Business 2.7 Flashcards
Types of ways to approach conflict
Collective bargaining
Work-to-rule
Strike action
Threats of redundancies
Changes of contract
Lockout
Closure
Sources of conflict:
The most common sources: pay
working conditions, benefits, control
Other sources: change(2.1 & 2.2), leadership & management (2.3), demotivation (2.4), cultural clash (2.5), communication (2.6), conflicting objectives (1.3) of different stakeholders (1.4)
Explain Work to rule
Employees strictly follow the rules and contractual
obligations and refuse to do
anything beyond them
Advantages:
Management is pressured
and yet job gets done
Disadvantages
Might have no effect
Works when employees want to put pressure on management but also secure their jobs
Explain collective bargaining
Employers and employees have
different approaches to conflicts
One approach unites them both is Collective bargaining-management and employees have representatives who negotiate the terms and conditions of employment on their behalf (trade unions, lawyers, agents)
Advantage
Convenient
power in quantity
Disadvantage
Collective responsibility (individual interests might be disregarded)
Works best for large organisations
Explain Strike action
-employees withdraw
their labour and protest
Advantages;
Effective
Managers do not achieve objectives until they deal with strike
Disadvantage:
Employees aren’t paid while they’re on strike, they might lose their jobs
Appropriate as the last resort,
when other methods don’t work
Explain threat of redundancy
Threats of redundancies managers warn employees that their positions may no longer be required
Adv:
Can be applied to unessential
employees only, but have effect
on the entire workforce
Dis:
Coercion & manipulation (K&S) have detrimental effect on employer-employee relationships
Works when an employee isn’t
vital to the organisation
Explain Changes of contract
- unilateral alteration of the terms and conditions if allowed by law)
Adv:
The degree of severity is flexible in different contracts
Dis:
Might be hard to implement or
completely illegal in some countries
Works when it is legal
Explain Lockout
“vice versa strike”, when
employers temporarily exclude
employees from the workplace
Adv:
Employees aren’t paid
Dis:
Job isn’t done, no output
Works when the stoppage won’t have a severe effect on profits
Explain Closure
-permanent or long-term shutting down of the organisation
Adv:
The most effective in terms of
pressure put on employees
Dis:
The future of the entire organization is in doubt
Management is hurt as
much as employees
Works as the last resort when other
methods don’t work
Identify all forms of conflict resolution
Conciliation
Arbitration
Employee participation
Industrial democracy
No-strike agreement
Single-union agreement
Explain Conciliation & Arbitration
Conciliation- conciliator offers a
solution to the conflicting parties that is not legally binding
Arbitration- arbitrator puts forward a legally binding solution to the conflicting parties
Advantage:
Third party involved:
independent and objective
Disadvantage:
Time-consuming and not free
Appropriate when conflicts
can’t be solved internally
Explain Employee participation
&industrial democracy
Employee participation-employees are involved in decision-making
Industrial democracy -employees have voting rights either directly or through representation
Adv:
Motivating and can eliminate even the possibility of potential conflicts
Dis:
Not applicable in some cultures
Appropriate when cultural background allows for workforce to have a say
Explain No-strike
agreement
- agreement that employees will not go on a strike during a contracted period
Adv:
Organisation secures
uninterrupted production
Dis:
Employees sign NSA only in
exchange for certain benefits
Appropriate when the organisation is able to offer something that prevents
the workforce from strike action
Explain Single-union agreement
- agreement that employees will be represented by a single entity only
Adv:
Convenience: having to deal
with one entity only
Dis:
One size fits all”: less flexibility in management of employees
Appropriate when employees are willing to sacrifice some of their personal interests in exchange for power in collective bargaining
