Literature Review on the Employer-Employee Relationship

books Review on the Employer-Employee RelationshipBACKGROUNDThe Employer-Employee congeners is no doubt an enormous topic in homosexual Resource watchfulness that covers key areas of Employment family affinity, Collective Bargaining, per buildance and reward counsel in addition Employee interlocking which help to determine the nature of organisational commitment and performance.The enforcement relationship aspect deals with the role and yield of law which determines the rights and responsibilities/rules that govern the behaviour of twain employer and employee which has an allude on how relationship bends out. However in upstart geezerhood newer concept waste emerged in military personnel Resource Management that has considerable changed relationship that was formally dependent upon interaction of formal legal regulations.(Beardwell and Claydon 2007)Collective dicker is a situation where representatives of both(prenominal) parties come together to negotiate on matter s relating to pay, impairment of employment and working conditions, in recent years there has been a shift from the traditional collective bargain to a more(prenominal) individualised manner of bargaining.(Henderson 2008).Performance and reward management relates to the implement of individualised pay, performance-related pay and performance management. This actors determines behaviour in ground of penury, communication and level of commitment.(Beardwell and Claydon 2007)Employee involvement is a form of employer-employee relations that allows more troth of the employee in organisational decisions, this is when employees tidy sum influence decisions that are normally reserved for management(Marchington and Wilkinson 2008).Employee relations is characterised by both scrap and cooperation, Marchington and Wilkinson (2008) described the management of employee relations as being vital to the mastery or failure of an organisation and it is seen as substitution to Human resour ce management.(Dawson 1995)acknowledged that the motion of organisational objectives depends upon employment relations, evidence from (Limerick 1992)suggests that individual empowering should be consistent in the concomitant of strategic change.Considering the private-enterprise(a) nature of industries and technological advancement, the importance of employer-employee relationship becomes more critical, reason being that to fill up constant changing demand of consumers, effective valet resource management becomes very crucial in achieving business success.I am an MBA (General Management) Student and I am interested in this topic because as a future General Manager/business owner I want to rent a better understanding on the effective ways developing positive employee relations, also to have an nous of the factors that motivates employees, how strategic objectives can be achieved through effective communication with employees? I am basing my interrogation on a multinational company.The greatest asset of an organisation is considered to be the Human Resource and the greatest gainsay of an organisation is how to manage these human resources efficiently and effectively so as to achieve set objectives of the organisation, my research objective go away be to stress the importance of employer-employee relations, because in the UK the relationship is considered to be an employee to do a particular job in fork out for wage or salaries for the work they do and this goes beyond holy work for pay.PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF THE LITERATUREFor the purpose of this research, my nidus pass on be on the touch on of employer-employee relations on key areas of Collective bargaining, performance and reward management which places emphasis on motivation and various reward systems, also emphasis will be placed on employee involvement and participation in the context of organisational commitment, all these variables constitute to the achievement of organisational objectives .The literature review will be split into four partsA brief history and DefinitionTheoretical and a posteriori literatureBenefits of plebeian employer-employee relationsEmployer-employee relations inwardly the UK including hybridizingA brief historyIn the early 70s the relationship between employers and employees in work place was more of a collective relationship which involves collective bargaining where representatives of both employer and employees meet to negotiate on matters relating to pay, terms of employment and working conditions, representatives of employees are known as trade union(Henderson 2008). Organisations were encouraged to recognise and work with trade unions so as to improve the employment rights of workers through collective bargaining(Marchington and Wilkinson 2005).However, in the early 1990s, countries like UK where trade unionism were highly recognize witnessed a of import decline in trade unionism, employee relations changed from the traditional col lective regularity acting of bargain to a more individualised method as a result of increase in sophisticated HRM style gap in communication, participation and recognition(Henderson 2008)(Edwards 2003) described the relationship between employer and employee as a system where both parties have common and divergent interest, this is a situation where employer and employee communicate their requirement and views to one another in terms of agreement on work related issues.Theoretical literature(Newell and Scarbrough 2002) posed different dimension on how organisations handle issues of employee relation and on this basis four management style have been suggestedSophisticated human relations employees are viewed as the most valuable resource of the organisation, emphasis employees appraisal and spacious method of communication aimed at enhancing employee loyalty and commitment. Trade unionism is discouraged. Many US companies adopt this style.Consultative nuzzle this is similar to th e first approach only those trade unions are recognised. This style is mostly found in the European countries such as GermanyTraditional style employees are seen as a mere factor of production, it represents the Taylors management approach. Unions are opposed.Constitutional style this is similar to the traditional style only that unions are recognised and accepted.It limit point above conjecture is that different management styles can be used in the same organisation for example the sophisticated human relations style can be used when managing managers man the traditional style when managing other employee(Newell and Scarbrough 2002).Considering theories that relate to performance and reward management, motivation theories like the Maslows hierarchy of need, his theory identifies five levels of take. Level 1- physiological needs like food, water and comfort. The organisation provides financial reward. Level 2-safety needs the organisation provides this by benefits. Level 3- co rdial needs the organisation satisfies employees social need through social gathering. Level 4-esteem needs the organisation helps to satisfy employee esteem needs by showing employees appreciation of work through. Level 5self-actualisation needs deal with self needs, discovering individuals full potential(Beardwell and Claydon 2007). researchers have often criticised this theory spare-time activity the proportion that there is no clear relationship between needs and behaviour. Alternatively Alderfers ERG theory suggested that needs could be classified into three instead of Maslows five these types of needs are existence, relatedness and growth. Herzberg identified two factors ground on his research namely motivators and hygiene factor(Beardwell and Claydon 2007).Several other theories of motivation will be examined in my dissertation. as well motivation, modern theory in employee participation known as employee engagement was defined by CIPD 2007 as the combination of commitmen t to the organisation and its values that goes beyond job satisfaction and motivation. This can be think to psychological contract which will be later discussed extensively, but this has to do with a stronger emotional addition between employer and employee that helps in attracting and retaining employees(Henderson 2008)The concept of soft place HRM throws light to the positive attitude created from the use of countenance HRM practices together with communication, motivation and leadership enhances commitment to the organisation and improved performance (Guest 2002). while the Hard HRM model emphasizes on the effective utilization of employees, ensuring that HRM strategy are driven by overall corporate strategy(Keenan 2005).Empirical literatureIn a research carried out by (Edgar and Alan 2005) they stated that effective HRM policies and practices should be metric by their perceived quality, not simply by the number of practices introduced. other important issue brocaded by (Mac Mahon 1996) is that, even in small firms where the need for improved productivity is very important, reward systems was seldom tied to productivity and performance, and also conflict between employer and employee tend to be rare rather conflict was apparent on a personal level.(Savolainen 2000)also linked employer-employee relations with the aspect of leadership and suggested three victimization strategies 1)Trust building or participative strategy, 2)The entrepreneurial cooperative strategy, 3)Negotiative strategy. Findings also revealed how organisation change or move towards a new workplace and the role of line managers.Another research suggest that the effective communication of information and ideas to employees should be developed through practice and commitment, findings also revealed that organisation should assess current culture to desired objectives and as a result new attitude often needs to be acquired by both employer and employees(Owusu 1999). In the work of (Dawso n 1995) evidence suggest that human resource strategy has shifted focus of job chassis to career development, skill development which enhanced employee involvement.From my findings I have discovered that most research on areas of employee relations have focused more on the impact of HRM practices on employee performance, however few researchers have worked on employee relations and how it affects organisational commitment and performance, the justification for this research is to shed more light on the impact of this relationship and how it can be improved to enhance organisational performance. I have decided to look at a car manufacturing company (Ford motor company).BenefitsThe mutual relationship between both parties increases motivation which in turn leads to increase productivity and profit maximization.Estenson (1999) describes employer-employee relations as a key ingredient in the implementation of quality improvement(Savolainen 2000).Furthermore, (Sadri and Lees 2001)said a positive relationship between both parties could lead to a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry and also provide enormous benefits to the organisation.Employee Relations within the UK and Ford Motor CompanyIn the early 1990, the Workplace Industrial Relation Survey account a decline in trade unionism in the UK, which was replaced by employee involvement in form of line managers who were responsible for HR activities(Henderson 2008).Thus some empirical research in Britain confirmed a key role of line manager in handling human resource activities notable in areas of employee relations(Redman and Wilkinson 2006).Finding of Hamill pointed out that a lower percentage of US owned plant in the UK accept unions also that US owned company were more likely to have implemented individualized pay(Eric and Jonathan 1995).Ford is the biggest selling motor company in the UK with several large plants located in the UK. Ford Britain and its dealers employ around 35, 000 people i n areas of product development, manufacturing, sales and marketing and service departments.However in recent times Ford launched a diversity strategy which has helped to them embrace the new employee relations in Employee engagement(FORD MOTORS go with 2009).RESEARCH QUESTIONSThe following question and objectives are based on findings from the background and literature review.Should employers embrace employee involvement and participation?Does mutual relations between employer and employee lead to organisational commitment?What is the relationship between organisational commitment and organisational success?Apart from pay, how else should employers reward performance?Should employees be involved in vista organisational objectives?RESEARCH OBJECTIVESTo critically decompose how positive employer-employee relationship can impact on organisational success.To critically evaluate the benefits of employee involvement in setting organisational goals and objectives.To critically analyse h ow different management style can impact on employee behaviour in terms of motivation and commitment.To critically evaluate the relationship between employer and employee in Ford Motors company and how it affects their performance.To pep up ways of improving employer-employee relations to achieve higher productivity and profit maximization.RESEACH PLANResearch placeAccording to (Jewell 2008)states that the positivist approach is based on the experiment and desire to establish causality between variables. However the positivism aspect of this research is to establish a relationship between employer-employee relations and the achievement of organisational objectives. There are two variables namely dependent and independent variables, the independent variable here is the employer-employee relation and the dependent variable is the achievement of organisational objectives.Both quantitative and qualitative research will be done through primary (from questionnaires) and irregularary i nformation. Both deductive and inductive reasoning will be used.Research DesignMy research design will be a case study design which entails an extensive analysis of a single case. This would be an analysis of Ford Motor Company.Data collection systemData will be collected in dept from different sources I will use two different sources of entropy collection methods Secondary and Questionnaire.Secondary Data This will be collected from vivacious sources such as textbooks, articles, internet, and journals.Access to these Data will be done through the universitys online databases such as Science Direct, Emerald and the Internet this will address the first three research objectives. However secondary data will limit to fully address the fourth objective that is why primary data will used.QuestionnaireThe fourth and fifth objectives of this research is to seek information from mostly employees of Ford Motor Company on how they are being treated by employers and how it affects their pe rformance, this will be best achieved by a the use questionnaire. Questionnaires will be distributed to over 300 people and I expect a rate of return of 30-40 %. My questionnaire will be brief so as to achieve this.However access to respondents will be achieved through a family friend in London whose friend is an employee in fords manufacturing plant in Dagenham, London. I have contacted him and he has decided to help with the distribution of the questionnaire bureaucracySampleA Quota sampling method will be employed for my questionnaires because I wont be able to send questionnaires to all the employees of Ford, so the study will be based on a small percentage of employees mainly in the engineering department of the company and my findings will then be generalized.Analysis of DataFor the questionnaire I will use excel to present a descriptive and presentational analysis for data collected. The level of analysis will be more bivariate which will allow me analyse two variables togeth er.LimitationsThe first limitation will be the generalisabilty of my research because it is a single case study and I will focus on a small percentage of a large population of Ford employees in the UK.The second limitation will be the validity of my research work I will dress authoritative I go through the literature of my study frequently so as to guard against data not relevant to my research.The third limitation will be the response rate and collection of questionnaires in order to keep the response rate high like 40% more questionnaires will be distributed.Concerning reliability to the research, I will try to ensure that a result of the research is replicable in future.Another limitation might be that employee might be reluctant to disclose some information astir(predicate) their employers which might affect the reliability of the research.Ethical ConsiderationsResearch ethicsI have read and understand the BES ethics students handbook, and i will comply with the BES honorabl e guidelines and complete the ethics compliance and checklist forms. All documents regarding ethical approval will be submitted. Results from surveys will be kept confidential and safe. In addition I will seek approval of my questions for my questionnaire from my supervisor, also the reason and intended result for the research will be explained in front of the questionnaire.PlagiarismAs for plagiarism, I understand what it means and the consequences, I will make sure I cite and acknowledge the work of others.REFERENCESAnon. (FORD MOTORS COMPANY 2009) Ford Motors Company online NOV. 11, 2008Beardwell, J. and Claydon, T. (2007) Human Resource Mnangement A Contemporary Approach. Essex Pearson tuition LimitedDawson, P. (1995) Redefining Human Resources Management Work Restructuring and Employee Relations at Mobil Adelaide Refinery. International journal of Manpower 16, (5/6) 47-55EDGAR, F. and ALAN, G. (2005) Human Resource Management Practice and Employee Attitude divergent Measures- Different Results. PERSONAL REVIEW 34, (5) 534-549Edwards, P. (2003) The Employement Relationship in the Field of Industrial Relations Theory and Practice in Britain. Oxford BlakwellEric, L. and Jonathan, M. (1995) Multinational Corporation and Employee Relations. Glamorgan Business School, Glamorgan MCB University PressGuest, D. (2002) Human Resource Management, Corporate Performance and Employee Well beingnessBuilding the Worker in Human Resource Management. Industrial Relations 44, (3)HENDERSON, L. (2008) Human Resource Management for Mba Students. London Chartered Institute of Personnel knowledgeJewell, S. (2008) How to Write a Research Proposal. CoventryKeenan, T. (2005) Human Resource Management. Edinburg Edinburg Business SchoolLimerick, D. (1992) The Shape of the New Organisation Implication of Human Resource Management. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 30, (1)Mac Mahon, J. (1996) Employee Relations in small-scale Firms in Ireland An Exploratory Study of Small Ma nufacturing Firms. Employee relations 18, (5)Marchington, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2005) Human Resource Management at Work. london Chartered Institute of Personnel DevelopmentMarchington, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2008) Human Resource Management at Work. London Chartered Institute of Personnel DevelopmentNewell, H. and Scarbrough, H. (2002) Hrm in Context A Case Study Approach. New York PalgraveOwusu, Y. (1999) Importance of Employee Involvement in World level Agile Management Systems. International journal of Agile Management systems (1/2) 107-118Redman, T. and Wilkinson, A. (2006) Contemporary Human Resource Management. Pearson EducationSadri, G. and Lees, B. (2001) Developing Corporate Culture as a Competitive Advantage. Journal of management Development 20, (10) 853-859Savolainen, T. (2000) Towards a New Workplace CultureDevelopment Strategies for Employer-Employee Relations. Journal of Workplace Learning 12, (8) 318-326