Industrial Relation

Question: Explain Industrial Relation. Answer: Industrial relation can be defined as the relationship among the individual employees and group of employees as well as employers in the setting of the organization. Industrial relation is attempted at providing solutions of conflict among the management of employees through bringing democracy, freedom, bargain and cooperation in the organization (Bartram et al. 2015). The study will describe Dunlop framework for describing its relevance with industrial relation. The study will also describe the relevance of this framework in todays modern organizational context. Apart from that the study will demonstrate the industrial relation UK from the perspective of this framework. Facts related to Dunlops System Theory According to Adeyeye (2012), John Dunlop established the most significant theory in the context of industrial labor in the year 1950. The Industrial Relation system (IRS) that was established by Dunlop indicated that the relationship was supposed to be consisted of three agents, which were management organizations, government agencies and labor or workers. All such proposed agencies perform under one environment, which can be defined by product and labor market, technology and distribution of power. All such agencies have an impact on the society, individuals and workplace. Within such environment, the agents and actors interact with each other, use political or economic power and negotiate determining rules that delivers industrial relation system. Hodder (2015) pointed out that the three proposed agencies in Dunlops System Theory such as labor unions, parties-employers and government are the main actors that construct IRS. None of the agencies or actors are supposed to act differently without any conjunction, but would rather be shaped by market, technology and political contexts. Therefore, it can be pointed out that the IRS constructs the sub system of the society with three most important environmental constraints, which are power distribution in technology and society and markets. Management Labor Relationship The management-labor relationship by Dunlops System Theory cab be pointed out by the following: Social and legal, political, technological, external or environmental economic that impact relationship of employment Interaction and characteristics of key actors such as labor, management and government Governing rules from employment relationship The Dunlops System Theory can be reflected by the following relationship: IR = f (a,t,m,p,i), where a = government, workers, employees and works t = technological context m = Market context p = power context I = ideological context The following model describes the perfect picture of Dunlops System Theory: (Source: Grimshaw, Rubery and Bosch 2014) According to Dunlop, IRS is the analytical sub-strata that operate under the disciplinary economics forming industrial nations. The sub-strata operate under same disciplinary logics, which indicate that the problems of labor relation can be solved by logical system but not by chance. Galetto, Marginson and Spieser (2014) pointed out that Dunlops system and definition concentrated the norms and rules, the agreements into analytical heart of industrial relations. Furthermore, Milner and Gregory (2014) indicated that actors such as hierarchy of managers, hierarchical workers and specialized agencies of government are the core personas of industrial system. The interrelationship between the actors forms certain rules and procedures for the industrial workplace. The carcass of regulations within the arrangement governs the actors in the place of perform. The crucial functions of professionals and experts are organized and consisted of the following: Authority and procedure of making rules Substantive rules related to budgetary and market constraints and distribution power in society Administration of rules that govern work community and work place Figure 2: System Approach Model (Source: Simms 2015) Therefore, from the discussion, it can be said that the ideology forms as the structure of industrial relationship in global perspective, but in the UK, the scenario may be more impactful which will be discussed later. Employee Relation Theory in UK perspective According to Thursfield and Kellie (2013), employee behavioral management theory relies on how the managers will better understand the human aspects to workers that will treat employees in achieving their goals. With the progress of time, managers started to concentrate more on employee satisfaction and the favorable working condition in order to enrich employee commitment. While considering the UK industry, it can be said that the employment has increased a lot from the past but it has raised the sense of intimacy among the workers, which composes group of arrangements to deal with concerning matters (Cipd.co.uk 2016). Such collective arrangements result in collective responsible outcomes. According to Gospel and Edwards (2012), while considering UK market, it can be said that industrial relationships have strengthened from the past but there is accelerated differential ideologies among the actors. However, the Dunlops model has established the centralized rules and norms, still the UK market is not able to follow such framework due to differences among employee expectation. Hodder (2015) added that diverged industrial relationship among the workers in UK have made labor management conflict that has resulted in collective bargaining. Such scenario raised a chance of illogical emotions of conflict among the employees. According to Grimshaw, Rubery and Bosch (2014), the substantiate norms of Dunlop model consisting of wages, working hours and OSH regulations are lacking under the shared ideology in UK industry. The actors, management and labor are supposed to have concealed under same shared ideology, but due to competitive business, the workers are found to be the most exploited. On the other hand, Milner and Gregory (2014) pointed out that the shared ideology of management with procedural institutions such as government agencies are quite favorable in UK, but the employee relation behavior is not effective. While considering the environmental contexts, it can be said that the technology involvement in UK is quite favorable and advanced. Simms (2015) pointed out that the influence of technology in UK has raised the bar of employee participation, particular working community and employee orientation. On the other hand, Thursfield and Kellie (2013) pointed out that with the involvement of technology, the amount of human resource requirement has reduced a lot in all the manufacturing industries of UK, but raised the requirement of supervision. The product market of UK definitely affects the management group but is completely dependent on the system where the organization operates. Economical status of the environment affects the industrial relationship in UK at the most, as it has the most stable economy (Cipd.co.uk 2016). When the economic status of the organization will be stable, it will be in a better condition for fulfilling the demand of the employees. In this way, the employees of UK industry will minimize their confliction with their respective management. According to Gospel and Edwards (2012), the sociopolitical factors are distributive power in UK, which are quite favorable for IRS but it operates outside the system, which cannot be controlled. If political scenario of UK is considered, it can be said that it has the most stable and favorable politics, which enhances business progress, which ultimately develops IRS. There is no impact of ruling party over the trade union committee and thus, the interest of employees is remained unchanged. Trade unions of UK are actually concerned for the well-being of the employees without being influenced by the ruling party of politics. Conclusion While concluding the study, it can be said that Dunlop framework is the best model of defining the industrial relation within the organizational context. The model demonstrates that the industrial relation mostly depends on three major actors concerning the business institution, which are management hierarchy, workers relation with trade union representative and government agencies forming employment policies. Other aspects of industrial relation are related to technological matter, product market and ideologies posed by different actors. Dunlop model has still relationship with maintaining effective industrial relationship. It has been found that the trade union committees of UK are always concerned regarding the wellness of employees and initiates collective bargaining with the management of the organization. Apart from that, UK Government is also favorable to protect the right of the employees through forming favorable employment policy. However, it has also been found that the ma nagement of UK based organizations are not actually interested in protecting all the rights of the employees. Thus, cooperation between the management and employees are gradually diminishing. On the other hand, technological advancement has mixed impact on the industrial relation. In some case, it has reduced the human resources for restructuring the organization, while in other cases, organizations have employed more number of employees for operating it. 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