Employment Relations

COERA1-44

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Higher Education Act, 101, of 1997. Registration Certificate number: 2001/HE07/008
Week 1: LESSON 1
Learning
Outcomes
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to​
• demonstrate an understanding of the concept and nature of “employment relations” and the way it has evolved
from traditionally known “industrial relations”​
• identify, explain and illustrate the implications of different ideological, theoretical perspectives on the conflict/common-
ground dynamics in employment relations​
• describe the multidimensional nature and societal embeddedness of the contemporary employment relationship, and
show its relevance for everyday practice in employment relations​
• differentiate between a tripartite and multipartite perspective of employment relations systems and very briefly explain
who the role-players and stakeholders are, and why they are important​
• cursorily describe at least four “key ingredients” that make employment relations dynamic​
• demonstrate the implications of the nature and importance of perceptions of justice for the theory and practice of
employment relations​
• illustrate how the dynamics of employment relations at organisational level may interact/interplay with
other environmental variables or factors.​
Week 1 What will be
covered ?
Definition of Employment Relations

Theoretical Perspective and

Lesson 1
Ideologies
South African Perspective of
Employment Relations

Key Ingredients to make ER

dynamic
Lesson 2
Interplay between ER and the
broader environment
AIM OF THIS MODULE
This module is aimed at providing the student with an overview of the principles and practice in the field of Employment
Relations in South Africa today.

OUTCOMES OF THIS MODULE

This module focuses on the nature of, and major role-players in, the employment relationship, and provides a look into the
development of the labour movement in South Africa and the micro and macro environmental factors that affect the Employment
Relations field. Further, the module will examine the impact of the various pieces of labour legislation, which include the Labour
Relations Act of 1995 as amended, the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997, the Employment Equity Act of 1998, the
Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993, as well as the
implementation of internal procedures and processes to handle dismissal disputes and grievances in the organisation. The basic
principles relating to the law of dismissal and the establishment of human resource functions and processes to create a stable
and sound employment relations relationship, will also be covered.
Textbook(s)
Nel, P.S., M. Kirsten, M., Erasmus, B.J., Gobind, J., Holtzhausen, M. and Jordaan, B. 2020. South African Employment Relations
Theory and Practice. 9th edition. Pretoria: Van Schaik Publishers.
ISBN: 9780627037467

Additional Reading
Bendix, S., 2022. Labour Relations A Southern African Perspective. 8th edition. Cape Town: JUTA Publishers. ISBN: 9781485131571

Finnemore, M. and Van Rensburg, R. 2005. Contemporary Labour Relations. 2nd edition.
Bendix, S. 2013. Labour Relations: A Southern African Perspective. 6th edition. Cape Town:
Juta.

Ehlers, L. 2008. Labour Relations Systems, Procedures and Practice. 1st edition. Pretoria: EAMS Publishing.

Venter, R., Levy, A., Bendenman, H., & Dworzanowski-Venter, B. 2014. Labour relations in South Africa. 5th edition. Cape Town: Oxford
University Press.

Website(s)

https://www.labournet.com/ [Accessed on 23 September 2022].

SA Board for People Practices (SABPP) n.d. National HRM Practice Standards. [Online] Available at:
https://www.sabpp.co.za/product-solutions/index [Accessed on: 30 January 2020].

The South African Labour Guide [Online] Available at: https://www.labourguide.co.za/ [Accessed on 20 August 2022].
Assessment Information
Formative Assessment
There will be three (3) quizzes for this block. Each assessment is an individual assessment. These assessments will
contribute 50% towards the final mark – Quiz 1 contributes 10% and Quiz 2 and 3 both 20% each towards the final mark.
There will not be a deferred opportunity. Refer to the Details of Assessments table for dates and times of release and
submission.

These assessments are available on myLMS. Each formative assessment will have a time limit and answers must be
submitted on or before the due date and time.

Summative Assessment

The pass mark for a summative assessment is 50%. In order to pass the module, a sub-minimum mark of 40% or higher is
required for the summative assessment, and a final average of 50% or higher is required for the entire module.
A summative assessment schedule will be released to students on myLMS with their timetabled assessment dates before
Week 5 of each block. This schedule will be made available on the MyDocuments page on myLMS.

For Full-time Students

This assessment is an individual assessment. The assessment will be a paper-based examination, written in
an invigilated venue on campus. This assessment will contribute 50% towards the final mark. There will be a
deferred opportunity. Refer to the Details of Assessments table for dates and times of release and submission.

Final Mark
In order to pass the module, a final average of 50% or higher is required for the entire module.

The final mark is calculated as follows:

Final Mark [(Quiz 1 percentage × 0.10) + (Quiz 2 percentage × 0.20) + (Quiz 3 percentage × 0.20) +
(Initial Summative Assessment percentage × 0.50)]
 DEFINITION OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS
Dunlop (1958: 7) defined industrial relations as follows:
[It is] comprised of certain actors [ managers, workers and
specialised governmental agencies ], certain contexts
[technological characteristics, the market and the distribution of
power in the society], an ideology which binds the industrial
relations system together , and a body of rules created to govern
the actors at the workplace and work community.

Conflict Regulatory Dimensions Human Resource Management

• Rule making Employment relations
• Work-control process +
Industrial relations
 Think about what the presenter
mentioned about fairness and
consistency.

Human Resource Management

+
Industrial relations

How can this be ensured in an organisation?

 Conflict Regulatory Dimensions Human Resource Management
• Rule making Employment relations +
• Work-control process
Industrial relations

Human Resource Management

• Strategic approach to managing employees
• Recruitment, training, performance management
What is a theoretical perspective?
set of interconnected ideas, concepts, and principles Industrial Relations
that guide and inform the understanding and analysis • Relationship between employers and employees
of a particular subject or phenomenon. • Employment contracts, workplace disputes,
dynamics of work environment

What is an ideology?
Employee Relations
set of beliefs, values, ideas, and principles • Cultivating positvei and productive relationships
that form a comprehensive and coherent • Promote open commulnication, conflict resolution, resolving grievances
worldview or system of thought

What is the best way to govern

Employee Relations?
 Theoretical Perspectives & Ideologies
What is a theoretical perspective? What is an ideology?
set of interconnected ideas, concepts, and principles set of beliefs, values, ideas, and principles
that guide and inform the understanding and analysis that form a comprehensive and coherent
of a particular subject or phenomenon. worldview or system of thought

Pluralist Perspective Unitarist Perspective Radical perspective Corporatism and Concertation

concertation

This perspective views the
employing organisation as a
coalition of individuals and
groups with diverse
objectives, values and
interests.
This perspective views the
organisation as an integrated
group of people having a
unified authority structure
with common values,
interests and purpose.
This perspective is related to Societal corporatism Process of consultation,
Marxist thinking and reflects Tripartite coordination negotiation and
a class conflict world view (not interacting as collaboration between
competitors) stakeholders.
State corporatism
Paternalistic /
Authoritarian

How is power and influence What are the common interests What are the class struggles? How can issues be balanced and
are distributed and goals ? cooperating?
 What is a theoretical perspective?
set of interconnected ideas, concepts, and principles
that guide and inform the understanding and analysis
of a particular subject or phenomenon.

Could you identify

• interconnected ideas
• concepts
• guide and inform
• understanding and analysis

What is an ideology?
set of beliefs, values, ideas, and principles
that form a comprehensive and coherent
worldview or system of thought

Could you identify

• Belief
• Value
• Idea
• Principle
• System of thought
The Origins of Labour Relations

• Rise of industrialism Dehumanising effects of mass production and the consequent loss
• Mass production of identity among workers, results in massive potential for
• Division of labour conflict
• More specialized work

The parties to the employment relationship and their

respective roles

Why?
Discussion: Who would be the role players in an Employment Relationship?
UTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (ER)

• *Roots of employment relations are embedded in the relationships *between

employers and employees, and these parties are integral to modern society.

• Organisations exist to deliver need-satisfying products and services to the members of

that society, who are also the very same people who set up and work in those

organisations – individual dimension.

• The theory and practice of employment relations revolve around how the parties arrange

their *relationship, organise and execute the work, and distribute the fruits that accrue

from these productive processes.

• ER is concerned with the *fairness and justice of these arrangements, with the ways in
WHAT IS THE
IMPORTANCE OF POWER which the parties *integrate, regulate, balance and institutionalise their partly divergent and
IN THE RELATIONSHIP? partly convergent interests and objectives, and with the formal and informal dynamics that go

along with this.

• Key ingredients to the employment relationship are the simultaneous conflict and common–ground elements that are built into any employment relationship.

• The heart of the conflict is built on the economic dimension of any employment relationship – the exchange of labour for pay.
 • The party with the most power is in the best position to get the other party to

agree on its definition of a fair exchange of wages and conditions of service for the
In your opinion what will
happen if the State has the
most power? work done in the context of the employment relationship.

• The power imbalance led to employees joining forces and forming representative

bodies to negotiate with employers on their behalf – labour or trade unions.

• This is where the collective dimension of employment relations comes into play

and impacts on the individual dimension of the employment relationship.

In your opinion what will In your opinion what will

rem How c
happen if the employee has happen if the employer has
the most power?
e di e a
d/m n powe
the most power?

con anage r be
stru
ctiv d/ appl
e l y? ied
 • The centrifugal forces of the conflict between the employer and employee parties are
*balanced by the existence of *shared interests (e.g. survival of organisation).

• Both collectively and as individuals, the parties interact and make use of informal
dynamics, such as communication and power, as well as formal dynamics, such as
courts, legal processes and quasi-legal processes, in order to regulate and maintain
their relationship.

• Formal dimension of ER: legal and formal rule-making and application aspects.

• Informal dimension of ER: behavioural dynamics involved in ER.

Informal dimensions (dynamics not explicitly governed):

Formal dimensions • Workplace culture, communication styles, leadership and
(structured organised and official ): management styles, mentoring and coaching, social events, office
• Employment contracts, labour laws and politics
regulations, collective bargaining, grievances
and disputes
 CLASS PARTICIPATION
Go to Mentimeter.com SELECT THIS CODE AND ANSWER THIS QUESTION

What theory and ideology do you think South African

Employment Relations follow?

Divide into discussion groups and defend your chosen theory.

What Happens Next?
•WEEK 2….

•Chapter 2
Actors, role-players and ER

Key Concepts that you must think about:

 The three most important role players in ER
 Pentagonal nature of employment relations
 Role in promoting tripartite relationships in business
 Nature, policies, objectives and purpose of trade unions