Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both

Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

The employment relationship is a notion used to refer to a relationship between a person

called an employee and an employer for whom the employee performs work under certain
conditions in return for a set amount of payment. The employment relationship has been,
and continues to be, the main vehicle through which workers gain access to the rights and
benefits associated with employment. It is the key point of reference for determining the
nature and extent of employers rights and obligations towards their workers.

What gives rise to conflicts is the failure from either side to satisfy their due rights. And
these conflicts can certainly affect the working relationship between the employee and the
employer, and thus increasing the need for these conflicts to be solved. Organisation thus
devise certain procedures to deal with these conflicts and make sure that conflicts are
solved and foster positive employee relations.

Conflict or Dispute starts off with failure of either party (Employee / Employer) to meets

its demands.

Conflict can start when one challenges, questions other’s work/beliefs or interests and

in most situations through interference at work, the medium to refrain people from

doing so is identified by Gennard and Judge (2005) who identify needs of rules and

for governing the relationship, as employees and employers have their own interests

in the relation, these rules help reconcile different interests and assists organization to

achieve its business objectives. So how is this done? Answer could be that employees

will not interfere un-necessarily with others if they know procedures are intact which

can be utilized if they deviate from standards under which they can

questions/challenge others.

Rose (2004) identifies parties of employer-employee relationship including Primary

Party i.e. employer and employee, secondary Party, acting on behalf of primary party

like Management and trade unions.

Above comments encourage the opinion that procedures facilitate, achieving

necessary balance in relation where both parties are content and promote feelings of

1
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

mutual understanding. It’s the responsibility of both parties to recognize each others

need and create Win–Win situation where both not only survive but progress for

betterment.

It’s important to note how employer sees conflict and as asserted by Rollinson and

Dundon (2007) this will have significant implication on solution of conflict as parties

in the relation might not see same issue in same way and is referred to as Unitarist and

Pluralist frames of reference. Rasmussen and Lamm (2002) assert that Unitarist frame

of reference builds on the image of Army and managers “prerogative” is stressed,

raising issues is not considered an acceptable norm, it can be said that these

organization evade employee rights and privileges whereas on the other side if

management follows pluralist style, conflict is accepted as inevitable and legitimate

though it can be managed to certain degree through appropriate structures and

procedures. This means employees enjoy some independence and have statutory

rights.

The role of procedures is viewed by Different commentators differently, but all are

unanimous on the fact of having procedures. Leat (2007) calls these procedures a way

of handling employment relations with consistency and fairness parallel to Farnham

(2000) who calls them principal means for containing any potential conflicts that may

arise from pay-work bargain. This cultivates believe that procedures are shelter that

create a climate for continued existence, equality and minimize conflicts in the

organization.

That was one side of the coin, having procedures comes with its share of

responsibilities. Bott (2003) sees procedures as identical to ‘red tape’, imposed

through endless chain of additional regulations. This can be regarded as birthplace for

conflict as organizations fail to recognise their duties/responsibility towards

2
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

employees and the relation, the procedures developed with this mindset will have its

implications as asserted by Bennett (1997), that development of procedures in this

manner is similar to imposing organizational “will” on the employees that wouldn’t

solve conflict but results in feeling of resentment and retaliation and gives birth to

serious conflict.

The proposed solution might be termed Ideal but steps are needed for this “irony of

procedures”. Employers have to recognise that employees are not commodities or

Disposable resource; employers have to accept staff right of involvement and

participation in development of procedures. This would be useful idea for the

organization and employees, as it will open ways for dialogue and understanding

between two sides and will help in improved communication and minimising

conflicts, as poor communication according to Bennett (1997) causes’ conflict.

Procedures are devised for individual and collective issues, Individual procedures

involve a direct contact of employer and employee; Individual procedures considered

in this essay are Discipline and Grievance.

According to Pettinger (1999) discipline requires following standards of attitudes,

behaviour and performance thus anyone breaching the standards or so called ‘The

Code of Conduct’ is dealt according to the rules. Gennard and Judge (2005) points the

impact of procedures and stress that fair and effective disciplinary procedures are

those which focus on improving or changing the behaviour and not on punishment as

Rollinson and Dundon (2007) assert that punishment does little to change behaviour

and might make employees vulnerable, volatile and difficult to deal with hence

affecting organizational climate and thus affecting organizational culture which can

directly affect the interaction between the employees and employers.

3
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

Failure to develop adequate procedures which positively impact behaviour can

adversely affect the organization, resulting in failure to resolve conflict plus falling

short of improving both behaviour and performance which organization seeks to

accomplish from disciplinary procedures.

Russell (2004) identifies failure on part of Employers who often skip stages of

discipline when frustration with an employee leads to instant decision of sacking

them. It can be said that disregard of correct procedure could result in an employment

tribunal whereby employer facing claims of unfair dismissal that not only prolongs the

conflict but results in a negative perception in minds of other employees regarding the

employer. The reason which forces employers to take such unlawful steps is pointed

out by Gennard and Judge (2005) who are off the opinion that laws are biased in

favour of employees and appearance before an employee tribunal will facilitate the

employee, which is proved by Vorster (2008) survey of 1100 employers in Peninsula,

and found 9 in 10 would discipline staff if legally confident but 8 in 10 employers

feared employment tribunal favoured employees.

An idealistic advantage of Disciplinary procedures as referred by Lewis et al (2003) is

that these procedures not only help but also encourage all employees to achieve and

maintain ‘Standard of Conduct’ and as these apply to all employees so it endorses

consistent and fair treatment for all thus promoting equality.

Above discussion points that having disciplinary procedures is not disadvantageous it

how they are devised and followed, affects the resolution of problems and issues and

it can be said that disciplinary procedure is a line drawn by the organization which

employees should not cross providing them the space to work plus the respect staff

can enjoy at work. Employees might not like each other at work, but they need to

respect and value each other at work. These procedures establish respect and if there

4
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

is a conflict, disciplinary procedures can be utilized towards ending workplace

conflicts.

The disciplinary procedures were for the employer but according to Bott (2003)

grievance procedures are for employees to express their concerns to the employer.

Rollinson and Dundon (2007) highlight some dissatisfaction that these procedures can

deal and includes grading appeals, equal pay, bullying and harassment and most

importantly they offer a positive opportunity to build good working relationships and

minimize conflicting situations as it gives employee an opportunity to raise their

concerns to the management which might become a dispute later. Gennard and Judge

(2005) point out proper handling of grievances is important because mishandling of

individuals grievance can impact a group of people. This is an important point to

consider as one possible reason of grievance can be “Who should do what”, and in

this case the grievance procedures can help to address the issue of separating Jobs and

duties and establishing boundaries of work thus hindering dispute that might arise

from confrontation of employees regarding duties at work.

Having formalized grievance procedures is advantageous but Rollinson and Dundon

(2007) highlight an important aspect that supervisors might feel threatened or

employees might not question superiors due to fear of consequences and future

retaliation of superior, which is evident from the case brought to light by Rose (2004)

from TUC (Trades Union Congress) bad Bosses hotline, which received 4950 calls

and three quarters of the callers worked in SME with less than 1000 employees. It can

be assumed that these grievances would have never come to light through formal

expression.

5
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

Equal Opportunities commission highlight potential for delay in the grievance

procedure. This can result in anxiousness and depression of the employee and means

prolonged situation of conflict in the organization.

Above discussion points that grievances might shape into conflicts and therefore,

management should be concerned with grievances, because it may be important

indicator of potential problems. Without grievance procedures, management may not

be able to answer employee issue/matter since managers are unaware of them.

Rollinson and Dundon (2007) point out that there are legal implications for

organizations not having fair and just procedures for discipline and resolution of

grievances. The code of practice (ACAS 2003a) covers the statutory minimum

procedures needed to be followed by the organization. Therefore, formal procedures

are valuable for the organization to clarify issues thus helping business not only save

time, create better working environment but most importantly avoid tribunals.

Issues might be faced by more than one employee and for settlement employees are

represented by a group of people normally trade union which held talks with

employers or their representative in order to reach a collective agreement and this

process can be referred to as collective bargaining.

Rollinson and Dundon (2007) identify work of Beatrice and Sydney Webb, which

coined “Collective Bargaining” and described the process as ‘trial of strength’ and

points to the fact that it’s both conflictual and politically charged side of Employee

relations.

There are two main theoretical approaches to collective bargaining, each of them

having their own perspective regarding how collective bargaining helps resolve

conflict. These include Webbs and Alan Flanders.

6
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

Gennard and Judge (2005) and Rose (2004) highlight their perspective on collective

bargaining. For Webbs collective bargaining helped employees secure a better deal

through control of competition between themselves, which made Webbs say that it’s

an Economic Institution, whereas Flanders disagree to the concepts and points that

involvement of negotiations for regulations of relations and importantly the power

aspect of relation make collective bargaining a Political institution and also criticized

Webbs for referring it to one side i-e the employees and neglecting how it benefits the

employers but both of them had an agreement that it gives more rights and benefits to

the employees, where Webbs termed it as a chance to get united and have an influence

and Flanders called it freeing up from mercy of market.

For Farnham (2000) purpose of collective bargaining is to establish employment

terms and conditions e-g pay, how employment issues like grievances, collective

disputes and disciplinary procedures are resolved. This can be asserted as chance to

minimize conflict because it helps prompt settlement of grievances and other

employment issues, this does not only benefit the employee, according to Rose (2004)

it benefits the employer as it helps in resolving matters on collective front rather than

taking up issue with each employee. The way collective bargaining reconciles

interests is that it gives the employee representative power which helps them exercise

their affect on the organization plus it also provide a formal means through which

conflicts can be discussed and an agreement be reached which is acceptable to all.

One of the criticisms raised by Rollinson and Dundon (2007) on collective bargaining

is that issues like pay can be conflictual and move to joint decision is seldom

complete. It can be asserted that this gives rise to the notion that collective bargaining

is all about how much power one party can exert, the trade union might be able to

exert more power if they have a strong background of pressurising the employer

7
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

through strikes and demonstration, but this will actually not solve conflict, it might

suppress it for sometime but conflict will stand up with passage of time through more

demands from the employees. This advocates the fact that economic benefits

employees try to reap from the collective bargaining actually stem out from political

perspective I-e power which is exercised on employer through different means.

To shift power, employers sometime use different means and one of them is bribing

members of trade union. (http://www.Personneltoday.com). What can be achieved

through this is that Power within the trade union can be divided and from this division

of power stems one important advantage and disadvantage of the collective bargaining

procedures. It can help in keeping section of employees to their boundaries as this

group will not be under control of the employer but if trade unions get controlled by

this group of people then it might result in demands which can lead to severe

conflicts, the same is true for the employer, if in case employer side is under influence

of a group of people the resistance from this group can prolong conflict.

So it can be said that if handled properly collective bargaining provide strong chance

to bring out a feeling of content and togetherness within the employees as it helps in

establishing formal set procedures which are accepted by the parties and provides

employee with a chance to have their say. This can help create a perception in

employees mind that any conflict in organization is their conflict, thus they will

refrain from getting into situation where dispute arise with the employer.

Collective bargaining is a relation between employee and employee based on agreed

rules but according to Lewis (2003) key process in collective bargaining is negotiating

which is defined by Rose (2004) as

“Negotiation is a process whereby two or more parties interact with each

other in order to resolve their differences and who need to be jointly involved

8
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

in an outcome which is mutually acceptable, the outcome being achieved by

argument, persuasion and compromise.”

Negotiations are at very heart of collective bargaining and to reach collective

agreement the representatives of employees participate in talks with employer or their

representatives to negotiate over issue of concern. Thus it can be referred to as formal

setting for solving conflicts and the setting according to Rollinson and Dundon (2007)

provides voice to employees in front of management and apart from being just

proving voice it can be said that it acts as a tool for not only settling differences but

also preventing them from arising. Thus it can be said that in context of employee

relations, negotiation act as a mean to deal with situation of disputes but also helps

settling or identifying those common interest which are needed to be pursued by

parties of relationship so that conflict does not arise. One of the pre-requisites

identified by Bennett (1997) for effective negotiation process is that parties shall let

go some of their demands for success of the process.

But what determines “Who gets what”. This again brings power perspective of

collective bargaining to play, the party which will be able to exert more pressure will

definitely be able to get more out of negotiation than one which will not have those

skills or power to exercise pressure on the other party.

The role of negotiation is highlighted by Bennett (1997) who points out that these help

resolve day-to-day problems that could “flare” up into destructive conflicts. Bennett

assertion can be termed a futuristic but Rollinson and Dundon (2007) take a more

basic approach by pointing out that negotiation exist because parties agree on the fact

that they have conflicting views. This fuels the believe that negotiations might end but

conflict might still remain, and this might be because parties of relation do not let go

of their demands or adopt a stubborn behaviour. What can be suggested is that if to

9
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

resolve the conflict parties will have to adopt a policy of “Give and Take”, otherwise

the conflicting situation will stay. Fowler (1986) takes a similar view by identifying

the need of parties’ involvement in achieving the desired outcome, and negotiations

won’t be successful in settling disputes if one is convinced that other party’s stance

can’t be changed.

One of the future advantages of negotiations can be that it can help establish a rapport

between parties and this understanding can help in failure of conflicts from arising.

The case study by Rollinson and Dundon (2007) highlights the need for negotiations,

it points out that Managers accepted the fact that confrontation was taking the

organization nowhere and union realized that both have vested interest in each other,

and this actually made them understand the importance of negotiation whereby both

understood each others difficulties, circumstances in which they work and the need of

establishing communication for resolving issues that hinder productivity and produces

disputes.

The case put forward by Rollinson and Dundon is supported Berry (2007) who points

to the case of NHS where collective agreement was reached through negotiations to

avert the strikes and union endorsed £52 million pay package after weeks of

discussion. This highlights importance of negotiation as a necessary mean to solve

disputes although it takes time but its magnitude cannot be neglected for settlement of

disputes and as a chance for both sides to put forward their case.

Conclusion

Conflicts are inevitable, they are bound to be there, and to resolve conflicts

organization requires procedures which employee will have to follow in order to resist

them from creating a situation of dispute and to make sure that every one is dealt in

same order and goes through same process plus it also helps solve problems before

10
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

they are taken up in tribunals. Conflicts can be collective; one disadvantage of

collective bargaining mentioned by Dau-Schmidt and Brun is that individual’s identity

is “exploded”. This builds to the assertion that employee may not bargain even if

he/she is capable and this can create free riders who enjoy while others work. Because

they know they will reap the benefits.

The process of negotiation helps in reaching collective agreement by offering an

opportunity to discuss the matter on table as strikes/demonstrations are not the

solution to any dispute.

Word Count: 2,997

References:

• Bennett, R., (1997). Employee Relations. 2nd Edition. London: Pitman

Publishing.

• Daniels, K., (2006). Employee Relations IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL

CONTEXT. 1st Edition. London: CIPD.

• Farnham, D., (2000). Employee Relations in Context. 2nd Edition. London:

CIPD

• Fowler, A., (1986). Effective Negotiation. 1st Edition. London: Institute of

Personnel Management

• Gennard, J, Judge, G., (2005). Employee Relations. 4th Edition. London:

CIPD.

• Leat, M., (2007). Exploring Employee Relations. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.

• Lewis, P, Thornhill, A, Saunders, M., (2003). Employee Relations.

Understanding the Employment Relationship. 1st Edition. Essex: Prentice Hall.

11
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

• Pettinger, R., (1999). Effective Employee Relations. 1st Edition. London:

Kogan Page Limited.

• Rasmussen, E. and Lamm, F., (2002). An Introduction to Employment

Relations. 1st Edition. New Zealand: Addison Wesley.

• Rollinson, D, Dundon, T., (2007). Understanding Employee Relations. 1st

Edition. Berkshire: McGraw-hill Higher Education.

• Rose, E., (2004). Employment Relations. 2nd Edition. Essex: Prentice Hall.

• Towers, B., (). The Handbook of Employment Relations, Law & Practice. 4th
Edition. London: Kogan Page Limited.

Web Articles

• Berry, M., (2007). NHS unions endorse £52m pay package as the best that can
be achieved through negotiation. Personnel Today. [online] Available from: <

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2007/08/03/41813/nhs-unions-

endorse-52m-pay-package-as-the-best-that-can-be-achieved-through-

negotiation.html> [Accessed 29th April 2008].

• Dau-Schmidt, G, K., and Brun, L, C., Individual Bargaining,

Collective Bargaining and Protective Legislation: Determining the Terms and

Conditions of Employment in the Modern American Employment

Relationship. [Online] Available from: The Japan Institute for

Labour Policy and Training <

http://www.jil.go.jp/english/events_and_information/document

s/clls04_dauschmidt1.pdf > [Accessed 30th April 2008].

12
Managing Human Resources Discuss the role of procedures in managing both
Assignment: 2 Individual and collective conflict in organisations?

Russell, K., (2004). The Seven Deadly Sins of Discipline. Personnel Today. [online]

Available from: < http://www.personneltoday.com/26764.article> [Accessed

10th April 2008]

Vorster, G., (2008). Fear of tribunals stops firms disciplining staff. Personnel Today.

[online] Available from:

<http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/02/28/44622/fear-of-tribunals-

stops-firms-disciplining-staff.html> [Accessed 15th April 2008]

Bibliography:

• Equal Opportunities Commission: http://www.eoc-law.org.uk/Default.aspx?

page=2798

• http://www.businessballs.com/resolvingemploymentdisputes.htm

• http://www.acas.org.uk

• Elwes, J., (2005). Are the new grievance procedures working?. Personnel
Today. [online] Available from:

<http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2005/04/05/29100/are-the-new-

grievance-procedures-working.html> [Accessed 12th April 2008].

• Jenkin, M., (2008). Spotlight on: post-party fallout. Personnel Today. [online]
Available from:

<http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/01/08/43759/spotlight-on-post-

party-fallout.html> [Accessed 10th April 2008].

13