Key Challenge Created By Contemporary Employee Relations Issues - Essay Example

The notion is defined as the employer-employee relationship in which the employee work under specific project terms with employees of same and/or different organisations, where responsibilities in regard to performances as well as for health and safety of the employee are not defined in clear manner or situations where “organisations other than the employer” are involved (Rollinson and Dundon, 2007, p.4; Edwards, 2003, p.1). Employee relationship and business organisations: According to Budd and Bhave (2006), employee relations were previously known as industrial relations and currently referred as human resources.

It is a multidisciplinary field of study covering the different dimensions of work and employment associations. However “understanding the employment relationship, corporate human resource management practices, labor union strategies and work-related public policies and laws requires understanding how values and assumptions form the ideologies and frames of reference used by scholars, practitioners, and policymakers” (Budd and Bhave, 2006, p.5-1). Employees are considered as the most critical part of the employment relationship.

There are various theories which describe the association between the manager and the employee. The pluralist perspective describes the fact that different values as well as assumptions under the employee relations are highly significant. An egoist perspective reveals the fact that when people regard the fact that perfectly competitive labour markets are optimal, then labour unions and different government regulations become detrimental to employees. A unitarist perspective assumes that employee relations are not needed to be defined when employees and employer possess the same interests in the business domain.

Again according to a critical perspective these relations are regarded as insufficient when one person views that employment relationship represents imbalanced power relations which are embedded in higher level of social as well as political inequalities (Budd and Bhave, 2006, pp.5-1-5-2). There are various aspects which an employee would like to get from his work. One of the most important requirements is survival and income which is generated from working under employer. People work for the purpose of survival.

Ancient people used basic tools made off stones to butcher animals and to cut firewood as well as to build primary shelters for themselves almost 2.5 million years back. In modern societies, salary income and wages represent means of purchasing basic products and services or to satisfy basic needs for life. Adam Smith (1776) as well as Karl Marx (1844) have hypothesized that income and wages for common labourers would fall to the level that will be consistent just to support subsistence level of consumption, so individuals would end up working for simply survival only.

Along with income attainment for higher level of equity and greater voice is also required by employees (Budd and Bhave, 2006, 5-5-5-6). According to Budd and Bhave, (2006) experts in human resource management and psychologists dealing with corporate or industry related issues often opine that justice is an important aspect of employment. Adam’s equity theory is applicable in this context to such aspects. When an employee starts feeling that he is made to work more than others for the same pay, they are more than likely to reduce work efforts.

Justice and