Human Resource Management, Employers and the Management of Labour - Essay Example

?Human Resource Management, Employers and the Management of Labour Table of Contents Human Resource Management, Employers and the Management of Labour 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Labour Problem and the Need to Resolve It 4 Right to Manage 8 Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to Labour Management 10 Constraints to Managerial Decision-Making 15 Conclusion 16 References 17 Introduction The business environment and the way of working of the industry have been undergoing many alterations since the past few decades. Previously managers were only liable for keeping discipline in an organisation. They even did not have a noteworthy role to play in the process of selection and recruiting. But the scenario has been altering and the role of managers has been observed to totally metamorphose. The fundamental reasons behind this metamorphosis were the increasing consciousness between the workers and the abolition of trade unions to a large extent. The other reason was that the managements were no more inflexible and became increasingly agreeable to causes and also adjustable to the progresses in the technological sector (Dalton, 1950). But in the current era, the organisations have realised the magnitude of their human resources as it is with the help of these resources that increased productivity is attained by an organisation. An important feature which needs to be mentioned is that the supervisors in an organisation are referred to as the management and the employees coming in the category of nonsupervisory level are referred to as the labourers in this paper. Labours require working in teams in organisations and thus it is an obvious fact that there would cause differences between themselves. In such circumstances the interference of management is considered quite necessary so as to resolve the issues and maintaining a good working environment (Dalton, 1950). The purpose of this paper would be to assess the labour problems and the rights of the managers along with the differences in the traditional and contemporary practices. Labour Problem and the Need to Resolve It Disputes among the human resources and the management are a known phenomenon. Disputes among the employees could take place due to various reasons and it is in this context that the managers need to take control of the situation. The managers are the one who are being entrusted with the responsibility of solving the disputes. In this context it is important to understand the reasons of dispute among the employees or the human resources first and then the role and need of the managers. The reason for disputes among the labourers and the management in the industries has been categorised into four key divisions which relates to the economic, managerial, political and other causes (Dalton, 1950). It has been learnt that majority of the industrial differences among the labourers and the management has been owing to economic reasons. The prime economic reason has been the problem of low wage. The wage structure in the industries is generally low and so, it gives rise to some grave complexities for the human resources in terms of meeting up to their basic requirements. The human resources want the pay or the wages to be proportionate to the quantity of work done by them. Such wants takes the form of industrial differences and problems. The want for higher pays has been observed to be the most central reason for problems between the labourers and the management (Michael, 1988). The want for extra pays in the form of bonus has been credited to be the other reason for differences arising out of want for pays. The augmenting cost of survival has been the reason for the labourers to claim and put forward their want for extra remuneration as dearness allowances. The increasing prices has been turning out to be triggering the want for dearness allowances and the un-acceptance of such wants by the labourers give rise to these industrial differences. The workforce of an organisation is considered to be an integral division of the production. The revenues earned by the employers experience an augmentation owing to the efforts exerted by those labourers. The labourers or the workforce are quite aware of this fact and so, this has given rise to a feeling that they must not be just considered as a division of the production (Dalton, 1950). The labourers or rather the human resources related to the production process at times have learnt to put forward their want of a certain portion of the increased profit. The rejection of such a want by the management or rather the employers becomes the reason for differences or disputes. The hours of working has been also said to be one of the economic causes which triggers dispute between the labourers and the management. Although there has been legal specifications set for the working hours but it has always been aimed to keep the human resources occupied for extended hours by the employers at low pays. This tendency has not been accepted by the workers and has often resulted in disputes. The working environment and the situations have at times been considered unsatisfactory in case of some industries by their workers. Old machines, dearth of safety prerequisites, insufficient arrangement of light and deficiency of other required services have been observed to be a common feature for some of the industries. The need and want for improved working environment and conditions by the workers have even been attributed to be another reason for disputes (Dalton, 1950). Apart from these factors work safety, pension, provident fund, different beneficiary plans, leaves, new technology, medical as well as accommodation and share in revenues have also been stated to be reasons that triggers dispute. There have been managerial reasons which turned out to be another source of such disputes. The achievement of organisations broadly relies on their respective managerial capability. The development of the organisations is said to be founded on its management policies. Following suitable policies by the management would certainly facilitate the growth of the organisation or of a particular industrial unit. But in many instances following incorrect policies by the management have been observed to heighten the disputes (Dalton, 1950). Non acknowledgment of the unions, infringement of agreements, misconduct by the supervisors as the managers, faulty or imperfect process of employing along with workers development plans, unlawful economising, downgrading and termination, selfish attitude of the leaders, infringement of the established code of conduct and collective bargaining along with the labourers involvement in the management have been attributed as the managerial causes giving rise to disputes. In the present industrial world, the state of the labourers has been apprehended with a fresh stirring and is being manipulated by the fresh notion of management. The trade unions so, have been persistent regarding the workers’ or the labourers’ involvement in the management. With the assistance of collective management, they were observed to defend their well-being to the utmost. This was not accepted by the employers and thus has resulted in the predictable consequence in terms of the industrial dispute (Dalton, 1950). Political reasons have also been of quite importance apart from the economic and managerial reasons in giving rise to industrial disputes. The chief political reasons that have been the cause of industrial disputes are the political influence on the industries, the trade union association and strikes held in opposition to the government. These mentioned political reasons have been said to be the prime reasons which triggers dispute amongst the labourers and the management. Besides the managerial, economic and the political reasons there are other reasons like the government’s inclination towards the management more than the labourers in many instances, internal clashes among the members of the Trade Unions, struggle against mechanisation, manipulation of the labourers with through communist thinking and consequences of disregarding the human relations have been considered as causes that triggers dispute (Khurana & Et. Al., 2010). In organisations there can be interpersonal conflicts that takes place between two employees and is stated to be the most widespread conflict. Apart from this there is the team conflict which takes place in among the members of a team. Few of the group members differ in some point with the other members of that group which give rise to this kind of a conflict (Dana, 2001). In case of conflicts or disputes, it becomes important for the managers to take control of the situation as immediately as possible. It is important and necessary to manage conflicts or problems so as to maintain a good working environment and most importantly to avoid any kind of hindrances in the process of production. Conflicts between the management and the human resources or conflicts within the workers would give rise to a tensed environment which would again hamper the employee morale at large. This is likely to result in poor performance which in turn would have an effect on the productivity of the organisation. Industrial disputes result in non performance of the workers as they tend to create pressure on the management to give in to their demands by this. This at times hinders the operational process of the industries owing to which they suffer heavy losses and at times the prolonged non performance results in threatening the existence of the industries (Khurana & Et. Al., 2010). Organisations suffer losses, as the conflicts give rise to a condition which could not be considered suitable for working. Moreover, interpersonal conflicts are said to have an influence on the other workers too which even hampers their morale. Team conflicts slow down the working process and pace of the teams as well. It is evident from the assessment that in case of any conflict, the working environment gets affected. This has an effect on the efficiency of the workers as a result of which even the productivity gets affected. On the whole it can be observed that any kind of conflict ultimately results in upsetting the production and this adversely affects the profitability of the industries as well as the organisations. Organisations operating in the service industries suffer as the quality of inferior service make them lose their customers. Therefore, it becomes utmost important for managers to resolve the conflicts or disputes at the earliest or else the survival and the existence of the industries along with the organisations gets threatened (Khurana & Et. Al., 2010). Right to Manage The right to manage involves two aspects and they are the management rights and the other one is management functions. The facet of rights has been frequently declared to be obtained from the ownership rights of the property like plant as well as equipment along with the managers playing the role of trustees on behalf of the lawful owners. The concept of protection of the managerial operations or functions is to some extent similar to the differentiation claim. It refers to the functional or operational jobs, the control of which assists to provide this group the needed uniqueness. Therefore, such jobs fundamentally get connected to the control operations and this defines this particular work-related group horizontally as well as vertically therefore keeping up a hierarchical distribution of labour (Storey, 1983). The right to management has also been broadly explained that management rights mean the right of the management to come to a decision regarding what to be done, where, when and who should execute it. For instance the right to shift the operations from a particular place to somewhere else, the right to ascertain the working hours and also the right to decide on the other relevant matters which are generally as well as conventionally considered to be the only liability of the management. The management rightfully decided on matters that were in the interests of their organisation and profitability. They came to those decisions that were beneficial for the organisation and the human resources or the labourers did not enjoy any kind of consideration (Storey, 1983). Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to Labour Management In the earlier days, control was considered to be the chief managerial function. The management concentrated on matters that directed towards controlling the workforce. The interests of the labourers or the working conditions or even the health related aspects were not taken into concern. The ownership rights were thought to be of the prime concern by the management rather than the labourers. The management shared a relationship of a master and a slave with its workforce where, the workforce was bound to carry out the orders of the management without raising any questions. The only aspect which was considered was the profitability of the organisation. This traditional way of working and right to manage gave rise to plenty of disputes among the labourers and the management which kept on soaring (Storey, 1983; Philip, 1969; Harbison & Myers, 1959). A sharp refusal of the business influence, work dissatisfaction along with constant economic breakdown gave rise to a fresh labour movement which emerged to be quite strong. The labour union came into being owing to these problems and they made the management take heed of the other issues related to their workforce. In the contemporary era the concepts of right to manage underwent a significant change and entail a broad aspect. In the traditional era only the right to property was paid attention to but whereas, with the emergence of problems among the management and the workforce compelled to bring in alterations in this practice. The traditional practice triggered disputes which had an adverse affect on the productivity which made the management recognise the need to change it. It was soon identified that in order to function efficiently and maintain a good productivity the management recognised the importance of a good relationship between the workforce and the management (Wendy, 1991). The contemporary practice adopted progressive plans like public relations and personnel administration by enhancing the material rewards. It was observed that in the initial phases of the contemporary practice, the labour relations were given increased significance but with the introduction of fresh and advanced technologies, the need to focus on the property rights were also identified (McGivering, 1970). The management started to emphasise on the property rights by incorporating the new technologies in their respective organisations. At the similar time they started to stress on developing the workforce so that they follow the commands and directions of the management which would facilitate in enhancing the productivity. Therefore, the ownership rights and the functional rights to an extent became interdependent on each other in the contemporary practice (Doherty & Horne, 2002; Harris, 1982). Traditionally the labourers were not given much consideration and so, there was no need of managing them. The labourers were only controlled by the management and they were expected to carry out the commands of the management and work in harmony with them. However, in the contemporary practice emphasis was given on the development of the labourers more than controlling them. This was done with the help of motivating them to execute their work in harmony and in interests of the organisation (Doherty & Horne, 2002; Harris, 1982). The development of the workforce in the contemporary practice was done through scientific management. The scientific management was applied so as to derive increased better results by facilitating better and superior performance. This kind of management was observed to be mutually beneficial for the employer as well as for the employee. According to the concept of scientific management, only providing incentives did not bring out the best from the workforce as was believed previously. The scientific management was developed with the assistance of few principles or duties. The duties entailed in accumulating the traditional knowledge and the talent along with the capacity of the workforce. Then was the duty of collecting this huge compilation of knowledge and tabulating it, recording it and in some instances even summing it up into rules as well as laws and even mathematical formulae. The duty to put these laws, formulae and rules into everyday practice in the way of working of the workforce was followed after the previous duty. This facilitated in a larger and superior quality output which made the company increase the pay of their workforce (Taylor, 2007; Taylor, 1911). The next collection of duties would be to keep a track of the performance of the labourers so as to identify the restraints. The management also needs to recognize the probabilities and need for development. This helps in classifying the skilled labourers and also identifies those whose skill could be developed with the assistance of training which would make them enhance their performance. The following stage entails in identifying the appropriate training or science that would be suitable for a particular employee. Similarly, the last step involves in dividing the work equally among the management and the workforce which was previously just done by the workforce. This implies that the management as well as the workforce has to equally share the work of the organisation so as to enhance the productivity and the quality (Taylor, 2007). Development of the workforce was also pursued with the help of motivating them. Various motivation theories were taken into account by managers among which the motivation-hygiene theory aided in understanding the aspects with the intention of helping in motivating the labourers for better performance. The course of motivation according to this theory was categorised two groups and they were the hygiene factors and the other group identified the motivating factors. The hygiene features were referred to such forms that were considered to be external for an employee like working conditions and the wage or pay. The motivating factors were referred to those which helped in internally manipulating an employee like the want for recognition, responsibility, achievement and advancement. The management started considering and enhancing these factors with the intention to motivate the workforce so as to attain the desired performance from them (Lunenburg & Ornsrein, 2011; Frederick, 1968). Constraints to Managerial Decision-Making The decision-making process of the managers involves quite a number of constraints. The managers or the management needs to take into concern a number of factors which makes the process complicated. The managers need to give equal importance to the profitability factor of the organisations as well as even to the human resources while making decisions. In the traditional practice the managers were only needed to consider the interests of the management and the organisation while taking decisions but there has been an alteration in the contemporary scenario (Child, 1975). The chief constraint identified in the process of decision-making is the complexity. In situation when equal consideration needs to be given to both the sides then it makes the process quite complex. Moreover, the managers need to consider numerous facets of the workforce as well. The managers need to take into concern the working conditions, the satisfaction level of the workforce, the economies of scale, health factors, motivating factors and at the same time even rake into concern the productivity along with the efficiency factor of the organisation. The manager needs to take decisions which would take into concern the interests of the workforce and also not adversely affect the productivity of an organisation. This makes the process of decision-making quite complex (Petersen & Et. Al., 2006; Bridge & Dodds, 1975). Conclusion The above discussion evidently brings out the need and importance of management of the workforce by the managers or the employers. With the growing industrial relations and the competition, problems of the workforce or among the labourers and the management are increasing. The disputes have been threatening the survival of the industries or a particular organisation. The disputes hamper the way of working which in turn affects the productivity of the industries. Therefore, the managers require taking control of the disputes and controlling them at the earliest so as to maintain the profitability of the organisation. The concept of personnel management or human resource management has gained a lot of significance and is considered to be quite significant for the purpose to avoid such differences which could make the organisation suffer heavy losses. The study also brings out the difference between the traditional practices of the right to manage and the contemporary practices. This brings out the fact of scientific management and the need for motivation. These concepts contribute to a large extent to maintain a healthy association among the management and the workforce and also ensure the enhancement of productivity. Therefore, it can be said that these concepts help both the sides to enjoy benefits. However, the contemporary practice has made the decision making process of the managers’ quite complex as quite a number of facets needs to be considered by them in the process. References Bridge, J. & Dodds, J. C., 1975. Managerial Decision Making. Taylor & Francis. Child J., 1975. People and Work. 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