Employee relations: key points

• Area within HRM that has seen most change in past 30 years

• Shift from collective industrial relations to individual employee relations

• Importance of Frames of Reference – unitarist, pluralist, radical

• Decline of industrial pluralism and rising importance of sophisticated unitarism

• Traditional focus on a ‘system’ of industrial or employee relations still retains value as a means of accounting for change

Unlocking Human Resource Management

Chapter 5

Employee relations: key points

• Subject matter of employee relations seen in terms of employment rules

• Key issues of what rules and who makes and administers them

• Substantive rules – how much pay, holidays, bonus

• Procedural rules – how rules are made and administered

• Rules made by management; jointly with trade unions; by the state or through custom and practice

Unlocking Human Resource Management Chapter 5

Employee relations: key points

• In UK last 30 years seen steep decline in collective bargaining

• Growth in managerial regulation – majority of those in work have basic terms and conditions determined this way

• Growing importance of legal regulation via EU• Growing competition and managerial regulation

reduced scope for custom and practice

Unlocking Human Resource Management Chapter 5

Employee relations: key points

• Modern developments see employee relations as study of the employment relationship

• Renewed focus of individual and collective dimensions

• Employment relationship containing elements of co-operation and potential for conflict (structured antagonism – Edwards)

• Growing interest in fostering co-operation, partnership as a means to engage workers

Unlocking Human Resource Management Chapter 5

Employee relations: key points

• Influence of HRM and Partnership agenda • Emphasis on employee involvement – securing

involvement as route to loyal and engaged workers

• Significance in context of importance of service sector growth, customer service and knowledge economy debates but:• How engaged are workers?• How empowered are they?

Unlocking Human Resource Management Chapter 5

Learning summary

By the end of this chapter you should:• Appreciate the breadth and depth of change in

UK employee relations in the past 30 years• Understand the shifting concerns and focus of

employee relations• Appreciate different perspectives in employee

relations – the concept of different and competing interests and how these influence attempts to manage change effectively in organisations

Unlocking Human Resource Management Chapter 5