Employment Relations and Human Resource Managementâ€Free Samples

Question: Differences between Employment Relations and Human Resource Management? Answer: Introducation According to Armstrong Taylor, (2014) the issues of employment have a close link to wealth, security, status and therefore contributes to a lot of debate across the divide. In the United States of America, the issues of employment Relations incorporates matters relating to the workplace and the changes of legal policies affecting workers and industries. Storey (2014), adds that the analysis of the policies follows thematic and chronological forms with the focus on the management practices in the organization and the development of the labour organizations, the effects of collective bargaining on the institutions, and the workers rights achieved through judicial and administrative avenues. Understanding the issues of employment and human resource management of different countries and region provides an essential understanding of the historical and contemporary management practices and other organization behaviors. For the managers, it equips them with requisite skills to enable them positively influence the productivity of the employee and how they relate to the industry, implement diversity and link these related activities to their corporate and business strategy. In addition, human resource practices in the organization highlight the issues of policy issues such as health care coverage, dispute procedures, and pensions. Human Resource Management Sparrow, Brewster Chung, (2016) defines the term Human Resource Management as the function in the organization which emphasizes on the matters of management, recruitment and guiding the employees who works in the organization. Therefore, virtually all the workplace programs and processes that are associated with the workers fall directly under human resource management influence. The HR manager is tasked with the provision of necessary tools, knowledge, training and coaching of employees, carrying administrative services, legal advice, talent management and the general oversight of the organization activities required for successful operation. Alfes, Shantz, Truss Soane, (2013) argues that there are also activities such as employee and community outreach which are sponsored by the department. Also, the managers are required to frequently mentor the employees and team as well as addressing philanthropic and all the events that deals with employees. Employee Relations The concept employee is associated to a particular country or an organization and is sued to describe the group efforts applied in the management of relationships between the managers and the workers. If the relations program is good, it means the administration is providing consistent and fair treatment without discrimination. In response, the workers are committed to their tasks and responsibilities and thus shows loyalty to the firm. The objective of these programs aims at preventing and resolving any issues that may arise from issues at the workplace. There is a relationship between HRM and employment relations because the managers apply strategy to accomplish employees related missions such as pay and remuneration benefits, ensuring work-life balance and providing the safe working environment (Dix, Oxenbridge, 2013). Therefore, one of the best and most efficient methods of managers providing good employee relations is adopting an HR strategy that is concerned with the high value of the stakeholders and workers. Stakeholders include people who have a high commitment on matters of finance, and they are directly affected by the success and failure of the company. Further employees should not be treated paid labourers but can be treated as actual stakeholders with powers to change the outcomes of the agency because they feel worth. For example, when employees are treated better in the workplace, they are committed to seeing the organization become successful (Bidwell, Briscoe, Fernandez-Mateo Sterling, 2013). The impacts of Trump presidency on HR practices Trump presidency and the related policies will have an impact on the business, economy and the eventually the HR practices in the United States. For example, the laws and policies enacted will affect both small and large business due to trade liberalization, and protectionism policies which will protect domestic industries and employees against the growing forces of globalization. As such, the changes will be both negative and positive because some companies will experience skills shortages and growth of domestic industries. Some of the proposed changes that might affect the HR practices includes Repeal of the Affordable Care Act, implementation of six weeks of paid maternity leave, employers are also needed to provide child care in the workplace and others (Noland, Hufbauer, Moran Robinson, 2016). The issues of reshoring likely to be implemented during Trump presidency is likely to impact on talent availability. Depending on trade policy to be introduced there may be a shortage of white-collar jobs which will force employees to look for talent in many locations due to economic policy changes. On the other hand, the issues of skill shortages will face the HR department arise due to reshoring. This is because it will raise the demand for skills and thus shortages of employees especially in the manufacturing, call centre jobs. These sectors are likely to be disproportionately affected by the economic policies, and thus the HR departments will require increasing the budget meant for training. Policies and other initiatives that will help the companies rebuild the competencies in the organizations are necessary (Park, Joaquin, Min Ugaddan, 2017). Further, changes in the immigration reform in the United States will significantly affect global talent movement. Variations in these policies under Trump presidency means there will be less H1-B visas that helps sourcing of skilled workers and some nationalities especially in Muslim nations are likely to lose access to visa programs. Therefore hr. Policies and practices will have to be adopted in sectors such as automobile manufacturing which means they need to look for an alternative to satisfy their skilled employees demands. Besides, companies that have different skills needs to implement necessary policies to monitor the issues such as disengagement and quitting (Park, Joaquin, Min Ugaddan, 2017). There is expected changes such as enhanced employees remuneration for under maternal leaves. Such policies outlining the benefits could lead impact on the talent retention and increase competition between companies. For instance, firms will focus on enhancing the parental leave policies with an objective of attracting top talent (Park, Joaquin, Min Ugaddan, 2017). Human Relation Issue Affecting Workplace in America This section discusses the recent development of human relation in the U.S. workplaces such as Union decline, collective bargaining and others. Union and management relations does not constitute a major in the US workplace because the number of unions has declined significantly. Over time, some of these organizations have come up with innovative organizing strategies and tactics in sectors characterized by low wages. These industries are mostly infested by immigrants like hotels service (Kaufman Taras, 2016). However, there has been a counterbalance contributed by other industries such as steel, airlines, and autos. Therefore, in the United States, HR managers must contend with the issues in the labour relations. For instance, few already unionized organizations have seen the number of unionized workers reduce. Therefore, it is essential to understand that in the non-union sector, the amount of compensation received by the workers and other workplace conditions are decided unilatera lly by the management (Marks, 2014). Besides, in the structure of the union sector embraces collective bargaining but there is a high level of fragmentation. This kind of fragmentation continues to increase due to how employee bargain for their salaries with employees. For example, most of the workers tend to negotiate themselves without the intervention of the union and representation. Despite this, there are some common features identified in most of the collective bargaining such as being detailed, the cover wide range of issues such as pay, working hours, pensions, holidays, health and life cover, union recognition, their rights and that of the employer. Other included in the mix includes how the manager determines the issue of workplace promotions, layoffs and the payments time. The duration time involved in collective bargaining is between one and three years depending on the organization (Kaufman Taras, 2016). National unions wield a lot of power due to their direct control of funds, use of effective strategies and have the powers to form and demolish local unions at their will. Thus the managers working in the automobile industry needs to understand the effects of such national union and how they can destabilize the companies. Local unions are tasked with engaging in daily activities of the movement such as bargaining and ensuring the employee rights are followed under the agreement reached between management and workers. On the other hand, they are often involved in bargaining on issues raised in the new agreements and any actions deliberated by the union such as strikes. This means they can formulate standard rules applied to these actions (Kaufman Taras, 2016). Employees are seen as Costs and Not an Asset From the 1990s the employee got privileges that are not there today. For instance, Hewlett-Packard, IBM among other groups provided lifetime employment, but this has changed in the modern organization. Types of worker participation such as job enrichment, work teams, quality circles and other similar became standard. Jobs were defined to provide for greater autonomy among employees, training and indoctrination were the most important points of emphasis. These types of practices were more Japanese because it was believed to encourage increased productivity (Marks, 2014). However, the managers of today are starting at different organization practices which mean the changes has taken place in rhetoric and practice. US HR managers have to pay fewer concerns to general policies in the organization, and this means the focus is not on the human resource development as a way of making a profit or an obligation. Compared to previous decades HR was hesitant to cut wages and fire people, but this has since changes such as laying workers (Bennett Kaufman, 2016). The management stick to core competencies and other functions are acquired from vendors who are not affiliated with any union. For example, employee counselling services are not provided by the organization directly but are outsourced from other business. Besides, employment relations in the United States has been characterized by less job security. This issues is not in the junior employees only but affects even those in the top level such as managers. This is because even top managers in the organizations are closely monitored by the board of directors and held responsible for their actions (Park, Joaquin, Min Ugaddan, 2017). HRM practices in the United States Human resource management department is vital in the organization, and when setting an organization, it is essential to get it right from the beginning. In the US the HR practices and policies consider employment At Will.' In such a case the manager or the employer have the power to terminate the relationship with the worker at any given time without explaining the reasons (Nkomo, Hoobler, 2014). Besides, for senior employees, it includes a contract which means it is rare for an agreement to be referred to the process of the hiring process. Therefore, this reveals a lack of security and stability which is also supported by policies and practices by HR department. For instance, employees do not have a preference for working with the same company for long and therefore job Switching is quite common. Employees work for like three years and leave for another organization because they are guided by their goals than those of the organization (Hattam, 2014). Just like the UK which provides free health cover for their workers, in the US this type of benefit is not there, and the HRM practices use other advantages and offer to attract workers to take jobs. In addition, the HRM policies and practices have other values and practices such as recruitment system which is mostly career based and the mode of selecting the qualified workers is guided by extensive interviews, a reference to experience, focus on training and development. Further, it is governed by the needs of employees and the specific requirement for the post. The practices and policies call for training expenditure to be allocated on the basis on employee and workers are required to undertake between 1-3days of development and training annually (Haddock-Millar, Sanyal Mller-Camen, 2016). On matters of compensation and promotion, the employees are rewarded based on their overall performance, and the status of the person is by how the individuals perform their duties. However, for one to be promoted to a higher position, the level of qualifications are evaluated to come up with a major decision. There are also no formal restrictions on how the managers can promote employee biased on qualification and performance criterias. Other HR practices and policies include participative leadership style; there is high concentration on innovation and the aspect of entrepreneurship. As such many of the employees in the organization are well-trained professionals, have the attitude that makes them pursue things, tend to dislike trade unions, result oriented and persistence in the workplace Employment Relation and HRM Practices in Australia There are a significant difference and similarities between Australias and the United States workplace regarding labour relations laws and human resource management practices and policies. The employment relationship in the country is set guided by Fair Work Act 2009 and other legislation as enacted by the parliament. The laws and policies call for minimum conditions and terms of employment; there is collective bargaining that is supported by rules and bargaining obligations which govern the industrial action. Besides, employees are allowed to make the flexibility arrangements to reflect their needs that fit in their situation (Bartram, Boyle, Stanton, Burgess McDonnell, 2015). Further, the laws and policies provide protections for employees against unlawful and unfair termination of the contract and any other agreements during employment. On the other hand, there is protection against the violation of workers freedom. For example, the employers and their employees are obliged to choose third party representation by a third party. This is provided for by provision and policies governing the responsibilities and rights of the workplace representation (Bartram, Boyle, Stanton, Burgess McDonnell, 2015). According to Plimmer (2015), there are differences and similarities between Australia and the United States. The distinction between interests and rights. Interests include the content contained in the union contract while rights are how the same contract is applied and interpreted in the workplace. As such, an agreement leads to rights. In cases of disputes regarding interests they are settled through collective bargaining and workers goes on strikes in cases where these negotiation fails to materialize. There is a set procedure which followed when the process is being carried. In the U.S. the contracts take a long time as compared to that of Australian awards and the rights and interests are made available to employees (Sablok, Stanton, Bartram, Burgess Boyle, 2017). Conclusion In conclusion, in the U.S, there is high diversity regarding employment relations. This has been increasing due to the decline of unions and growth in non-union in the workplace. Under the Trump presidency there is likely development of protectionism policies which will affect greatly the HR practices such as paid maternity, retention and hiring of skills and skill shortages due to immigration laws. Therefore, there is a wide variety of non-union and union employment relation and practices as evidence in collective bargaining outcomes and policies. Further, the issues of union revitalization are seen as tactics and strategies employed by unions to further their membership due to increasing inequality of income and other international pressures. Although there may be differences, there are some striking similarities with Australia such as the existence of collective bargaining, a decline of unions and the policies guiding the practices. References Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., Soane, E. C. (2013). The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model.The international journal of human resource management,24(2), 330-351. Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014.Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Bartram, T., Boyle, B., Stanton, P., Burgess, J., McDonnell, A. 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