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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
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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
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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.
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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’.
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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’.
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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.
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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.
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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 6321.00). –Note: this definition includes both employer and employee initiated action. A ‘strike’ is an employee initiated stoppage. A ‘lockout’ is an employer initiated stoppage.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. 250. Reprinted courtesy of Taylor & Francis Ltd, Security Training E.I.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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