Forms of Industrial Conflicts - Australia - Case Study Example

INDISTRIAL CONFLICTS Name Course Tutor Date Introduction Industrial conflicts forms the center of research for most scholars, policy makers, government and the world at large. The concept of industrial conflicts is contentious and complex altogether (Bray et al, 2014). Industrial conflict comes in when the employees; who are a vital resource of organization, level their dissatisfaction with the management based on the existing manager-employee relationship (Hotepo et al, 2010). Some of the obvious causes of such conflicts include wage payment and increment, or remunerations based on the terms of employment contract an organization institutes (Hotepo et al, 2010). This dissatisfaction can either be expressed formally or informally by the employees. Unlike the informal methods that are chaotic and unorganized, the formal methods are advanced and well planned (Baird, 2011). This paper evaluates the issue of industrial conflicts in the context of Australia under different areas. Forms of Industrial Conflicts Strike and lock-outs also referred collectively as industrial disputes and are one form of industrial conflict (Ali Mohamed, 2012). The two are overt forms of industrial conflicts (Ali Mohamed, 2012). This is because they are open and usually anticipated (McGrath-Champ et al, 2010). Strike refers to a scenario where the employees temporarily withdraw their services against the employment contract (Ali Mohamed, 2012). Strikes are formal in that they are always organized through trade unions representing the employees (Hotepo et al, 2010). On the other hand lock out is an employer’s weapon in keeping the employees off their work place; curtailing the demand to supply labor (McGrath-Champ et al, 2010). The other formal form is work-to-rule where the workers strictly adhere to the legal specifications of their employment contract and thus deliberately act rigidly (Akume & Abdullahi, 2013). On the other hand, absenteeism and sabotage are classified as informal and covert forms of industrial conflicts (Akume & Abdullahi, 2013). Absenteeism in this context transpires when the employees deliberately due to unspecified reasons refuse to report to their workplace (Bray et al, 2014). There might be sound reasons for absenteeism making it a mere industrial conflict that has productivity and revenue repercussions (Alemán, 2008). Sabotage on the other hand occurs when the employees damage the reputation or production of their organization deliberately. Saboteurs always hide their identities from the organization and not their peers (Alemán, 2008). They are covert forms in that they are not immediately obvious. Trends of Industrial Conflicts in Western Industrialized Countries (Australia) According to Australian Bureau of Standards (ABS) lockouts emerged in Australia between 1900s and 2000s when her employment relations took the decentralized process (Bray et al, 2014). In the period of 1999 to 2003, lockouts accounted for 2% of all the industrial disputes (Creighton & Forsyth, 2012). In the same period 9.3% of all working days were lost owing to industrial disputes. On the other hand, more than 20 working days were lost in Australia between 1999 and 2003 due to extended industrial disputes (Bray et al, 2014). Long term trends of disputes are measures by volumes of the industrial disputes, that is based on the days lost (Creighton & Forsyth, 2012). This is computed by addition for each dispute, the number of workers in the dispute multiplied by the length of the dispute all divided by 1000 employees (Bray et al, 2014). Prior to the 1980s, Australia scored little in terms of good industrial relations and was an industrial disputes prone country (Bray et al, 2014). However, this changed in the mid 1980s when the mean annual members fell compared to the ones in the previous records. There has consequently been a historical decline in the succeeding years (Bray et al, 2014). The total number of industrial disputes between 2000 and 2005 remained leveled at about 700 annually (Bray et al, 2014). This then plunged in 2006 and 2007. The preceding years 2009 to 2013 recorded an unassuming increase. Significance of Covert forms of Industrial Conflicts with Reference to Difference in Industries and Occupations in Australia In the history of Australia the covert form of industrial conflict has been absenteeism. Bray et al (2014) opine that the large industries in Australia that therefore have higher numbers of employees experience high average absenteeism. This is contrary to those industries that have fewer employees in their workplace, which boast of low average absenteeism. This is based on the definition provided by Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey abbreviated as AWRIS (Bray et al, 2014). AWRIS defines absenteeism as the proportion of employees, on an average day, that are out of the workplace with no proper communication. AWIRS set a 2.7 % average rate (Bray et al, 2014). Michelson et al (2008) concur with (Bray et al (2014) that electricity, gas, and water supply industry and related occupations take lead of the highest average mean percentage per single day considered with 4.3%. Following closely is the communication service and health and community services industry with 3.5%. As obvious the government administration then follows with 3.5% as well (Bray et al, 2014). The industries that score low percentage mean per day is the business and construction having 2.2% mean per day (Bray et al, 2014). Significance of Employee Withdrawal and its Relationship to the Concept of Industrial Conflict Lack of job satisfaction has been debated to be the arsenal cause of employee withdrawal (Mughal & Khan, 2013). Teicher et al (2013) note that employee withdrawal occurs in stages. Initially, the employees will begin showing up late. The next phase will be unannounced absenteeism. At the later stage, turnover will be experienced, where the employees tender their resignation (Mughal & Khan, 2013). This clearly illustrates that there is actually a link between employee satisfaction with their job, withdrawal and thus industrial conflicts. Mughal & Khan (2013) contend that turnover is one form of covert industrial conflicts. Poor employee-management is also another cause of employee withdrawal (Teicher et al, 2013). The same reasons that initiate industrial conflicts have the capacity to promulgate overt and covert forms of industrial conflicts (Bray et al, 2014). When absenteeism and lateness becomes rampant in the organization productivity and thus revenue of the organization are compromised, in the same manner industrial conflicts do (Mughal & Khan, 2013). Absenteeism takes two forms; involuntary and voluntary (McGrath-Champ et al, 2010). The involuntary absenteeism results from uncontrollable sources such as accidents or illness. On the other hand voluntary absenteeism arises from the unwillingness of the employee to show up at the workplace. In essence the latter describes the employee withdrawal phase (Hotepo et al, 2010). Finding systematic statistical data on absenteeism is hard in Australia due to little research (Bray et al,2014). However, in Australia there is variation of absenteeism with reference to the number of employees, the larger organizations reporting a higher withdrawal compared to the smaller workplaces (McGrath-Champ et al, 2010). According to Bray et al (2014) the Australian Public Sector tops the list of absenteeism compared to the private sector as reported by the respective employers (Bray et al, 2014). With reference to the industries, property and business services has the lowest average absenteeism compared to its electricity, water, and gas supply counterpart with a higher average absenteeism (Bray et al, 2014). This is mainly caused by the employees attitudes on the motivation they are accorded at the workplace, the job design itself, larger and more atomistic workgroups as well as less participative and autocratic management styles at these workplaces or industries (Bray et al, 2014). Factors that Can Influence the Level of Absenteeism There is a plethora of factors that can influence the level of absenteeism in any given industry. First off, it is employee satisfaction with their job and work conditions. This goes hand in hand with engagement and performance appraisal at the workplace (Bray et al, 2014). If the employee is dissatisfied with the job there is likely to be higher levels of absenteeism (Ali Mohamed, 2012). The specifications and content of the job the employee is handling also dictate the incidence of absenteeism. Bray et al (2014) highlights some of the characteristics of the job that result to higher levels of absenteeism. They include conflicting commands or directions, unclear expectations due to ambiguous roles and tasks, cushy works that are not challenging, poor utilization of available skills, and routinisation of tasks. Hotepo et al (2010) point the aforementioned tenets to result to stress on part of the employee leading to different forms of industrial conflicts the most common being a higher level of absenteeism. The other factor that also elevates the levels of absenteeism at workplace is the job design itself (Akume & Abdullahi, 2013). This covers the content of the job and the environments where it is executed. Absenteeism culture is also promulgated with the organizational structure (Bray et al, 2014). When there are tedious and stressing organization behaviors the employees will be more inclined towards absenteeism (Akume & Abdullahi, 2013). Additionally, the employee’s attitude on the motivation at the work place could also be a major cause of higher levels of incidences of absenteeism (Gall, 2012). Other factors include such things as accidents, transport delays and family responsibilities among other individual factors (Gall, 2012). Conclusion There are very many diverse factors that lead to conflicts at personal level. Since business involves the interaction of management and employees, there is the introduction of the concept of industrial conflicts. There are two major types of industrial conflicts; formal and informal as elucidated in the text. Additionally, there are covert and overt forms as further shown in the paper. It is worth noting that there are many more forms of industrial conflicts. However, this paper has only focused on sabotage, absenteeism, strikes and lockouts. With relevance to Australia the trends in industrial conflicts in the western nation is reflected. The factors dictating the levels of absenteeism are also explored. As a recommendation, more research should be done in this field so as to defuse the dilemma that is always affecting many organizations all over the world. Bibliography Akume, A. T., & Abdullahi, Y. M. 2013, “Challenges and Prospects of Effective Industrial Conflict Resolution in Nigeria”. Journal of Social Science, 36(2), 199-208. Alemán, J. 2008, “Labor Market Deregulation and Industrial Conflict in New Democracies: A Cross-National Analysis”. Political studies, 1-28. Ali Mohamed, A. A. 2012, “Resolution of Industrial Disputes in New Zealand”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(6), 204-208. Baird, M. 2011, “Industrial relations”. Los Angeles: SAGE. Bray, M., Cooper, R., Waring, P. 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