Research Articles Base: Industrial Relations Topics

Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations

Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations               Collective bargaining, according to Boone and Kurtz (1999) is the process and practice of negotiations among the management and union representatives to come up with considerably fair and acceptable wage and employment conditions for the workforce. The ever changing dynamics of business necessitates the development of collective bargaining systems among countries so as to deal with the emerging trends and challenges of the global business setting. Roberts, Okamo, and Lodge (1979) identified the strong establishment of collective bargaining among nations covered. According to them, the important role of collective bargaining is seen on its function in maintaining harmonious working relationships among the companies and their employees especially in managing differing interests in employment relations. The OECD Employment Outlook (OECD 1997) reports that the there are significant changes in the collective bargaining institutions among countries. Various literatures supports that these changes are driven by some comparative economic merits of varied bargaining systems (Golden and Wallerstein 1996; Katz 1993. In European countries, van Ruysseveldt and Visser (1996) and Crouch and Traxler (1995) documented the emerging changes and development. Such changes may initiate major alterations not only in union structure but also in the particular goals that are set and the approach employed in collective bargaining processes. In employment or industrial relations, the theory of liberalism, which is about protection of personal rights over government intervention is applied on probing the growth of workforce as it provides clues to better understanding the changing concept of work. Industrial relations analysts, according to Ramia and Wailes (2006) have long been interested in employment conditions as minima and as rules or regulations which may limit labour market inequalities in various ways. The OECD Employment Outlook (OECD 1997) also states that “there is a fairly robust relation between cross-country differences in earnings inequality and bargaining structures”. With this fact, the welfare of employees as well as employers in a global environment must be the ultimate focus and that regulations in industrial relations are deliberately implemented.             The current belief that the general tendency will be toward an upgrading of the employment structure is supported by recent trends in the skill or functional distribution of the labor force. On this aspect, worldwide collective bargaining systems and structure affects the development of the existing industrial relations philosophies. For example, conflict management requires bargaining strategies that will uphold the principles of industrial relations as it pertains to fair employment welfare. There are several ways for two parties to negotiate their sides; these methods are most often used for labor relations especially when unions are attempting to discuss with the other parties concerning their wants and needs to be applied in their work. These bargaining strategies are extremely helpful especially in the organizational setting; as such discussions can lead to the overall improvement of the industrial relations regulations and policies. However, at the same time, these negotiations may also be disadvantageous when used in the inappropriate setting, especially when it has the potential to become a major battle between the parties, with several groups of people being directly and indirectly affected by their conflicts (Margolis 1998). Collective bargaining mechanisms are identified to be an important determinant of national economic capabilities and conditions in relation to international industrial relations regulations as well as the organizational or corporate initiatives.             Collective bargaining structure affects the nature of industrial relations as collective bargaining systems are dependent on the existing industrial relations regulations and vice versa. Among different countries, the difference in terms of collective bargaining structure is a result of national economic considerations as well as organizational or corporate applications. To illustrate such differences, a newsletter article published by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (2004) states that “collective bargaining coverage is on average almost four times higher in the European Union than in the USA and three times higher than in Japan”. Nevertheless it is also important to not that the centralization and decentralization of collective bargaining structures is the main determinants of protecting the welfare of both employers and employees. Although in most countries, the percentages of workers who are covered by collective agreements are higher than those who belong to trade unions, it is still practical to evaluate the coverage of industrial relations. There are many different employment and economic factors that differ in every country and can possibly affect the nature industrial relations. These unobserved differences are important indicators of overall condition of the global workplace and its immediate environments. The OECD Employment Outlook (OECD 1997) recognized the presence of institutional factors and policy instruments that affect the labour market performance. It is also vital to see that some collective bargaining systems are independent to the existing policies and regulations of the government or any governing body or maybe collective bargaining systems interacts in various ways – easy or complex – and includes bargaining variables. From the viewpoint of the collective bargaining relationship, human work force must be treated in the most objective ways possible – without sacrificing any aspect of industrial relations. Procedures for hiring, layoff, transfer, and reassignment as well as wage and remuneration packages must established in terms of incremental effects of identified changes on the size and composition of the work.             Because human labour force is considered to be fuels of the national economy, it is very primary to take care of their rights and welfare. The effects of any collective bargaining procedures to the performance of their duties and responsibilities can be reflected to economic productivity. Thus, it is recognized that institutional capacity among players of any bargaining agreement must see to it that bargaining considers macro-economic implications at hand. The classification of the collective bargaining structure and practice is also crucial in nation decision making and taking. according to Piskulich (1992), critics contend that The understanding of collective bargaining for more than a half-century indicates that the economic and social costs of people’s actions by now be more important than the benefits. Henceforth, all industrial relations practitioners and experts should keep an eye to the growing needs of both employers and employees.             Beyond the need for consultation with individuals and groups with experience of discrimination, research on gender equality and trade unions emphasizes the importance of training individuals from underrepresented groups to participate in trade union activities and collective bargaining (Government of Australia, 1994a). Here, insights from the gender domain are pertinent to other disadvantaged groups. Democratic participation in trade union activities and involvement in other workplace-related questions require individuals to know how to operate effectively within the union and at the workplace. Without direct training and education, this may remain beyond the reach of many women workers and minority workers. Furthermore, if workers from disadvantaged groups are included in negotiating teams and are chosen to participate in collective bargaining, this will help reduce the risk of the needs and concerns of minority groups becoming marginalized during the collective bargaining process. It is particularly useful to have representatives of a minority community who are able to consult effectively with their group. It is also important to ensure that those elected properly reflect the diversity of the workforce they represent, so that leadership positions are shown to be accessible to all. Questions of representation of diverse interests and groups are complex. How should the various groups be defined? To what extent can individuals from groups historically subject to exclusion and disadvantage at work represent their own group’s interests? For membership of a particular group does not necessarily mean that one holds the same values or ideas as others in that group (Phillips, 1991). How can one guard against problems of tokenism and the legitimation of inequality through an unequal structure of group representation (Mahon, 1977)? Moreover, consultation and participation are only effective if there is an audience willing to listen to and take seriously views and voices that are usually silenced or marginalized (Sheppard and Westphal, 2000, pp. 345-346). Ensuring that the interests of historically disadvantaged groups are not traded off in the heat of collective bargaining is another challenge. Human rights legislation can play a significant role here, by setting a non-negotiable floor of human rights protection, which both employers and unions must respect. Collective bargaining can then focus on how best to implement human rights guarantees, rather than requiring the parties to bargain about what should be non-negotiable, namely, respect for the rights of equality-seeking groups. Like any other conditions, the industrial relations and collective bargaining structures are subject to emerging trends that affects the global marketplace. With the era of globalization, stiff competition and technology revolution, it is expected that aspect and conditions of employment are directly or indirectly affected. The welfare of the international human labour force is the main consideration of many countries in devising their national collective bargaining structures that is associated with the globally acceptable principles of industrial relations.     References Addison, JT & Siebert, S 2002, “Changes in Collective Bargaining in the U.K”, in Addison, JT & Schnabel, C (Eds.) 2003, The International Handbook of Trade Unions, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.   Boone, LE & Kurtz, DL 1999), Contemporary Business. Dryden Press, Fort Worth, TX, pp. 424-425.   Crouch, C & Traxler, F (Eds.) 1995, Organized Industrial Relations In Europe: What Future?, Avebury, Aldershot.   Delaney, JT & Huselid, MA. 1996, “The Impact Of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance”, Academy of Management Journal, 39, pp.949-69.   de Silva, S 1996, “Collective Bargaining Negotiations”, International Labour Organisation (ILO) Publications. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/actemp/papers/1998/srscbarg.htm          European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line (eiro) 2004, “Higher collective bargaining levels in EU than Japan and USA”, Communiqué, issue 1. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/press/communique/2004/february/newsletter2.htm   Flanagan, RJ 1999 “Macroeconomic Performance and Collective Bargaining: An International Perspective”, Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 37, no. 3 (Sep.), pp. 1150-117.   Golden, M & Wallerstein, M 1996, Reinternpreting Postwar Industrial Relations: Comparative Data on Advanced Industrial Societies, University of California at Los Angeles and Northwestern University.   Hassel, A 1999, “The Erosion of the German System of Industrial Relations”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 483–505.   Katz, HC 1993, “The Decentralization of Collective Bargaining: A Literature Review and Comparative Analysis”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol. 47, no. 1 (Oct.), pp. 3-22.   Margolis, H 1998, “Avoiding Special Education Due Process Hearings: Lessons from the Field”, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 9 (3), 233.   Millward, N, Stevens, M, Smart, D & Hawes, W 1992, Workplace Industrial Relations in Transition, Aldershot, Dartmouth.   Morishima, M 1991, “Information Sharing and Collective Bargaining in Japan: Effects on Wage Negotiation”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, vol. 44, vo. 3 (Apr., 1991), pp. 469-485.   Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 1997, “Chapter 3 – Economic performance and structure of collective bargaining”, OECD Employment Outlook, OECD, Paris.  Retrieved September 23, 2008 from, www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/60/2080431.pdf   Piskulich, JP 1992, Collective Bargaining in State and Local Government, Praeger Publishers, New York.              Ramia, G & Wailes, N 2006, “Putting Wage-Earners into Wage-Earners’ Welfare States: The Relationship between Social Policy and Industrial Relations in Australia and New Zealand”, Australian Journal of Social Issues, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 49+.   Roberts, BC, Okamoto, H, & Lodge, HC 1979, Collective Bargaining and Employee Participation in Western Europe – Task Force Report #18, The Trilateral Commission.   van Ruysseveldt, J & Visser, J (eds.) 1996, Industrial Relations in Europe, Sage Publications, London.   Sims, RR 2002, Organizational success through effective human resources management, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.   Ulman, L & Gerlach, K 2003, An essay on collective bargaining and unemployment in Germany, (May 2), Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Working Paper Series (Paper iirwps-092-03).  Retrieved September 23, 2008 from, http://repositories.cdlib.org/iir/iirwps/iirwps-092-03   Ulrich, D 1998, Human Resource Champions: The next agenda for adding Value and delivering results. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, pp.88.   Wallace, H & Wallace, W (eds.) 2000, Policy-Making in the European Union, Oxford University Press, Oxford.   Zagelmeyer, S 1997 “Collective bargaining coverage in western Germany”, European Industrial Relations Observatory On-line (eironline), December 28. Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/1997/12/feature/de9712140f.html     Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations

Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations Collective bargaining, according to Boone and Kurtz (1999) is the process ...

INDUSTRY BOUNDARIES FOR RESTAURANT AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

INDUSTRY BOUNDARIES FOR RESTAURANT AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY   From the word boundary itself which means a border or a limit, industry boundaries could be defined as the point at which industries ends or beyond which it becomes something else. This means that industry boundaries are the demarcations between two distinct industries, and so it encompasses both the supply and demand trajectories. Porter (1980) assert that delineating the industry boundaries purports the separation of industries based on the dynamics of competition, strategic position, profitability and attractiveness, through PESTEL analysis, that is. Understanding the industries and its sectors and monitoring the macroeconomic environment are the two main objectives of industry boundaries whereby organizational strategies are at the core of the business conduct. Strategizing is an important element in the existence, survival and functioning of any group or organization. Many organizations are well aware of the fact that their success if highly dependent on the quality and effectiveness of such dimension. As organization grows in size and complexity, the necessity for efficient and effective strategies multiplies. Strategies that will address the different threats imposed by the internal and external environment and at the same time can explore the opportunities that the new business environment provides are critical. The two industries that the paper will going to consider are: restaurant and food and beverage. Both are offshoots from the hospitality industry, but are now considered to be increasingly growing and birthed as new emergent industries. According to Grant (2005), the restaurants industry has strategically significant segmentation variables such as price level, service level, cuisine and alcohol license (p. 118). The restaurant industry belongs to the foodservice category which mainly consists of eating establishments from expensive restaurants to fast food chains. The food and beverage industry, on the other hand, mainly concerns retailing of food and beverages merchandise from fixed point-of-sale locations. The establishments under such industry are endowed with special equipments including freezers, refrigerated display cases and refrigerator for the purpose of displaying food and beverage goods. Likewise, they have in-house staffs trained to process food products, guaranteeing proper storage and sanitary conditions required by regulatory authority. Both industries are growing and are two of the leading retail employer in the world; these industries make for booming industries. Food is always been the top priority when it comes to spending, which explains the growth in the quantity of restaurants, fast-food places, delis, diners, coffee shops, cafeterias and bistros, making these industries as usable unit for analysis. As evident, however, the definitions of the two industries are somewhat overlapping, considering the examples provided. Grant (2005) also noted that the key challenge is defining the relevant industry because a single business operation may belong to multiple numbers of industries. The simplest definition of industry is a group of firm that supplies a market thereby pointing that industry boundaries means to identify the relevant market (p. 86). With competition as its central relationship, market’s boundaries are could be defined by substitutability in the demand and supply side. In the industries we are taking into account, the difficulty lies in determining the relevant actors and the categorization of product offerings. The challenge of establishing a concise definition for both industries is on the lack of understanding of the dynamics of vertical and horizontal integration and the competition between inter and intra sectors. For instance, the vertical boundary between the two industries will include the buy or make. Full-service restaurants and grocery stores’ prepared food shops and catering businesses both specializes in service and prepared foods; but we cannot consider food shops and catering as part of the restaurant industry because they are not part of the foodservice industry. Nonetheless, the nature of the business is the same. The horizontal boundaries also exacerbates the demarcation between the two industries, comprising of the scale and the scope of the activities as well as the market power, the degree of entry barrier and the cost per unit of the product. To reconcile, the paper will define the restaurant industry as eating establishments where meals and drinks are sold and served to customers on the basis of price level, service level, cuisine and alcohol license whereas the food and beverage industry deals with value-for-money foods and beverages and are consumed at home or elsewhere. Taste, palatability, cost, convenience, diversity and availability are the key in consumer decision-making (Davis, Lockwood and Stone 1998). Although both industries are within the context of customer-driven service management schema, the main border that is evident lies on the framework of services provided.       Reference Davis, B., Lockwood, A. and Stone, S. (1998). Food and Beverage Management. Butterworth-Heinemann.   Grant, R. M. (2005). Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques, Applications. Blackwell Publishing.   Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors. New York: The Free Press.               Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

INDUSTRY BOUNDARIES FOR RESTAURANT AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

INDUSTRY BOUNDARIES FOR RESTAURANT AND FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY From the word boundary itself which means a border or a limit, indu...

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS WITHIN THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE:UNIONISATION, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND WORKPLACE PERFORMANCE

THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE: UNIONIZATION, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND WORKPLACE PERFORMANCE           Political history shows that the first country to experience independence in Sub Saharan African country is Ghana Republic. However during those time of the late 50’s their economic condition is not stable and causes almost a 100 percent high rate of inflation. During those times they have experience economic depression and natural drought that result in low agricultural production, high priced commodity and unemployment. Economic issues and controversies cannot be controlled; military uprising occurred, these are all the reason that seems to make this country unable to surpass such economic deficiencies and lacking of fundamental control.  This results in tremendous economic deterioration and faltering government system.         It was only until1983 when the government created the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank working together to design a stability structured policy that will uplift and promote the economic and political orientation of their country. This program makes it possible and hope for efficient restoration using the lending system of the banks and their resources. This show an evident result and somehow effective but not in the labor sector and manpower service. Still low salaries and wages of people are exercised but according to employers the cost of operating expenses is high, that brought about another problem.        Enterprises are force to choose massive layoff or closure of their companies until the labor casualisation has taken effect to protect the enterprise and not the people. Employers says that this is justifiable program rather than suffer by all means, while labor workers take pride of their job security and benefits to be negotiated by both parties and that if casualisation takes effect there will be no future in their company since most of them are not securely capable of such benefits.       In the study of casual labor force in University of Ghana’s Estate Department found out that there are about 40 to 45 percent casual employees in every company and they are the candidate for clean-up or mass layoff if such company deemed to be wise. Actually it was September 8, 1945 when the trade union congress in Ghana was established this union consists of small labor group. Its primary function is to encourage the formation of trade union to avoid the Industrial revolution and workers struggle and hardship against their employers but it has gone to history since it has not been applied in a long period of time the economy and labor forces still struggling over their foreign employer especially in salaries and wages.        In the year 1993 starts another trade union breakaway by some workers in the textile industry that has been followed by another 5 trade union in different industry and another breakaway in 2003 mostly in public sector.  There are major services that this union is offering subdivided into three major classifications 1. Are collective bargaining agreement that usually covers the employer’s total conditions of their contracts including minimum salary and wages, bonus, benefit, productivity, and the laborers working conditions and most of all the laborers protection. 2. Grievance handling – if an employee has a grievances he can seek and address this to their immediate superior or if not satisfied with the decision he has receive then he can consult the labor union pertaining to the solution of his grievances or seek a mediator upon the resolution of some problems so as to eliminate violent reaction that causes massive strikes and workers absences and 3. Workers education – by having a thorough knowledge and the position upon employment, this will indicate his standings have not been disregarded and he knows all his right and privileges inside the company. These unions somehow managed to secure agreement that grows within the various industries. But some has cost job losses in establishing such union. It has been said that such rallies and strikes of workers are illegal, since it does not conform within the government predominantly within the labor laws since they are consist of small labor force.       There is so much to be studied in terms of labor laws but in conclusion this trade union would like to find their way a decent standard of living and would not want to be a slave in their own country by finding their rights in conformity of their services rendered. In fairness to their foreign employers, to be able to have a long term engagement, they must give whatever the laborers deserved after all the laborers are the ones who handle the toughest job to make the company grow.                            Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS WITHIN THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE:UNIONISATION, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND WORKPLACE PERFORMANCE

THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE: UNIONIZATION, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND WORKPLACE PERFORMANCE Political history shows that the fi...

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