Employment Relations In Asia: Changing Attitudes Towards Employee Relations In Singapore

Importance of Employee Relations Programs

An essential resource in any corporation is its personnel. No enterprise can run successfully without them. In any case, individuals cannot work in a vacuum. They have to convey and work with others to complete their tasks. Bosses need to oversee connections in the work environment to keep the business working easily, maintain a strategic distance from issues, and ensure workers are performing their tasks effectively (Kochan, 2004). Therefore, employee relations alludes to a company’s endeavors to manage associations between employees and the employer. An association with a good staff relations program gives reasonable and reliable treatment to all employees to ensure they perform their tasks efficiently and that they are loyal to the organization. Employee relations programs also aim at solving work-related conflicts in the organization. This paper intends to focus on the changing attitude to employee relations, particularly in Singapore. Businesses in Singapore are adopting the unitarist rather than the pluralist view. The essay tries to justify this change to concur with current trends.

Worker relations programs are usually part of a human resource procedure intended to guarantee that personnel is utilized to achieve the central goal of the organization. Human resource methodologies are deliberate plans that organizations use to enable them to gain and maintain an aggressive edge in the business environment. Employee relations programs concentrate on factors that affect workers, for instance, salaries, wages and benefits, safe working conditions and a supporting work-life balance (Rea, 2005). The best approach for a corporation to guarantee excellent employee relations is to incorporate a human resource procedure that gives employees better incentives such as being partners in the business. The provision of conducive environment for employees to operate leads to improved productivity. Partners are persons who are committed fiscally and are influenced by the prosperity or failure of the enterprise. Once employees are treated as more than just paid workers, yet as genuine partners with the capacity to impact on outcomes, they feel more esteemed for the jobs they do (Kochan, 2004).

The organizations in Singapore have perception that employee relations are vital and contribute to the success of the company. However, it is important to note that there are three different attitudes to employee relations. Each has benefits, and a corporation can adopt either of them based on the prevailing industrial conditions. They include the unitary, pluralist and the radical perspectives. While the first two are complete opposites, the latter serves as a union of the former two. The Unitary way to deal with worker relations depends on the supposition that each employee, and or business or government benefits when accentuation is on shared intrigue (Chand, 2016). Alternatively, under unitary approach, ER is established on cooperation, collaboration, shared objective. Strife at work place is viewed as a transitory abnormality coming about because of poor administration or employee mismanagement. Otherwise, workers typically acknowledge and participate in the management. Strife as strikes is dismissed as ruinous (Provis, 2006).

According to the pluralist approach, workers may join as labor unions to protect their interests. Thus, labor unions turn into the authorized agents of employees in the association. Along these lines, the arrangement of ER gets grounded on the outcomes of concessions and bargains amongst the administration and the trade unions. Conflict, the employer, and the employees are comprehended as contending vested parties, is considered as unavoidable and, indeed, vital too (Chand, 2016). Typically, workers have the lower hand during negotiations with employers. Subsequently, workers join labor unions to consult with the administration on conforming to terms to protect their claims. Like unitary approach, pluralistic approach experiences certain impediments. The fundamental supposition of this view, where employer and employee don’t come to a satisfactory agreement is unacceptable in a free society. This is on account of a general public might be free, yet power distribution is not equal among the contending powers entirely (Provis, 2006).

Three Different Attitudes to Employee Relations

In Singapore, there are some employee relations issues. These incorporate reliance on foreign laborers, an aging workforce, effect of organizations migrating their labor-intensive enterprises to different nations, and problems identified with the privatization of government?linked organizations. A forced levy compels the work of foreign laborers. Broadening the retirement age gives occupations to older specialists (Chwee-Huat, 2006). Be that as it may, bosses see them as not so much gainful but rather more costly unless the wage framework can be altered. Professionals made redundant by organization movement are the less gifted. The proposed solutions lie in retraining and updating the skills of employees.

Singapore unions have sorted out laborers in light of ground-up endeavors of workers who need to deal with their bosses. The more individuals the union has, the more grounded its order will be (Bian, & Ang, 2007). The pioneers that its members choose tend to decide the fate of the union. The admonition is that these union leaders must keep on being beneficially utilized by an organization which is unionized by the union. In any case, with the omnipresence of the web, cell phones, and applications, the customary manager-worker relationship is developing, undermining the presence of Singapore unions (Cullinane, & Dundon, 2014). In Singapore, enterprises are adopting the unitary perspective in employee relations to reduce the interventions by labor unions. The adoption of unitary perceptions to labor relations at Singapore has been the key driver and factor behind the reduced labor unions interventions.

The predominance of impermanent is ascending in Singapore. In spite of the fact that there are no official numbers, the population of freelancers in Singapore is developing. More millennials are stopping their employments and looking for independent work through online applications and stages (Cullinane, & Dundon, 2014). The taxpayer supported organization is progressively offering contract occupations before transformation to stable situations. There are hazy areas between whether Uber drivers are considered workers or consultants (Tan, 2015). This absence of permanence to a solitary organization and the individualistic idea of the employee-manager relationship will influence the employee perspective on whether there is a need to join a union and how aggregate bargaining through the union can help the union member. Social exchanges are moving far from unions towards social extremist gatherings, web-based social networking and different stages of public discussions (Quazi, et al. 2008). Web-based networking in the public platforms has acted as the main driver to stable transformations as considered by the consultants.

Apart from the business trends such as increased networking and development of freelancing, in Singapore, the intervention of labor unions has introduced rigidity in the labor market. This is because, in case a conflict arises, employee turn to the labor union leaders to represent them (Tan, 2005). This amounts to wasted time and reduction in productivity. As such, businesses have adopted the unitary approach that minimizes the conflict between employees and the management. This reason among others justifies why business in Singapore are taking up the unitary approach rather than the pluralist one. The latter allows employees to join trade unions that represent them and try to balance the power between the employer and the employees. Besides, organizations are seeking to enhance their employee relations for the benefit of the company as a whole (Kochan, 2004). Trade unions help the registered employees raise their grievances in unison to the government hence easy resolving the issues.

Employee Relations in Singapore

The unitarist employee relation is a business relationship in which each work association is a fused element with a common goal and a mutual target. The association to a great extent relies on participation and agreement between the management and workers. Furthermore, there is no extreme strife between proprietors and the staff (Leggett, 2008). The principal quality of unitary work relations is that it encourages loyalty to the firm and the management among employees. In unitarist, workers have the role to be loyal to the management and the organization, as well as, in the acknowledgment of shared goals. Companies that have this kind of employment tend to be pursuing commitment and employee loyalty. Another preferred standpoint of Unitarianism is that conflicts are not inherent in the company and the working environment. It is based on the account that disputes arise because of defective correspondence, failure of workers to understand the amicability of authoritative intrigue (Marchington, & Parker, 2010).

In conclusion, the question lies in whether it is justifiable in the decision to adopt the unitarist rather than the pluralist approach by businesses in Singapore. The answer to this question is that it is entirely justified. The unitarist perspective has strengths that benefit the employer and the employees, as well as, improving employee relations. First, this approach upholds an organizational culture that nurtures teamwork. It improves on communication among employees and their bosses. Secondly, since it discourages conflict, rather than turning to unions, workers communicate their grievances to their employees. Besides, the administration understands that employee management and motivation is key to organization performance. Thirdly, unlike the pluralist approach, the absence on intervening unions saves on time that would have otherwise be spent on strikes and prolonged negotiations. It improves the productivity of employees and their loyalty to the company. Therefore, in Singapore, the diversity of the workforce coupled with the changing business models has seen enterprises adopt the unitarist approach.    

References

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