Workplace Relations

1
Workplace Relations

• Some perspectives

2
INTRODUCTION

• Continuing high levels of unemployment, massive
  foreign debt, declining relative standards of
  living and ever-increasing competition are
  creating pressures for more workplace relations
  reform.
• Higher productivity translates into higher wages,
  better jobs and improved job security.
• All parties agree reform is inevitable.
• The problem is obtaining consensus about the type
  and degree of change necessary.
• The way people view the challenges of reform is
  in large part influenced by their perspective on
  workplace relations.

3
APPROACHES TO WORKPLACE RELATIONS

• Some perceive workplace relations in terms of
  class conflict, others in terms of mutual
  cooperation and others still in terms of groups
  with competing interests.
• Human resource managers need to understand these
  varying approaches because they provide the
  ideological underpinning for much of the debate
  about workplace reform and the role of HRM.

4
UNITARY APPROACH

• Workplace conflict is seen as a temporary
  aberration, resulting from poor management,
  employees who do not fit with the organisations
  culture or trade union activity.
• Trade unions are regarded as competitors for the
  employees commitment and cooperation.
• The underlying assumption is that it is to the
  benefit of all to focus on common interests and
  promote harmony. Conflict in the form of
  strikes, therefore, is regarded as not only
  unnecessary, but destructive.
• Advocates of the unitary approach seek a radical
  overhaul of the industrial relations system.
  Emphasis is on direct negotiations with employees.

5
PLURALIST APPROACH

• In contrast to the unitary approach, the
  pluralist approach sees
• organisations as coalitions of competing
  interests, where managements role is to mediate
  among the different interest groups
• trade unions as legitimate representatives of
  employee interests
• stability in workplace relations as the product
  of concessions and compromises between management
  and unions.

6
MARXIST APPROACH

• Marxists, like the pluralists, regard conflict
  between management and employees as inevitable.
• However, where pluralists see conflict inherent
  in all organisations, Marxists see if as a
  product of a capitalist society.
• Adversarial relations in the workplace are simply
  one aspect of class conflict.
• The Marxist approach thus focuses on the type of
  society in which an organisation exists.
• For the Marxist, therefore, all strikes are
  political.

7
TRADE UNIONS

• The old system of compulsory arbitration
  encouraged trade unionism.
• Union concerns have traditionally focused on pay
  rates, conditions of work and job security.
• Increasingly, however, unions are moving away
  from these bread and butter issues and adopting
  an approach of strategic unionism that includes
  industrial democracy, social welfare, training,
  industrial policy and taxation.
• Moreover, because most awards, determinations and
  industrial agreements set only minimum rates and
  conditions, unions also seek to negotiate
  above-award concessions from employers. Some
  unions see enterprise bargaining as being limited
  to just that.

8
Reasons Why Employees Join Unions

• Compulsion
• Protection
• Social pressure
• Political beliefs
• Solidarity
• Tradition
• Pay and conditions
• Communication
• Health and safety

9
Grievances, Disputes and Industrial Relations
Processes

• The employee approaches his/her immediate
  supervisor to discuss the grievance.
• If the grievance remains unresolved, the employee
  next approaches the shop steward who then
  approaches the supervisor.
• If the matter still remains unresolved, the shop
  steward contacts a union organiser who negotiates
  with the HR manager and/or a line manager and/or
  an employer association representative.
• If the matter is still unresolved, it may be
  referred to the IRC for conciliation.

10
Workplace-Level Grievances

• Grievances are the product of employee
  dissatisfaction or feelings of injustice.
• Listen carefully to what the employee says and
  try to distinguish between facts and feelings.
• Managers should be sure that they have all of the
  relevant facts.
• Avoid lengthy delays.
• Managers should also recognise that sometimes a
  union is placed in the awkward position of having
  to argue a case it does not genuinely support.
• The successful handling of grievances is related
  to the attitudes of the parties involved.

11
Tribunal-Level Grievances

• When a grievance cannot be resolved at the
  workplace level, a HR manager may need to present
  his or her organisations case before an
  industrial tribunal such as the IRC.
• HR managers must develop the skills and
  confidence to take (and be given) the
  responsibility for advocacy.
• Who else has (or should have) as much knowledge
  about past disputes, custom and practice,
  personalities, pay rates and conditions as an
  organisations HR manager?

12
Some Common Features of Enterprise Bargaining
Agreements

• Emphasis on developing a workplace culture that
  encourages enhanced productivity and efficiency
• Promotion of mutual discussion between employers
  and employees in a conflict-free environment
• A focus on customer satisfaction with an emphasis
  on product and service quality as a means of
  becoming more competitive
• An emphasis on the need to implement workplace
  change to ensure the survival of the enterprise
  by becoming internationally competitive

13
SUMMARY

• The changing nature of global markets and the
  need to become more customer driven have forced a
  critical re-examination of the way workplace
  relations is handled.
• Radical, pluralist and unitary approaches (in one
  form or another) all have their supporters.