Partnership in an Organization - Essay Example

s the assignment was due Employee Relations Introduction Any organized human activity, which is done in-group, will be most times constituted into an organization. So, Organization is a structure with a 'collage' of workers doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader and management team, for the benefit of the organization as well as them. Together, the management and the workers can only put an organization on the path of success with their knowledge, skill, hard work etc, etc. Success in the sense, they will contribute their part for optimum production, profit, etc, by forming and working as successful work teams. When one speaks or thinks about an industry or an office or an organization, the 'mental picture', one visualizes is of machines, smoke outlets, sirens etc, etc (in case of industries) and papers, computers, cabins etc, etc (in case of offices). But, the crucial thing that the mind 'crops out' is the picture of a working human. Without delving deeply into why mind always associate industry and office with non-living things, the point is, humans are the crucial things who can put an organization in a cruise mode in terms of production, sales, profits, etc. So, the workers only form the crucial 'cog' in the running of the organization. Only if these crucial workers are recruited or staffed optimally through an effective recruitment process, the organization can achieve optimum success. Even with automation and computerization happening in every segments of organization, all the important processes inside the organization mainly rests with the humans. Even though, all the important processes starts and ends with the leader or the management team, the workers will also be included, as part of "successful work teams" or "Partnership for Progress". "Partner for Progress" is the organizational term given to the UK government policy which spelled out how employees should work in partnership as teams for the successful functioning of the organizations. That is, since late 1990s, the U.K. government has laid more emphasis on the concept of 'Partnership for Progress' and 'Partnership Working' and importantly selected it as the preferred model of UK employment relations policy and practice. So, this paper will critically evaluate the concept of 'Partnership' in employee relations by identifying and describing what organizational requirements must be in place and also what impediments should not be in place, to set the stage for successful Partnership, focussing particularly on the role of leaders. Organization requirements for the establishment of successful Partnership Involving the employees productively and creating partnership In any organizations, the successful Partnership can be successfully set or established, if the head or the management team of the unit put their thoughts, strategies and also the organizational goals for discussion among the other organisation officers or workers. This way the workers as a form of work teams can be involved productively. That is, the workers can input their gained knowledge and experience in the decision making process. This strategy will have unexpected at the same time favourable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results" (Patton). So, involving and allowing co-workers to play a part as work teams will yield optimum results, as it create as well as optimize partnership and thereby performance among the employees. But, the aspect that should be taken care is, even though the workers can be optimally involved as work teams, the head or the management team of the unit should be the final authority. So, if this requirement is fulfilled, successful partnership among the employees can be established successfully, by involving the co-workers of the unit in the appropriate stages. Leaders should be a role model to accentuate partnership The requirement which leads to the establishment of partnership among the employees or work teams is that, the leader or the head of the organization or unit should live and work as a role model or example for others to follow. That is, they should lead the way for others to follow as a team. This aspect is one of the important traits for the leader to imbibe because it will motivate all the workers to give cent percent as a team and thereby aid the organization to achieve optimum success. The leaders' role will normally be visible in all the aspects of an organization's functioning. That is, his / hers 'touch' both mental and physical will be found in all aspects of an organization, which will motivate, guide and importantly unite the workers working under them. "Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people" (Rockefeller, 2001) So, setting good examples will make the majority of the workers follow the leader in every aspect, thereby accentuating the partnership further. Formation of a common organizational culture will aid partnership Successful work teams can also be established if the leader or the head leads the way and imposes his/hers assumption in the work environment among his/hers co-workers, subordinates, etc thereby create an effective work culture. As organisation head or superior officers are the men in lead, they usually have a major impact on how the group under them initially defines and sets into a team. Typically, the leader of any organisation unit will have strong assumptions or views about the nature of the world the role that organizations play in that world, the characteristics that make up human nature and relationships, how truth is arrived at, and how to manage time and space (Schein, 1978,1983). They will, therefore, be quite comfortable in imposing those views and personal cultures, on their co-workers and employees to form a work culture that will give maximum benefits. This imposition of leader's assumptions, as a form of good culture will actualize the workers into teams and create partnership because the workers will stick to the culture created, without deviating from it. That is, in the organisation unit, the leader will only have to find ways to coordinate, align, or integrate the workers into work teams. "He had to seduce the employees into a situation in which they had no choice but to rethink their identity" (Schein, 2004). So, building an effective organization is ultimately a matter of meshing the different workers, and the leader should do this job by encouraging the evolution of common goals, common language, common procedures and importantly common organizational culture for solving problems. Organization's working environment will aid partnership The partnership in working or works teams can be successfully implemented, if the leader or the management team provides a perfect and comfortable working environment for their workers. That is, if the workers are provided an obstacle free, favourable working environment, it could break all the barriers of communication and importantly will motivate the workers to participate as work teams and not as self-centric individuals. That is, in the organisation unit, team work and the resultant communication encouraged because face to face interaction as part of the team would surely bring in more ideas and contributions to decision making process. It will be better than an officer or employee calling on the head or superior officers in a closed room and having a closed discussion (but closed discussion is the only option when the situation or the issue is of serious or sensitive nature). Also minimization of the use of status symbols such as private offices, special dining rooms for superiors, etc in the criminal organisation unit, would increase opportunities for interaction, which could also contribute to the establishment of work teams or increase partnership in working. That is, these measures will give the lower staff, the feeling that they all are treated equal, irrespective of the salary, experience, etc. So, this kind of impartial environment in the organisation unit will make the workers' stay at the unit, an enjoyable at the same time encouraging experience. Encouraging experience in the sense, they will be able to interact as teams with the heads or superior officers, contributing their thoughts and ideas to the important decisions, thus making the establishment of work teams a success and the government initiative of Partnership in Progress a success. The aspects of organizational functioning which could derail or affect Partnership among employees Non-committal attitude could obstacle partnerships Committal attitude is the requirement which is needed for the creation of work teams, but could not be found in many organisations and its various units. That is, the successful partnership among the employees cannot be established when the workers working in the organisation unit show non-committal attitude towards the decision making process. That is, when the workers of the unit become lethargic, self-seeking troublemakers, having many bad attributes, he/she would not participate in the decision making process with full interest as a team, and will mainly avoid contributing ideas to the process. Actually these types of employees could be the obstacles in the establishment of work teams. That is, apart from not making contribution to the decision making process, they will also derail the decisions that have been made as part of the decision making process, and will eventually lead to the destruction of the team and will block the government initiative of "Partnership in Progress". That is, they will not work effectively to make the team decisions a success. In those cases, it would be better if the leaders show his/her authority and weeds out these individuals. This way, the organization could be placed on the path of success. " Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate non performing individuals in important jobs" (Drucker). So, the committed attitude of the workers or officers is the important organizational requirement for the formation of work teams, but as discussed above workers may not involve themselves in the group decision making process all the time, and this lack of commitment will surely impede formation of partnership among the employees. Failure to reward and award may affect the partnership process When the leaders fail to reward the employees appropriately, it could wean way the workers from the group decision making process and the resultant formation of partnership. That is, as mentioned above, one may never know from whom a good idea could come from, so if the workers fail to contribute their thoughts and ideas. This will happen when the workers 'withdraw' from the functioning of the organizations due to inappropriate rewarding of promotions and incentives. That is, some times or even frequently, the management overriding tried and trusted individuals could give important posts and responsibilities to individuals with negative attributes. If this practice is followed in the organisation unit, it will create disenchantment among the workers or officers and will show the organization in poor light. This ritual of awarding plum posts, rewards, incentives, etc, to the inappropriate members by the leader or the management team could de-motivate the workers. Employees decide in fairness by comparisons with others in similar situations. Only, if they decide that the rewards are fair they are more motivated to put effort into tasks (Beardwell and Claydon 2007). Even shielding them when they committed mistakes could cause bad repercussions, including the non-committal attitude of the workers towards the need to work as a team. In those cases, the workers of the organization will band together in a kind of mutual protection society and not as work teams and will develop a culture of its own instead of partnership for progress, without providing any contribution to the different processes inside the organization. Role of experienced hand in derailing partnership The other requirement of actualizing a common organizational or work culture will not work, when certain officers, especially senior most ones act in a negative way. That is, the imposition of a common work culture creates a big challenge because the existing co-workers in most cases will be experienced hands. These experienced workers who will be slugging out in the same job in the same environment, importantly in the same mindset for years and changing them to accept the new effective assumptions and work culture will be difficult. In the organisations unit, there are some workers, who will be working until their retirement age with a lot of job safety, so when a new leader or superior officers enters and ask them to change, it will not elicit favourable response because there be will no need for them to change. In the case of organisation administration, most organisation officers will exhibit a superior attitude with little subordination to their superior officers or any other manager. This superior attitude is prevalent in many organisations and in particular departments of many and it will be a challenge or will impede the process of partnership formation or work team formation. That is, when the experienced hands show superior attitude and function independently, it will difficult to form partnerships. In most organizations, work teams will normally be headed by experienced persons and if the same experienced persons refuses to co-operate, then the work teams' success cannot be guaranteed. Also, most of the workers in any organization could come from different backgrounds and importantly will have different mindsets. These two reasons of different backgrounds and mindsets will make the workers a bit difficult to control and discipline would be the casualty. The lack of discipline will be a bane to the unit, as it will lead to the raise of many extra constitutional authorities or persons. They will always exhibit theirs in-disciplinary steak and will abhor partnership and team work, willing to operate or work independently. So, when discipline is not taken seriously and implemented thoroughly, the formation of partnership could be stalled, compromising on the concept of consensus. Conclusion Any organization and also its leader or manager should not stagnate and saturate. The leader or the manager should learn new levels of perception and acquire lot of insights for running an organization. As discussed in this paper, they should start by playing an important role in the development of a work culture. Then, he with the help of human other departments should motivate the employees and the mangers working under him to perform to their level best. Then, by involving others in the process of decision-making, the manager should award purely on merit. So, Unison of humans into a partnership with an urge to usher an organization into a leading 'utopia' will be a successful endeavour, if the leader or manager of the organization show undaunted and unabated conduct or function. And, if the government initiative of partnership is incorporated throughout the organization, then the organization would have a ubiquitous presence all over the world. 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