Kelly (1998) and Martinez-Lucio and Stuart (2000) highlighted the manager’s motivation of choosing the partnership strategy as a vital influence factor respectively. And from the employer perspective, one of the crucial motivations to apply partnership can be limiting the risks stirred up by the trade union.
It is commonly accepted that the workplace partnership will moderate the trade union movements and enhance the ‘stability’ of employment relations. During the partnership, the company will pay more attention to the working life of employees and may have to compromise with the trade union to provide better job security. But in return, the action of the trade union will be eased off. And this will avoid most of the risks that the trade
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According to the Barclays and Unifi case, it is truth that many of the interviewed Barclays staff is satisfied with the partnership relation with employers. But some of the experienced trade union officers believed the partnership in fact is undermining the unionism in workplace and limiting the movement of members. Because the union officers are accepting more business situation of the company, they trade union can always point out and modify the problems already happened in company but they have lost the ability to think in the opposite way from the management and create the new demand of staff or initiate the reform in the company (Wills, …show more content…
Thus on one hand, the training will help the company to improve the skill of employees, on the other hand, this will enhance the employability of workers. Originally, the managers only provide the training and coaching when the business strategy needs more skilled workers. Hence, in order to get more chance for employees to improve their employability, the trade union have to get involved in the training system. The trade union are providing the trainings as well as life long learning to employees to benefit both the individuals and the organization. (Munro and Rainbird,
To conclude this analysis on the basis of the labor’s extensive history, Sloane & Witney (2010) propose, “it is entirely possible that labor’s remarkable staying power has been because of the simple fact that to many workers, from the nineteenth century to the present, there really has been no acceptable substitute for collective bargaining as a means of maintaining and improving employment conditions” (p.80). In the end, it is important to anticipate unions and employers presently work together to find solutions that will enhance collective bargaining strategies and practices to serve the interest of both parties.
Industry deregulation, amplified contest and toil mobility have made it extra hard for traditional unions to maneuver. In current decades, unions have experienced partial expansion because of transferal from "old economy" industries, which often implicated manufacturing and big companies, to lesser and medium-sized companies exterior of manufacturing. In the current past, prospective union associates have increase into a bigger number of companies. This leads to negotiating collective bargaining being difficult job, as union’s officials have to work with a bigger number of well-versed managers and most of the times have a difficult time systematizing employees. Therefore, the management ends up having the day by giving what they had brought to the table of negotiations (Greenhouse 1).
In continuation, the concept of labor unions is quite simple. Labor unions have working members fuse together to become a powerful force. This powerful force works to ...
Barclays shares were trading as high as around 790p in 2007. At that time, few people could have thought that the share price of the company would dramatically drop within the next couple of years, to reach a low of just over 50p. Even though it’s trading now at three times that price at 150p, the company’s future seems highly uncertain.
In an attempt to solve this problem, many organizations are offering nontraditional benefits, which include training and development opportunities. Training is considered the number 1 attraction and retention tool followed by flexible work schedules and competitive salaries. The author points out that we shouldn’t just believe that more training will improve conditions. He bases his argument on a study that found that high performing organizations provided each employee with an average of only 30 hours of training, compared to the average of 45 hours of training for each employee in other organizations. So as a conclusion, if more training hours do not guarantee improved performance, then there must be other factors that needs fixing.
The conclusion this paper must draw is that if it is true that there was a need for unions and that they have become impractical then there must have been a time period where the relationship between company and union was optimal. The purpose of this paper is to determine the characteristics of that optimal time period and how to achieve or recreate them.
In collective bargaining, employers too are stakeholders and ensuring that their interests are not compromised is important. Particularly, this is the case when the employees’ interests are conflicting with those of the employers. For example, a demand for shorter working hours by the workers would compromise the interests of the employer to enhancing productivity, which is part of their management mandate. In the collective bargaining agreement, some of the employers’ interests covered include managerial responsibility, safety standards, and disciplinary responsibility (Budd 11). The issue of employers’ rights is crucial to collective bargaining agreements because of the nature of the employer-employee relationship. Notably, collective bargaining is primarily based on strengthening or managing this relationship to the satisfaction of all parties. Therefore, without ensuring that the rights and responsibilities of each party are clearly stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement, the risk of one party’s interests being met at the expense of the other is real. A good example of how the issue of employer rights is featured in collective bargaining agreement occurred at one of the General Motors plants in Tonawanda where the management and workers agreed to work as partners rather than as antagonists (Pritchard Para
Trade unions are important in the working environment, they organize and represent the interests of the employees and also ensure that their employment relationship is regulated through processes of collective bargaining (Venter & Levy, 2009). The interests of trade unions are also considered to be of importance because they look after the interests of those in the production processes. As a result models of behavior and collective bargaining were developed by Hicksian.
In this case study it was stated that there were a problem happen in the outsourcing for the Royal Bank of Scotland. What happen was there were an error that happen during the routine software upgrade that cause million of that bank customer cant access to their account. The error happen when one junior technician in India was accidently wiped all the information during the routine software upgrade. The member of staff that was working under the program for the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank and it was based in Hyderabad, India.
Traditional literature in the field of labor relations has focused immensely on its benefit towards the employer and in the process equating it to working rules. This has been so despite the field being expected to cover the process of, labor management, union formation, and collective bargain; all which are anticipated to create a positive employer-employee relationship. This relationship is said to be positive if there exist a balance between employment functions and the rights of the laborer. Also important to note, is that this relation is equally important to the public sector as it is to the private one. Therefore, to ensure a mutually conducive labor environment exists, effective labor management process and inclusive negotiation program should be adopted (Mulve 2006; Walton, 2008).
The pluralistic approach accepts the legitimacy of workers forming themselves into trade unions to express their interests, influence management decision and achieve their objectives. The pluralistic approach sees conflicts of interest and disagreements between managers and workers over the distribution of profits as normal and inescapable. The role of managers/management would lean towards enforcing, controlling, persuading and coordinating. Trade unions play an important role in this approach, being that employees can join unions to protect their interests and influence decision making by the management. Trade unions balance the power between management and employees, hence its an important factor in this approach and industrial
An important aspect of this framework conceives the industrial relations system as self-adjusting towards equilibrium. In so far as change in one element had repercussions for the other elements, they are held to set in motion a range of processes that invariably restores a sense of order on the system. Strategic choice theory Another widely used and more recent theory drawing on pluralist assumptions is Kochan, Katz and McKersie’s (1986) strategic choice theory. This particular theory picks up on the systems concept developed by Dunlop (1958) and advanced on it by accommodating a number of contemporary changes in the way industrial relations was being practiced. Three such changes are noted as being influential in determining the way managers deal with industrial relations issues. The first is identified in the recent decline in union membership and the rise of new industries not covered by unions. The second is noted in the way collective bargaining structures and outcomes involving trade unions
A collective bargaining agreement collectively sets the terms on which an employer offers individual work contracts to each of its employees in the bargaining unit. A bargaining agreement, also herein referred to as a labour agreement, is a legally enforceable written commitment, which states the rights and duties of all parties involved. The labour agreement should be made in good faith and is intended to be observed and not violated. The National Labour Relations Act obligates employers and unions to bargain in good faith concerning terms and conditions of employment, including hours and wages. Like any normal contract, competent parties must enter into a labour agreement. However, a labour agreement is unique from other legal contracts in that there is no consideration involved and nothing tangible is exchanged. Many, but not all, unions require formal ratification of a new labour contract by a majority membership acceptance, which is determined through vote by the members. Until majority approval of those voting in a ratification election is received, the proposed labour contract is not final. While each labour agreement is unique to the needs of an organization and its employees, most agreements include five issues: (1) Management Rights, (2) Union Security, (3) Wages and Benefits, (4) Individual Security (Seniority) Rights, and (5) Dispute Resolution. Management Rights “Management” is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals by making the best possible use of money, time, materials and people. The management process, when properly executed, involves a wide variety of activities including planning, organizing, directing and controlling. It is management’s role to perform all of these functions in order to maximize results.
The role of the government on industrial relations is very important as it sets the legal framework that industrial relations operates in. Appropriate industrial relations legislation should recognize the requirements of both employers and employee’s. Both the employee and the employer want to profit from each other but are also reliant on each other. This means that the equal bargaining power of employers and workers must be recognized (Peetz, David. 2006). Appropriate industrial relations laws should address any imbalance of power and give both groups an equal degree of control. Appropriate industrial relations should not only allow a mixture of both collective and individual bargaining but also facilitate employee participation in day to day workplace decisions. After all it’s the structure and framework of the employment relationship, which is governed by legislation that leads to good Industrial Relations.
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.