2.6 Employer and Employee Relations (HL only)

**Collective Bargaining:** the situation when the management team and workers have representatives who negotiate on the terms and conditions of employment. For both workers and managers, having employer and employee representatives to negotiate makes better sense.

Sources of Conflict

**Change** - this can be driven by either internal or external factors. Either way, change can cause stress. Not all employees will respond well to new technology, for example. Having employees adapt poorly to change increases the likelihood of conflict in the work space.

**Different interests** - workers, who in certain respects have a lesser stake in business than managers or the shareholders, focus on their individual goals, which may include more flexibility in the workspace or higher wages. Managers sometimes believe that workers do not sufficiently consider the goals of the business.

**Different values** - individuals see the world differently. Lack of acceptance and understanding of these differences can cause conflict. Often, workers have a different culture that differs from that of the management team.

**External factors** - any number of external factors can disrupt the workplace: changes in the economic environment can affect the resources available to the business, migration of labour can bring in new workers unaccustomed to an organization's traditional culture, and political changes can lead to new laws/regulations than workers/managers do not like.

**Insufficient resources** - no organization has unlimited resources. Managers must decide how resources are allocated. Frequently, employees think that they have to compete just to do their jobs. Having insufficient resources also touches employees' pay. Conflict often arises when workers or managers demand more pay.

**Poor communication** - sometimes managers and workers clash because lack of communication has created misunderstanding. Even when managers or workers have tried to communicate, misunderstandings can occur.

**Poor performance** - sometimes people do not do their jobs properly, a situation that can happen at all levels of an organization.

Approaches to Conflict Resolution

**Conciliation and arbitration** -

**Employee participation and industrial democracy** -

**No-strike agreement** -

**Single-union agreement** -

Reasons for Resistance to Change

**Discomfort** - employees are often happy with the current situation and want to maintain the status quo.

**Fear** - changes often makes employees afraid simply because they do not know what will happen.

**Insufficient reward** - employees often perceive that implementing the change requires them to do more work for no compensation.

**Lack of jobs skills** - employees may not have the skills necessary to perform in the changed work environment.

**Loss of control** - when managers insist on change, employees feel that they do not have control over their lives.

**Mistrust** - employees sometimes do not trust managers.

**Poor communication** - employees do not know why the businesa needs to change.

**Poor timing** - change is brought about for the needs of the organization but might occur at a time that, for either professional or personal reasons, may for poorly with the needs of employees.

**Poor experience** - an employee may have had a bad experience with change in another organization or at an earlier time with his or her current employer.

**Social support** - an employee who works with a group of people who resist change may choose to resist for the sake of maintaining social relationships.

HR Strategies to Reduce the Impact of Change

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