Employment Relations in the United States - Literature review Example

Employment Relations in United States Table of contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………03 The employment relationships…………………………………………………………...03 The content of the employee relations…………………………………………………...04 John Dunlop and the Employment relations……………………………………………..05 Factors to be considered while analyzing the environment relations……………………05 The interaction between the actors………………………………………………………06 Parties in the employment relation systems……………………………………………..06 Identification of the key party……………………………………………………………07 The role of the actors…………………………………………………………………….07 The government in US: the prominent actor…………………………………………….08 Reason of importance……………………………………………………………………08 Constraints faced by the US government Economic constraints…………………………………………………………………….09 Comparison with other countries as Australia and Japan………………………………..09 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………………11 References……………………………………………………………………………….12 Employment relations in the United States Introduction Alexander, Lewer and Gahan (2007) discuss that after the time when the Second World War ended; the American states faced a changing regulation and a new system that was related to the regulation of the employment relations and the work regulations. This is the system which was at that time very fairly organized and found to be very rational. This was the new system that was efficiently designed and organized by the major authorities in the United States. The system included the authorization, organizational rules and regulations and this was because of the great depression and the Second World War disasters. These rules and regulations were laid down after the immediate period after the Second World War. In this system, the minimum standards were defined by the government and the authorities that helped define the standards of the labor force of the industries in the United States. However the system had left the conditions and the terms of the employment to be set by the procedures that were set by the authorities themselves. The employment relationships Rose (2004) says that it can be seen that the employment relationship is the main factor in the work environment. However it can be seen that the ideology is very dynamic and is among the most discussed ideas in the work environment. The relationship is seen to be having a multifarious and diverse nature. In addition to this it is seen that the relationship has many levels and standards. The level can be economic, financial, social, political and even psychological. Figure 1: the employment relationships The content of the employee relations There are three parts of the employee relations. The contents include the industrial relations, the employee relations and in addition to this the employment relations. The part of the industrial relations is primarily the one department and the constituent of the employee relations that controls the institutions controlling the jobs rules and the regulations. In addition to this it also deals with the making and any amendment that might be needed in the rules and the regulations related to the jobs and the employment. John Dunlop and the Employment relations According to Dunlop, the industrial relations are the result of the three major actors that are very important when there roles are considered in the field of the employment relations. The three major actors that are being discussed by Dunlop include the employers, the employees, the workers or the labour force, and the authorities who are responsible for the relationship between the both. Factors to be considered while analysing the environment relations Jacoby (2007) discusses that the environment relation model that has been presented by Dunlop gives the three main factors which are very important when the analysis of the environment relations is to be conducted. The first and the foremost factor include the factor that affects the employment relationship within the environment. This is the external or the environmental social, economic, technological, legal or political facto and it strongly imposes the environmental relationships. The second factor that influences the management labour relationships includes the interaction that occurs at the level of the actors as the management, labour and the government. The third factor being the rules and the regulations laid down by the help of the interactions between these prime role playing actors in the environment. The interaction between the actors Nankervis, Chatterjee, and Coffey (2006) says that the interaction and the coordination occurs in the environment which makes use of the economical or the political power leading to the making of the rules which design the industrial relations output. Thereby the industrial relations system is the one that is shaped under some of the environmental constraints as the technology, the market and the power usage within the environment. Parties in the employment relation systems In accordance to the Dunlop system, there are three main parties within the environment where the employment relation systems are working. The parties include the labour or the trade unions, the government and the employers. These are the key role players in the environment. According to Dunlop, all the three parties are interdependent on each other, none of the party being independent of the other. In addition, it is said that these three parties are shaped by the technological, the market and the political contexts. Identification of the key party Hogler (2003) says that the key party out of the ones that have been put forward by the Dunlop model is the government. The role that the government can play in this regard can be laid down here in the very clear manner. Since many years it has been under the debates that how can the management labour relationships improved at the level of the private sector and the government sector level. This is in need of changing the policies that are made to improve the employment relationships. The policies need to be modernised. The government is the highest authority and it is therefore the prominent party within the employment relation systems. There are some major policies that are laid down by the government so as to enhance the roles and the interactions between the actors. And to increase the efficiency that is produced as a result of the interaction. The role of the actors Bamber, Park, Lee, and Broadbent (2000) say that the countries as US have different statuses of the roles being played by the actors involved in the employment relationships. The corporations are the main entity in the employment relationships. Here the main entity is the human resource executives. As the main aim of the corporations is to achieve the maximum of the available profits and so the roles of the HR executives revolve around the sae aim. The role of the management is to make the members aware of any changes taking place and exchange advices. The management has to be aware of all the demands of the employers. The unions play there roles here. The unions represent all the demands that are negotiated with the employer and than the employee does the negotiations. Unions are the only way by which t eh working conditions and the wage issues are handled. The government in US: the prominent actor At the government level, Commission on the Future of Worker Management Relations has started working so as to improve the current situation. There have been some recommendations that have been given by the US government to improve the employment relations in US. 1. The recommendations related to the employee participation, election procedures and the disputes that occur at the contract needs to be implemented properly. 2. The department of the labour regulator and the federal agencies should be playing there parts by using the self governance plans to implement the recommendations so as to improve the quality standards related to the employment relations in the country. 3. The directives should be issued to all of the employment agencies thereby enforcing the laws of labour and employment. The rules should be tested on the basis of economic realities. Reason of importance The state’s government has more power than the rest of the agencies. The power sharing makes the state’s role very important in the protection of the rights of the employees, the employers and the unions. Constraints faced by the US government Economic constraints Bamber, Lansbury, Wailes (2004) say that recently it has been seen that the US government wants some restructuring done to the employment relations. However for this the government looks up to the labours. The recent drastic changes have been seen in the US economy posing challenges to the government which makes the employment relations agencies to have the knowledge of proper restructuring. Recently it has been seen that the economic breakdown has made the government services unavailable for the citizens who makes the citizens to go on strike which causes further economic problems. There has been a law in the Public Employees Relations Board (PERB) that says that there should be better ways to solve the labour management conflicts. The main problem is the identification of the micro level institutions in the country responsible for the greater performance in the country. The globalization also enforces its affects on the employment relations in the country as has been noticed specifically in the telecommunication industry in US. Comparison with other countries as Australia and Japan lexander, Lewer, and Gahan (2007) say that there are some common aspects between the industries in Japan and in US. It is necessary that the necessary flow of the information takes place between these countries so that the common factors keep existing. In this case the economic pressures will affect the industries in both the countries as the industrial relations system in Japan have been adopted from the American system. However there is a difference that exists in the Australian countries. Here the authorities working at he the government level. The policies are being thought over to be changed so as the restructuring can be done to gain more and more flexibility. There has been reduction in the laws controlling the trade unions. Conclusions The employment relationship system was setup after the Second World War. The minimum standards were defined by the government and the authorities that helped define the standards of the labour force of the industries in the United States. However the system had left t eh conditions and the terms of the employment to be set by the procedures that were set by the authorities themselves. The main and the productive institution in the American economy is the corporate enterprise. Because of the greater stability of this enterprise, it was thought that the employment rights can be affiliated with this enterprise. There are three parts of the employee relations. The contents include the industrial relations, the employee relations and the employment relations. The factors that affect the employment relations can be divided into two major parts. The first kind of the changes is event driven and the second structure driven. The Dunlop ideology is of the accordance that the three actors are active at the enterprise level, the work level and the economical levels. The economic levels can be on the national levels and the international levels. However still the ideology has to critically viewed and analysed. References Alexander, R., Lewer, J., and Gahan, P. (2007) Understanding Australian Industrial Relations. 7th Edition. Thomson, Australia. Bamber, G., Lansbury, R., Wailes, N. (2004). International and Comparative Employment Relations: Globalisation and the Developed Market Economies. 4th Edition. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Bamber, G., Park, F., Lee, C., and Broadbent, K. (2000) Employment Relations in the Asia-Pacific: Changing Approaches. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Hogler, R. (2003) Employment relations in the United States: law, policy, and practice. Sage Publications. Jacoby, S. (2007) The Embedded Corporation: Corporate Governance and Employment Relations in Japan and the United States. Princeton University Press. Lansbury, R., Bamber, G., and Wailes, N. (2004) International and Comparative Employment Relations: Globalisation and the developed market economies. Allen & Unwin. Nankervis, A., Chatterjee, S., and Coffey, J. (2006) Perspectives of Human Resource Management in the Asia Pacific. Pearson Education Australia. Rose, E. (2004) Employment relations. Financial Times Prentice Hall. Read More