Article 6. Development of Employee Relations

 

DEVELOPMENT OF EMPLOYEE RELATION

WHAT IS EMPLOYEE RELATION 

The simple definition of employee relations as described by Armstrong (2012), is about how management and employees live together and what can be done to make that work. The concept of employee relations refers to positive relations between two or more persons involved in a social and authoritative relationship in an organizational context. Positive mental health at work is paramount important in the management of organizations. The promotion of positive mental health enables the improvement of working environment and collaborate with a positive impact on employees and the effects of their job. 

Employee relations are influenced by a various factor such as labour markets, technological development, legislations, managerial style, educational trends, Ethical perceptions, moral perceptions and organizational culture. One of the core relationships developed in the workplace is between supervisor and employees. Positive relationship with supervisors may lead employees to have more positive attitudes toward their organization, and particularly enhance their feelings of competence in performing job activities. Gkorezis and Petridou (2002) claimed encouraging interaction with supervisors and managers can help subordinates respond toward customers. Leader–member exchange comprises a contemporary construct encompassing employee–supervisor relationships. Compared to traditional theories, which assume a common leadership orientation toward employees, leader–member exchange argues that a supervisor cultivates different relationships with each employee. Therefore, supervisors may have low-quality or high-quality relationships with their subordinates. Leader–member exchange has been associated with many organizational variables, such as performance, citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction (Gkorezis & Petridou, 2012).

Vertical and Horizontal Employee Relations

• Vertical Employee Relations: This refers to relationships between an employee and his or her superiors (e.g., management, executives, administration). An employee-manager relationship is unique because there are certain limitations to such a relationship. Vertical relationships are those where one of the members has greater standing, whether due to power and authority or knowledge and wisdom. These relationships are by nature hierarchical and needs to be benevolent in order to function properly. Superiors must try to be empathetic, communicative, appreciative and friendly with their employees. Managers need to understand that they don’t need to be chase validation from their subordinates but they must be open to new ideas and change.

 

·  Horizontal Employee Relations: This term encompasses all same-level employee-to-employee relationships, including employees who are working together on a project or employees who are simply sharing a chat during break time. Internal employee relations are the relationships between team members or employees on the same level within the company. Great horizontal employee relations examples are the relationships between those who indulge in casual water cooler talks. These employees may not be a part of the same team or even the same vertical but they have strong relationships due to their casual conversations a few times a day.

Employee Relations Approaches

As described by Armstong (2012) there are four approaches to employee relations;

1.    Adversarial:     The organization decided what it wants to do, and employees are expected to fit in. Employees only exercise power by refusing to cooperate. This approach is less common now than in the 1960s and 1970s.

2.   Traditional:     A reasonably good day to day working relationship but management proposes and the employees reacts through its elected representatives, if there are any. If not, employees just accept the situation or quit from the organization. This the most typical approach in employee relations.

3.    Partnership:  The organization involves employees in the planning and execution of organization policies, but retains the right to manage.

4.    Power sharing: Employees are involved in both day to day and strategic decision making. This is a very rare approach in current context.

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Employee Relations Development Strategies

               Employee Relations development strategies determines how employee relations policy objectives achieved. On the surface it seems that Employee Relations is a simple concept which needs less energy to actualization. But in reality, you need to go in depth and exert much effort to initiate a strategy. it is a huge job even for a fully staffed HR department. Below depicted are some of the strategies commonly used for fostering positive and health workplace.

• ·        Encourage cooperation and collaboration.
• ·        Make sure communication is transparent, timely and relevant.
• ·        Set and communicate company Goals.
• ·        Have appropriate policies to reduce conflicts.
• ·        Respond quickly and thoroughly to any issue.
• ·        Provide opportunities for employees to give feedback.
• ·        Offer career advice and professional development.
• ·        Celebrate events important to the employee and holidays.
• ·        Plan events to interact each other outside the work place.eg. out bound training, get-togethers.
• ·        Support work -life balance of employees.

     

Management Style in Employee Relations

The term "Management Style" refers to the overall approach the management of an organization adopts to the conduct of employee relations. Purcell and Sisson  (1983) identified five typical styles as cited by Armstrong (2012)

1. Authoritarian- Employee relations are not regarded as important and people issues are not attended to unless something goes wrong

2. Paternalistic- In some ways this resembles the authoritarian style but a more positive attitude to employees is adopted 

3. Consultative- Trade unions are welcomed and employee consultation is a high priority 

4. Constitutional- there is a trade union presence but the management style tends to be adversarial

5. Opportunistic- Management style is determined by local circumstances, which in turn determine whether or not unions are recognized and the extent to which employee involvement is encouraged.

        

CONCLUSION

Employees are the indispensable asset and key element of gaining competitive advantage of any organization and good employee relations is essential tool for its actualization (Houger.2006) Inconsistent decision making of managers, highly competitive pressure and race for profit in short term has often led to trust issues and uncertainty in minds of employees. This will often lead to loss of consistency in output expected from employee. To bridge this gap between employee and employer expectation in a dynamic environment employee relations theories come in to play. A recent study by Blyton (2008) revealed that employees do not put up their best performance at work place where they are unhappy with management, government or even fellow colleagues. Organizations that understand employee relations has a significant impact on organizational performance has formulate a separate team to enhance Employee Relations.

 

 

References

Armstrong M. (2012), Armstrong’s Hand Book of Human Resource Management Practice, 12^th Edition

Chauncey Crail  Rob Watts Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/what-is-employee-relations/

Gennard J. and Judge G. (2004), Employee Relations 4^th Edition  Retrieved from https://books.google.lk/books?l=en&lr=&id=FuUmIixUldwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=development+of+employee+relation&ots=Hd4N9lqhr_&sig=oh5FZ1DAHnSqUfj1zhYscW3lLDo&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=development%20of%20employee%20relation&f=false

Gennard, J. and Judge, G. (2010) Managing Employment Relations, 5th Edition

Gkorezis, P., & Petridou, E. (2012). The effect of extrinsic rewards on public and private sector employees' psychological empowerment: A comparative approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(17), 3596-3612

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7920272/

Paul B., Bacon N., Fiorito J., Heery E. (2008) The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations.

Vaughan P. Houger  2006 Trends of employee performance. Collaborative effort between managers and employees Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.2006.4930450508