The Models of Employee Relationships - Term Paper Example

Managing Employees Relations Contents Contents 2 Introduction 4 Models of Employee Relationships 4 Identification of the Management Style Used by ACME 5 Recruitment 5 Performance Appraisal 6 Organizational Hierarchy 7 Grading 7 Job Design 8 Monitoring and Enhancement of Commitment Levels 8 Employee Relationships 9 Quality Parameters 10 Training and Flexibility 11 Routine and Communication Practice 11 Evaluating the Extent That the Above Style Is Made Possible Due To the Changing Context of British Employee Relations through the 1980s and 1990s 12 References 14 Introduction ACME Engineering is a company that not only works in the field of manufacturing but also has a sales team working to enhance the markets for products and services rendered. Further the organization operates as a customer centric firm and thereby employs a team focusing on rendering enhanced customer care functions. The paper in this connection aims to evaluate the management practices of the concern in regards to human resources so as to render the best quality of goods and services to the external market. Models of Employee Relationships The models of employee relationships hovers basically around two approaches-individualism and collectivism. In the individualistic approach focus is rendered on the development of the productive capacity of individual employees in the concern. The development of the employees on an individual network can be accomplished through formal training approaches or through motivating the people through financial or other rewards to render productivity to the concern. This practice helps at enhancing both the commitment and loyalty of the employees working in the concern. Similarly the workers can be called for participation in the decision making activities in the concern. This helps in the enhancement of participative management in the concern. In contrast to the individualism approach the organisations also work on the collectivism approach that depends on a great extent on the existence of trade union bodies. Through the existence of trade union bodies the organisations can encourage the employees to take part in decision making activities regarding such events that tend to directly have impact on them. Like the trade unions can be encouraged by the human resources managers of the concern to collectively bargain with the employees in regards to their wage and employment needs (Purcell, 1987, p.536, 538). In regards to the above discussion the paper focuses to understand the employee relation practices employed at ACME in regards to the various events involving the employees of the concern. Identification of the Management Style Used by ACME Recruitment The management style of ACME in the recruitment process focuses not only on the experiences of the candidate but also on the knowledge potential of the person that would be helpful to serve the concern. Moreover the recruitment process also involves the incorporation of a psychometric test that not only gauges the potential of the individual but also helps the managers in gauging the individual based on different situations. Again recommendations from the family circle of employees is not entertained rather friends or colleagues of employees working in like position are called for interview. A major chunk of the potential roles in the organization are filled in by internal people. Though the management focuses on engaging fresh blood from the society for the primary roles the bigger posts are filled in by people working previously in the organization. This recruitment process entailed by the organization is justified in that it aims to evaluate the skills and aptitude of the people or the interviewees in relation to the posts created in the concern. This helps in effectively matching the ability of the workers to the needs of the concern. Moreover the use of psychometric tests in the organization also helps in conforming the skill sets of the employee along with rightly judging the personality traits of the individual needed to match the concern’s needs. Referral scheme carried out by the organization helps the concern in gaining access to a continuous pool of human resources (Barnes, 2008, p.337). The organization also reflects a balanced undertaking of the recruitment process wherein people are gained from both the internal and external fields. Promoting people internally helps in enhancing the scope of job opportunities for the people working for long periods while it helps the concern in saving recruitment costs. Internal and external sourcing activities also earn significance based on the different roles for which they are conducted (Silzer, Israel and Dowell, 2009). Performance Appraisal In regards to the performance appraisal of the employees in the organization the managers reflected that assessment of the performance of the employees is conducted not only based on the performance criteria but also in regards to any innovative activity performed by the candidate. Further the performance analysis is focused on being conducted on a continual basis and also seeks to evaluate the discipline conduct of the individual based on the rules and regulations of the concern. However care is taken that the salary of the individual does not get affected owing to poor performance level of such in the concern. Increment is rendered depending on high performance levels where for each incremental point the person gets an addition of 50 Pounds per Point. The performance appraisal systems and processes conducted by the organization can be justified in that it seeks to evaluate the individual on an all round basis. It not judges the performance ability of the individual based on normal standards but also aims to seek whether the individual has rendered any additional contribution along with evaluating the abidance of discipline standards. Again the performance appraisal of the candidates being increasingly linked with the rewards criteria like rendering financial incentives further excites and motivates the individual to work for the concern more productively. However the organization in that also needs to take effective care of the poor performers through the rendering of effective feedback in regards to the shortfalls identified (Rue and Byars, 2010, p.288-290). Organizational Hierarchy The organization operates based on a framework of different hierarchies starting from the people belonging to the management body, the persons belonging to the supervisory roles, the individuals acting as team leads in the concern and finally the ground members. The existence of a potential organizational hierarchy works well for the concern in that the entire organizational task is divided among the people belonging to the different roles. This helps the organization in not decentralizing the decision making functions held in the concern but also helps in completion of the task in a faster and defined manner (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011, p.455). Grading The grading standards like rendering of Grade C to the employees in the concern are maintained based on the knowledge and experience sets of the employee. Employees are conferred grades in not only gauging their aptitudes to work for the defined roles but also in evaluating their potential to serve the concern effectively. Different grades are fixed by the human resource department in the concern that would help in identifying and segregating the different roles laid out in the concern for a particular stream of work or department. The activities pertaining to the different roles are grouped under different heads referred to as grades which in turn defines the pay structure that would be rendered to the individuals involved in such grade groups (Durai, 2010, p.301). Job Design The different employees working in the concern are rendered different roles wherein they are required to perform in groups. These groups in the organization hold the different job roles such that the different job roles are dependent on each other. Key elements of one job process become related to the subsequent and previous roles and thereby require the people to work in a team framework. Working on job designs in the concern requires the streamlining of organizational resources and technologies involved with the job process to help in the effective accomplishment of the organizational objectives pertaining to the stated levels. The designing of the different job roles in the concern helps the organizational managers to rightly divide the organizational task among the different units (Shim and Siegel, 1999, p.180) Monitoring and Enhancement of Commitment Levels The job monitoring activities are conducted by the organizational managers by not depending on certain salient standards only but in that it requires the employees to maintain certain levels of work standards in the concern. Moreover the enhancement of the commitment level in the concern is conducted through the incorporation of special events like Christmas parties or a Disneyland trip along with rendering financial advantages like insurance policies and other incentives. These activities help in enhancing the commitment of the workers in the concern to work more productively. The business managers need to rightly monitor the performance levels of the employees in the concern based on set standards and qualities for the different work sets in the concern. This helps in effectively matching the skill sets of the individuals to the industry standards and thereby in sustaining productivity. Again the business managers are also required to link the skill sets of the individual to separate incentive schemes to help in motivating the people to perform adequately. The incentives can be rendered both in financial and other non-financial terms to help in boosting the confidence of the people in the concern (Brink, 2011, p.12). Employee Relationships The concern does not encourage the development of union bodies that would help in the formalization of the communication systems between the superior and the subordinates. Existence of a unionized setting is required to handle issues where the managers are required to do a lot of thinking in terms of bargaining with the union leads before coming to a decision. On the other hand the employee relationships in ACME are understood to help in the enhancement of learning initiatives for the managers who tend to manage the employees based on a carrot and stick approach. The managers feel free to admit mistakes but state that an existence of a unionized setting would mean rendering a larger bargaining power in the hands of the employees who start to interfere with larger confidence in the decision making activities of the managers. The institution and design of unionized bodies in the organization is held to help in enhancing the power of the employees in the concern to actively bargain with the managers regarding their rights. Representatives of both the employees and the management work on common grounds to help arrive at a common solution through such initiatives. Similarly the grievance management scheme held in the concerns encourage the people to render their feedbacks and views by dropping in the same in the separate drop boxes installed in recess rooms and other areas. Such practice helps in enhancing and encouraging the participation of the people in the decision making process and thereby helps in enhancing the relationship patterns between the hierarchies (Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna, 1984, p.16). Quality Parameters The engineering firm focuses more on enhancing the parameters of quality development of the operations conducted in the company. In that the management of the firm requires the people or the different team members to pay heed to the needs of the customers and render quality services to the people. Henceforth ACME engineering also reflects rendering enhanced priority to the customer’s needs in its different operational endeavours. Further the organization also works in developing its policies and regulatory framework to help encourage the employees to work towards quality development. In order to enhance the quality parameters of the products and services delivered to the customers not only a change is required to be brought about in the regulatory framework through incorporation of certain set rules but also requires high amount of employee commitment. The quality parameters based on ISO standards must be well communicated to the employees working in different levels through delivering required training. Performance evaluation of the employees must be also centred on the level of commitment reflected. Again the employees can be encouraged to largely participate in decision making functions to help enhance the quality of the work performed (Fisher, Schoenfeldt and Shaw, 2004, p.469). Training and Flexibility The organization focuses on rendering training to the employees subject to any type of process or organizational changes that are being incorporated in the concern. However the organizational managers in that focus on rendering adequate flexibility by training individuals on a variety of sectors and jobs so that they can be put into any role. Thus training focuses more on variety rather than focusing on only one sector in order to enhance the potential of the people to counter different job situations. The training programs rendered by the company seem justified in that they are designed to enhance the competencies of the workers. Training of workers in the modern period does not only depend on the sector in which they are working but rather incorporates resources for the all round growth of the individual to help in meeting the demands of the concern. The training program must be led by a competency enhancement approach and thus must focus on the strategies of the business organization (Furnham, 2005, p.450). Routine and Communication Practice The organizational managers have developed routine in the concern where the day breaks with the team leads holding operational meetings with the staff wherein the team leaders are required to render quality discussions with the team members. The discussion hovers around the nature of task they ought to perform in the particular day. After the brief meeting the different tasks are delegated to the employees, with setting of schedules and quality parameters. Further meetings are held by the managers and team leads with the people on a monthly basis where the performances of the latter are evaluated based on the targets set. Feedbacks are rendered to the people in regards to the shortfalls identified. Team leads within organizations are required to set different routines for helping in the adequate alignment or allocation of the work among the different employees. This process helps in enhancing the potential of the people through helping the people focus on the jobs assigned from time to time (Magalhaes, 2004, p.152). The superiors can informally communicate with the different subordinate groups working in the concern like in ACME at an informal level to help develop better relationships with them along with helping in the exchange of potential ideas. Evaluating the Extent That the Above Style Is Made Possible Due To the Changing Context of British Employee Relations through the 1980s and 1990s The employee relation activities pertaining to United Kingdom countered large amount of changes resulting in transformation from a standardized and traditional human resource practice framework to a modern approach. The modern employee relations approach noted a shift from the trade union controlled climate to an individualistic climate wherein the people are encouraged to take active participation in the organizational decision making activities. Further the compensation rendered to the employees in the modern approach became closely related to the performance criteria and thus shifted from the traditional approach where it was based on set standards. Again based on the Harvard Model on employee relations it is found that human resource development strategies unlike the previous periods became closely knit with the business strategies and with the needs of the different stakeholders. Thus the modern day employee relations in comparison to the traditional approach require larger commitment from the individuals in meeting the enhanced needs of the concern and its different stakeholders (Farnham, 2000, p.32-34). An analysis of the management practices of ACME Engineering reveals that the concern also broadly follows the modern style of employee relations approach in that it focuses more on the individualistic and participative approach of the employees. The employees in the concern are encouraged to participate in the decision making activities and also to render important feedbacks regarding their grievances via drop boxes. Moreover the performance appraisal and rewarding of incentives to the individuals are rigidly based on the performance levels of the people. Adequate training mechanisms are put in place to help develop the potential of the employees based on changes in the external environment. Communication patterns are enhanced through the informal approach wherein the supervisors tend to communicate with the subordinates and exchange potential ideas with them. The performances of the individuals are also evaluated based on quality standards so as to render the best product or service to the consumer and other stakeholder groups. References Barnes, D. (2008). Operations management: an international perspective. Cengage Learning EMEA. Brink, A. (2011). Corporate Governance and Business Ethics. Springer. Durai, P. (2010). Human Resource Management. Pearson Education India. Farnham, D. (2000). Employee relations in context. CIPD Publishing. Fisher, C., Schoenfeldt, L., and Shaw, J. (2004). Human Resource Management Fifth Edition. Dreamtech Press. Fombrun, C., Tichy, N., and Devanna, M. (1984). Strategic human resource management. John Wiley and Sons. Furnham, A. (2005). The psychology of behaviour at work: the individual in the organization. Psychology Press. Griffin, R., and Moorhead, G. (2011). Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Cengage Learning. Magalhaes, R. (2004). Organizational knowledge and technology: an action-oriented perspective on organization and information systems. Edward Elgar Publishing. Purcell, J. (1987). Mapping Management Styles in Employee Relations. Journal of Management Studies. Volume 24, Issue 5. Rue, L., Byars, L. (2010). Supervision: Key Link To Productivity. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Shim, J., and Siegel, J. (1999). Operations Management. Barrons Educational Series. Silzer, R., Israel, S., and Dowell, B. (2009). Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative. John Wiley and Sons. Read More