Executive Summary
Employee relationship is a very important issue in the modern business world. All the managers must maintain a good relationship with the employees attain the organizational goal. It will enhance the firm reputation and productivity of the firm. The employees will be ethically stronger. To maintain good flow of the business the manager must maintain a good employee relationship. So, managers must be aware of this issue. He/she can follow a lot of theories for maintaining a healthy and strong relationship with the employees.

Learning Objective 1: Understand the context of employee relations against a changing background
Task 1: Understanding Unitary and Pluralistic Approach

Unitary Frames
Unitary frame of reference is defined as a way of thinking, asset of assumptions, attitudes, views, values that are related with the management and organizational membership. The main theme of this frame is though the employees have different views based on their learning and education; they must have some common goals to be achieved while working in an organization. It finds expression by the implementation of the mission statements and it measures the success through the achievement of actually got. Unitary frames starts from the values and assumption. It says that workplace conflict is not expected at all between the manger and employee in the working environment [ (Dicker, 2003) ]. A conflict starts from two people’s behavior or occurrence that have a huge influence over other employees and parties to commit further conflict or problems in the workplace.
Pluralistic Frames
In this frame the organization is divided into powerful and different sub-groups. The basis of division may vary. Each group has its own objectives and purposes. Every group has loyalty and respect towards its leader. Conflict in this frame is not viewed as a bad thing all times. It is dealt by collective bargaining. There are mainly two sub-groups in the pluralistic view. They are
Management
The role of management is mainly influence based. It would less lean towards enforcing and more towards co-ordination and influence. The main purpose of management board is to provide guidelines for the subordinates to work accurately for achieving the organizational goal.
Trade union
Trade is considered to be the legal representatives of the employees working in the organization.
These two sub-groups consist of different values and objectives. Many organization pluralism seems to be the most perfect and suitable frame. It is considered perfect to build a good working relationship between managers and employees [ (Hollinshead et al., 2003) ].

This question related with the union substitution and suppression. There is an interesting fact that both strategies can co-exist in the same organization at the same time. Wal-mart claimed that there should be any kind of existence of third party between the labor and management. The company substitutes their presence through informal channels of communication and involvement. The company has been accused of union -busting by the union leaders. While answering to this type of question it should be considered that the overtly anti-union activity is the evidence that the company provides much opportunity for the employees to have a greater level of communication and involvement or it is a part of ideological resistance on employee involvement.

Task 2: Effect of Change in Trade Union on Employee Relations
The privatization program is a major change in the trade unions in the past 20 years. The public sector has also been affected by this process. Some nationalized industries or Government entities have been sold off the private sector. As a result a lot of employees found out that they are working for a new employer.

Trade union was very powerful in the first of 20th century. But gradually the situation was started changing. In 1901 the court decided to take a strict decision against the unbounded power of trade union. They decided that the trade union can be sued due to any kind of loss or damages caused by the strike.
During the 1920s some old industries like coal mining started to decline. So, the employers took the chance of reducing wages of the employees. They stared to cut wages in the year of 1921. In 1926 they proposed for reducing wages as well as increasing the working hours. The leader of the miners A.J. Cookie said, 'Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day'. The miners started to strike against the decision. They started to strike and asked for help from other unions. As a result a strike occurred from midnight on May 3rd, 1926. During the strike some general workers and employees died. After this incident the concept of May Day comes to the light. After the incident people still remembers those workers who fought against the autocratic decision made by the management. From that incident trade unions came to the form. These changes have made a change in the employee relations. There have been a lot of changes in the trade union. A lot of reforms also occurred. At the very beginning of the reform the relationship between the employees and employers was not so good. The relationship between them was very hostile. But after a lot of arguments and discussions at last when the trade union came to the real form the employee relationship developed a lot.

Europe has developed unique features in industrial selections at the end of the nineteenth and during the twentieth century (Ferner & Hyman, 1992). Collective bargaining is now being considered as a very popular process of resolving the conflict arising in the business organization. So, it is very clear that trade union has a very important impact on employee relations in the modern business world. It has newly shaped the relationship of employees and employers. Trade union has taught the employees to become aware of their rights and needs. It gave them the strength of fighting against any kind of injustice against them. So, it must be kept in mind that trade union has changed the whole scenario of modern business organization.

Sometimes trade union is helpful for the improvement of relationship between employees and employers. Sometimes it is detrimental. But the bottom line is trade union has helped the employees to realize what is their actual right is. So, trade the change in trade union has changed the employee relationship in the business organization a lot.

Task 3: Role of the Main Players in Employee Relations

Employee relation is now being treated as one of the most important aspects of the modern business world. This is treated very importantly by the modern managers. If any manager or leader wants his/her organization runs swiftly then he/she must has a good relation with the employees. Employees are the most important ingredients of the organization now-a-days. If the employees are satisfied then it will be much easier for the managers and other related parties to maintain a sound working environment in the business organization. There are some people who play the key roles in marinating employee relationship. The role of the main players in employee relations are summarized as follows-

HR Manager
Human resource manager plays an important role employee relation. He/she decides the level of relationship between the employees and employers. HR manager is the main person to manage the relationship with the employees. HR manager designs the job that is to be done. The entire planning of the workplace is done by the HR manger. He/she makes the decision regarding the employee engagement in various important matters. It is solely his/her responsibility to make it better with the employees. They should not take any kind of steps that goes against the interest of the employees. This will create a lot of anarchy. In both the cases of Wal-mart and ASDA the HR manager did not make any kind of contact with any employees or leaders of the trade union. As a result there was a huge dissatisfaction. And a total mess occurred.
Employee Trainee
Employee trainee is also a very important person who plays a very vital role in deciding the employee relation in an organization. People who are aware of the fact that employees need a training he/she should consider it that an employee trainee is one of the most important players in employee relation. He/she can shape up the employees’ behavior. Employees get better skilled with the touch of employee trainee. Wal-mart and ASDA lacks the role of an employee trainee. The employees of these organizations should be properly trained by a well trainee. Then the present conflict situation might be avoided.
Financial Manager
Financial manager is the person who takes decision regarding the financial matters of an organization. He/she also plays a vital role in controlling the employee relation. The financial manger provides the employees and employers the required information and guidance regarding the financial matters of the business organization. People of any business must need to know the financial situation of the business. He/she also plays a vital role in making big decisions of the company. But Wal-mart and ASDA didn’t take any suggestions advices from any of their financial manager.
CEO
CEO is the chief executive officer of the company. He/she is the person who plays the most important role in case of the employee relation in a business organization. He gives the required set of guidance and rules to the subordinates for achieving the organizational goals. It is mandatory for any CEO to have the right quality of maintaining a good employee relationship in the organization. He/she should not make any important decision only by him/herself. He/she should consult with other important persons of the company. But in both the cases the CEOs of Wal-mart and ASDA played a very stubborn role. They didn’t pay heed to any people around them. They did the thing they thought was good. As a result all the chaos is occurring.

Learning Objective 2: Understand the Nature of Industrial Conflict and Its Resolution

Task 1: Procedures of Dealing with Different Conflict Situation

There are lot of situation occur in case of business where a lot of conflicts arise. The conflicts sometimes may be very destructive [ (Pammer & Killian, 2003) ]. So, it is better to resolve the conflicting situation very carefully. The Walmart and ASDA are both accused of taking steps against the trade union in their business premises. As a result a conflict has arrived between them and the trade union organizations. The following procedures should be followed by Walmart and ASDA to resolve the conflict situation-

Active listening
The authorities of Walmart and ASDA should have listened to the needs, wants and demands of the trade unions. They must not take any initiatives against some big organizations without any kind of active listening. The conflict situation that has arrived in this case is because of the autocratic mentality of the authorities of both these organizations. Active listening sometimes plays a big role in case of conflict management in the workplace [ (Thomas, 1992) ].

Communication
Working communication between the trade unions and the management was absent in both cases. They decided on a big issue without consulting with the union members. So the decision created a lot of anarchy and disbelief among both parties. As a result the trade union leaders went to the court against both the organizations.

Consultation
Consultation is a process by which people can eradicate disputes among them [ (Dana, 2001) ]. Consultation gives the opportunity to resolve the most difficult conflicts and disputes occurred in the workplace [ (Deutsch et al., 2011) ]. But in both the cases the authorities did not consult with anybody before taking steps directly or indirectly against the trade union.

Negotiation
Negotiation is the process of making mutual agreement between two parties [ (Amason & Hochwarter, 1995) ]. Negotiation was also absent in case of Walmart and ASDA. The authorities of both the organization should have tried to negotiate with the trade union leaders before taking any kind of important decision regarding trade union.

Mediation
Mediation is being increased among the organizations for resolving the conflict situation. The manager of the organization can take the initiate of mediation or he/she may ask the help of an external mediator [ (Goodstein et al., 2003) ].

Task 2: Feature of Employee Relation in Conflict of Wal-Mart and ASDA

There are both cultural and industrial reasons behind the anti-unionism revisited more vigorously in UK. The UK has more highly unionized economy in comparison to other economy like US. This reflects the strong independent unionism in UK. Currently there is legal support in favor of the union recognition and representation. Though unionism is declining in the last decade pluralism is being very dominant in many sectors.

Employee relation means the body of concern for maintaining the employee relations [ (Leat, 2012) ]. It is considered to be very important for the satisfactory productivity, employee motivation and business goal. It helps to solve different workplace problems. ASDA and Wal-mart mainly based on the pluralist approach to the employee relation. The employee relation is dependent on some important features. They are summarized below- * The organization of the workers. * Skills and development of workers. * Security arrangements for the employees. * Issues of labor management.

Task 3: Effectiveness of the Procedures Used In the Situation
Conflict in the workplace is the lack of understanding between the employers and employees. The relationship between the employees and employers can be destroyed because of the conflict. The conflict situation of Wal-Mart and ASDA were solved by the following procedures- * Reviewing the job descriptions regularly. * Developing the open opinion policy. * Workplace was made safer. * Employee problems were handled carefully. * Employee recommendations were treated with care. * Harassment was removed from the organization.

Learning Objective 3: Understanding Collective Bargaining and Negotiation Processes
Task 1: Role of Negotiation in Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining generally includes negotiations between the two parties (employees’ representatives and employer’s representatives) [ (Singh, 2011) ].

Form the definition it is clear to all of us that collective bargaining is the process of mutual agreement between two parties. It is mainly dependent on negotiation. Negotiation has a great impact on collective bargaining. It is very difficult to bargain fruitfully with the parties without having any negotiation. So, negotiation plays a vital role in terms of collective bargaining. The roles played by negotiation in collective bargaining are discussed below-

Mutual Agreement Negotiation plays a vital role in terms of mutual agreement. It helps two parties to come to a mutual agreement. It gives the parties to talk between them. It helps to eradicate any kind of misunderstanding between those parties.

Good Relation
Negotiation helps the involved parties to maintain a good working relationship among them. It gives them the opportunity to come closer and discuss more freely. They will have the chance to get the best outcome out of the discussion by negotiation process.

Best Outcome
Negotiation involves both parties in the discussion process. As a result it gives the parties a relaxation about the other parties. They can fell free as they have discussed directly with the other party. So, they will be sure about the best outcome.

Cost Benefit
Negotiation helps the parties to realize what the best cost plan for the business is. So, it is easier for the parties to implement such a plan that will help them to get the cost benefit.

Increased Productivity
As negotiation process helps to reduce cost, it helps the parties to increase their profit level. As a result the mental strength of both employees and employers increases. It also helps to increase the productivity of employees.

Task 2: Impact of Negotiation Strategy
The negotiation process should have been applied in this case. Wal-mart and ASDA took the decision based on only their assessment. They did not pay any heed to the key players of employee relation. They should bargain with the employees about their needs and wants. By the negotiation process the conflict situation would have been avoided. The impacts of negotiation process in this case are as follows- * The conflict can be avoided. * Improvement of employee relationship. * Increase the productivity of the employees. * Positive image and branding of the organization.

Learning Objective 4: Understand the Concept of Employee Participation and Involvement

Task 1: Evaluating the Influence of the EU Policies and Directives on Industrial Democracy of Workers within the UK

There are many kinds of policies are existed in the European Union to control the business and the internal function. They are trade policy, recruiting policy, environment maintenance policy, human resource management policy, employee training policy, safety and healthy workplace policy and employee relationship maintain policy.
These policies have a very high level of influence on industrial democracy of the workers. Anti-harassment policy helps the women workers to move freely in the organization. This type of policy makes them move around the workplace without any mental pressure.
Another powerful policy of EU is trade policy. It indicates the degree of freedom existing in an organization. This policy is now getting much popularity in the international arena. By this policy a business organization is involved in the international business market. Safety and healthy workplace is one of the most important policy passed by EU. It provides the true measurement of industrial freedom. It is considered that if the workplace is safe for the employee to work on then the organization is more democratic. So, it is clear that the freedom of the employees in the workplace is an indicator of the democracy existing in the business organization. As a result the modern business gives much emphasis on the employee rights for the sake of democracy. So, these policies of EU are very much important.
Importance
The importances of EU policies for maintaining democracy in the workplace are as follows- * Influential for the democracy of the workers. * Trade policy is an indicator of the degree of freedom of a business organization. * These policies help the organizations to get involved in the international business. * These policies ensure a safe and healthy workplace.
Shortcomings
* Sometimes have negative impact on firm. * Creates hinder on the way of business.

Recommendations
There are some recommendations for the EU for making more prominent policies for the businesses- * The policies must be business oriented. * It should provide benefits to the business organizations. * Trade policies of EU must provide advantages to the general people. * Ensuring safety for the employees. * Policies should provide framework to maintain a safe workplace for the employees.

Task 2: Methods Used To Gain Employee Participation and Involvement in the Decision Making Process in Organizations

The employee participation and involvement are now being treated a very important aspect for the business organization. This is now considered one of biggest concerns for mangers in various organizations. They take different steps and procedures for making the employees to feel more at home and feel safe in the organization. As a result they are paying more attention to make the employees more involved in the business process. There are a lot of ways to gain the employee involvement and participation. But mainly three approaches are considered to be the best among them. They are discussed briefly below-

Delegation
Delegation means giving the power to subordinates to do work with their authority [ (Lewin, 2006) ]. It gives the proper authority to the subordinates to perform their duties. It is very influential methods of employee participation. Employees want to be felt important. That is why it is very effective. Employees become very satisfied by the delegation process. They get their benefits by the process. They have the power to say their words freely to the managers. They might be able to express their sayings and feelings accurately. It also improves the employee relation very swiftly. That is why delegation is more powerful tactics rather than the other methods of employee engagement.
Authority
Everyone wants to have power. They also want to be a part of the authority of the organization. Employees have the desire for having power deep inside their heart [ (Marchington & Parker, 1990) ]. So, giving authority to the employees helps the managers to get them involved in the business process properly. The main impact of this process is the mental strength. It helps the employees to feel like an important human being. It increases the morality and productivity of the employees. It helps the organization to get more benefit from the employees. Employees work with their full potential f they have the proper authority.

Training
Training is the process of getting the employees get skilled properly 8under the supervision of a skilled trainer [ (Pettinger, 1999) ]. It helps the employees to develop their inner skills and talents. They get more confidence to participate in the main stream of the business. They can give their valuable suggestions that will be beneficial for the business. It will help the managers to get the best out of them. The productivity of the business increases. It helps the business to achieve its organizational goal more easily. The managers may be relieved of taking all the important decisions on their own. The employees can help the managers to make important decision by their skills and learning.

The managers of the organization must follow these steps to get their workers and employees involved in the business process more accurately. It will boost up the business’s performance and profit. It will also improve the relationship of the employees and employers. The organizational goal achievement of the company depends a lot on the employee engagement. So, this issue should be considered important in every organization. It will be very beneficial for every company.

Task 3: Impact of Human Resource Management on Employee Relations

Human resource management is one of the most important parts of the organization. It may be called the integral part of employee relation [ (Sikula &. Sikula, 2001) ]. It is not possible to have a proper employee relation in the organization without proper human resource management. Employee relation and organizational behavior of an organization are very much related with each other. They are both dependent on the management of the firm. Employee and organizational development are the most important focusing points of human resource management. Major functions of human resource management are as follows- * Recruitment * Training and development * Workplace planning * Quality assurance * Job design

All the functions of the HRM are equally important in terms of employee relation in the business organization. The impacts of human resource management on employee relations are summarized below-

Recruitment
Recruitment is a very important aspect of human resource management. Employees in the organization get selected for any job by the process of recruitment. So, the recruitment process must be at the top of importance. The recruitment process must be fair and transparent. Otherwise there will be a chance of low profile employee engagement. The employees of an organization must be skilled enough to support its HRM department to perform the organizational works effectively. They must be able to cope with different situations of the firm. It will enable the organizations to work precisely and increase their productivity.

Training and development
Employee training and development have much influence on employee relation. Employee training is very much important for maintaining a good working relationship with the employees. So, the employee training is a very important factor in the modern business world. Without training and development it will be not easy for the employees to cope with the changing scenario of the modern business world. So, the people of the organization with the proper authority should provide enough chance to the employees to get trained. It will increase the rate of employee engagement in the business process. It will be effective for maintaining the tempo right for business.

Workplace Planning
Workplace planning is also very important for the employee relationship. The employee relationship depends on the workplace planning very much. The workplace should be planned in such a way that helps the employees to work freely. If the employees cannot work freely in the workplace then it will be difficult for the business to achieve its organizational goal. The attainment of organizational goal is mainly dependent on the employee engagement and involvement. So, the employees must be involved to the main stream of the business process. They must give the opportunity to express their inner feelings without any kind of hesitation.

Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is the maintenance of the quality of the service. If the organization wants to maintain a good working relationship between the employees and the employers then it must be ensured that the quality is assured. The employees have some basic needs. Those needs and demand must be fulfilled. So, the managers of the organization must make it sure that the employees of the organization are getting their basic needs and demands fulfilled. The human resource manager of the firm also needs to be aware of the quality of the benefits the employees are getting.

Job Design
Job design is a very important factor of the employee involvement in the business process. If the employees are far from the stream of the business then it will be very difficult for the business to get the jobs the done properly. If the employees think that they are far away from the actual business process then their morality will be down. The will not provide their hundred percent. As a result the organization will face serious problems. The organization will be shut down. So, the mangers must make it sure that the people of the organization are very much satisfied with the job design.

Conclusion It can be said that employee relationship is very important for the business organization in the modern business aspect. The organization can achieve it s organizational goal by managing a good relationship with the employees. For maintaining the good relationship the organization must maintain a working environment for the business workplace. So, the human resource department of an organization must make the employee relationship good for the better employee performance.