Importance Of Employee Relations For Human Resource Management

Analysis of the Current Situation

Discuss about the Importance of Employee Relations for Human Resource Management.

Development and maintenance of relationship between employee and employer can be defined as employment relations. In the given case manager of the company is not taking care of the employee’s health as well as the working environment of the organization is not proper. They were not considering the health of the employees as important means to be achieving their targets. After the takeover of the company by the new owner all these problems have been taken care of. In fact the new manger has implemented new practices which involve the ideas of the employees working there. New manager has also provided training for the systems implemented by the company which will improve the skill set of the employees. Safety measures are also been taken by the new owner and has repaired the trucks used by the workers.

While analyzing the subject it was observed that the company Top Trucking Company is good at its business however the company is not able to meet the expectations of the employees. It has been noticed that the dictatorial nature of the manager has derived the higher turnover rate of employees. Under the leader of the manager employees were not allowed to express their ideas or views while the decision relating to the workplace was done by him. He was not in support to involve the workers of the company in decision making activity. Thus the working environment of the organization was not working friendly and this was leading to dissatisfaction of the employees towards the management. This was one of the biggest reasons of higher turnover of the employees.

Many reasons has been identified which are required to be changed for the efficient working of the company. The first step which is required to be done by the company is to improve the satisfaction level of the employees to decrease turnover of the employees. Since in the current scenario company is not taking care of needs of the employee it is important to check this situation (Karnes, 2009). Management of the organization is more oriented towards its performance but not focusing on the needs of the employees who are ultimately helping organization to achieve the target. The blame for this cannot be put on management only but the owner of the organization is also not involving with the management which is creating this problem. Basic safety equipments are also not available in the organization which shows the irresponsible behavior of the management towards it staff (Tansel & Saziye, 2014). This has also resulted in many accidents at the workplace and thus showing the negligent behavior of the management.

Changes Required

Another step which should be taken is to involve the employees of the organization in decision making so that the employees can take initiatives and give their best to achieve organizational goals. Involvement of the employees in decision making also gives the employees the feeling of belongingness and motivates them to work hard.

Changes can be implemented easily but sustaining those changes is difficult to maintain(Tan, 2014). In the present case manager of the organization and George were having different thought process and were not able to streamline their thought process. However George realized the problem and supported the manager as well as the employees to carry out the changes. Most important risk associated was strike by the employees for the adoption of changes. George being the representative of the workers union he can manipulate the employees to accept the changes.

After the appointment of new manager and shifting the ownership of the organization many changes has been adopted the entity. The new policies adopted not only focus on the output of the organization but also focus on individual performance also. The alignment of strategies at organizational level with individual level is considered as basis for the changes adopted by the organization (Zopiatis, Constanti, & Theocharous, 2014). The major change has been done in the working environment of the organization after change in the ownership of the entity. Efforts are being made the company to provide safe environment to the workers by providing clean yards. New company has invested major funds in repairing the infrastructure of the company and trucks used by the workers to provide safety to the workers. Issue of new uniform to the workers and other steps taken to provide better environment to the employees has created a sense of belongings amongst the employees and has motivated them to give their best for the companies (Guest, 2017).

Second change done in the organization is to change the management approach towards the organization. Managers are not adopting new approach where involvement of the workers is also required while taking the decisions. This gives employees the freedom to give their ideas and try to be more innovative (Lawler, 1986). Any issue arising in the organization is solved by the manager after concerning the same with the employee and taking note of all the aspects before taking any decision.

Another noticeable change done under the new ownership of the company is providing safer working place. Efforts are been made to repair the trucks and working place so that the employees can feel safe while they are working and dealing with the machinery. Training to the workers at general and technical level is also a good initiative for safe working environment in the organization (Burns, 2012). This also improves the skill set of the employees and creates interest in the functioning.

Risk Associated with Sustaining the Changes

This alignment of strategies has helped the organization to achieve their goals and provide employees with the feeling of belongingness in the company.

All the new changes that have been implemented in the organization are related to development and maintenance of the employee’s relations. Also it has been analyzed that the new changes has given positive results to the organization. Installation of new system, training given to the employees in order to develop skills to use new computer system or issuing of new uniform has created a fresh environment for the employees and motivated them to work hard (Lindner, 1998).

Introduction of the participative approach by the management has also boost up the energy of employees and created a feeling of belongingness amongst them (Sy, Tram, & O’Hara, 2006). Hence it can be said that the new practices from the health and safety to participative approach has complimented each other and has shown positive results for the organization.

Union can be defined as the group of employees in the organization working in each department. Union representative is appointed in every union who acts as a mediator between the workers and the management. This helps the organization to communicate with the workers effectively and efficiently (Giuliani & Kurson, 2007).

This union consists of blue collared employees that work under the jobs like machinery, factory work or labour. These unions are not highly educated and thus don’t have such expertise to give their opinion at management level. Thus the involvement of such workers is less when the changes in the workplace are been undertaken by the company (Iverson, R. D., & Roy, P., 1994). Due to their low financial conditions the workers only focus on their work which affects their salary. Hence it can be concluded that the involvement of the blue collared union is less than the sectors union in decisions relating to workplace changes.

These unions relates to service level jobs. Employees in these unions are well educated and possess the proper skills. This makes them eligible to involve in the decision making at management level. Therefore they are involved in the decision making for changes in the workplace. They are personnel holding professional degrees and qualifications which makes them eligible to involve in the decision making. Management also ask the service sector union to give their views since company also believes that the unions or the employees have best of their knowledge about their work (Tattersall, 2006).

Conclusion

While referring to the above report it can be said and concluded that the employee relation is also one of the important decision making field for the company. The company should introduce new and innovative ideas and strategies which can be used to motivate the employees in the organization. Developing the skill set of the employees and maintaining good working environment for them helps the organization to achieve their goals. Since the correct approach used by manager is has an important place for maintaining the relationship with the employees. Therefore the correct approach used by the manager in the current case has helped the workers to develop themselves and help them to improve their work efficiency. Since the employees are the basic requirement of the company and their efficiency is very important to achieve the long term success of the organization. Therefore it is important for the company to provide better working environment to the workers and creating appropriate working policies for the employees.

References

Burns, J. (2012). Leadership. New York, NY: Open Road Integrated Media.

Giuliani, R., & Kurson, K. (2007). Leadership. New York: Miramax Books.

Guest, D. E. (2017). Human resource management and employee well?being: towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), 22-38.

Iverson, R. D., & Roy, P. (1994). A causal model of behavioral commitment: Evidence from a study of Australian blue-collar employees. Journal of management, 20(1), 15-41.

Karnes, R. (2009). A Change in Business Ethics: The Impact on Employer–Employee Relations. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(2), 189-197

Lawler III, E. E. (1986). High-Involvement Management. Participative Strategies for Improving Organizational Performance. Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104.

Lindner, J. R. (1998). Understanding employee motivation. Journal of extension, 36(3), 1-8.

Sy, T., Tram, S., & O’Hara, L. A. (2006). Relation of employee and manager emotional intelligence to job satisfaction and performance. Journal of vocational behavior, 68(3), 461-473.

Tan, F. (2014). Sustaining the momentum: archival analysis of enterprise resource planning systems (2006–2012). Communications of the association for information systems.

Tansel, A., &S?aziye, G. (2014). Management-employee relations, firm size and job satisfaction. International Journal of Manpower, 35(8), 1260-1275.

Tattersall, A. (2006). Bringing the community in: Possibilities for public sector union success through community unionism. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 6(2-4), 186-199.

Zopiatis, A., Constanti, P., & Theocharous, A. L. (2014). Job involvement, commitment, satisfaction and turnover: Evidence from hotel employees in Cyprus. Tourism Management, 41, 129-140.