The main intention of this essay is to discuss whether the wage earners and the salaried workers are paid according to market value, state edict, or the operational needs of the business and so forth. Indeed, Roberts (1972) implied that the labour cost associated with the pay matters can be the factors to pay determination, such as, affected to the legal regulations and political environments in specific nation, the dimensions view of labour forces and the decisions of the organization in top management.
Why pay is important matters to workers, employers and the governments? Admittedly, pay is one of the most significant determinants of benefits to those who works and earns for living. So, to let the readers to understand more about the issue, the explanation on the key term, pay, will be the first and foremost. Generally, ‘pay’ can be referred to the wage and salary for the workforce, as the return of their efforts which putting into the work tasks. In reference to the Oxford English Dictionary, ‘pay’ has several explanations, and the most relevant will be as ‘…give someone money that is due for work done, goods received, or a debt incurred…’(Oxford University Press, 2011).
Additionally, from the economic terms, there are four types of factors of production, namely as land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship, functioned to describe the input of resources and used to create goods and services (Lipsey and Chrystal, 1999; Vengedasalam and Madhavan, 2007). In more specific terms, derived from the terms as above, ‘labour’, combined together with the terms of pay, this can be decoded that the labour forces have been charged and received their wages and salaries for the labour services that they provided to the employers. As Edwa...
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In the early age, as the record from Kahn-Freund (1954 cited in Dickens and Hall ,2003, p.125), he quoted that by a leading academic lawyer’s comment about the limited role of British employment law in the period from 1870 to 1960s, as ‘There is, perhaps, no major country in the world in which the law has played a less significant role in the shaping of industrial relations than in Great Britain and in which today the law and legal profession have less to do with labour relations’. Although such statements verified that the legislation during that time has not comprehensive enough to cover the issues of industrial relations, this implied that the laws can play a vital role to such matter, bring more and more significant impacts when more and more areas are covered. So, the following will discuss about the way s of the state intervention directly and indirectly.
David Brody argues that the rise of contractual or collective bargaining relationships during the post WWII era formalized the relationship between employers and unions, but simultaneously began to put a break on shop floor activism. Explain Brody’s argument and, where relevant, incorporate Weber’s theory of bureaucracy.
Factories were known for their ill treatment of their employees, long hours and dirty and unsafe conditions. In 1866, unions started to form to improve working conditions for the workers. A fundamental problem faced by democratic societies is as long as people live their lives individually and go their separate ways and be selfish individuals, they are unlikely to meet collectively to resolve issues. There needs to be meaningful unity among people to alleviate this problem to get people obliged to one another, so there is a willingness to sacrifice for shared goals. Bonding of its citizens creates a democracy. Unions seemed to offer the middle class a chance to become a crucial part of fostering institutions of constitutional democracy. The unions have went through several transitions, but have always worked for the working force. I will discuss the history of the various unions, their wins and losses, and the struggle of the employee to achieve democracy in the workplace.
Blanpain, R and Bamber, G J. (2010). Comparative Labor Law and Industrial Relations in Industrialized Market Economies: Xth and Revised Edition. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.
Tomlins, C. L., & King, A. J. (1992). Labor law in America: Historical and critical essays.
Working conditions in the Industrial Revolution were very harsh. It was a time when people wanted mass amounts of production and were not concerned about how things got done as long as they got done. Chadwick and Sadler both took initiative to try to change and protect workers’ rights. As worker’s health became more public, people began to realize how bad they were suffering, the Parliament knew they had to make changes. The Parliament put in many acts and laws that would limit work hours and give workers more rights and better health.
Jones, F.F., Scarpello, V., & Bergmann, T. (1999). Pay procedures - What makes them fair? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72(2), 129-145.
Most will agree that knowledge is the ‘key’ resource in this post-industrial economy. The challenge for many companies is developing an organization that creates and cultivates knowledge and learning. Pay plays a significant role in shaping workplace behavior. Most of the traditional pay systems reward the job the individual performs rather than the skills he/she brings to the job. The system is not being able to reward the things the company needs and this presents a barrier. The trend has moved away from pay for the value of the job, service and seniority. It is being replaced with paying for skills, knowledge, competency, performance and productivity, all which can be delivered through different invitations, from changes to base pay to introducing gainsharing.
Dunlop(1958) argues that in the system of industrial relations, there are 3 major components in the system. There are the actors, the context and the common ideology. The actors consist of the employers and their organizations and employees and, if present, the groups that represent them and the state or government agencies. The second major component, the context, is the situation or environment that influences any decision or activity, this is usually technology, market constraints or distribution of power in the wider society. The common ideology, under which the purpose of this essay falls, can be seen as a binding idea or theory which the actors share for the purpose of stability in the system. Under the common ideology component, there are various conflicting theories or frames of reference.
Remuneration management is defined as the sum received for an employment or service delivered, this includes the money received on a monthly basis as well as benefits given as rewards (investopedia,para.1 ). Individualism need to be taken into account when implementing these remuneration structures or reward schemes, equal pay plays a role in balancing earnings among the diverse workforce (Shen, Chanda, D’Neetto and Monga,2009,p.241). The Woolworth’s Holdings uphold remuneration policies which have the purpose of making sure to attract and hold on to the best talent, that they are congruent with the strategies of the company and are the determinants of performance during the short and long phases. The policy considers the board members and the employees. This policy manages employees of the company by giving...
The laws and regulations surrounding Industrial Relations since the 1900’s have, at each reform, placed tighter constraints on the amount of power unions are able to exert. The reforms have also radically increased managerial prerogative, through an increased use of individual bargaining, contracts and restrictions imposed on unions (Bray and Waring, 2006). Bray and W...
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).
Compensation for today 's average worker has always been a highly sensitive topic for any employer. Determining fair compensation can be a overbearing task as there are many contributing factors that make up the general pay scale. When determining pay a company must always consider the hourly amount, the benefits that may be offered, any incentive that could potentially be incurred and ensuring that their employee have an established work life balance. For an employer to be successful in determining compensation for their associate they must remain grounded around 1 key principle. An employees compensation is determined by expertise, education and the daily duties performed by the employee.
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.
Pfeffer, J. (1998). Six dangerous myths about pay. Harvard Business Review, 76, 109-119. Print. 8 Feb. 2014.
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.