...The implications of the diminution in union forms of representation for the efficiency of employee voice within the workplace In the first decade of the 21st century, HR has been set a large significant number of issues and many subjects such as employee relationship, strategic HR approaches, employee rewarding, people resourcing, management ethics and so forth have attracted great deal of attention, concern and study to analysis their role, effect and contributions in organizations. Even though there are wide ranges of subjects playing different roles in human resource practices, an appreciation of operating the relationship between employees and employers has become an essential position of business and management recently. Traditionally, employers in employee relationship tried to maintain the control of the workforce with the goal of enhancing business performance. Clearly, if workers are treated fairly and respectively, in addition, they have appropriate influence on managerial decision-making, it could better for them perform improvably. Managers prefer grater work outcomes, nevertheless, it could bring employees’ requirements being disregarded or undermined (Budd, 2004). Therefore, employees bond to express their voice appropriately and their interests should be respected. The main way in which workers tend to voice their interests and representations in the workplace is to participate in collective unions so that they could in a position of greater strength; trade unionism...
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...Justice in the workplace: Why it is important and why a new public policy initiative is needed Provocation Series Volume 2 Number 3 Professor Paul Edwards FBA, Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School and Senior Fellow, Advanced Institute of Management Research Justice in the workplace Contents Executive summary 3 Introduction 6 Job quality and limited success in dealing with it 8 The proposals: building workplace justice 13 Workplace justice 19 Limits to legally based solutions 24 Labour market and employer-led changes 27 Constraints and possibilities 31 Concluding remarks 39 References 42 Notes 45 Acknowledgements The help and encouragement of Keith Sisson have been crucial to the production of this paper, which is a completely revised version of the 2005 Annual Employment Relations Lecture, Keele University. I am grateful to colleagues at Keele and to the audience there, and also to David Coats and Paul Marginson, for comments and suggestions. I take sole responsibility for the views expressed. 2 Justice in the workplace Executive summary The goal of improving fairness in the workplace has been central to UK public policy since 1997. For rather longer, companies have spoken of employee empowerment through such things as teamwork. Much has been done in both areas, but major concerns remain. In relation to fairness, employee rights give entitlements, but these rights also need to be meaningful and effective. In the workplace, the take-up...
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...1. Choose three ‘best practice ‘models and outline the similarities and Differences between them . Ans The best practice approach This approach is based on the assumption that there is a set of best HRM practices that areuniversal in the sense that they are best in any situation, and that adopting them will lead tosuperior organizational performance.A number of lists of ‘best practices’ have been produced, the best known of which was pro-duced by Pfeffer (1998a), namely:1. employment security;2. selective hiring;3. self-managed teams;4. high compensation contingent on performance;5. training to provide a skilled and motivated workforce; The best practice approach is based upon the concept that there is a set of best humanresource practices, adoption of which will lead to superior organisational performance.Pfeffer, in Competitive Advantage Through People, listed seven human resource practiceswhich he identified as commonly adopted by successful companies:1. Employment security. This means that employees are not quickly made redundant during periods of economic downturns or poor performance of the organisation as awhole. This is a tactic that fits with the concept of high performance management,which, you will recall, involves careful recruitment and selection procedures, extensivetraining, information sharing and delegation. Such practices involve high expenditure and organisations adopting them would expect employees to stay with them for sometime so that the investment...
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...Urbana-Champaign GREGORY JACKSON Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry We develop a theoretical model to describe and explain variation in corporate governance among advanced capitalist economies, identifying the social relations and institutional arrangements that shape who controls corporations, what interests corporations serve, and the allocation of rights and responsibilities among corporate stakeholders. Our “actor-centered” institutional approach explains firm-level corporate governance practices in terms of institutional factors that shape how actors’ interests are defined (“socially constructed”) and represented. Our model has strong implications for studying issues of international convergence. Corporate governance concerns “the structure of rights and responsibilities among the parties with a stake in the firm” (Aoki, 2000: 11). Yet the diversity of practices around the world nearly defies a common definition. Internationalization has sparked policy debates over the transportability of best practices and has fueled academic studies on the prospects of international convergence (Guillen, 2000; Rubach & Sebora, ´ 1998; Thomas & Waring, 1999). What the salient national differences in corporate governance are and how they should best be conceptualized remain hotly debated (Gedajlovic & Shapiro, 1998; O’Sullivan, 2000; Pedersen & Thomsen, 1997; Prowse, 1995; Shleifer & Vishny, 1997; Thomsen & Pedersen, 2000). In most comparisons researchers contrast two dichotomous...
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...------------------------------------------------- High-performance work systems Psychological contract ------------------------------------------------- Organizational behaviour Motivation and job satisfaction ------------------------------------------------- Engagement Commitment ------------------------------------------------- Selection methods Retention ------------------------------------------------- Talent management Flexible working ------------------------------------------------- Balancing work and family life Learning and development ------------------------------------------------- Performance management Reward management ------------------------------------------------- Employee relations References HRM General Armstrong, M (2000) The name has changed but has the game remained the same? Employee Relations, 22 (6), pp 576–89 This article argues that many of the practices associated with the concept of human resource management were flourishing under different names before...
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...orLabor Unions: Aging Dinosaur or Sleeping Giant? The Labor Movement and Unionism Background and Brief History Higher wages! Shorter workdays! Better working conditions! These famous words echoed throughout the United States beginning in 1790 with the skilled craftsmen (Dessler, 1997, p. 544). For the last two-hundred years, workers of all trades have been fighting for their rights and seeking methods of improving their living standards, working conditions, and job security (Boone, 1996,p.287). As time went by, these individuals came to the conclusion that if they work together collectively, they would grow stronger to get responses to their demands. This inspired into what we know today as labor unions. A labor union is an organized group of workers whose purpose is to increase wages and influence other job conditions for its members (Parkin, 1998,p.344). These labor unions can be divided into two types: craft unions and industrial unions (World, 1998). A craft union is a union whose membership is restricted to workers who possess an identifiable skill (Robinson, 1985,p. 69). These members tend to be better educated and trained, and more unified because of common interests (World, 1998). An example of a craft union is the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (World, 1998). On the other hand, an industrialized union is a group of workers who have a variety of skills and job types but work for the same industry (Parkin, 1998, p. 344). Unions of this type include...
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...Relationships: A Study of the Interaction of Employment Relationships and Employee Rewards Systems in Two Unionised Private Sector Organisations. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: ht tp://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/4415/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral r ights for i tems on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full i tems can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, ti t le and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full i tems must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html REWARDING RELATIONSHIPS: A STUDY OF THE INTERACTION OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AND EMPLOYEE REWARDS SYSTEMS IN TWO UNIONISED PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATIONS NICK CREABY-ATTWOOD PhD 2010 REWARDING RELATIONSHIPS: A STUDY OF THE INTERACTION OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS AND EMPLOYEE REWARDS SYSTEMS IN TWO UNIONISED PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANISATIONS ...
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...Week 1 Overview: Upon completion of this week, you will be able to: 1. Discuss the employment relationship between workers and the company. 2. Discuss how employers can exist without unions but unions cannot exist without employers. 3. Identify reasons why workers unionize. 4. Discuss why unionization is declining in the United States. 5. Analyze the difference between the public sector labor relations and private business. Introduction to this week's topics: Labor relations is the set of processes and activities unions and employers develop and use to clarify, manage, reduce, and resolve conflicts between employees and their representatives while accommodating the various goals of each. The practice of labor relations is governed by contracts negotiated by and agreed to by both parties. Contracts are renegotiated periodically to take into account changing goals and objectives of both parties and changes in the economy and society. Within larger employers that operate several establishments, labor relations will differ depending on what is produced in each establishment and whether different unions represent employees in different establishments. Employers would like complete freedom to alter the terms and conditions of employment in their workplaces, as necessary, to maximize returns on investments and achieve organizational goals. While labor is somewhat mobile, with workers able to move between employers as opportunities occur, it is less mobile...
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...Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series HRM’s Role in Corporate Social and Environmental Sustainability Produced in partnership with the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA) and the North American Human Resource Management Association (NAHRMA) HRM’s Role in Corporate Social and Environmental Sustainability This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject matter covered. Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering legal or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent, licensed professional should be sought. Any federal and state laws discussed in this book are subject to frequent revision and interpretation by amendments or judicial revisions that may significantly affect employer or employee rights and obligations. Readers are encouraged to seek legal counsel regarding specific policies and practices in their organizations. This book is published by the SHRM Foundation, an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM®). The interpretations, conclusions and recommendations in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the SHRM Foundation. ©2012 SHRM Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any...
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...Relations’ comprises of two terms: ‘Industry’ and ‘Relations’. “Industry” refers to “any productive activity in which an individual (or a group of individuals) is (are) engaged”. By “relations” we mean “the relationships that exist within the industry between the employer and his workmen.” | | | | The term industrial relations explain the relationship between employees and management which stem directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship. Industrial relations are the relationships between employees and employers within the organizational settings. The field of industrial relations looks at the relationship between management and workers, particularly groups of workers represented by a union. Industrial relations are basically the interactions between employers, employees and the government, and the institutions and associations through which such interactions are mediated. The term industrial relations have a broad as well as a narrow outlook. Originally, industrial relations were broadly defined to include the relationships and interactions between employers and employees. From this perspective, industrial relations cover all aspects of the employment relationship, including human resource management, employee relations, and union-management (or labor) relations. Now its meaning has become more specific and restricted. Accordingly, industrial relations pertains to the study and practice of collective bargaining, trade unionism, and labor-management relations...
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...This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 1 Preface Competing books are focused on the academic part of HRM, which is necessary in a university or college setting. However, the goal with this book is not only to provide the necessary academic background information but also to present the material with a practitioner’s focus on both large and small businesses. While the writing style is clear and focused, we don’t feel jargon and ten-dollar words are necessary to making a good textbook. Clear and concise language makes the book interesting and understandable (not to mention more fun to read) to the future HRM professional and manager alike. It is highly likely that anyone in business will have to take on an HRM role at some point in their careers. For example, should you decide to start your own business, many of the topics discussed will apply to your business. This is the goal of this book; it is useful enough for the HRM professional, but the information presented is also applicable to managers, supervisors, and entrepreneurs. Besides these differences, other key differences include the following: This book utilizes a technology focus and shows how HRM activities can be leveraged using technology. We have also included a chapter on communication and information...
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...division. If there is only one business in the firm, then both the corporate and business levels are identical. 2. Strategy This is the common theme underlying a set of strategic decisions. The strategy may be to change the scope of the firm or become global, and the decision to acquire a particular firm is part of that strategy. Strategy is about the firm’s relationship with the environment and developing the capabilities and competencies to enable it attain success. It must be borne in mind that all firms have a strategy and that this strategy may be explicit or implicit, developed with extensive analysis or not. An organisation or firm’s strategy can generally be expressed in relatively simple terms, although this may hide complexity within it. When considering strategy, it must be realised that nothing about the firm is fixed; everything is variable. The strategy may change a firm or the organisation’s scope, its culture, its structure, its vision, or even all the above-stated factors. When developing strategy, it is incumbent upon us, therefore, to be creative in our thinking...
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...OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT REVIEW March 2004 Chris Maxwell © State of Victoria Printed by State of Victoria, March 2004 ISBN 1920921044 This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from State of Victoria. Disclaimer: The content in this report is provided for information purposes only. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not purport to represent the position of the State of Victoria. Neither the author nor the State of Victoria accept any liability to any persons for the information (or the use of such information) which is provided in this review or incorporated into it by reference. The information in this Review is provided on the basis that all persons having access to it undertake responsibility for assessing the relevance and accuracy of its content. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT REVIEW March 2004 Chris Maxwell TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: A CONSULTATIVE INQUIRY CHAPTER 2: THE SAFETY CONSENSUS PART 1: NEW CHALLENGES FOR OHS 1 3 5 6 15 15 20 24 24 29 46 46 54 60 71 96 96 100 110 120 135 141 159 163 169 177 177 186 192 192 215 222 227 233 233 258 272 284 284 293 328 347 350 354 354 357 360 363 383 387 392 392 397 ...
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...organisational performance. To present a number of activities and case studies that will facilitate readers’ understanding of the nature and complexity of the SHRM debate, and enable them to apply their knowledge and understanding. Introduction to strategic human resouce management This chapter charts the development of strategic human resource management. It assumes a certain familiarity with the evolution of HRM, early HRM models and frameworks and their theoretical underpinning as discussed in Chapter 1. The aim of this chapter is to provide a challenging and critical analysis of the strategic human resource management literature, so that you will be able to understand the synthesis both within and between strategic human resource management and strategic management in its various forms. Since the early 1980s when human resource management arrived on the managerial agenda, there has been considerable debate concerning its nature and its value to organisations. From the seminal works emerging from the Chicago school and the matching model of HRM (Fombrun et al., 1984), the emphasis has very much concerned its strategic role in the organisation. Indeed, the now large literature rarely differentiates between human resource management (HRM) and strategic human resource management (SHRM). Some writers have associated HRM with the strategic aspects and...
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...applied HR practices in China and Japan. China and Japan are both economic powerhouses with homogenous cultures, with distinct political and economic structures. The Chinese culture has more Confucian ideals that are more collectivist in nature, while the Japanese culture emphasis harmony and saving face communication. The Chinese manipulation of its currency and increasing dissent among workers puts the nation in higher political risk; moreover the Chinese economy is inevitably going to slow down. The Japanese economy has undergone political reforms to upstart a sluggish economy recovering from a decade long recession in the 1990s. The HR practices in China rely on a strong leadership pipeline from its educational facilities and its union that is heavily influenced by the Communist regime, while the Japanese HR practices are characterized by...
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