Employee Relationship in Organization

  The Institute of Personnel Development suggested in its statement People Make the Difference (1994) that building trust is the only basis upon which commitment can be generated (Armstrong, 2006). The Institute of Personnel Development commented that: ‘In too many organizations inconsistency between what is said and what is done undermines trust, generates employee cynicism and provides evidence of contradictions in management thinking’ (Armstrong, 2006).   It has also been suggested by Herriot et al ( 1998) that trust should be regarded as social capital – the fund of goodwill in any social group that enables people within it to collaborate with one another (Armstrong, 2006). Thompson (1998) sees trust as a ‘unique human resource capability that helps the organization fulfil its competitive advantage’ – a core competency that leads to high business performance. Thus, there is a business need to develop a climate of trust, as there is a business need to introduce effectiv...

  People have all manner of opinions about the events, those people witness in day-to-day lives (Abbott, 2006). Such opinions are invariably shaped by those people’s family and school circumstances, the jobs those people hold and the organizations work for, the churches and clubs they patronize, the circle of friends and communities that people belong to, and so on (Abbott, 2006). Because work is such a central part in people’s lives, its nature and governance are one social phenomenon that often invokes intensely passionate debate (Abbott, 2006). Such debates are frequently ‘framed’ in terms of the assumptions and values people use as ‘reference’ points when conceptualizing the nature and governance of work (Abbott, 2006). Hence the term ‘frames of reference’, a conceptual device first coined by Fox (1966, 1974) as a means of categorizing the different opinions held by people towards such issues (Abbott, 2006). Fox claimed that three such frames of reference captured the main curr...

Relationships between employers and employees are founded on underpinning but seldom articulated philosophies (Armstrong, 2010). These are the unitary and pluralist views, the concept of social partnership and, on the part of employers, belief in a collective or individual approach (Armstrong, 2010). The unitary view The unitary view is one typically held by management, who sees its operation as that of directing and controlling the workforce to achieve economic and growth objectives (Armstrong, 2010). To this end, management believes that it is the rule-making authority (Armstrong, 2010). Management tends to view the enterprise as a unitary system with one source of authority itself and one focus of loyalty the organization (Armstrong, 2010). It extols the virtue of teamwork, where everyone strives jointly to a general objective, everyone pulls their weight to the best of their ability, and everyone accepts their place and function gladly, following the leadership of the appointed m...