5DER – Contemporary Developments in Employment Relations

Guidance on completing this Assignment This assignment must be in business report style! Make sure all uploaded documents are used! To pass this assignment, you must answer all six questions. You will note that they cover the full range of learning outcomes. The following notes are a guide to what you should be covering in your answers. Note that they are only a guide, this is not prescriptive: Question One: Provide a brief analysis of the indeterminacy of employment relations and an assessment of the factors which impact on employment relations. In your analysis, briefly, compare and contrast unitarist and pluralist approaches. ‘Indeterminacy of employment relations’ is a term referring to the need to turn the labour that is bought by the employer into something positive for the organisation. The employer buys the ability to do work but has to turn that ability (i.e., the people) into something that makes a positive contribution to the organisation. In this answer, you are going to explain the basis of the employment relationship. Therefore, you are going to compare Unitarian, and pluralism and you are going to give an overview of the factors that impact on the employment relationship (think of the external factors we covered in our PESTLE analysis for some ideas). Question Two: Briefly, critique the key features of the contract of employment. Explain the principal sources that can change laws with a brief summary of the main developments in individual and employment law. Here you need to explain the importance of the contract of employment, and the key elements contained within it. You must also explain how the law is made – referring to both UK and European Union legislation. Then you need to summarise key developments in employment law. You cannot include everything – just highlight two or three recent changes. Question Three: Provide a brief summary on how you would advise employees on the purpose and scope of statutory trade union recognition. Here you should do exactly as the question says – explain the process for trade union recognition (a brief summary) and explain the purpose of a trade union being recognised by an organisation. Question Four: Clarify the key terms used in employee involvement and participation and go on to explain the extent to which they will strengthen employee voice in a union and non-union context. Conclude with a brief assessment of the link between employee voice and organisation performance. Start this answer by defining the difference between employee involvement and participation. In doing this, explain how the idea of partnership has become important in many organisations. Then, go on to explain the difference between union and non-union representation, and end this answer by identifying whether there is a link between employee voice and organisation performance. Question Five: Briefly, explain the differences between conflict and misbehaviour at work and between official and unofficial industrial action. In your answer, give a brief review of contemporary trends in the type of conflict and industrial sanctions. Here we focus on the conflict at work – you can think here of industrial action and of lower level conflict that might be exhibited in tensions between the employee and line manager. Explain the difference between conflict and misbehaviour. Then, with specific reference to industrial action, explain the difference between official and unofficial action. Finally, refer to some data that explains recent trends in conflict and specifically in industrial action. Question Six: Explain the approaches and skills required to help manage both individual and collective conflict. You should also distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation and arbitration. Most conflict in the organisation is managed by line managers. Explain the skills that they need to manage this conflict, both between individual employees and between groups. Finally, define the differences between conciliation, mediation and arbitration.