ACF 517 Employee Relations Level 3

It is a British multinational grocery and general commodity retailer. Tesco was founded in 1919 and headquartered in Welwyn Garden City. At present, the company is dealing in more than 12 nations across Asia and Europe. According to the calculation of profits, Tesco is regarded as third largest retailer in the world. In this report, learning will be shown regarding unitary and pluralistic frames of references. The role of negotiation in collective bargaining will be explained. Thereafter, the impact of the EU on industrial democracy in the UK will be explained. Thereafter, learning will be shown regarding the impact of human resource management on employee relations.

Task 1

1.1 Explaining the unitary and pluralistic frames of references

The unitary frame of reference can be defined as one where company perceived as a unified concept with all the members sharing mutually defined aims and objectives. Due to one goal, the efforts are directed in one particular direction only. There is one acknowledged leader, which help in directing the efforts in specific direction  and all the members works for one common objective of the entity (Atkinson and Hall, 2011). This further helps in avoiding confusion and duplication of efforts. It is supported by the orientation that despite the multitude having contrasting roles and prospects, they should share common aims and purposes.

On the other side,  the pluralistic frame of reference is the orientation where company is reasoned to be built up of compelling and contrasting sub-groups. The different teams working in the company   has there own purpose and interests. These sub-groups are competitive as well as have their own leaders and objectives (D'Cruz and Noronha, 2011). Trade unions play an important and influential role in pluralistic frame of  references. They are more concerned on power and coordination than enforcing and controlling. Conflicts are not considered as negative always and must be handled jointly because, if managed effectively, they can result  into positive change.

The Tesco PLC can use unitary frame of references so as to maintain strong employee relations. This will help in attaining the defined objectives with joint efforts of all the members. It will also foster team work, attainment of shared goals, and increase in mutual cooperation (Suliman and Al Kathairi, 2012).

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1.2 Assessing how changes in trade unionism has impacted employee relation

The trade union are the organized group of workers in a trade, group of business or profession that is developed to safeguard the rights and interests of organizational members. It can also be regarded as entity whose membership consists of manpower and union leaders, joint to safeguard and encourage their shared purpose (Luo,  Wieseke and Homburg, 2012). It further play vital role by bargaining with employers regarding working conditions, remuneration, etc. They further help in managing relationship among employees and the employer so as to maintain the interests of both parties and avoid state of conflict. Trade unions help in meeting the different needs of workers and help in solving their grievances on time (Biswas and Varma,  2011.). There has been significant change in the working of trade union over the period of time. Initially, in between the 18^th century, the  trade union was controlled by  Moderate new model union. The legalization of  trade union is evidence from the y ear 1824. the key purpose of the people behind joining the trade union was to get proper wages and salary for the work done by it. Therefore, trade unions got more dominant position by  1871 with the formation of trade commission (Clarke,  2011). Hence, in the years 1980-1990, the British trade union has suffered many  challenges and modifications, as t here was intense level of unemployment, the dominance of employers in private company , private contractors, etc. It was identified that there were around 1.3 jobless individuals, and due to this, the trade union membership started declining. By the year 1990-2000, the decrease in the membership of Transport  and General Workers Union also  decreased from 2085000 to 858000 from period 1979-2000. therefore,  the female started working, which resulted in demand more jobs. From the years 2005-2015, trade unions became essential part of the corporations. The government also supported trade unions by developing various laws (Rolfsen and Langeland,  2012).

1.3 Explaining the role of main players in employee relation

The effective development of employee relation is extremely  important for  the success of company. There are many players that are responsible for developing effective employee relations. description of which is as follows:

• Human resource manager: The HR executive play  a viable role  in developing strong employee relations. It  identify  the different needs and preferences of employee's and communicates to the management of entity. The HR executive have direct interaction with employee's and assures they are not facing any  kind of difficulty. The grievances of employees is identified on time to prevent their dissatisfaction (Svensson, 2011).
• Government: It plays a dominant role in effective employee relations. There are various  policies and frameworks developed by  government to support  effective employee relations. Such as , the anti-discrimination policy assure there is no  difference in the treatment of employees as they are from different religion, backgrounds, ages, cultures, sexes, etc. It assure equal treatment to  all the employee and maintains positive relations in long run (Day,  2011).  
• Trade unions are also very crucial and have important role in keeping employee relationships. For instance, various factors like  age, background, ability, cognition towards work and so  on have consequence on the employee relationship; therefore, trade Union realize these component and assist employees to cope up with various modification and encourage all employees to have healthier relationships with employees.

Task 2

2.1 Explain the process that Tesco should follow while dealing with different conflict situation

Conflicts can be defined as an argument or disagreement of the two parties on a topic. However, it may be created anywhere in the families, friends and among the employees. In the companies, conflict is so common as it can be positive or negative. However, this can arise between the employer and the employee (Poor, Karoliny, Alas and Kirilova Vatchkova., 2011). At TESCO, there are certain reasons due to which conflicts are raised. They are stated below.

1. Poor training
2. Inadequate informations
3. Difference in backgrounds of employees

In addition to above, there are some more conflicts that are defined below.

Salary/pay: This is the major conflict that is being raised between the employer and the employee. The employees of TESCO have been working for years at the same salary, which has resulted in decreased motivation. This has resulted in affecting the work quality of the subordinates of the stated organization (Larson,  2015).

Unequal employee opportunity: This is another issue which has become a rescan of conflict. It is seen that employees with the same qualification are still not getting equal promotional opportunities. If the organization provides equal promotional opportunities to the employees, then it will help them to attain the organizational goals.

Dealing with different conflict situations: Dispute handling methods can be adopted by the top authorities of TESCO in order to resolve the conflicting situations. However, the management can remove disputes from the root cause by effectively developing the positive opinions. Here, the organization can also involve employee participation in the final decision-making process. It will result into increasing the motivation level of the employees (Tsirikas, Katsaros and Nicolaidis,  2012 ). This will directly help the organization to attain its goals and objectives in an appropriate manner. Solving the conflict will result in improving the current position of the organization and the employees as well. Collective bargaining is another method through which a conflicting situation can be resolved.

2.2 Stating the key characteristic of employee relation in the selected conflicting state

In Tesco PLC, the reason for increased conflicts between the employees is the high dissatisfaction level towards management. In this context, it becomes important for the higher authority to look towards this issue very seriously (Crespo, Sallis, et al., 2011). From the assessment, it has been determined that the issue is related to the low wage rate given by Tesco PLC to its personnel. Due to this, many of the staffs have left the organization and it has created a negative image in the marketplace. There is a need to find the solution to the problem so that the increase in dissatisfaction level among the employees can be minimized in the right manner. In this context, some reasons for the arising of conflicts are stated below (Demerouti, Cropanzano, Bakker, and Leiter, 2010).

Dissatisfaction level of subordinates: This thing has affected the brand image in customers' minds and recent join employees. To solve the following problem, the management of Tesco has to find some unique solution of this problem (Dhanesh, 2014). For this, company should increase the interaction with the staff members so that major reason of conflicts can be easily determined. Management have to increase the wages rate of personnel so that they can motivate in the right direction.

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2.3 Assessment of  the effectiveness of process that is exploited in the chosen conflicting state

By taking into consideration the above, it has been determined that alary is the major issue of Tesco PLC. In order to overcome the following issue, top management has to adopt the concept of collective bargaining. This has assisted the company to deal with this issue in right manner (Gao, Janssen and Shi, 2011). Under this, top management will determine the impact of conflicts on various operational activities. With this, Tesco PLC will negotiate to resolve the following problem so that the dissatisfaction level of the employees can be reduced to a significant level.

The process remained effective of the management and staff members of Tesco PLC. But with the time, the company has to take some other steps to resolve the issues in a more effective manner. This will help in determining the other reasons for the dissatisfaction level of employees. With the help of this, new solutions can be effectively implemented in the favour of the staff members (Hu, Yang and Islam, 2010). The positive aspect of this is that the management of Tesco PLC has been able to deal with the situations in the right manner. Along with this, unique methods have helped to improve the satisfaction of the staff members. Further, the top management has to consider the needs and requirements of personnel to solve their issues.

Task 3

3.1 Description  of the role of negotiation in collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is termed an effective approach in which representatives of employees and employers collaboratively meet together and engage in the mutual discussion so that they can easily attain the objectives and goals of the organization. This approach is considered a win-win situation that benefits both parties in meeting their objectives in an effective manner (Kalemci Tuzun and Arzu Kalemci, 2012).

The negotiation is termed the process that plays a significant role within collective bargaining in which representatives of both parties mutually discuss the statement so that they can easily come up with the actions that are mutually agreed upon by both parties (Landry, Panaccio, and Vandenberghe, 2010). Within this process, trade unions raise their voices against the senior-level personnel for the benefit and interest of employees. The key role of negotiation in the collective bargaining process is that it benefits the Tesco employer in gaining the viewpoint of the staff and employees that assists them in designing and framing the strategies that would be significant for both the organization and employees (Maurer and Chapman, 2013). Another role of negotiation in collective bargaining is to support the senior-level personnel and staff to render services collaboratively so that they can easily deliver the grocery products and items to the ultimate customers. Another role of negotiation includes that union and senior-level personnel resolve the key issues and problems with the help of engaging in the negotiation process within the Tesco (Men, 2011). Along with this, the role of negotiation also benefits the organization in meeting the requirements and objectives of the employees so that they may feel satisfied within the organization and they may also get committed towards the activities of the organization. 

3.2 The impact of negotiation on the strategy  development

In business firms, there are two entities that think opposite to each other. These two groups are management and employees.  It has been observed that thinking of management and employees always remains in different directions. Due to this reason, conflict comes into existence between the management and employees. Often, such thinking hampers production at the workplace (Maurer and Chapman, 2013). This ultimately led to reduction in the production and revenue of the business firms. Often, a negotiation strategy is prepared by the business firms to handle such kinds of situations. By using a negotiation strategy, problems that exist between both entities are eliminated to a great extent. There are many types of negotiation strategy that can be prepared by the business firm. However, each sort of negotiation strategy cannot be prepared and used by the business firm. This is because bargaining power of the entities that are in conflict with each other is totally different. Hence, specific negotiation strategy cannot be used in all business conditions. While selecting any strategy for negotiation, a number of factors must be considered by the managers. The extent to which the interests of the employees are affected by the firm decisions must be measured. Their bargaining power must also be measured by the business firm. In this way, managers can prepare a sound negotiation strategy for the business firm (Demerouti, Cropanzano, Bakker, and Leiter, 2010).

Task 4

4.1 Assessing the impact of EU on industrial democracy in UK

EU is one of critical aspect because it provides sustainable opportunities so that goals and objectives can be developed in appropriate manner. It has been noticed that industrial democracy is considered a critical aspect so that goals and objectives can be developed in appropriate manner. Industrial democracy can be termed the engagement of employers and workers for taking a wide range of decisions and sharing the power along with responsibility among the employers and employees. It has been noticed that any kind of changes in the policies of EU will impact the overall working of Tesco PLC. It is because the management working is directly linked with the EU policies (Kalemci Tuzun and Arzu Kalemci, 2012). For example, the EU has decided to limit the investment in foreign nation to promote the local economic aspects. It means management of Tesco need to make sure that management is well focused towards policies and changes in overall working. If company does not focus on the policies, then legal issues might occur. It might impact the overall outcome and lead business to critical issues.

EU policies provide fair trade activities so that business firm can have impressive level of success. The positive outcome that a business firm can attain through consideration of EU policies is that improvement in work culture. Ethical working aspects can be promoted in appropriate manner so that goals and objectives can be accomplished effectively. In addition to this, it can be said that better relationship with diverse suppliers can be improved so that business can have sustainable development. Work allocation aspects can also be improved through application of EU policies within work culture (Landry, Panaccio and Vandenberghe, 2010).

4.2 Comparison methods utilized to increase employee involvement and engagement in the decision-making procedure in Tesco

Employee participation is referred as one of most critical aspect that leads business firm to impressive level of success. It has been noticed that management of Tesco PLC must consider employee participation as critical aspect so that goals and objectives can be accomplished in desired manner. It has been noticed that approach of consulting is considered as one of critical aspect so that sustainable opportunities can be attained in appropriate manner. By having improved focus on employee participation, the decision-making process's effectiveness can also be well maintained in desired manner. Consultation can be acquired in the form of delivering the opinion of worker during various management decision (Biswas and Varma,  2011). However, it is not essential that every employee of organization provide an appropriate suggestion in order to overcome issue. It means the strict norms also need to be framed in order to make sure that appropriate participation is being taken into account from both side, management and employees. Communication on regular basis is also a critical aspect that allows for effective development of employee relation. In regard to this, it can be said that regular basis interaction allows to understand the key issues which are being faced by management. With the assistance of this, issues can be discussed effectively so that new strategies can be framed in appropriate manner for sustainable development (Crespo, Sallis, et al., 2011).

Along with this, feedback can also be taken into account so that the effectiveness of decision-making process can be evaluated in desired manner. It has been noticed that strategies implemented can be analysed effectively through taking feedback. On the basis of feedback provided by the employees, the changes can be made so that issues can be overcome. It will also promote the employee involvement in decision-making process and assist in meeting key goals and objectives. Moreover, negotiation and collective bargaining are also key methods that can be adopted by business entity like Tesco PLC in order to meet sustainable outcomes and lead business firm to impressive level of success (Kalemci Tuzun and Arzu Kalemci, 2012). .

4.3 Identifying the impact of  HRM  on the employee relation

As per the detailed study, it can be said that overall working of business firm is greatly dependent over employee relation and HRM. However, any kind of changes in human resource management will have great impact in the state of employee relations, which might affect the overall outcome. In addition to this, it can be said that Tesco must ensure that behavioural values are being considered in appropriate manner for sustainable development (Tsirikas, Katsaros and Nicolaidis,  2012 ). If discrimination policies of HRM are not well structured, then it will impact the overall morale in negative manner. Along with this, it also enhances the trust level among employees and management, which might affect the overall work performance in diverse manner.  Human resource practices of company influence satisfaction level of employees with the help salary and incentive plan that are greatly affecting employee relations. It means if salary act is not well structured, then employees will face issue which might affect the overall outcome. In order to maintain the effective employee relationship, the business firm must focus on designing of HR strategies that allow to make sure that goals and objectives can be accomplished effectively. Trade union standards also need to be taken into account so that issues in respect to employability can be overcome effectively. It allows for direct communication and improves the overall process in context to employee relation  (D'Cruz and Noronha, 2011).  

Conclusion

As per the above study, it can be concluded that employee relations play a critical role in business firm success. By having improved focus on the employee relationship, the key objectives can be accomplished in the desired manner. A number of issues can be discussed effectively so that goals and objectives can be accomplished. By having an improved focus on diverse activities, key standards can also be well maintained so that sustainable opportunities can be attained in an appropriate manner. In addition to this, it can be said that job enrichment, collective bargaining, and further strategies are also beneficial for business firms like Tesco. It is because it led business firms to impressive levels of success.

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