Employee Relations

Employee Relations

Introduction

The following paper discusses employee relationships and its importance within the organizations in detail.

Discussion

Employee relationships

Currently much is said about people management. This new designation is portrayed as an old acquaintance of organizations and their workers - labor relations. Working relationships can be defined as a professional relationship between the employer (and organization) and employee. The strategic alignment of people to organizational goals has become a competitive subject well seen by human resource managers due to high levels of achievements (Storey, 1995, pp. 3-32). In this context, the good relationship between the employing organization and the people who work there became a very important aspect. The side of the worker has a huge range of factors that require efforts to adapt to this relationship to enable people to perform their work efficiently to meet the objectives, connect with colleagues and managers, achieve results and adapt to organizational culture (Mayhew, 2013, n.d).

It is clear that labor relations also involve interpersonal relationships developed with fellow employees. McGregor (1961) developed a set of ideas called Theory X and Theory Y, both aimed to explain the phenomenon of the relationship between company and employee. Theory X (more traditional) approach defines a negative belief about people who are considered insolent, lazy and as a result the directional strategies are highly rigid. In Theory Y people are respected for their individuality, the basic assumption is that people like to work since the nature of the work is enjoyable and allow active participation of the worker in the process (Sisson, 1993, pp. 201-210).

Unitary and pluralistic frames of reference

There are two views about the relationships held between the employers and the employees.

The Unitary perspective

This perspective is held by the management which is responsible for directing the activities of the organization and controlling the workforce so that they are able to achieve organizational objectives. Here, management is the rule-maker and the major player. However, it focuses on the importance of teamwork, where everyone has the same objective i.e. to achieve growth for the organization. Everyone works to their best to achieve the desired objectives. When referring to the unitary perspective, we refer to the way of thinking and the set of attitudes of the management from the organizational aspect. For achieving success, everyone in the organization must have the same goals and values. The value of this perspective is derived from the implementation of the organization's mission, vision, goals and objectives. Workers are considered to be loyal assets to the organization, and the management works in the interest of its people (Taylor, n.d).

The Pluralist perspective

According to this view, organizations are a form of a plural society consisting of related and separate interests held in equilibrium. Here, the management has to accept the rivalries posed by the leadership. Here, the differences are diverse and distinct interpretations are held between interest groups. Organizations with a pluralistic approach, competition and conflict existing at different levels are more common than the prevalence of harmony and agreement (Hort & Timo, 2003, ...