1.1 Analyse the indeterminate nature of employment relations.
Several scholars holds varying perceptions about the concept “employment relation” (ER) most of which stems from the different aspect of work they perceive the concept is relevant to.
1.2 Compare and contrast unitarist and pluralist approaches to employment relations.
Two of the three frames of reference which Fox (1974) asserts to perfectly explain the concept “employment relations(hip)” are the unitarist and pluralist. The Unitarist approach often referred as the “Team” or “One Big Happy Family” approach by Leat (2014), is a perspective that employing organizations comprises of people either individually or groups that holds common interests, objectives and values which thus results in a harmonious association among them.
1.3 Assess a range of factors which impact on employment relations.
Factors identified to impact on employment relations can be broadly classified into two – the external factors which bounds an organization and the internal factors which exist within an organization. Starting from the external factors, the PESTLE analysis encapsulates a wide range of these factors that affect employment relations into Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental categories respectively.
2.1 Describe and critique the essential features of the contract of employment.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD, 2020) defined a contract of employment as a legally binding document between an employer and employee. As Leat (2014) puts it – it is a legally binding document that reconciles the interest of labour and capital. The contract is a mixture of both expressed terms and implied terms.
2.2 Identify and analyse the main sources of UK and EU employment relations law-making.
Employment associated laws in the United Kingdom according to Coyle (2017) stems from three main sources which are the common law, statute and the European law (existing as both European Directives and the decisions of the European Court of Justice). Starting with the common law, all work carried out in the UK in the years before 1970 have adopted the common law solely, most especially the law of contract as their legal basis for upholding an employer-employee relationship.
2.3 Explain the main developments in individual employment law.
Individual employment law is the law governing the relationship between individual workers and their employers. The common law of contract and the statutory employment Rights are its two basic elements with the latter experiencing a rapid development since the mid 1960s. The last forty decades has been characterized by enactments that addresses many aspects of an employment relationship like equality, parental leave, adoptive leave, fix and part-time working to mention a few.
2.4 Assess and advise on the purpose and scope of statutory trade union recognition.
In order to clearly understand the purpose and scope of a statutory trade union recognition, we begin by having an idea of the concept “Trade Union”. Webb and Webb (1902:1) simply defined trade union as a continuous association of wage-earners whose purpose of aggregation is to improve the conditions of their working lives.
3.1 Explain the differences in employee involvement, participation and partnership.
Thomason (1984) asserts that all three concepts are political democratisation of the workplace that helps reassign decision making power from management towards employees. Employee involvement according to Salamon (2000:357) is a strategy initiated by management for its own purpose and involve the transfer of authorities and responsibilities from itself to the employees for a limited range of work related decision, for instance, method of working, allocation of task, maintenance of quality an so on.
3.2 Compare and contrast union and non-union forms of employee representation.
On a broader overview, Employee Representation (ER) grants employee(s) medium to voice their opinions and have inputs in outcomes that may likely affect them. Contrary to the usual presumption that employee representation can only be carried out by union bodies, Taras (2002) stated that alternative ER that are non-union exist.
3.3 Assess the link between employee voice and organisation performance.
Before diving into the existing association based on extant literatures, there is need to understand the concept “employee voice”. According to Boxall and Purcell (2003), “employee voice” is a term that entails processes and structures which empowers employees to directly and indirectly contributes to the decision making in the firm.
4.1 Distinguish between conflict and misbehaviour, and between official and unofficial industrial action.
Coser (1967) defined Conflict as a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power and resources leading to a party trying to neutralise, injure or eliminate the other party.
4.2 Assess contemporary trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions.
Dix et al (2008) assert that the United Kingdom in the past quarter of century has witnessed a concurrent decline in the collective expression of conflict (strikes) and increase in the amount of individualized form of conflict (claims to the Employment Tribunal (ET)).
4.3 Explain what is required to advise, coach and guide line managers in the skills for effective grievance- and dispute-handling procedures.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (2004) stated that grievances are more likely to ensue from the actions of line managers. In order to prevent this, the Institute highlighted a few positive behaviours, line managers are expected to build which is necessary to help them effectively manage grievances.
4.4 Distinguish between third-party conciliation, mediation and arbitration.
All three according to Marighetto et al (2004) are the main Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to civil litigation and they are contemporary considerations, given the potentially high fee and and time involved in carrying out courtroom battles. Third party conciliation according to these commentators is an ADR process that aims to build a positive relationship between the parties of a dispute. This process involves a conciliator or a panel of conciliators which according to Burchill (1997), tries to individualize the optimal solution and direct parties to a satisfactory common agreement.
