Modern situation of employee relations

The role of industrial relations and their significance in the political, economic and cultural framework has not been questioned throughout most of the 20th century. But, factors such as enhanced globalization, technological progress, decreases in trade union size and the decentralization of collective bargaining, however, began to have a major effect on the structures of industrial relations from the 1980s onward (Caprile et al., 2017). Deogaonkar (2013) explains that the trend in staff relations also led to standardized processes and mechanization of the job duties being done by the staff with the growing development in technological trends in Industry. This has improved the quality of the job and also enhanced efficiency at the organizational level.

In the latest years, changes in some EU Member States have accelerated some of these long-term trends as a result of the economic and financial crisis, resulting in fresh developments: declining collective bargaining coverage; de-standardizing employment relationships; reducing the size of the workforce in the public sector; and changes in welfare schemes in many nations (Caprile et al., 2017). Deogaonkar (2013) describes the recent developments in technology that have enhanced analyzability, fast exchange of data. Accordingly, employees are becoming more system-oriented and the scope for the growth of individual staff levels is also increasing. According to Ravi (2011) in his article explains that in contrast, the multiplicity of trade unions and trade union rivalry in Sri Lanka resulted in opposing labour relations. Although there have been some changes over the past two decades in labour relations between employers and trade unions, these developments have been confined to individual workplaces. Further, nothing significant has been achieved at the macro level that has modified the structure of labour relations to fit business requirements.

A mixture of technology and strategy has an effect on the relationship between employees. So, the main drawback of the evolving technological development is that employees may have very little scope of personal interaction on official issues (Deogaonkar, 2013). Evolving technologies have a profound effect on employee relations and the effect is both positive and negative. Employee relationships become clearer and more system dependent on sophisticated software systems applications. The disadvantages of technological development also affect employee relationships and can be regulated by regularly involving staff in the cross-functional communication forum and evaluating employee satisfaction. The Human Resource segment has a significant part to play in handling the effect of technology on employee relationships (Deogaonkar, 2013).

Developing the skills of employees’ in dispute resolution, participatory leadership and other soft skills generate a better environment for employee participation. Training also plays a significant role in assisting employees with the greatest possible use of collective bargaining systems involving the trade union. The trade union and the Employees' councils can coexist friendly where the management deals with both without undermining either and on an equal footing (Ranaraja, 2019). The early growth of industrial relations was linked to trade union growth itself and trade unions are largely a result of the system of factories that developed during the industrial revolution. Also, trade union development in the UK was slowed by the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800, and most trade union actions were illegal until these Acts were replaced with the Combination Laws in 1825 (Rose, 2004). The volatile modern business environment has had a major impact on the traditional connection between employee and employer. The psychological contract is being redefined, and this change from the' old' to a new type of partnership is a major challenge for organizations and those involved in handling the organizational workforce (Akinyemi, 2009). The company I work for is more keen on satisfying individual needs rather than collective bargaining and this has worked well for them in the recent past.

References

Akinyemi, B. (2009). Managing the New Psychological Contract. Information Science Reference, [online] 2, p.645. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325060099 [Accessed 25 August 2019].

Caprile, M., Sanz, P., Riobóo, I., Welz, C. and Rodriguez, R. (2017). Mapping varieties of industrial relations. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, pp.2,5.

Deogaonkar, A. (2013). Emerging Technologies and Impact on Employee Relations. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, [online] 3(9), pp.1, 2. Available at: http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-0913/ijsrp-p2176.pdf  [Accessed 26 August 2019].

Ranaraja, S. (2019). Emerging trends in employee participation in Sri Lanka. Industrial and Employment Relations Department, [online] p.41. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---dialogue/documents/publication/wcms_206005.pdf [Accessed 25 August 2019].

Ravi, P. (2011) Managing Employer-employee relations in a competitive business environment. The employers’federation of ceylon. [Online] 20 December 2011, Available at:: http://employers.lk/efc-training/efc-training/497-managing-employer-employee-relations-in-a-competitive-business-environment-ravi-peiris?date=2019-03-01. [Accessed 24 August 2019].

Rose, E. (2004). Employment relations. 2nd ed. London: Pearson Education, p.19.