Week 6; Employment Relationship

Question 1

Work engagement:

Answer 1

Describes how an employee is physically, emotionally and psychologically attached to their work.

Engagement leads to:
Vigour - describes how the employee is physically connected to their work, for example, energy.
Dedication - emotional connection to the work, demonstrating involvement also experiencing a sense of significance, challenge, inspiration, enthusiasm, and pride.
Absorption - psychological connection to the work, happy and engrossed that time flys by, a state of full concentration.

Question 2

Employee engagement:

Answer 2

A broader concept as it includes also the relationship between the employee and the organization.

Question 3

Traditional Informational Approach:

Answer 3

Formal welcome for the new starters;
a general tour of the premises;
An overview which may include info on organisation trends, strategies, key clients etc.;
A presentation on centralised administrative arrangements.

Proven to be ineffective as starters do not want to admit if they do not know something in fear of reputation. Also they do not state where do the employee turn to when in need of answers.

Question 4

Onboarding:

Answer 4

Mechanism through which the ned employees acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to perform and become effective members. Provide not only important outcomes but also socialisation resources.

Question 5

Relational approach:

Answer 5

Focuses on helping new starters to establish a broad network of relationships with co-workers, from whom they then access information.

Question 6

Practices to enhance the socialization process:

Answer 6

Mentors: Focused on formal development of career. Mentor acts as a role model and provides support to the mentee to encourage advancement. Enables mentees to connect with the organization;

Buddy approach: Informal approach to assisting new employees to learn about the organization and how things are done. Buddies can be approached to ask basic questions, often the most effective way of socialising the new starters.

Question 7

Organizational citizenship behavior:

Answer 7

Behaviors that are not explicitly required by the company as a part of the role, however, promote the effective functioning of the organization.

Question 8

Pull factors of employee turnover:

Answer 8

Factors that the organization cannot influence in case an employee decides to leave. Examples are moving to new location, retirement, family circumstances.

Question 9

Push factors of employee turnover:

Answer 9

Factors that negatively influence an employee and may trigger them to consider leaving. Examples are lack of opportunities in terms of development and promotion.

Question 10

The benefits of Employee turnover:

Answer 10

Helps combat the “groupthink” in the organization. Additionally, new employees can bring fresh perspectives and can also enable company to create new practices that maximize potential.

Underperformers can also be eliminated from the company

Question 11

Turnover rate formula:

Answer 11

Number of leavers/total employees * 100

Question 12

Cohort analysis:

Answer 12

Cohorts of employees are looked at, these cohorts are grouped by, for example, departments or ethnicity groups. Can quickly identify where turnover rates are high and implement strategies.

Question 13

Reasons why Employment relationship is complicated:

Answer 13

1) The exchange that takes place between employer and employee is difficult to define
2) Difference in power

Question 14

Grievance procedure:

Answer 14

Step-by-step process an employee must follow to voice a complaint in an organization. Moves up the levels of hierarchy to be solved.

Question 15

Disciplinary procedure:

Answer 15

Step-by-step process that an organization uses when an employee has broken certain rules. Can lead to penalties to change the behavior.

Question 16

Theoretical perspectives in management styles (unitarism):

Answer 16

Paternalistic management: managers look after employees and use “soft” HRM. Intention to keep employees happy and satisfied. Also aims to emphasize management as the source of authority, prevents conflict.

Authoritarian management: which is more dogmatic management approach, little concern for employees and suppression of trade unions.

Overall employees and employers follow the same goals.

Question 17

Pluralism:

Answer 17

Assumes that the organization is made up of groups with different interests and goals. Conflict is inevitable, accepting the concept of trade unions. Management practice that aims to balance the interests of these different groups.

To address conflicts uses:
1) Collective bargaining: negotiation between employer and worker organization, to address issues.
2) Dispute resolution procedures

Question 18

Marxism:

Answer 18

Conflicts are necessary to further the interests of employees. The methods of pluralism are viewed as advancing only the needs of managers. Relates employment relationship to conflict of wider society.

Question 19

Employee representation:

Answer 19

Trade unions: Use of collective bargaining with employer, working towards worker-friendly policies, representing members in grievance and disciplinary procedures.

Non-union employee representation (NER): one or more employees act in representative capacity for others, through committees, forums and work councils.

Question 20

Agency worker:

Answer 20

Worker with a contract of employment or relationship with a temporary work agency to be assigned to another organization.

Question 21

Downsides of atypical jobs:

Answer 21

Increase in likelihood for jobs to be precarious.

Precarious employment: uncertainty, low income, limited benefits and statutory entitlements.

Question 22

Crowd working:

Answer 22

Refers to online platforms through which workers can complete tasks for organizations.

Question 23

Work on-demand via apps:

Answer 23

Refers to apps that connect people to undertake traditional types of work such as cleaning or delivering.

Question 24

Gig work:

Answer 24

Refers to outsourcing for employees to complete tasks for a company.
For:
Allows workers to be flexible, control time and type of work.
Against:
Exploitative, with workers having little income security and few rights.
Very little growth options, hard to voice issues.
No emphasis on relationships.

Question 25

Work councils:

Answer 25

Bodies that provide employee representation in a workplace.

Question 26

Conflicts:

Answer 26

Strike: Work stoppage caused by the refusal of employees to work, to persuade employer to concede to their demands.

General strike: Strike across many industries usually to persuade to protest against government and its policies.

Working days lost: is a measure of strike activity, calculating number of employees striking by days they strike.

Question 27

Employment relationship:

Answer 27

Employees - trade unions, community, friends and family.
Employers - managers, customers, shareholders.

Relationship:
Employees provide work, in return receive pay.
Influences:
Legislation, expectations, power, behaviors, emotions and attitudes.

Question 28

Voice mechanisms:

Answer 28

Direct voice - managers and HR-department. Deals with the involvement with day-to-day decision.
Indirect voice - Employee representatives, Trade unions. Deals with strategic issues.

Question 29

Voice in digital age:

Answer 29

Mini pulse surveys: Help employers to find out the satisfaction levels and hear employee opinions.

Opportunities of digital voice:
1) Public voice concerns keeping identity secret: employees feel heard; enhances collective direct voice; forces management to act.
2) enables collaborative problem-solving between workers, not only relying on top-down responses.

Challenges digital voice:
1) digital platforms limit voice opportunities: they focus on predefined, narrow issues. Voices can easily be ignored. They can restrict two-way dialogue.

Question 30

Mutual gains:

Answer 30

Happy workers tend to be more productive from unitarist perspective, evidence:
1) Job satisfaction is positively related to job performance
2)Mutual gains are increased when: HR is viewed as positive; HR practices perceived as encouraging; Employees do not feel pressured or controlled.

Question 31

Conflicting outcomes:

Answer 31

From a pluralist point of view, HR practices serve to benefit management, and rather harm employees than benefits them.
Evidence:
1) HR practices can be positively linked to affective commitment and innovative behavior
2) Higher demands cause higher levels of stress.