Effectiveness of Current Industrial Relation Practices - Essay Example

Industrial relations Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction The purpose of this report is to assess the various planning strategies used by organization to manage the business specifically to Seaham plant hire which is an excavation contractor in Australia. The various Seaham strategic plans will be discussed as well as the principles which are helpful in improving industrial relation. The report will also discuss the plan on how to implement the industrial relation policies and finally will discuss the ways in which the organization can monitor the progress of the industrial relations in an organization (Steve & McMillan 2010). The conclusion section will summarize the findings of the report. For the recent past years many organizations have been performing poorly in terms of market share and competition. This is because there have been less efforts in improving the industrial relations of the organizations. In this regard many organizations nowadays are contemplating of improving their business performance by engaging active and effective industrial relations. Industrial relations comprise of the relationship between the employer and the employees. It includes the practices of management, the representation of employees, any conflicts that may arise in the organization, the policies and environment for working in the organization. Therefore industrial relations aim at improving the relation between the employer and the employees and the relationship between employees and employees. Organizations strategic and business plans Strategic plans are the general policies and rules that govern the well being of an organization. Strategic plans are essential for the success of any business. Effective strategic plans have helped Seaham plant hire to have a competitive advantage in the market by improving its performance in terms of quality and quantity of the products. There are three types of strategic plans which should be adopted by any organization. They include; corporate strategy, functional strategy and the business strategy (Shire 2003). Corporate strategy is the strategy that deals with the overall operations of the firm. Corporate decisions are made at a high level because it involves high risks of the business (Shire 2003). This strategy is concerned with scanning the business environment of Seaham to determine the SWOT analysis that is the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the business environment. It also assesses the environment, does segmentation of the market and integrates the various operations of the business. After scanning the environment, then the management makes various decisions like the allocation of the resources of the firm so that each section gets the resources required and objectives of the firm. Corporate strategy is also responsible foe developing company structure and the personnel requirements. Business strategy of Seaham plant hire is the strategy that is more concerned with the capability of the firm to compete effectively for the market share. This strategy focuses on the performance of the company in conjunction with the corporate strategy in order to minimize input and maximize output (Shire 2003). Business strategy develops the mission of the organization and scans the environment to determine the best ways to improve the competitiveness of the firm. Finally, there is Seaham’s functional strategy is at the lowest level of management (Shire 2003). This strategy involves various functions of the company like the marketing department, accounts department and Human resource department. The main function of this strategy is to implement the vision and mission of the company towards achieving the objectives of the company. On the other hand there are various business plans have been applied by Seaham plant hire which include start up business plan, internal business plan which is used internally by the Company to assess if it is making a profit or not. Strategic business plans are a detailed plan that includes the objectives of the company and how to achieve them. There is also a growth business plan that is concerned with the growth of the company and how it should be expanded to a wider market. For instance Seaham has been concentrating on internal business strategies and the strategy has enabled the company to compete effectively in the market (Seaham 2012). Effectiveness of current industrial relation practices Industrial relation is the relationship between the employer and the employees. It involves the employment relationship between the employees of Seaham plant hire and the employer which are the human resource management, management of labor unions and the relationship of the employees. It includes collective bargaining of the employees, trade union associations and the management of labor relations. The current practices of industrial relations at Seaham plant hire are not effective because they are not effectively applied. For instance there are many employment relations like the terms and conditions of the employment which have not been implemented fully (Kevin 2007). In this regard the employees are not satisfied with their work and they engage in many industrial disputes and strikes because of lack of considering the employment conditions between the employee and the employer. On the other hand trade unions are not effective in the current industrial relations of Seaham. The employees are encouraged to enter into a trade association of their choice but instead they are compelled to join a specific trade association. In this context, the employees do get involved actively in the operations of the trade union thus it does not have much collective bargaining power on behalf of the employees. The current industrial relations of Seaham do not motivate the employees. The employers are changing the conditions of work without motivating the employees (Gritti & Leoni 2012). For instance, Seaham plant hire increased the working hours with little increment of salaries. This lowered the morale employees and therefore they engaged in industrial action to fight for their rights leading to bad industrial relations between the employer and the employees. Finally, the relationship in terms of labor is not effective in terms of management. Seaham is more concerned with the output but not the employees. The management puts pressure on employees to improve their performance whereas they don’t motivate them. These heavy working conditions with less motivation lead to industrial action which destroys the relationship between the employer and the employees due to the strikes and boycotting work thus labor management relations is not effective. Key principles of industrial relations The quality of industrial relations depends on the quality of employees and employers relationship. The first principle that strengthens the industrial relations of Seaham includes the nature of the work of the company (Carpenter & Raphael 2013). The ability that employees are satisfied with their work will lead to good industrial relations. Job satisfaction as a result of nature of work can make an employee to have good relationship with the employer but if not the labor relationship will not be good. Paying fair wages and salaries also promoted good industrial relations Seaham. When the employees are well paid, they will be satisfied with their work and so they will avoid stoppages of work by striking and boycotting their work and this leads to a good relationship between the employer and the employees. Training the employees of the company leads to better understanding of their work because the employees will develop in their work (James & Kaufman 2001). In this regard the employees will enjoy doing their work and will break monotony and hence there will be fewer confrontations with the employer as they will improve their competency in terms of quality and quantity. Good communication network between the management of Seaham leads to good industrial relations in the organization (James & Kauffaman 2001). In order to improve industrial relations in the organization, there should be good communication which is top down communication and down top communication so the management and employees will share ideas and eliminate vices of misunderstandings. The right to rest promotes human dignity of employees in the workplace. Employees should be allowed to rest at least one day in a week so that they can attend to their personal issues. Right to rest upholds the considerations made in the employment agreement. When the employers observe the rest period of the employees, there will be a good industrial relationship with the company. Freedom of association creates good industrial relations (James & Kauffaman 2001). The employees of Seaham should be allowed to join trade associations of their choice. This freedom of associations creates a good relationship between the employer and employees thus improves the industrial relations and the employees’ grievances are negotiated by trade unions. Another principle is the right to withdraw human resource by an employee. There should be rights to strike by the employees to offer their grievances or there should be freedom to withdraw labor from an organization by the employee without any formal jurisdiction. Proposed improvements to industrial relations policies and practices In order to improve the efficiency of industrial relations at Seaham plant hire, the employers and employees join trade unions from which they will both gain mutual benefits. The trade associations will collectively bargain for the rights and grievances of the employees only if the employers are also part of the trade union agreements. The unison promotes a good relationship between the employer and the employees without disrupting the operations of the company. The employers should always observe the rights of the employees by considering the industrial relations and its objectives. These industrial relations dictate that the employers of Seaham should provide job security to the employees so that they will feel secure in their workplaces. This improves the living standards of the employees and thus they will not have many grievances to offer. The trade unions should be permitted by security of the organization of Seaham (Kaufman 2001). On the other hand the employees are expected to work hard to improve their performances so that the company will gain competitive advantage. In this regard the employer and the employees will develop good industrial relations thus improving the performance of the organization and improve the services and products they offer to customers. Discipline among the employees in the Company is another improvement in industrial relations (Kaufman 2001). The employers and the employees are encouraged to be well disciplined despite their protection by their trade unions. Discipline will guide the employees’ actions and therefore they will develop social responsibility in their workplaces and abandon behaviors that might lead to industrial dispute between the employer and the employees. Human relation, managers Seaham should have adequate skills and knowledge on how to handle the industrial relations disputes. They will be able to settle industrial disputes before they cause a big problem in the organization. There should be better working conditions for the employees. For instance, if the employees work for part time they should be paid accordingly and the official working hours should be observed. Better working conditions improve the relationship between the management and the employees hence leading to good industrial relations. Fair wages and salaries should be observed by the employer. In order to motivate the employees, they should be remunerated accordingly so that they don’t feel oppressed and begin engaging in industrial actions. Good salaries will make the employees to be satisfied with their job, hence there will be no industrial disputes. Plan of implementing a change in industrial relations policy The first part of implementing a change in industrial relation policy is to develop the change which is supposed to take place by the management team of Seaham (Richard & Rogers 1999). The management is responsible for assessing various changes which are supposed to be implemented to increase the efficiency of the industrial relations. This change must be colliding with the existing objectives of the industrial relations. Then the developed plan or policy is analyzed in terms of the risks involved and the contingency plans are set out. The management team after developing the change to be implemented it then assesses the risks which are involved in the implementation of the strategy (Richard & Rogers 1999). This helps the management team to come up with ways by which they will overcome the risks involved in the strategy to be implemented. The next plan is to develop training to the employees so that they will be equipped with relevant skills which are useful in implementing the strategy. The management team selects some employees and trains them on how to implement the strategy or policy with less ease because without training the policy may not be implemented fully by the employees as they will not be motivated towards the implementation process. The contingency plans are then developed by the management team. These plans show how the plan will be implemented and the various objectives of the policy to be implemented. These plans should indicate who will be involved in the implementation process and at what stage as well as the skills required at every stage of the implementation plan. Negotiations are then conducted between the employees of Seaham and the employer (Richard & Rogers 1999). The employees will be represented by their associations and the negotiations aim at striking a balance between the employer and the employees. The employer explains the importance of the change to be implemented and how the whole organization will benefit especially the employees. The employees’ representatives also bargain on the working conditions of the employees so that their rights are not violated. After the negotiations and various agreements have been reached, the results are then documented. Each party to the contract is then given a copy of the document so that they will be made aware of the agreed conditions. Finally after every party to the employment contract has been made aware of the change to be implemented, the real implementation takes place. This is done by including all employees of the company and remedial action will be taken against an employee who violates the agreement. Ways of monitoring and evaluating changes to IR policies and practices First is to assess if Seaham planned operations are accomplished by due dates (Shire 2003). If the due dates for each operation is not met, then there is a need to revise the implementation strategy and know why the due dates are not met. This also includes all the reports which are needed like the monthly or weekly reports to assess the progress of the policy change. Seaham’s management team should conduct meetings at regular intervals with the stakeholders and the management team to assess the feedback of the progress of the plan. If the feedback from the stakeholders is positive then the implementation plan is on the right track to success but if negative then the plan needs to be reviewed to improve its performance. Feedback from the members of the industrial relations committee should also be used to evaluate the progress of the plan (Kelvin 2009). Positive feedback implies that the objective is being achieved but if the response is negative then the objective is not being achieved hence make amendments to accomplish the objective. The outcome of the policy should indicate Seaham’s positive cost benefits. While implementing the plan, the costs should show a positive trend by reducing the costs being incurred. Reduction in costs indicates success of the plan but increase in costs of the firm indicates a negative achievement of the plan. Finally, there should be regular check ups at every implementation stage to identify the loopholes of the implementation process. These check ups also ensure that there is an effective utilization of resources towards the achievement of the objectives of the plan. Conclusion Industrial relation is the relationship between the employer and the employees. It is concerned with labor relations and how the employees are represented by trade associations. For any organization like Seaham plant hire in order to compete effectively for the market share there is need to consider the industrial relations to improve the motivation of the employees at their workplaces. The three main strategic plans of businesses include the corporate strategy, the business strategy and the functional strategy (Shire 2003). These core strategies integrate to make business a success. Good industrial relations between the employees of Seaham reduce stoppages of work because the employees are satisfied with their work. Among the principles of industrial relations are, discipline, fair wages and salaries, fair working conditions and freedom of association. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of industrial relations change, feedback from the stakeholders should indicate a positive response. Finally, industrial relations improve the performance of the organization through the sharing of ideas and good working conditions with fewer incidences of stress. References Carpenter, C & Raphael, S 2013, Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society Vol. 52, No. 1, pp. 231-324. Gritti, P & Leoni, R 2012, High Performance Work Practices, Industrial Relations and Firm Propensity for Innovation, New York, Emerald group. James, B & Kaufman, B 2001, The Future of Private Sector Unionism in the United States, Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. Kaufman, B 2001, Human Resources and Industrial Relations: Commonalities and Differences, Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 339–374. Kevin, M 2007, Sociologists and 'Japanese model': a passing enthusiasm? Work, employment and society. Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 751-771. Seaham plant hire 2012, Seaham plant hire, available online At http://www.manta.com/ic/mvt9djs/au/seaham-plant-hire Richard, F & Rodgers, J 1999, What Workers Want. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press Shire, K. A 2003, Recent German Research on Japanese Labor and Economic Institutions, Social Science Japan Journal, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 97-104. Steven, G & McMillan, D 2010, Paradigm shifts in industrial relations: A bibliometric And social network approach, Emerald group. Read More