Industrial Relations - Term Paper Example

 «Industrial Relations» Industrial Relations Practices Every organization has its own way of managing its labour and setting up rules and guidelines which complement the work attitude and behaviour that prevails in that particular organization. Regardless of the difference in the industrial relations practices that exist in various organizations all over the world, no company or workplace can survive without these guidelines and set of rules. Companies which have underprivileged industrial relations practices can suffer a lot in the form of employee dissatisfaction, resignation, absenteeism and unhealthy relations between the management and the employees. Various researches have proven that unions also play a vital role in the management and enhancement of employee relations through indicating whether the contemporary human resource methods should be adopted or new techniques be introduced to deal with the matter in question. Industrial relations practices are the methods which are adapted to deal with the recruitment process, the hours of working, incentive levels and the competencies that are directly related to the benefits of the employees. Importance of Industrial Relations Practices The determination and application of industrial relations practices is considered as an important element in the maintenance of a pleasant and healthy environment that is fit for working and does not hinder the performance of the employee and the organization collectively. The organization that does not pay attention to this aspect and fails to realize its importance is bound to face problems such as low productivity, clash among the employees, tense environment and ultimately decrease in the profits and increase in the loss of the company. Industrial Relations and Employment of Labour – Historical Overview The history of industrial relations dates back to the era in which the revolution of industrial issues took place. It gave a completely new look to the employee relations with the generation of free industrial workplaces and large scale organizations which employed millions of workers. With this innovation the society faced a lot of changes both economic and social and employee problems arose simultaneously. These included employee dissatisfaction due to the repetitive nature of job and work routine, elaborate and unsuitable working hours and insulting supervisors who did not give the required respect to the employees which ultimately resulted in annoyed employees and the turnover rate increased consequently, the employees were not assured of their positions in the organization and due to this they felt threatened and were unable to give their best to their assigned jobs. Considering the worst job scenario, the intellectuals were forced to analyse the entire situation and propose a solution; thus the concept of industrial relations formation was introduced in the 19th century. The idea of industrial relations was coined by John. R. Commons when he conducted the first academic program of industrial relations which was held at the University of Wisconsin in the year 1920. The program was also financially supported by John. D. Rockefeller who greatly sustained the practices related to the management of the employees that were affected due to the strike that was called at the coal mine which belonged to Rockefeller. Support also came in other forms Montague Burton provided chairs in the industrial relations program which was held in Leeds, Cambridge and Cardiff in the year 1930 and the whole system was officially recognized with the creation of the Oxford School whose foundations were laid by Allan Flanders and another industrialist. Industrial Relations and Employment of Labour – Current Practices If the current situation of industrial relations and employment of labour is considered, it can be easily said that it is in crisis. It is being affected by two most important factors; the economic conditions that prevail all over the world and the behaviour of the organization and on the other hand the aspect of postmodernism also have its influence. In common practice, it has been observed that the labour unions that were once very powerful and played a great role in the industrial relations are now losing hold and are gradually declining and the industrial relation trend is also decreasing in the organizations. Previously programs were held at a regular basis to practice industrial relations however with the passage of time, it is losing its importance and value, the specialists and intellectuals have directed their focus to other fields such as organizational behaviour and human resource management. Despite these changes, the significance of work has not diminished and has gained more strength and the importance of industrial relations still remains the same. However there is a need to expand the teachings and concept of industrial relations and take it to a much higher level and re-establish the concept at the organizational level. Employment practices so have been changed to quite an extent one of the major reasons being the recession that has taken toll all over the world. Majorly the attention is being paid to retain the talent rather than increasing the number of employees in the organization. The managers nowadays have started focusing on quality management rather than quantity. Impact of Social Factors on Industrial Relations and Employment of Labour Among the social factors that have an impact on the industrial relations and employment of labour, discrimination between men and women is a very persistent aspect. Researches reveal that there is a very prominent difference when it comes to the comparing the wages of men and women. Women are generally considered suitable for jobs which are restricted to a selected variety of industries and jobs. Women are not generally prone to join unions and different party groups that are formed within the different organizations and due to this they often suffer when it comes to matters of increasing the wages and improvising the work conditions. Usually women are granted more leaves considering their position and value in their respective families due to which they are more prone to pay less attention to their work; this significantly points towards the lack of support and imbalanced allotment of family liability. These social factors have brought about a lot of change in the industrial relations practices. Discrimination among the two entities was creating a lot of problems at organizational level due to which the entire work environment was being adversely affected. Considering the issues, the intellectuals have started focusing on bringing about a change in the current policies so that the progress of the organizations is not affected. Impact of Political Factors on Industrial Relations and Employment of Labour It is a fact that industrial relations cannot subsist in solitude as they are performing their function in a system which is comprised of various factors each of them having its own effect on them. If there is a change in any one of the factors, the rest of the factors are influenced as well. It is therefore understood that the system and the industrial relations have an impact on each other. Similarly political factors also have an impact on the industrial relations and employment of labour. The current trend emphasizes that if the political parties do not favour the system of industrial relations then there are very slight chances that the labour relations will prosper. For instance, the Swaziland environment of politics has taken a twist and is now and has now merged its policies with the constitution, this step was condemned in some areas and was appreciated in others. However with the introduction of this change, the employees have been granted constitutional rights so that they are able to understand their role in the organization and thus perform their job responsibilities in a much better way. In order to bring positive changes and revolution in the industrial relations practices, there is a need to examine and survey the environment so that if the situation is not favourable, the organization can look for better ways at improvising the situation and progress. Impact of Economic Factors on Industrial Relations and Employment of Labour It is a well-known fact that the economic factors have greatly affected the labour employment procedures as well as the industrial relations. Due to recession, the cases of retrenchment have increased. Thousands of people have been deprived of their jobs and hence the rate of unemployment has reached an alarming rate. The overall trend of employee relations has altered; the top management insists more at retaining and maintaining lesser number of employees rather than hiring more and more employees. Due to this there has been a very uncertain situation and employees feel threatened. In order to overcome and minimize the effects of social, economic and political factors, the organizations should join hands with the union and follow the basic guidelines of the industrial relations practices so that the company’s progress is not hindered by the irrelevant matters that might arise if proper care is not taken. Comparative Analysis In order to understand the complexities and delicacies of the industrial relations and the impact of various factors on their development and nurturing, a comparative analysis should make things crystal clear. There are different societal and economic impacts on the development of employee/industrial relations and employment of labour. This also holds true for the level of industrialization that a country is on – the newly industrialized industries have different work dynamics when compared to the developed countries. A comparative study should reveal differences in their approach towards employment of labour and industrial relations. There are a number of countries that are termed as newly industrialized – the one that is chosen for this study is India. The industrialized economy chosen for this analysis is Singapore. India – Newly Industrialized India, with the third largest armed force in the world and an economy marred with corruption, malpractice and illiteracy, to name a few, has been declared as a newly industrialized economy of the world. The second most populous country in the world is also the one with about more than two thousand ethnic groups. This diversity brings along a lot of employee relation issues and problems at work. The complexity is further increased due to the disparity that exists over economic indicators such as income as well as education and health care. When it comes to the laws that are present in the country, the “Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act 1946” was passed to ensure that the employers define the exact job descriptions to their prospective as well as newly recruited employees. The Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 is the widely used and acclaimed act in India; it has also had a major impact on the employee relations present in the subcontinent country. The major crux of this act was to provide a platform to help pre-empt industrial tensions, providing necessary procedures of dispute resolutions and to set up a procedure in which the energies of companies are not wasted in counter-productive measures (Kazi, 2002). Apart from these two acts, there are several more that govern the employment relations in India. Singapore – Industrialized Economy Singapore’s labour is considered one of the best in the world. One of the biggest reasons is that the industrial relations in Singapore are harmonious and without conflict. The three social strata, the government, unions and employers are working in harmony together to bring quality industrial relations in Singapore. There are a number of acts that are governing the industrial relations in the country. The Industrial Relations Act is one of them; however, in a general conflicting scenario, arbitration outside of court is always given preference over industrial actions. The Asian Economic crisis had hit Singapore to its core and called for a fourth transformation in Singapore’s Industrial Relations. This particular change focused more on the future planning of the man power of the industrially powered economies- officially known as ‘manpower planning’. As of today, a number of issues are hovering on the labour and industrial relations in Singapore. The labour force is aging, making the international companies move their industrial intensive labour work to other countries; the increase in foreign labour force; to name a few. Comparisons between India and Singapore A close study of both the countries under consideration reveals that employment relations have been on the rise towards betterment in the countries. The history of these relations is not very pretty; however, the future paints a rosy picture. In India, trade unions are going towards negotiations and peaceful resolution of issues to allow maximum productivity from the employees and no disruption of production. This can be termed as a cultural revolution- steps are being taken to ensure that conditions of employment and employees are made better by both the trade unions as well as the employers – something which was not present in the earlier times in colonial India (Townsend, 2002). Employment relations in Singapore are more advanced, owing to a more cultural and economically advanced nation when compared to India. They are now focusing on man power planning – something India may follow in times to come. Therefore, this clearly shows that improvement in industrial relations and employment of labour is dependent on the level of industrialization as well. A strong dependency on the economic factors and the strategic planning of the governments is present as well. Culturally Strict China still a Newly Industrialised Nation – An Exception China, one of the largest and most populated countries in the world (Major 1997-98) can serve as a great example of the impacts of social, political and economic changes on industrial relations practices and the employment of labour. Home to a diverse range of natural resources, one of the cheapest and the greatest labour markets and some of the best geographical and political conditions (Dev, 2008), it is an exception that the country is still a newly-industrialized nation. This fact can be attributed to the way the society operates. Despite a great religious diversity, there is very little ethnic or cultural diversity in this huge country. Moreover, the population is mainly introverted to its own culture, norms and practices, etc. (Major 1997-98). This restricts ideas and practices from around the world from assimilating in the culture of China. Another important aspect that has contributed to slow industrialization of China despite the rapid economic growth is the fact that the country was largely affected by occupation and civil war during much of the 20th century. (Dev, 2008). This hampered and retarded the growth of the nation and set its level of industrialization decades behind the western world. However, after the formation of the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949 (Dev, 2008), the country has never looked back and has achieved a lot in a very short period of time emerging as one of the world’s largest economies and the world’s fastest growing markets. There are some other factors affecting the process of industrialization in the country as well. There are many employment opportunities in the country; however, a large chunk of the working-age population is under-educated. This creates unemployment and the labour becomes cheaper in the country owing to the simple demand and supply principle. However, the rights and needs of the labour force are protected by the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China", the "Labour Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations prevailing in the country (Gov.cn, 2004) and as the level of industrialization increases, there is a steady growth and betterment in number of employment, employment conditions and per capita income and the standard of living of the population. Conclusion The paper highlights the complexities and delicacies of the industrial relations and the impact of various factors on their development and nurturing. Hence, it can be concluded that the level of industrialization of an economy is the first and the foremost factor that determines the strategies needed to be developed and implemented regarding the industrial relations practices and the employment and maintenance of labour. Moreover, constant changes and growth is necessary for an economy in order to avoid stagnation. For example, as discussed above, India is on a level that Singapore was at some years ago. Therefore, India can easily benchmark Singapore or some other similar economy and follow in its foot-prints in order to reach a higher level of industrialization. As for Singapore, it may benchmark some other more industrialized economy and so on. The most industrialized economy should be able to envision new unexplored arenas of development and thus the process of industrialization shall go on. However, o country can just benchmark another country and adopt its strategies as it is. They should be able to mould them according to their own cultural and ethnic differences or else the entire paradigm would result in a fiasco. References Books Salamon, Michael. Industrial Reations: Theory and Practice. Trans-Atlantic Publications. 2001. Bray, Mark. Industrial relations: a contemporary approach. McGraw Hill Australia. 2004. Sen, Ratna. Industrial relations in India: shifting paradigms. Macmillan India. 2003. Chew, Soon; Chew Rosalind. Industrial relations in Singapore industry. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. 1996. Taylor, Bill; Chang, Kai; Li, Qi. Industrial relations in China. Edward Elgar Pubishing. (2003). Anil Verma. Employment Relations in the Growing Asian Economies. Impact of Political Factors on the Industrial Relations and Employment of Labor. (2001) Kevin Hince. Employment and Industrial Relations. Employment and Industrial Relations-Historical Overview. (2003) Paul Edwards. Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice. Industrial Relations. (2007) Wilbert Ellis Moore. Industrial Relations and the Social Order. Impact of Social Factors on Industrial Relations and Employment of Labor. (2000) William Holley. The Labor Relations Process. Impact of Economic Factors on Industrial Relations and the Employment of Labor. (2008) Online Journals Tan Chwee-Huat. “Employee relations in Singapore - current issues and problems”. Employee Relations, Volume 18, Issue: 3, pp. 48 – 61. 1996. Websites Ashraf Kazi, Peter Townsend. (2002). “Analysis and Examination of the employment relations in India”. http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/mgt/research/working-papers/2002/wp46-02.pdf (Accessed September 15, 2010). Hynes, Major. (1997-98). “China: the Emerging Superpower”. http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/doctrine/0046.htm (Accessed September 17, 2010). Saras, Dev. (2008, November 8). “China: Emerging Power Center of the World”. http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/china-emerging-power-center-of-the-world-633994.html (Accessed September 17, 2010). Gov.cn – Chinese Government’s Official Web Portal. (2004, April). “China's Employment Situation and Policies (2004)”. http://www.gov.cn/english/official/2005-07/28/content_17992.htm (Accessed September 17, 2010). Read More