2
Employee Relations and Theoretical Interpretation
Definition:
M.Salamon (1998)
" a set of phenomena, operating both inside and outside the workplace, concerned with
determining and regulating employment relationship"
Unitary
Pluralist
Marxist
• Concentrate on the structure of capitalism and fails to address some of the inbuilt
assumptions about those structures, i.e doesn't encompass female views about modern
work.
• Unlike other theories, does not believe in consensus based upon shared interests.
3
Employment Relations framework (Institute of
Personnel Development)
People Positive
Management psychological Commitment
practices contract Productivity
Extracted from "Employment relations into the 21st Century: an IPD position paper" - IPD
Partnership
Formal agreements for long term relationships based on cooperation rather than
adversarialism.
A. Principles of partnership at the workplace according to the TUC (1999) in the Partners
for Progress document:
Successful partnerships are based on shared understanding of, and commitment to, the
business goals of the organisation and to its lasting success.
Recognises that differences of interests will occur in partnership firms, and suggests that it is
through the recognition of such differences, and their resolution, that long-term trust can be
built.
4
3. Commitment to employment security
Effective partnership-based approaches address flexibility of employment but must not at the
expense of security of employment. Hence the need for measures that enhance employment
security and employability.
5. Transparency
Involvement and communication at work through a real sharing of information about the
future business plans and genuine consultation over workplace change.
6. Adding value
Tapping into sources of motivation and commitment and/or resources that were not accessed
by previous arrangements. Emphasis is placed on the value added benefits of training and
development, both in terms of skill acquisition and skill deployment.
5
Employee Participation and Involvement
A system is created which involves ‘the determination by the whole labour force of the
nature, methods and indeed purpose of production’.
Participation
IPD:
… indirect influence on decisions affecting the wider organisation usually takes place in
indirect consultative systems such as works councils or joint consultation committees.
Involvement
IPD:
…direct involvement in the job, and the way in which work is organised, includes job design,
quality circles and team working, iteration of management thinking and policy and process
development.
6
Salamon:
‘the means used to harness the talents and cooperation of workforce in the common interests
they share with management’, ‘any activity which helps to release the full potential of people
at work’ and ‘a range of processes designed to engage the support, understanding, optimum
contribution of all employees in an organisation and their commitment to its objectives’
• Empowerment
• Teamworking
• Briefing groups
• Quality circles
Classification Type
Workers’ control Worker self-managed cooperatives
Representative participation Collective bargaining
Worker directors
Representative consultation Joint industrial councils
Joint consultative committees Works
councils
Financial Participation Profit sharing
Employee share ownership
Unit wide bonus schemes
Task-based involvement Quality circles
Teamworking
Total quality management
Suggestion schemes
Customer care programmes
Non-representative consultation Attitude surveys
Communicative involvement Team briefing
Company journal/newspaper
Employee reports
Videos
7
EPI in practice
1. Communicative involvement
• House journals
Use to reinforce company culture or convey in a favourable light changes required in working
practices.
Involve employees by providing for worker representations and column space for employees
to air their views without undue editorial interference.
• Team briefing
Objectives:
2. Non-representative communication
• Attitude surveys
Opinion surveys used to test employees’ views on a wide range of issues including job
satisfaction, job specifications and the organisation and management of the company.
8
3. Task centred involvement
Assumes unitarist employee relations culture, is customer driven, with a flatter management
structure and commitment from all employees to forge a new quality culture base on
continuous improvement.
To work successfully TQM has to be driven from top of the organisation down and it will
take several years to become fully established. EI not extending operational task levels or
holding employee interest and commitment, given that managers’ powers are enhanced first
before empowerment trickles downwards.
No real evidence to suggest that TQM will extend EI to the level of organisational decision
making.
= extending EPI into the realms of decision making in policy areas such as restructuring,
investment, acquisitions, etc.
Climate of trust more important to the success of TQM, and trust can only be achieved if
TQM arrangements do not increase managerial control or incur job losses.
4. Financial participation
• Profit sharing
• Employee share ownership plans
9
Claimed effects from the implementation of employee involvement.
10
Financial involvement Employee share To be re-educative; providing
ownership plans; profit- incentives and promoting
related pay; effort.
performance-related pay;
bonus schemes.
Managerial style and leadership Participative managerial To provide support; encourage
style; being visible, positive working relationships
accessible and informal; and trust; reduce barriers.
creating credibility;
ensuring actions in line
with key messages.
11
ii. Employees may not perceive EI as a positive development
12
Conflicts and Discrimination
Refers to frictions between individuals, between groups of workers and between various
levels of authority within the firm.
Conflicts arise from employee opposition to management policies, feelings of discontent, and
attitudes that interfere with the attainment of organisational goals.
• Spur initiative
• Create energy
• Stimulate new ideas
• Be disagreeable
• Misdirect employees’ efforts
• Waste time
• Involve large amounts of stress
• Lead ultimately to major disruption
Types of conflicts
1. Conflicts of interest – various interest groups compete for the largest shares in a fixed
amount of resources.
2. Conflicts of right – arise from alleged violations of agreed terms in workers’ contracts of
employment, a statute, or a collective agreement.
Communal conflict: despite conflict there remains a basic community of interest between the
parties concerned.
13
Causes of conflict
• Expression of conflicting ideas and interests represents a direct challenge to the internal
order and stability of the social system.
• Open and extensive communication between management and the workforce and between
individuals, sections and departments
• Joint problem-solving
• Willingness to compromise
• Arranging work to ensure that it cuts across departmental and occupational boundaries
• Designing jobs to make them more interesting
• Provision of group bonuses
• Teamwork and developing team spirit
• Employee counselling
14
Discrimination
Definition:
To make a distinction based on characteristics that are not relevant to the job such as sex,
sexuality, marital status, colour, nationality, disability or age.
Structural: Requirements for appointments or promotion have the effect of excluding certain
groups or individuals. This may be deliberate or accidental and often results from an over-
reliance on levels of experience and qualifications when defining entry into a job.
Organisational: Reflecting common assumptions about the type of job certain groups of
people are capable of performing, e.g. ‘women are best at secretarial work’, ‘men are most
suited to transport and haulage’.
• Failure to select/promote the best individual for the job because of restrictions placed on
applicants as a result of discriminatory practices.
• Failure to create a balanced workforce containing individuals with a diversity of
experience whose creativity and ideas can be utilised by the employer;
• The creation of resentment and poor morale, which undermine team spirit and co-
operation.
15
More radical approaches: Affirmative action (positive discrimination) programmes
Liberal Radical
• Legislative/codes • More concerned with equal outcomes
of practice based • Involves a commitment to achieving fair distributions, or
around equal quotas, of underrepresented groups in the workforce
treatment • For quota system to be effective, need for enforcement, i.e.
penalties for non-compliance need to be clear
N.B: Affirmative action can bring negative evaluations from others on the organisation
practising it, e.g. ‘stigma of incompetence’.
Managing Diversity
All individuals are different, and the potential of all members of the working population
should be harnessed – no one is excluded.
It helps to:
• Identify hidden organisational barriers which make it more difficult for people who are
perceived as being different from the majority of their colleagues to succeed and develop
their careers.
• Effect cultural change and create an environment in which people from all backgrounds
can work together harmoniously.
• Combat prejudice, stereotyping, harassment and undignified behaviour.
• Make equal opportunities an issue for everyone and an integral part of the achievement of
business goals.
• Develop equality policies and procedures in ways which take into account organisational
needs and culture, and the way employees need to be able to balance their personal and
working lives.
• Nurture creativity and innovation, and tap hidden capacity for growth and improved
competitiveness.
16
Reasons why diversity matters in business:
1. Ensure organisations have an open workplace culture based on trust and mutual respect
2. Ensure all decisions about employment and training of people are objective, based on
merit, relate to individual personal development criteria and support business goals.
• Continuous review of workplace policies, practices and behaviour to check that these are
helping all employees to give their best.
N.B: Fundamental requirement – changing the way in which things have always been done.
Treats members of a particular group as if Recognises that each and every individual
they all shared the same characteristics and is unique in his/her needs and experiences
experiences
Uses special initiatives to focus attention Does not utilise positive action campaigns
on the issues affecting particular groups
17
Reasons for equal opportunities not vigorously implemented in organisations:
N.B: Managing diversity and equal opportunities are not alternatives but are rather
interdependent.
Management
Ensure that working systems provide equality of opportunity for all, e.g. implementation and
enforcement of codes of practice.
• Selection criteria based on detailed analysis of the job to be performed, ensuring objective
assessment criteria.
• Choose sources of recruitment reaching all sections of the community.
• Design and content of recruitment advertisements is most important – no indication of
any intention to discriminate against particular groups, include statement of commitment
to equal opportunities.
• Collection of information about candidates through application form should provide
consistent set of data on all candidates.
• Monitoring data should be collected from all candidates to ensure whether progress
through interview and final selection is affected or not by discrimination.
• Shortlisting according to objective criteria and results formally recorded.
• At interview – interviewers should have received training in how to conduct a structured
selection interview
• Test chosen so as not to discriminate.
• Final selection should compare candidates against objective criteria and results of process
documented for future reference.
Induction
• Ensure all materials free from bias and do not stereotype employees
• Welcome all new staff to workplace
• Help them to socialise with others
• Structure induction training for individual variations in pace and learning
18
Training and development
• Organisation committed to elimination of harassment and treat all grievances of this sort
seriously
• Carry out uniformly organisation’s rules on discipline regardless of sex or race of the
individual concerned
Trade Unions
19
Individuals
20
Egalité de chances
Gurbux Singh, président de la Commission sur l’Egalité des Races (CRE) de la Grande-Bretagne, à Maurice
depuis hier matin, affirme que toute démocratie a besoin d’une législation selon laquelle l’égalité des chances
est garantie. Il a fait ressortir que son pays a fait beaucoup de progrès ces trente dernières années dans ce
domaine, en faisant voter des lois. “It is the duty now on all the services of the public sector, is it in the police,
the fire services or health, to promote equality”, a-t-il souligné, hier soir, à la presse qu’il a rencontrée dans les
locaux du ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce.
M. Singh est en tournée officielle à Maurice à l’invitation du gouvernement, pour animer des conférences dans
le cadre de la présentation au Parlement d’un projet de loi, le Equal Opportunity Bill, dont une ébauche est déjà
prête. Ce thème, rappelons-le, fut le cheval de bataille de Xavier-Luc Duval lors de sa campagne électorale pour
l’élection partielle de Beau-Bassin/Petite-Rivière.
Le président de la CRE a d’ailleurs rendu une visite de courtoisie à ce dernier avant d’animer la conférence de
presse et il a été présenté aux journalistes par Loganaden Ramsamy, chef de cabinet du ministre Duval,
actuellement chef du service civil et secrétaire au cabinet par interim. Selon le programme de visite de M. Singh,
il rencontre le président de la République, ce matin, l’Attorney General, ministre de la Justice et des Droits
humains dans l’après-midi avant de s’adresser au Bar Council et à la Law Society à l’université. Il se rendra à
Clarisse House lundi, soit quelques heures avant son départ.
Selon l’invité du gouvernement mauricien, l’approche britannique a permis de non seulement faire adopter des
mesures théoriques, mais aussi de les mettre en pratique, notamment de pourvoir une assistance légale,
promouvoir un code d’éthique même dans le secteur privé au niveau de l’emploi, établir des liens entre les
différentes communautés, etc. Il a évoqué le récente démarche faite en Europe, dans le cadre de la réunion qui a
eu lieu le 6 juin sur les affaires raciales.
“Every country should treat all citizens equally, everybody should have an equal and fair treatment”, insiste M.
Singh. Il est d’avis que les politiciens devraient prendre les dispositions nécessaires pour s’assurer que cela soit
ainsi, tout en affirmant que l’éducation également demeure un atout important pour apporter un changement de
mentalités.
Equal opportunity
Intervenant, hier, lors d’une conférence organisée par l’Association of Personnel Managers (APM), Gurbux
Singh, qui présidera prochainement la Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) britannique, a soutenu que le
succès de toute législation sur la Equal Opportunity doit bénéficier de “strong political leadership” pour donner
des résultats positifs. Gurbux Singh, venu à Maurice pour conseiller le gouvernement quant aux organismes à
créer dans le cadre de la législation à venir sur la Equal Opportunity, a rappelé aux directeurs des ressources
humaines présents que leur devoir est de veiller à ce que leur personnel soit motivé et bénéficie de promotions
avantageuses. Toute organisation, a-t-il affirmé, doit recruter des personnes qualifiées pour un travail spécifique
et ce qu’importe leur appartenance ethnique ou leur sexe.
Prenant comme exemple la Grande-Bretagne, M. Singh a rappelé que la discrimination y était criante dans les
années 40 et 50, et ce même à un moment où la main-d’œuvre étrangère était vitale pour la reconstruction
d’après guerre. C’est pour mettre fin à cette discrimination que les Britanniques, a-t-il poursuivi, devaient
légiférer en 1965 et 1968 contre toute forme de discrimination à l’emploi, ce qui devait mener à une législation
plus complète en 1976 - loi qui allait créer la CRE.
Cet organisme, a expliqué M. Singh, veut promouvoir une bonne “policy of practices” en matière de relations
publiques, mener des enquêtes dans des cas où il y a eu possible discrimination et accorder une assistance légale
à toute personne qui en a besoin.
La législation britannique, avance-t-il, oblige les employeurs à promouvoir la Equal Opportunity. “This is a way
to ensure that the public sector is potentially abiding by this legislation”, a déclaré M. Singh.
Si l’intervenant se dit opposé à la “discrimination positive”, il pense, néanmoins, que certains cas peuvent la
justifier, citant l’exemple britannique, où des cours de formation sont dispensés à des minorités ethniques dans
un secteur spécifique où ce groupe est peu ou pas représenté.
Extracted from Le Mauricien
21