Enhancing Employee-Management Relations - Term Paper Example

 Enhancing Employee- Management Relations Introduction A controversial and perennial issue that has been ricocheting in and plaguing many organizations, private and public, is employee-management relations. Each of the two groups, management and labor, avers that it is the more important button to push in order to produce the wherewithal for socio-economic progress. There is no statement more stimulating and productive of conflict in organization than this. The truth is that no group is superior to the other. Both management and employees supplement each other. In this regard, the essay aims to proffer issues pertaining to enhancing employee- management relations. The research would discuss employee rights, employer responsibilities, disciplinary policy and procedures, and managerial or business ethics in employee relations. Contemporary problems in employee – management relations would be presented with suggested solutions to address them. Employee Rights According to US Legal (2010), “employee rights arise from federal and state laws that, over time, have established various rules that govern the employer-employee relationship” (par. 1). There are various categories that fall under the employee rights perspective, to wit: “1) union activity, i.e., the right to organize and to bargain collectively; 2) working hours and minimum pay; 3) equal compensation for men and women doing the same or similar work for the same employer; 4) safety and health protection in the work environment and related workers' compensation; 5) unemployment benefits; 6) nondiscriminatory hiring and promotion practices; 7) family and medical leave; and 8) ability to complain without retaliation (whistle-blower protection)” (US Legal, par. 2). Among those enumerated, the more controversial rights relate to discrimination wherein employers are strictly monitored in terms of discriminatory policies and practices. As indicated, “companies hiring people may not discriminate on the basis of seven categories: sex, age, race, national origin, religion, physical disability, or veteran status” (US Legal, par. 4). According to an article on Equal Opportunity, “Title VII of 1964's Civil Rights Act is aimed at eliminating employment discrimination based on the usual litany of race, religion, sex, or national origin” (Equal Opportunity, 2010, par. 8). Prior to the implementation of Title VII, employers commonly practice unfair opportunities in terms of recruiting more male than female; more personnel from the younger generation than those from the older age range; those of the same race and ethnic orientation; those who are physically normal with no disabilities; and those from the same religious organizations; among others. An increasing number of organizations, not only in the United States, but globally, have adhered to laws conforming to non-discriminatory policies by encouraging diversity in the workplace. One of the organizations in the US that promote and encourage workplace diversity is Walmart. Statistics of the work force at Walmart boasts of a composition from diverse cultural orientations and gender with the following breakdown, to wit: “more than 850,000 of our associates are female and make up 59 percent of our U.S. workforce. 35 percent of our associates are minority: 249,000 African Americans, 171,000 Hispanics, 42,000 Asian Americans, 6,000 Pacific Islander Americans, 15,000 American Indian and Alaska Natives, and 430,000 associates 50 and over” (Walmart: Our People, par. 4). The performance management system of Walmart focusing on the development of human resources encompass critical functions of training, motivation, and developing career paths through a diverse work force. Through diversity, individual workers are given the opportunity to learn from experiences of various cultures. They are exposed to diverse sources of creativity in problem solving. Further, challenges posed by diversity create positive environments for individual competition in terms of improving one’s skills and advancing competencies. These values enhance the accomplishment of organizational goals. Management (Employer) Responsibilities Under the management-labor relations umbrella, management refers to the formal group of executives expressing and acting as one body in its relations with the workers of the organization. This includes the Board of Directors, the top echelon officers and the middle management group of supervisors, foremen and other front-line officers. The US Legal revealed that the responsibilities of employers as contained in the employee manual encompass the following: “putting policies on record; make employees aware of rights, benefits, and policy, providing legal protections to employers; provide background information on the organization” (US Legal, par. 1), among others. On the other hand, the Department of Labor specifically enumerated employers’ responsibilities in ensuring safety and health in the workplace as indicated herein: ensuring that the workplace is safe and secure from potential hazards, workplace conditions must conform to identified standards, employees are accorded safe and secure tools, equipment and supplies in the workplace, policies and procedures are clearly stipulated and disseminated to all, does not discriminate on the exercise of rights, among others (US DOL, par. 1). A human resources department supporting a diverse workforce must be capable to manage it. As employers, the functions of employee development should be effectively implemented through training, advancement and performance evaluation methods which should work with diverse programs and audiences. A motivational system based on incentives and rewards should be placed to acknowledge personnel who provide affective educational programs for diverse audiences. The policies and procedures should emphasize the value of diversity and pluralism. By pluralism, it is defined as “an organizational culture that incorporates mutual respect, acceptance, teamwork, and productivity among people who are diverse in the dimensions of human diversity” (Maurice, 1). In this regard, all functions and resources must conform to supporting a diverse workforce. In a study conducted by Pottabathni (2009, par. 5), “human resource is the key to development and Wal-Mart efficiently manages its sources. Wal-Mart terms its employees as associates. Manager compensation is linked to the profit of store operated by him, within promotions, compensation offered to associates depending on company's profits and also offered some incentives on their performances. The workforce at Wal-Mart is not unionized as the company takes all the measures of their benefits and provides them training on related issues.” Further, their official website avers that their organization continues to “implement initiatives to attract and retain a diverse workforce, including recruiting from colleges and universities with large multicultural populations. We also provide associates with on-the-job training, leadership seminars, and direct access to job opportunities through our Career Preference System” (Walmart: Diversity, par. 2). All conform to the employer responsibilities embodied in the Department of Labor as part of ensuring smooth employee-management relations. Disciplinary Policies The success of the employee-management relations depend in part on the kind of policies and procedures stipulated to handle matters pertaining to discipline in the workplace. As averred by Rose in her article on elements of an employee handbook for progressive disciplinary policies, “a well written progressive disciplinary policy helps to protect both the employee and the employer when correcting unacceptable employee performance” (Rose, par. 1). As such the elements Rose enumerated for a progressive discipline policy must include the following: “the steps of the process and who is responsible for each step including how each step should be documented; document storage parameters (location, security/privacy, duration of storage etc.); and a list of behaviors that will be subject to the progressive discipline policy and behaviors that are grounds for dismissal” (Rose, par. 7). As indicated by the Employment Law Clinic, the purpose of a well structure disciplinary policy is “not to sanction or penalize the employee, but to identify failings and address these, expecting to see improvement in the conduct and/or performance. Therefore, neither employers nor employees should be concerned about a disciplinary process in appropriate circumstances” (Employment Law Clinic, par. 2). Disciplinary policies and procedures form the basis for employers’ future actions towards employees in cases of violations. The employers’ formal rules, regulations and policies governing duties and responsibilities expected from employees must be clearly stipulated and disseminated to all employees in the organization. For some organizations, they call this a code of discipline. This would enumerate all policies in the organization as well as sanctions to be imposed in cases of violations of such policies. The Citizens Information website (2009), have enumerated clear circumstances when employers can fairly dismiss employees. These are: (1) capability, (2) competence, (3) qualifications, (4) conduct, (5) redundancy, (6) contravening law; and (7) other substantial grounds. Labor laws stipulate disciplinary procedures which should be strictly adhered to. These should be included in the code of discipline to indicate appropriate sanctions for violations such as warnings, reprimand, and suspension before dismissal. Employees must be given the opportunity to present their side and to be represented in cases of disciplinary action. Ethics and Business Conduct Ethics encompass wider perspectives of human concerns ultimately affecting business organizations. As businesses comprise a greater majority of the world’s human activities, the importance of studying ethics come as a necessity rather than a matter of natural occurrence. To ensure that each and every personnel of the organization complies with a set of standards to guide them in their problem-solving and decision-making process, a code of ethics is ultimately designed. An organization’s code of ethics is a set of moral principles of conduct which guide practitioners into decision making based on theoretical discourses that conform to ethics and morals. Any career or profession must be guided by a set of professional principles that would ensure the safety, security, and protection of their clientele. In the field of Respiratory Care, for example, the Code of Ethics of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) governs and monitors professional practice. There were twelve specifically defined ethical and professional principles that bind activities of respiratory therapists and those practitioners in respiratory care. The code of ethics encompass principles and values of integrity, objectivity, competence, respect and protection of legal and personal rights, confidentiality, nondiscrimination, promotion of wellness and disease prevention, refusal to participate in illegal and unethical acts, following scientific and ethical research procedures and compliance with state and federal laws, among others. There are other areas touching on avoiding conflicts of interests and promotion of stewardship of resources (AARC: Position Statement, 1). Exxon Mobil, one of the world’s renowned globally traded oil and gas corporation, gives primary importance to compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to operating the business. As such, their ethical system is considered duty-driven. Management details an ethical policy which encompasses the recognition of organizational culture, fair transactions of company personnel with various stakeholders, accuracy in financial documentations and reporting, a system of management that gives due importance to honesty and integrity in bookkeeping, budget proposals and economic evaluation of projects, and in disclosure decisions. The company’s code of ethics as embodied in the Code of Ethics and Standards of Business Conduct comprehensively stipulate the foundation policies and procedures in all facets of operations. These policies are regularly reviewed by the Board of Directors, officers, and employees and updated and applied accordingly. The open door communication policy encourages employees who have any inquiry relating to these policies to be forwarded to management accordingly. The policies to ensure the safety and security of all resources in the organization are embodied in the Standards of Business Conduct which would specifically itemize and indicate security measures in its coordination with various agencies and institutions in the regular course of business. The security programs must be consistent with global security standards that ensure addressing local threats and risks, previously identified in the assessment of risks and threat at Exxon. The policies in the security program are designed to be adjusted and adapted to changes in the environment. A statement focusing on ethical expectations from employees are quoted as “the Corporation expects compliance with its standard of integrity throughout the organization and will not tolerate employees who achieve results at the cost of violation of law or who deal unscrupulously” (Code of Ethics, n.d., par. 8). Contracts with private security personnel would stipulate, among others, pertinent provisions addressing human rights issues and training and development requirements, as deemed necessary. The code also specifically emphasizes that “directors, officers and employees should deal fairly with each other and with the Corporation’s suppliers, customers, competitors, and other third parties” (Code of Ethics, n.d., par. 7). The code of ethics serves as standards by which each and every personnel in the organization must adhere to protect the integrity of their endeavor. The code of ethics gives practitioners a glimpse of possible moral and ethical issues that are prevalent in the career of choice. The moral principles provide clear and explicit statements that practitioners must adhere to in order to avoid legal implications and problems with clients and stakeholders under their jurisdiction. In this regard, the code would ensure that the organization would be more effective in the achievement of their stated mission, which is to continuously achieve superior financial and operating results while simultaneously adhering to high ethical standards. Conclusion Management-employee relations are a controversial area in human resources management. The interaction between the two primary groups may be harmonized in spite of differences in interests if both truly realize and internalize their super ordinate goal and that no one group can substitute the other. Both compliment and supplement each other. With clarity in employee and employer roles and responsibilities, coupled with clearly stipulated policies and procedures on discipline and codes of ethics, both employee and management relations would continue to exist in harmonious interaction in the years to come. Works Cited American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC). Position Statement. 2009. Web. 19 October 2010. < http://www.aarc.org/resources/position_statements/ethics.html> Citizen’s Information. Fair Grounds for Dismissal. 2009. Web. 19 October 2010 Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. (n.d.) Web. 19 October 2010. Employment Law Clinic. Disciplinary Procedures. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. Equal Opportunity. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. < http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Ent-Fac/Equal-Opportunity.html Maurice, V. How to Recruit and Hire a Diverse Workforce. N.d. Web. 18 October 2010. < http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2567788/How-to-Recruit--Hire-a--Diverse-Workforce> Pottabathni, G. Strategy Management: A Case Study of Walmart. 2009. 18 October 2010. < http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/strategic-management-a-case- study-of-walmart-inc-945260.html> Rose, Joni. Elements of an Employee Handbook Progressive Discipline Policy. 31 May 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. < http://www.suite101.com/content/elements-of-an-employee- handbook-progressive-discipline-policy-a243194> Walmart. Diversity. 2010. Web. 18 October 2010. < http://walmartstores.com/Diversity/> Walmart. Our People. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. US Department of Labor (DOL). Employer Responsibilities. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. < http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/employer-responsibility.html> US Legal. Employee Manuals Law and Legal Definition. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. < http://definitions.uslegal.com/e/employee-manuals/> US Legal. Employee Rights Law and Legal Definition. 2010. Web. 19 October 2010. Read More