Contemporary Developments In Employment Relations - Assignment Example

Contemporary Developments in Employment Relations Name Affiliation Table of content Table of content 1 ASSESSMENT 1 2 Q1 Explain the differences in: employee involvement, participation, partnership and information and consultation. 2 Q2. Compare and contrast union and non-union forms of employee representation in contemporary society. 4 Q3 Evaluate the link between employee voice and organizational performance 5 ASSESSMENT 2 6 Q1. Distinguish between conflict and misbehaviour, and between official and unofficial industrial action. 6 Q2. Assess contemporary trends in the type of conflict and industrial sanctions. 7 Q3.Explain what is required to advise, coach and guide line managers in the skills for effective grievance- and dispute-handling procedures. 8 ASSESSMENT 3 9 Q 1.Describe and critique the essential features of the contract of employment. 9 Q 2.Identify and analyse the main sources of UK and EU employment relations law-making. 11 Treaties of the European Union 11 Treaty on the functioning of the EU 11 Q 3.Explain the main developments in individual employment law 11 Q 4.Assess and advice on the purpose and scope of statutory trade union recognition 12 References 13 ASSESSMENT 1 Q1 Explain the differences in: employee involvement, participation, partnership and information and consultation. Employees Involvement This is the concern and the participation of employees in making the desired decision in microeconomic and enterprise levels. It can also be defined as the opportunity given to workers to have influence in making organization decisions not considering their position in the company (company hierarchy). Employee’s involvement takes different forms. With reference to the theoretical sources employees involvement includes: the right to co-decide, the right to conduct investigation, and the right to acquire information (MacLeod et, al 2009). According to the article definition, employee’s involvement is a procedure, consulting, informing that employee’s trustees use then to influence the decisions made in undertakings. For example the concept of consulting and informing employees has been established in the EU Employee Trust Act (ETA). Employees Participation Employee’s participation doesn’t mean day to day decisions that are concerned with management but also concentrates with strategic and supervision growth and development of an organization. Participation takes place in different models: First, employees can form part of the administrative board, or supervisory board as the case represents itself. A model in which the employees are represented by an external body. The other model is the agreement between the management and the employees of a company. With respect to the European Companies formed through the merger, the standard principles that relate to the workers participation apply to at least 25% employees that had the rights to participate in the decisions before the merger. Information and consultation This is the transmission of data from the employer to the employee’s in order to familiarize themselves with the subject matter while consultation is the process of establishment of dialogue and exchange between employer and employees representatives. The requirement for the provision of consultation in organization and that of information in the organization was introduced by Council Directives 2002/14 in the Europeans Community (Gennard et al 2010). This provision is being employed by at least 50 employees or the European Union establishment employing 20 employees. Member states determine the practical arrangements for consultation and information. For example, in the article 1(3) need that, “When defining or implementing practical arrangements for information and consultation, the employer and the employees’ representatives shall work in a spirit of cooperation and with due regard for their reciprocal rights and obligations, taking into account the interests both of the undertaking or establishment and of the employee”. Q2. Compare and contrast union and non-union forms of employee representation in contemporary society. Introduction The work of the trade union is to protect the member’s interest. There has been conflict of interest between the union and employers have the past. But nowadays, the unions have found the importance of having a good relationship with employers. The reason for the good working condition and relationship is to lead a business to profitability. The trade union representation is as follows: Collective bargaining- the function of the trade union is to negotiate with employers on behalf of the members so as to come to a collective decision or agreement. Generally collective bargaining includes issues like complaining on the working conditions of workers, redundancy, holiday entitlement such as leave, and pay. Consulting and informing- when need arises organizations come up with to consult or inform the union representatives on the transfer of business ownership, health and safety in the work place, collective redundancy, and personal and occupational pension schemes (Marchington et, al 2008). Representation of workers in grievance and disciplinary hearings- the union workers accompany workers to this board to have the hearing and provide defense to the employee especially when wrong judgments were not proper or against human rights. While the trade union is represented as above, the non-unions are as below; Joint consulting committees- this committee is made up of employees’ representative, managers, CEO’s and other senor officials in organizations who came up regularly to discuss issues that concerns the employees in a mutual manner. Employees forums- under this the elected employees represented come into consultation with the organizations management. This is done to disseminate information in the workplace. Joint Working Parties- it concerns the top management and the employees representatives on how to provide suggestions to overcome problems in the organization in a non- confrontation way. Q3 Evaluate the link between employee voice and organizational performance Employee’s voice is the structure and process that enables employees to indirectly and directly be part of decision making in the firm. Employee voice can either be formal or informal. Good and organized voice has positive impacts to the organization performance as the withdrawal to beneficial discretionary behavior or any form of dissatisfaction, improved partnership between the employees and the management and improved performance in production of good or services (Lewis et al 2007). On addition, employees’ involvement in decision making will lead to will improve the communication process that is a tool for better performance in any organization for example CocaCola Company. ASSESSMENT 2 Q1. Distinguish between conflict and misbehaviour, and between official and unofficial industrial action. Organization Conflict This is a process that starts when a group or an individual identifies the difference between himself and from other individuals about resources, values, practises, and interests that is of concern to him or them. Conflict has several causes such as lack of attaining managerial expectations, communication breakdown, misunderstanding of information within the organization, lack of business accountability, personality clashes, employees stress, heavy workload, poor leadership, dishonesty and lack of openness, and poor line management. There are different types of conflicts: interpersonal conflict, intragroup conflict, and intergroup conflict. A conflict has several impacts depending on the cause such as motivation decrease, changes in employees’ behaviour, decrease in productivity, and abstentism. Organization Misbehaviour This is an action whereby the member of an organization intentionally goes against the values and the norms of an organization. For example, the member or members can steal the property of the company, mislead the customers, even sabotage the organizations processes like the production, marketing, and sales processes, misusing of the companies resources, harassment and bulling of the colleagues in the organization, engaging in unethical working practises, and losing of the trust and confident. Industrial action When classifying industrial actions, the differences are found basing on the causes and the impacts of the issues at stake. Below are the types of industrial actions: Official industrial action This is an authorised action that can be endorsed by a known trade union. Before an action is taken there has to be a ballot which is the union notifies the employers 7 days before. Unofficial industrial action This is one that is not endorsed my any known trade union. This type of union is also intended for local level. This type of action mostly takes place suddenly since it forms larger coordinate campaign. Q2. Assess contemporary trends in the type of conflict and industrial sanctions. National coordination The biggest European development plans is to realization of the monetary and economic unions and this is possible to if there is integration between the employers and the trade unions. The effect that led to this idea is wage setting, since the enlargement effect is to increase the pressure of the firms and workers competitiveness. Decentralization This is the master trend in the industrial relations in the UK and the EU region. It is mostly concentrates in the bargaining of the time reduction in the 1980 but it has been a point of contention in today’s work force mostly in Europe. The trend agues that technology, teamwork, multi tasking, and internationalisation are the key issues in the efficient administration of organization for workers and staff to work well without industrial conflict and misbehaviour. On addition, there has been a change in the employment whereby more women are being integrated in the employment after which there is changes in the expectation in the social and the financial necessity, there is also an increase in the life expectancy that has lead to improved retirement legislation, and there has been an advanced legislation to reduce the barriers to discrimination at work and employment. Q3.Explain what is required to advise, coach and guide line managers in the skills for effective grievance- and dispute-handling procedures. Dispute resolution is a process whereby the problems and disputes in an organization in my case the Coca-Cola Company can be brought to an end. This process can occur through different forms like: A negotiated outcome: this is whereby the parties that are in the dispute solve out the issues themselves, the mediator outcome: the parties will seek to find another external mediator to get to an agreement, and an attributed outcome: this form will seek to use the courts to find the solution. For a manager to have a good dispute and grievance procedures then he/she should be able to develop a dispute resolution with the best features. The following are the features of a good dispute resolution process that is good and effective: simple, it should allow the parties to agree on a process, allow the use of appropriate stages that exist when possible, and it should provide fair work act of the UK with necessary power and discretion so as to ensure dispute settlement. The manger should have been informed that after undertaking the dispute procedure carefully, the outcomes should be: Quick; the issues should be done in a fast manner to allow them escalate and fair; all relevant parties should be involved and consulted in the decision making. To be able to avoid grievances and disputes in the work place, the manager should be able to have effective communication skills, allow common decision making, and deliver appropriate organization behaviour (Hausermann et al 2009). ASSESSMENT 3 Q 1.Describe and critique the essential features of the contract of employment. A contact of employment is a very important document in employment to which every employee is entitled to have. This document is provided for in written communication as it sets out the conditions and terms of employment as well as the employment relationship between the employees and employers. The most important aspect towards employment contract is that it is only given to employees and not workers. An employee is a person who has employment rights that are introduced by the employment regulation and also has a contract of service. There are several ways in which a contract can be legally tested by law as: if the offer of employment has been made, if the offer has been accepted, if the consideration exists, and if there is an intension to create legal relations. Contrary an employment contract can also be orally provided, by inference or conducted or by use of both though it is advisable to get a written employment contract to avoid misunderstanding which can result to negative employee relations. A good employment contract has to have an outstanding feature that authentifies its validity. The following features are for a valid contact of employment. In order to form a bidding contract it must be: An accepted offer in which the validity is considered. The offer must be communicated to the projected employee so that he/she can be able to know that he/she has been given a job, the offer can also be revoked at any time before the acceptance since all the employment rights lies to the mandate of the HR team in the organization, and the offer must be differentiated from treat; this is a situation whereby the party to be employed and that to employ prepare to enter into negotiations with a view of forming a contract. In terms of acceptance, it should be communicated back; this part is played by the prospective employee whereby the feedback is greatly needed to determine if he is actually accepting the offer given to him/her. The feedback given must be according to the offer made to the employee otherwise it could be an ëcounter-offerí. Here the contract occurs when on the date that the acceptance has been posted (if posted) and the day received if by phone, fax or by email. The consideration must not be unlawful and it should be something that has not suffered past consideration. Intension: the parties must be bound by contract but the performance of the contract may be conditional to other matters. Certainty: there must be certainty as to the subject matter, the price (wages and salary), and to the parties since contracts with third parties are not valid. The employment contact confirms the agreement between the employee and the employer as under the Employment Act Rights 1996. For the new employees they must be informed of the terms and conditions within 8 weeks after the start of work. In the document that contains the contract the following single documents are found: the name of the employee and the employer, the amount of pay, the date of starting the work (the commencement date), job brief description, he date on which the pay will always be received, the details of the bonus or commission if any, the hours to work, holiday and the holiday payments (leave days), and the actual place of work. Q 2.Identify and analyse the main sources of UK and EU employment relations law-making. The most important source of law that governs industrial relations is the legislation enacted by the parliament. The government will also head the legislation by giving out the white papers or the Green papers. The Green paper is known as the consultative document while the white paper is the government statement showing the policy and interventions (Chamberlain, 2011). The principal source of European Union laws are the treaty on the functioning of the European Union and the treaty on the EU. Treaties of the European Union This is a set of international treaties between the members of and the EU which sets the constitutional basis of the EU. The body has institutions that through them they remit objectives and procedures. The function of the EU is to make sure that these treaties are amended Bryson et, al 2010). Treaty on the functioning of the EU The treaty is divided into smaller principles like: Part 1 The principles This article shows the treaty and the legal value. The other articles like 2 and 6 show the performance of EU according to its power. Part 2 Non-discriminative and the citizenship of the union It’s within this section that the discrimination on the basis of nationality is outplaced. The treat fights discrimination against on racial, sex, ethnic, religion, belief, age and disability. With comparison to this paper is depicts this discrimination in the work place. Q 3.Explain the main developments in individual employment law Due to the changes in the employment legislation, there has been provision to the employees where by there are given a number of employment rights that are applicable to an individual or to collection. The employment rights are concerned with ensuring that workers are treated fairly and with dignity. Some of the development in the individual law is the use of social networking; this social site has helped workers to be able to integrate in the society whereby they can be able to share they lives and work experience hence increasing there awareness to the employment rights in the work place (Armstrong, 2007, 37). E-learning is another development in the employment law. With the introduction of this learning mode most of the workers are able to learn about the changes in the employment rights. Additionally, through this mode of learning some of the workers are able to enrol into courses that are concerned with employment rights. For example with the introduction of distance learning several workers/ employees have enrolled to distance learning whereby they can study Human Resource related courses that contains the employment rights. The development and integration of important websites has become a most useful tool in the creating awareness to employees on the employment rights. Several papers and articles are available in the websites which can provide a source of learning to the workers to. Q 4.Assess and advice on the purpose and scope of statutory trade union recognition Trade unions are considered to be recognized by an employer when it negotiates on the agreements with the employer with respect to the pay, conditions, and the terms of service on behalf of the workers. This process is also known as collective bargaining. If a trade union wants to seek recognition it can do it in two ways statutory or through voluntary means. This paper will discuss the statutory means. The scope of this body is to assist workers and employees to be able to meet they cries to the government and the employers (Allen, 2007, 34). References Allen, A. (2007) High Fidelity. People Management, 28 October 2004. Armstrong. M. (2007) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice 10th ed. London: Kogan Page Bryson, A. & Forth, J. (2010) Trade Union Membership and Influence 1999 – 2009. NIESR Discussion Paper No. 362. Chamberlain, L. (2011) Legislating against co-ordinated strikes. Personnel Today, 29 March 2011 Gennard, J. & Judge, G. (2010) Introduction to Managing Employment Relations 5th Ed. London CIPD. Hausermann. S. & Schwander, H. (2009) Identifying outsiders across countries: similarities and differences in the patterns of dualization. RECWOWE Working Paper 09/2009. Lewis, D. & Sargeant, M. (2007) Essentials of Employment Law 9th Ed. London: CIPD MacLeod, D. & Clarke, N. (2009). Engaging for success: enhancing performance through employee engagement. Marchington, M. & Wilkinson. A. (2008) Human Resource Management at Work: People Management and Development. London. CIPD Read More