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Employment relation theory essay
Causes of workplace conflict
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Introduction
Industrial Conflict is a broad and complex topic and conflicts may arise from many diverse issues resulting hostile acts by employers and employees.
Causes of industrial conflict may range from minor reasons like absenteeism to major issues such as enterprise bargaining.
We will look at the employment relations and employment conflict and analyze this complex topic from different points of theory and practice.
Industrial relations & Industrial Conflict
Industrial relations is an umbrella concept that overall encompasses the relationship between the employer and the employee on the contrary Industrial conflict between or among groups, industries and government. Economically, the factor of productivity in workplace is very important
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408), Each person perceives and interprets events by means of conceptual structure of generalizations or contexts, postulates about what is essential, assumptions as to what is valuable, attitudes about what is possible, and ideas about what will work effectively.
Characterizing the different values in employment relations British Scholar Alan Fox introduced three fold taxonomy with numerous revisions in 1974 (see Fox 1966, 1969,1974) and according to Bray et al. (2014 p.50) the Table 3.1 in Appendix.
This Taxonomy has been widely used since then in debates and studies but also was under criticism and refinement of Unitarism, Pluralism and Radicalism.
Unitarism is very conservative and assumes that employers and employees have harmonious relationship. Both sharing the same objectives and interests, so the employment relations based on mutual cooperation according to Bray et al. (2014 p.51) the Table 3.2 in Appendix.
Management role is to provide powerful leadership and define goals and constantly ensure employees commitment to the organization in return the reward employees when targets reached. There is no fundamental conflict between the both sides and when the conflict occurs it presumed as abnormal behavior or an outcome of poor
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(2014 p.366) in the appendix we can see the various form of industrial conflict some forms is easy to see and some are hidden, Some of the conflicts are active and trying to improve the working conditions like: salary, workplace safety, OH&S and many more and some are defensive to preserve the current relations or prevent from laying off staff or firing. Strikes are not the only factor that damaging the employers, there are many other factors and behaviors that can affect business productivity such as: Absenteeism or sabotage is a way of employees to respond to uncongenial working conditions, low morale, wastage of resources, inefficiency and high labor turnover which can add on losses to the business or the whole economy. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines industrial dispute as: … withdrawal from work by a group of employees, a refusal by an employer or a number employers to permit some or all of their employees to work, each withdrawal or refusal being made in order to enforce a demand, to resist a demand or express a grievance. (ABS
Holley, Jr., W., Jennings, K. & Wolters, R. (2012). The labor relations process. (10th ed.). Fort
Sloane. A. A., Witney, F. (2010). LABOR RELATIONS (13th editions). Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a specific, hypothetical employment situation encountered and to include the information regarding employment conflicts, questions, grievances, lawsuits, etc., in terms of how the situation was handled or resolved. Employment conflicts are a constant issue everyday in any organization; it is how you handle them both legally and professionally that counts.
Understanding how situations can become conflicts are important matters to investigate in hopes of preventing it from happening again. Every employee (in their minds) have different perspectives as to why conflicts happen. Such things include a lack of communication, feeling as if others are not doing their jobs, crazy rules, special treatment of friends as well as expectations that they feel are not reasonable. Conflicts that management may be involved in could be poor communication, lack of appropriate response to any given situation, not taking responsibility for their own errors, letting work & personal life interfere with the other, as well as not having good prioritizing
Riaz, M. & Junaid, F. (2011). Types, Sources, Cost and Consequences of Workplace Conflicts. Asian Journal of Management Research. 2(1), 600-611.
The textbook definition of conflict is when two or more individuals or concepts appear to be incompatible, and in this case low productivity versus high productivity is the conflict that must be addressed between the employee and manager. Power on the other hand is the capacity to do something either by physical force or strength and in this case the employee perceives that the manager has all the power in this situation. This now becomes a power imbalance or struggle of major proportion as the employee perceives t...
Aurizon case of industrial dispute is not much different than that of the various existing cases related to employee relation and industrial dispute. Situation of Aurizon also cannot be considered isolated to that of the various other employers, who adopts absolute and inflexible position in their workplace negotiations in cases of industrial dispute. While, the union and workers are also strongly defend their claims for change or any demand which they posed. Thus, it can be stated that in such scenario effective resolution of the industrial dispute cases can only be achieved when both parties come for negotiation and get agreed on mutually beneficial terms and conditions. In consideration to specific case scenario of the Aurizon industrial dispute case it can be stated that pluralist approach to conflict became evident form the case facts, as two powerful and divergent subgroups of management and trade union is existing in system which has generated the need of collective bargaining.
NZ’s industrial relations developed by protection of the employment relationship through acts passed by government, particularly the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (IC&A). This is fundamental to NZ’s employment relations and set the right for trade unions to arrange and negotiate collectively with employers, as well as producing awards, wage rates and handling disputes (Bryson, 2011c).
Employment relations refer to the relationship between the employer and the employee. Employment relations are governed by the provisions of the employment contract and/or collective agreement where applicable, common law principles and legislative provisions governing specific situations. Many factors in the external environment have an effect on the employment relations within an organization, which they need to monitor and possibly adapt to the necessary changes. The external environmental factors that would influence employment relations are political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental.
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
The relationship between employer and employees plays a pivotal role in the performance of the organization. Employers and employees have certain responsibilities towards each other which facilitate a fair and productive workplace. Positive work relationships create a cooperative climate with effort towards the same goals. Conflict, on the other hand, is likely to divert attention away from organizational performance.
The Marxist approach looks at industrial relations from a societal perspective. It views industrial relations as a small-scale version of a capitalist society. This approach surrounds itself with the assumption that industrial relations under capitalism are unavoidable, and thus would be a source of conflict. According to Marxist, industrial conflict is central to industrial relations, however actual altercations are uncommon. The approach also sees this as a form ...
Labor relations emerged as response towards combating the economic unrest that accompanied the 1930 Great depression. At this period, massive unemployment, decreasing salary and wages, and over competition for jobs despite poor working conditions, was being experience; especially in the US. In turn employees were aggravated and therefore resorted to labor strike that often escalated to violence. To avoid such incident that could potentially harm further an ailing economy, the US government set precedent by passing their first related Labor relationship act, also referred to as the Wagner act. This act excluded public sector and some employees in the informal sector, farm workers to be specific. However, the progressive change in business and labor environment, necessitated changes in the labor laws to ensure they are more inclusive (Haywood & Sijtsma, 2000).
There are many different approaches and theories regarding industrial relations nowadays. In order to mount an opinion on which is the ‘best’ or most appropriate theory of industrial relations, each theory will have to be analyzed. The three most prevalent theories of industrial relations which exist are The Unitarist theory, The Pluralist theory and The Marxist theory. Each offers a particular perception of workplace relations and will therefore interpret such events as workplace conflict, the role of trade unions and job regulation very differently. I will examine each of these theories in turn and then formulate my own opinion regarding which is the ‘best’ or most appropriate theory.
Industrial Relations is a multidisciplinary field dealing with the study of employment relationship in union and non-union organizations. There have been various theories of industrial relations in place, but the first and most influential theory was put forward by John Thomas Dunlop. Dunlop, as a labor economist, remodelled the work of sociologists and developed a framework of industrial relations system. He developed the System’s Theory which stressed on the interrelationship of institutions and behaviors that enables one to understand and explain industrial relation rules.