EMPLOYEE RELATIONS MANAGEMENT:

ISMAIC AND WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

PROGRAM

Human Resource Management

PREPARED FOR:

Sir Rana Nadir

PREPARED BY:

ALISHBAH NAEEM

CIIT/SP19-RBA-010/LHR

COMSATS UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD, LAHORE CAMPUS

SUBMISSION DATE:

March 9, 2020

1
Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2

Employ relationship management...................................................................................................3

Employ relationship management in Islam.....................................................................................4

Islamic Perspective on Difficult people and managing them..........................................................4

My Ball and My Bat:”The bully”................................................................................................4

The Negative Complainer............................................................................................................5

Awkward company: The person with “poor people skills”.........................................................6

Islamic Perspective on Equal opportunity and Diversity................................................................7

Islamic Perspective on Job security.................................................................................................8

Reference.........................................................................................................................................8

2
Employ relationship management:
Wargborn (2008) says that employee Relationship Management (ERM) is a device and a
strategic process to manage and increase motivation in the workforce by increased focus on
nonstop excellence of the individual relationships between the employer and each employee

Employ relationship management in Islam:

From Islamic perspective, work is an obligatory activity and a virtue in light of the needs of
human beings and the necessity to establish equilibrium in one’s individual and social life.
Indeed, hard work is equated to spiritual fulfillment; seen as a duty for all individuals those who
have the mental or physical capacity to perform work. According to the Qur’an:

“And say: ‘Work (righteousness): soon God will observe your work, and His Messenger and the
believers (9: 105).

Further, seeking to earn one’s living in a lawful manner is considered as a religious observance.
Muslims are ordained to earn their living through work and to refrain from begging. According
to a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, when a wearied worker returns home after a day spent
in an honestly earned living, he is pardoned his sins

Islamic Perspective on Difficult people and managing them

My Ball and My Bat:”The bully”:

Bully is a person who frightens by his behavior people around him. This can be a personality
disorder having negative impact on people with whom a bully is dealing. Such a person can be a
boss or a subordinate that is, holding any managerial position.

Example:

When a supervisor is showing a bully behavior, the employees can face difficulties at a
workplace such as assigning tasks that are beyond a person’s skill level. Also establishing
unrealistic timelines and goals or frequently changing deadlines and goals for employees is bully
behavior. Another example can be the denying access of information. This happens mostly when

3
supervisor does not believe in joint or participative decision making. Also if a supervisor is
excessively monitoring an employee’s work, this can hinder employ’s performance.

Now what Islam says about this behavior of as assigning tasks that are beyond a person’s skill
level is as follows: Narrated Al-Ma'rur: At Ar-Rabadha I met Abu Dhar who was wearing a
cloak, and his slave, too, was wearing a similar one. I asked about the reason for it. He replied, "I
abused a person by calling his mother with bad names." The Prophet said to me, 'O Abu Dhar!
Did you abuse him by calling his mother with bad names? You still have some characteristics of
ignorance. Your slaves are your brothers and Allah has put them under your command. So
whoever has a brother under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of
what he wears. Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power) and if
you do so, then help them. " (Sahih Hadees)

Remedies:

It is necessary to know the cause of bully behavior. The unacceptable behavior can disturb a
workplace environment. A psychotherapist can understand the cause better, but certain remedies
can be adopted to prevent such negative behavior. The following ways can be adopted as per the
book, “Managing difficult people”,

 Make notes of what the bully says and does

 Try a group intervention
 Show and tell
 Make the bullying stop
 Teach alternative behavior
 Praise progress

The Negative Complainer:

A person showing a negative behavior or having a negative mindset at a workplace is a negative
complainer. Just as the positive behavior spreads in an organization, so can be the negative
behavior which is alarming.

4
Remedies:

Being a handler, the attitude of ours can be helpful for managing negative people. Remedies can
be as follows:

 Stay positive
 Be fair
 Monitor morale
 Take responsibility
 Keep a sense of humor
 Listen
 Be creative
 Solid organizational skills
 Share the credit
 Acknowledge superior work

Islam has told patience as a key to success when confronting such people. Islam asks for patience
in case of interacting with such people. It was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar that the Messenger of
Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬said: “The believer who mixes with people and bears their annoyance
with patience will have a greater reward than the believer who does not mix with people and
does not put up with their annoyance.” (Sahih Hadees)

Also it is prohibited to quarrel with such people. Narrated Abu Umamah: The Prophet ‫صلی‌ہللا‌علیہ‬
‫ ‌وسلم‬said: I guarantee a house in the surroundings of Paradise for a man who avoids quarrelling
even if he were in the right, a house in the middle of Paradise for a man who avoids lying even if
he were joking, and a house in the upper part of Paradise for a man who made his character
good. (Sahih Hadees)

At another place, Abu Huraira reported: I heard Allah's Messenger ( ‫ )‌‌صلی‌ہللا‌علیہ‌وسلم‬as saying:
One is not strong because of one's wrestling skillfully. They said: Allah's Messenger, then who is
strong? He said: He who controls his anger when he is in a fit of rage. (Sahih Hadees)

5
Awkward company: The person with “poor people skills”:
Such people always interpret human interactions wrong. They are not true in their
communication such as their praise seems to be stiff, or they have the habit of insulting their
coworkers during communication.

Remedies:

Being a handler, the attitude of ours can be helpful for managing negative people. Remedies can
be as follows:

 Send them to multiple sessions on communication, interpersonal relations and sensitivity

 Pour on training seminars
 Counsel them personally
 Tell them specific instances that why their behavior is unacceptable

Islam has also highlighted by calling them hypocrites who distort their words and not true to
their words as said in the following:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, the signs of a hypocrite are three: 1. whenever he
speaks, he tells a lie. 2. Whenever he promises, he always breaks it (his promise). 3. If you trust
him, he proves to be dishonest. (If you keep something as a trust with him, he will not return it.)

(Sahih Bukhari)

Similarly, Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Amr: The Prophet said, Whoever has the following four
(characteristics) will be a pure hypocrite and whoever has one of the following four
characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy unless and until he gives it up. 1.
Whenever he is entrusted, he betrays. 2. Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie. 3. Whenever he
makes a covenant, he proves treacherous. 4. Whenever he quarrels, he behaves in a very
imprudent, evil and insulting manner. (Sahih Bukhari)

Islamic Perspective on Equal opportunity and Diversity:

According to Islamic teachings, human diversity is a divine design. It is not permissible to
discriminate on the basis of race, gender, color of skin and other attributes. The Prophet

6
Muhammad, in his last sermon to the pilgrims of Makkah, described what may be termed as an
Islamic charter of equality and diversity: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no
superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no
superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over white except by piety and good
action”

At another place it is narrated by Al-Ma'rur:At Ar-Rabadha “So whoever has a brother under his
command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wears.” (Sahih Hadees)

Abu-Saad (2003) said that empirical studies conducted in various countries suggest that Muslim
employees and individuals score high on Islamic work ethic. Furthermore, Islamic work ethic
was found to be correlated with individualism, loyalty, locus of control, work commitment and
satisfaction

Islamic Perspective on Job security:

Organizations still are having restrictive policies for employees. They have a criticizing culture
where employees are asked to criticize each other’s ideas in meetings, workers are asked why
they replied emails so late. Females are not appointed at high managerial positions inhibiting
gender discrimination. There is a pressure built on employees to give overtime on a regular basis
resulting in high turnover ratios.

It may be noted that the Quran permits that those who have been oppressed may organize
themselves against injustice. Any individual or group can peacefully protest against unjust acts
of an organization or the state itself. “But indeed if any do help and defend themselves after a
wrong (done) to them, against such there is no cause of blame” (42: 41). However, the Qur’an
also urges its followers to abide by all types of contracts and agreements. This rule is equally
applicable to collective or individual agreements between employers and employees. “O you
who have attained to faith! Be true to your covenants!” (5: 1).

7
Reference:

Abu-Saad, I. (2003), “The work values of Arab teachers in Israel in a multicultural context”,
Journal of Beliefs and Values: Studies in Religion and Education, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 39-
51.

Syed and Ali (2010), Principles of employment relations in Islam: a normative view, Employee
Relations Vol. 32 No. 5, 2010 pp. 454-469, Available at,

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240258852_Principles_of_employment_relations_in_Islam_A_
normative_view/link/543aaddb0cf2d6698be2f061/download

The Islam 360, Available at,

www.theislam360.com