prevailing among them. There will be likely chances of the members of the organisation to pull their efforts towards the same direction if the relations within the organisation are good. Thus, sound employee relations are based on effective mechanisms of communication and participation, a safe and effective work environment as well as commitment and motivation of all staff (http://www.academia-research.com/writer ). Conflict is something that is seen as natural and normal in any organisation which can be a result of misunderstanding and it is the duty of managers in particular to solve disputes among the members of the organisation. Solving problems or conflicts require good communication skills. Under normal circumstances, no organisation can successfully survive without communication which involves dissemination or exchange of information between the employees and the management (Werner 2003). From the above assertion, it can be seen that communication in particular forms a pivotal role in influencing the activities involved in an organisation that are intended to achieve the organizational goals set. Basically, all the members in an organisation are primarily concerned with achieving set goals and this can be made relatively easier through the use of effective communication. Indeed, managers in the organisation have a task of overseeing the operations of the employees and they can greatly influence their interpersonal behaviour which forms the basis of employee relations (Swanepoel et al 1998). In most instances, where there is face to face communication, there are likely chances of if improving the relations that exist among the members of the organisation and the management as they can share the much needed information in their operations in a free and fair manner where there will be no victimisation of the others in cases of conflict within the organisation. Misunderstanding over particular issues in an organisation is the major source of conflict among the members who in most cases are workers. As noted above, conflict can be found among a collective group such as job action over wages or there may be a misunderstanding between individual people working together in an organisation. In this particular case, communication has to be effective in order to convince and persuade the employees to have a common as well as positive understanding towards their duties in the organisation so as to pull their efforts towards the attainment of the set organisational goals. Human behaviour is influenced by different factors but what is more important is that there should be mutual understanding between the parties involved in the communication process (Wener et al 2003). The manager in this case should possess effective communication skills so as to be able to convince the people who may have disputes or misunderstandings. By virtue of using open and effective channels of communication where there has been a conflict, the manager can effectively solve the conflict and manage to positively influence the behaviour of those in conflict by tailoring the information to suit the needs of the parties involved while at the same time satisfying the needs of the organisation as a whole. Conflicts that are not properly solved can put the organisation into disrepute as there will be less collaboration among the employees. On top of possessing effective communication skills, being the responsible authority to resolve conflicts, the manager should be neutral and should not take sides as this would jeopardize his or her chances of successfully solving disputes. Fairness is a virtue and there should be no elements of favouritism which will still leave the other party disgruntled. If a leader is impartial in problem solving, the recurrence of similar problems will be minimised while somebody who is unfair in resolving conflicts would only be fuelling the occurrence of similar conflicts in the organisation which will negatively impact on the operations of the whole organisation. The existence of unresolved conflicts in an organisation negatively impacts on individual performance which in turn affects the whole organisation (Schultz et al 2007). Effective managers can also implement the concept of socialisation to foster employment relationships. Socialization is the process through which the members of the organisation continually learn the values, norms and beliefs of the organisation through interaction so to become an integral part of it (Werner 2003). It can be noted that people who often experience ongoing and significant conflict between their personal values and the organisation’s values will reduce their performance and underperform, stay uncommitted or ultimately leave the company. In this regard, socialization should not be left to chance but should be carefully managed so as to be able to promote interaction among the employees which will play a positive role in promoting employee relationship. In summation of the above discussion, it can be concluded that an employment relationship is essentially one of exchange which comes into being when a person is employed by someone to be available to work in exchange for some form of remuneration. Without the employment relationship, then, there can be, by definition no labour, employee or industrial relation (Salamon 2008). Thus, Employee relations involve the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale of the parties involved. Essentially, it is the role of the management to make sure that they provide the right information to the employees so that they will have a common understanding of the goals and policies of the organisation that will help them to understand the way they should conduct themselves. This role of giving information to the employees will also be meant to address various issues that can affect performance at the workplace. The manager should take a role in promoting employee relations within an organisation. References Carrell, R. et al (1995), Human Resources Management: Global Strategies for managing a diverse workforce, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, USA. Employee relations. What is employee relations? (03 May 2009) Available at: http://ohcm.gsfc.nasa.gov/employee_relations/whatis.htm [Accessed 28 November 2010] Employee relations (n.d.) Available at: http://www.academia-research.com/writer[Accessed on 28 November 2010] Grobler P. Et al (2006). Human Resource Management. 3rd Edition. London. Thompson Learning. Journal of industrial relations (2010). Available at: http://jir.sagepub.com/content/52/5/539.full.pdf+html [Accessed on 28 November 2010] Jackson, S.E. & Schuler R. (2000). Managing Human Resources: A Partnership Perspective. NY. 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