Issues in

Contemporary
Employee Relations-
Why study Employee
Relations?
 Some truths faced by HR
professionals
 HRM wants to treat people as individuals yet design policy/practices that treat everybody
the same.

 People do not always act rationally or consistently.

 Employees always know how much their colleagues are getting paid and are being treated by
their employer.

 All employees have a view on how we should interpret and apply HRM policy.

 We deal in shades of grey- not black and white.

All of this feeds into Employee Relations

 Introduction to
Employee Relations
 WHAT ARE EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS?

 ER contains elements of industrial

relations, HRM, employee, employer and
managerial behaviours.

 ER examines the employment relationship -

transactions and interactions.

 The relationship between employers and

employees has changed - The pendulum of
power has swung towards the employee
 WHAT ARE EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS?
 Employee relations focuses on both
individual and collective relationships in the
workplace.

 A positive climate of employee relations -

with high levels of employee involvement,
commitment and engagement - can improve
business outcomes and contribute to
employees' wellbeing.

 This is the context in which HR operates-

need to understand this to understand HR.
Important focus areas in
ER
 DEFINING EMPLOYEE
RELATIONS?

 Currently high profile- strikes, pay to work,

amazon & Zero Hour contracts.

 Multiple definitions in academic literature.

 An inconsistently used term by organisations and

by the media.

 Professional and academic definitions- this module

focuses on the academic definition.
 ACADEMIC FOCUS

 A broader focus on the collective aspects of

the employee relationship based on Blyton
& Turner (2004).

 The relationship between employers and

employees, with particular focus on
interactions between employers and local,
national or global bodies/organisations
representing employees that provide a
framework for regulating the employee
relationship.
 IN A NUTSHELL

Quite simply we are exploring the employment relationship,

the tensions that exist within it and what happens when the
relationship breaks down.
PERSPECTIVES OF ER
PERSPECTIVES OF ER

Unitarism

Pluralism

Radical/Conflict Perspective

Feminist Theories
 Unitarism
 One large family, pulling together towards
same common purpose- the success of the
organisation.
 Employment relationship based upon
cooperation with all interests aligned, and
conflict is a deviant behaviour.
 Managerial prerogative to manage without
challenge.
 Acknowledged as inconsistent with reality,
hence need for HRM practices.
 Pluralism
 Coexistence of different interest groups and
individuals leads to inevitable conflict, and
therefore various mechanisms are needed to
manage competing interests.
 Managers work to ensure overall effectiveness,
and managing conflicts.
 Employees strive for better terms and
conditions- a legitimate interest.
 Must be shared views on legitimacy of goals -
common ground around which consensus is built.
 Radical/Conflict Perspective
 Employers look to maximise profits from the labour of workers, who have no
option but to sell their labour in order to survive leading to struggles over wages and
working time.
 Braverman (1974) theory of labour process sees organisations standardising work to
require routine inputs in order to exert more control over workers.
 Feminist Theories
 View organisations as representing male interests- reflecting society.
 Focus on issues such gender pay imbalance, gender discrimination and female motivation.
 Explore gender views of the workplace and roles in society.
KEY ACTORS IN ER
 Employers

 Legal entity on employment contract.

 Many employers don’t get involved in day

to day running of organisation.

 Exceptions may include SME’s, personal

staff- less likely to be involved with ER
issues.
 Managers
 Manage the work of employees within

organizational framework on behalf of

employers.

 The history and evolution of modern

management is a module in itself and outside

the scope of this module.

 Scientific management has led to more

planning of operations- more holistic view.

 The Role of Mangers in ER
 Managers are employees themselves, but
a distinct layer in an organisation.
 Role impacted by changing organisational
goals and circumstances.
 Despite changes managers must look to
increase productivity through
managing employee behaviour and
conduct.
 General acceptance of Managerial
authority.
 Trade Unions
 Organizations whose members are usually workers.
 They exist to protect and further the interests of
their members by negotiating over working
conditions such as wages.
 They do this by consulting and negotiating
agreements with employers to represent the views
of their membership, known as collective
bargaining.
 Union members pay a membership fee and elect
representatives to represent them and give advice
when they have a problem at work
 Trade Unions
 Collective bargaining is the process in which
working people, through their unions,
negotiate contracts with their employers to
determine their terms of employment,
including pay, benefits, hours, leave, job
health and safety policies, ways to balance
work and family, and more.

 Indeed, through collective bargaining,

working people in unions have higher

wages, better benefits and safer workplaces.

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
 The State

 State intervenes in ER through the

implementation of it’s policies to manage the
economy, social justice, health and safety etc.

 Minimum wage, paternity leave, work permits

among state interventions.

 Will criminalise unlawful picketing, make it

harder to strike
https://inthesetimes.com/article/trump-nlrb-union-pickets-illegal-labor-joint-employer
https://www.gov.uk/industrial-action-strikes/going-on-strike-and-picketing#:~:text=Picketing%20and%20the
%20law,causing%20an%20obstruction'%20by%20police)
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62134314
https://www.gov.uk/industrial-action-strikes/going-on-strike-and-picketing#:~:text=Picketing%20and%20the
%20law,causing%20an%20obstruction'%20by%20police)
What are the nurses fighting
for?
ER & HR
 ER
Management
Strategies
Questions?