Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–1 Part three Processes and change CHAPTER NINE CONFLICT AND COOPERATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–2 Overview  Forms of industrial conflict  Explanations for industrial conflict  Strikes  Absenteeism  Labour turnover  Workplace practices and cooperation  Final observations  Summary

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–3 Forms of industrial conflict  Overt  covert  collective or individual  pro-active or defensive.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–4 Forms of industrial conflict (cont.)  ‘Overt’ conflict: – strikes – boycotts – sabotage – pickets – sit-ins – work to rule – bans.  These are ‘collective’ and can be ‘pro-active’ or ‘defensive’.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–5 Forms of industrial conflict (cont.)  ‘Covert’ conflict: – work to rule – absenteeism – sabotage – turnover – theft/pilfering – indifference – slow performance – failure to share knowledge – ‘whistle blowing’.  Can be ‘collective’ or ‘individual’ and can be ‘pro-active’ or ‘defensive’.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–6 Explanations for industrial conflict  Interests of employers and workers may collide: – ‘contradictory and antagonistic’ (Edwards 2003, p. 16) – employers exert control and demand productivity improvement – employees are likely to expect: increased compensation for their effort; interesting work; and other opportunities to develop themselves.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–7 Explanations for industrial conflict (cont.)  Hyman’s summary of the causes of industrial conflict: – income distribution – job security – managerial control.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–8 Strikes  The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines an ‘industrial dispute’ as: ‘a withdrawal from work by a group of employees, a refusal by an employer or a number of employers to permit some or all of their employees to work, each withdrawal or refusal being made in order to enforce a demand, to resist a demand or to express a grievance’ (ABS Cat No ). –Note: this definition includes both employer and employee initiated action.  A ‘strike’ is an employee initiated stoppage.  A ‘lockout’ is an employer initiated stoppage.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–9 Strikes (cont.)  They are highly visible but infrequent occurrence in most workplaces in Australia.  Expansion in the proportion of strikes and working days lost due to managerial policy and physical working conditions.  Industrial action more likely in larger than smaller workplaces and stop-work meetings most prevalent form of industrial action.  Disputation, when it does occur, is usually short in duration and is usually concentrated in a small number of industry sectors.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–10 Absenteeism  Defined as: ‘the proportion of employees on an average day, who were away from work or sick leave without being approved in advance’ (Morehead et al. 1997, p. 72).  Absenteeism can be as an early stage in the ‘progressive withdrawal’ leading to voluntary turnover.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–11 Absenteeism (cont.)  Two types of absenteeism: 1.‘involuntary’ absenteeism—inability to attend work because of sickness or accident 2.‘voluntary’ absenteeism—unwillingness to attend work because of the employee’s unwillingness to work.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–12 Absenteeism (cont.)  Research has been particularly interested in: – ‘absence culture’—a normative belief in the legitimacy of absence taking – job design—the larger the work group the higher the absenteeism autocratic workplace = higher absenteeism.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–13  Factors associated with higher absenteeism: – routinisation – under-utilisation of skills – unchallenging work – role conflict (conflicting directions) – role ambiguity (unclear expectations). Absenteeism (cont.)

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–14 Organisational practices Absence culture Employee attitudes, values, goals Attendance barriers: illness, accidents, family, transport Perceived ability to attend Attendance motivation Attendance Figure 9.1 Rhodes and Steers—a diagnostic model of employee attendance Source: Rhodes, S. R. and Steers, R.M. 1990, Managing Employee Absenteeism, Addison-Wesley, Reading. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–15 Absenteeism (cont.)  Managing absenteeism –Drago and Wooden (1995, p. 131) have identified several management activities that can act to reduce voluntary absenteeism:  allow for flexibility and discretion in managing absenteeism  job enlargement and multiskilling  participation in decision making, fair treatment, good pay and job security  improve communication to clarify expectations of employees  ensure employees have career paths  create cooperative workplace relationships.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–16 Labour turnover  Defined as ‘permanent withdrawal from the organisation’.  Voluntary labour turnover is associated with absenteeism: – ‘work’ withdrawal—absenteeism – ‘job’ withdrawal—turnover.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–17 Labour turnover (cont.)  Voluntary labour turnover: – the frequency or rate at which employees resign from their employment  Turnover higher in: – the private sector (23%) rather than the public sector (8%) – smaller rather than larger organisation – particular industries, such as accommodation, cafes and restaurants, and in retail.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–18 Labour turnover (cont.)  Factors affecting turnover: – perceived ‘desirability’ of leaving the organisation: key variable—individual job satisfaction. – psychological variables predictive of quitting: employee dissatisfaction low level of commitment to the organisation contextual issues, such as training, supervision and job content more important than pay levels. – workplaces with trade unions have a lower quit level.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–19 Labour turnover (cont.)  Factors affecting turnover (cont.) – perceived ‘ease’ of movement from the organisation: state of labour market availability of alternative jobs.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–20 Labour turnover (cont.)  Managing employee turnover: – what strategies can assist management in minimising labour turnover? – most important strategy:  promote organisation commitment through employee participation, and reducing employee work-related stress.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–21 Labour turnover (cont.)  Managing employee turnover (cont): – provide realistic job previews in selection processes – improve job satisfaction, through: job design communication involvement security of employment career paths – assist with resolving work–family conflicts – offer competitive pay and benefit packages.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–22 Workplace practices and cooperation  Innovative workplace practices can result in increased workplace cooperation.  Key practices include: – increased employee involvement – removal of the status distinction between employees and managers – varied and interesting work responsibilities.  Clear evidence that adoption of ‘bundles’ of HR practices are most effective (but rarely implemented): – SET model demonstrates an approach to developing a cooperative and integrated set of IR practices.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–23 Figure 9.2: The SET model of employment Source: Brown C, Reich, M. and Stern, D. 1993, ‘Key Developments in Human Resource Management’, International Journal of Human Resources Management, vol. 4, no. 2, p Reprinted courtesy of Taylor & Francis Ltd, Security Training E.I.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–24 Workplace practices and cooperation (cont.)  What hinders the implementation of such approaches? – Management inertia – union-management distrust – lack of workplace power held by local management – presence of multiple unionism.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–25 Final observations  The employment relationship typically involves both conflict and cooperation. This is reflected in: – wage–effort bargaining – the conversion of labour power into actual labour.  Industrial conflict takes many forms: –there are more days lost to absenteeism than striking.  Absenteeism and labour turnover can be significantly reduced through: – improved working conditions – more satisfying jobs – increased participation.  Infrequent adoption by management of high-performance approaches to work organisation.

Copyright  2005 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Industrial Relations 3e by Bray, Deery, Walsh and Waring 9–26 Summary  Conflict viewed as inevitable: – manifests in individual and collective forms – may be overt or covert.  Absenteeism and labour turnover are connected—different stages of withdrawal from workplace by individual.  Workplace characteristics impact on absenteeism decisions: – ‘high-performance’ work approaches can reduce conflict and increase workplace cooperation.