Comparative Analysis Of Employee Relations Systems In Singapore And Eire
Introduction
Employee relations involve the policies, procedures and practices adopted by organisations within any given country. Employee relation systems are usually shaped by the corporate culture prevailing within the country of study. Certain countries have instituted mechanisms that affect the relationships between management and their staff. It should be noted that employee relation systems may deal with collective issues relating to workers in a particular industry or may deal with individual issues peculiar to certain organisations. A good employee relations systems is one in which there is a merger between the management structures in existence within any one organisation and the concerns brought forward by the organisation’s employees. In addition, it should also be flexible. (Schregle, 1981)
Theories related to employee relations
There are certain theories that will act as a background and baseline for this comparative analysis. The first one was brought forward by a human resource management author called Douglas McGregor. This author strongly believed in the power that the human being has within an organisation. He claimed that management is dependent on its employees just as the latter need the former. McGregor believed that management have the ability to determine whether or not their organisation was a success depending on how they chose to carry forward their management practices.
The author came up with a human relations theory called theory Y. In this theory, he asserted that all employees have the capacity to change. Consequently, management should endeavour to match employee goals and objectives to the organisation. Since these employees were able to grow in terms of their capacity to handle greater responsibility and to grow position wise, management should try its best to match their overall developmental activities within the organisation to individual ones. Indeed, theory Y forms one of the major guidelines for good employee-relations-systems in any country. We will therefore use this as a sort of barometer to check on the legitimacy and appropriateness of the employee relations between the two countries under study.
Another theory that will also serve as a backbone in the essay is the theory of the three S’s as postulated by Bartlett and Ghoshal; where the three S’s are strategy, systems and structures. In this theory, the two authors believed that management had the distinct and fundamental responsibility to come up with organisational strategy. This would lay the foundation for organisational structures within any one organisation. In this management system, more emphasis is placed on the importance of aligning employees to organisational behaviour. Adherents to this theory assert that human beings can be replaced and must therefore not be the focus in human resource management. This is why most activities are seen as a form of control and enforcement of discipline by employers towards their employees. Organisations and countries adhering to this theory are quite hierarchal. Beside this, their structures precede their strategies. (Bartlett and Sumantra, 1994)
The latter theory is slowly phasing out. This has come after the realisation that the most useful resource within any company is its human resource. Employees have the ability to be creative and to apply knowledge appropriately to suite any given organisation. Consequently, there is a need to adopt a totally different approach to management. Most developed countries realise that there are no returns when the organisation places too much emphasis on controlling its employees because this only serves as backbone for conflicts. The better approach is to try and create a rich corporate culture and clearly defined organisational objectives. Besides this, employee relation systems are moving way from the need to institute stringent structural systems. Instead, there is more emphasis on developing individuals within the organisation so that their perspective may be enlarged and they can contribute to organisational growth. (Schein, 1995)
One can therefore say that countries whose employee relation systems are centred towards people rather than strategy are more effective in the attainment of their goals. Such employee relations systems are normally characterised by good communication both vertically and horizontally within the organisation. Besides this, there is involvement of employees in decisions made by the company, i.e. it is not a task reserved for top management alone. The basic characteristics necessary for running a successful organisation cut across national lines and should be applied in global enterprises. Management is moving away from the view that it is a depiction of status; these days it has become more of an activity. Therefore countries following this principle are the most successful.
Human Resource practices and Policies
Human Resource management policies and practices are supposed to be such that they bring about good career development, management styles geared towards the employees, open and effective communication, motivational systems and efficient recruitment strategies. When organisations adopt this kind of activities, then they will affect overall performance within their enterprise positively and will also reinforce achievement of their objectives.
In Eire, human resource policies and practices are such that management has included them in their corporate strategies. This is quite evident in most of the companies such as Tesco Ireland and Diageo. This is quite advantageous to organisations because policies will not be considered as something that is exclusive to the human resource department. In Eire, this is something that all members of an organisation take up as part and parcel of their culture. Consequently, most managers in Ireland consider human resource policies and practices as something that gives them a source of competitive advantage. This is line with ‘best practice’ theories of human resource management. (Schregle, 1981)
Perhaps the reason why Ireland adopted this sort of strategy was because they realised the benefits that come with it. One such benefit is that workplace environments in which employers and employees view themselves as adversaries are not conducive for the organisation. This situation will be propagated when policies and practices within organisations are viewed as distinct and separate from the rest of the organisation. In Singapore, their employee relations systems are centred towards the opposite effective. Most of their organisations adhere to the belief that workers are a means towards an end.
In Ireland where policies and practices within organisations are merged with the whole corporate structure, there are higher levels of trust between employees and employers. Besides this, management create a suitable environment for creativity and innovation. However, in Singapore, human resource policies and practices are mostly based on cutting down costs through lower enumeration and lower production costs. Consequently, workers in the latter country rarely engage in creative solutions for the company and there are high chances of mistrust between management and staff.
In Singapore, most of its policies and practices are centred towards the incorporation of technology. This implies that majority of their employees receive very little attention. What this does is that employees are not motivated to improve. They do not tap all their potential and end up underperforming. This is in sharp contrast to the human resource policies and practices in Ireland. Since most of them are people-centred rather than production centred, most employees are motivated to do their best and overall organisational performance is improved. (Handy, 1990)
In both countries, there have been certain initiatives such as Quality Circle Initiatives and Quality of Work life. These initiatives have been put forward by human resource management systems. However, in Ireland where the approach is people centred, then there is room for attainment of the objectives intended by creation of these initiatives. This means that members of the organisation can contribute towards those initiatives and lead to organisational change. However in Singapore, these initiatives are a reserve for top management, consequently, very few changes can be made to any one organisation through those methods since there are problems that arise during the process of implementation.
Employee involvement
Employee involvement within any organisation is not a debatable issue. This is because management cannot simply make independent decisions and expect that everything will be aright. As a matter of fact, the most successful organisations are the ones that involve their employees before jumping to critical conclusions. A crucial part of this type of organisational system is consultation and communication. It should be noted that communication systems vary from country to country depending on their culture.
In some countries like Singapore, there is a need to respect authority, therefore formal meetings in which employees directly point out their employers faults are not taken kindly. But there is still a mechanism for involving employees in decision making process. Most organisations in Singapore have instituted less formal structures for voicing out issues. Employees can see their managers privately and let their opinions known. However, in Ireland, there is a more open approach, employees are allowed to contribute to debates during formal meetings and can therefore air out their grievances openly.
There are certain clear differences that emerge when trying to compare employee involvement in Eire and in Singapore. First of all, in Ireland, employees are more educated that there counterparts in Singapore, this implies that it is difficult to try and control or command them to do certain things in the organisation. It will be more effective to consult with them and ask them what they think about a certain issues. In Singapore, workers are still not as educated, therefore management usually make decisions independently and may simply communicate their decisions. (Lorenz, 1992)
There are some companies in Eire such as the John Lewis Partnership that act as an epitome of employee involvement. In this arrangement, all employees are considered as owners of the organisation because they own shares. These employees are part and parcel of all the decisions made by the organisation nag management is tailored to serve employees rather than the reverse. This has contributed towards the improvement of the overall organisation’s performance because most of them have the organisation’s good will at heart. In Singapore, this is not a widespread feature; most of the employees rely heavily on what is decided by their superiors. This means that majority will not be genuinely concerned with their organisation’s performance. What this does is that it impedes performance. (Drucker, 1993)
Analysis of information and data should form a crucial part of any successful organisation. This is something that both countries seem to have instituted into their systems. Managers in Singapore are more focused on economic output by employees and they need to scrutinise and analyse information in order to achieve any sort of efficiency. This is something that has also been achieved in Ireland very well. Most employers make sure that information is clearly understood and that most of it is examined thoroughly. However, the difference between the employee relations systems in these two countries stems from the level of coordination.
In Singapore, the culture is such that workers share information when it is part of their task and not part of their organisational culture. Even the implementation of interpersonal skills is not as effected on their enterprises as it should be. However, in Ireland, the opposite occurs. There is more coordination between employees in the latter rather than the former country. On top of this, there is more application of interpersonal skills in Eire than there is in Singapore.
Perhaps the reason why the employee relations systems in Eire is such that it involves the workers more than their counterparts in Singapore could be because the economy in Eire has moved away from high volume production. Instead, there is more emphasis on the application of knowledge based activities. Besides this there is emphasis on the following aspects of production;
- innovation
- creativity
- knowledge application
In Singapore, these are issues that do not receive a lot of attention; instead, most of their human resource efforts are centred on increasing worker production. Their economy is such that they are still embracing the traditional approaches to human resource issues. They focus on economic output of the workers rather than on their creativity and knowledge application capabilities. There is still a lot of room for improvement there. (Edwards et al, 1994)
Employers in Eire have realised that participation is a source of motivation for all workers. They know that workers feel as though they are valued within the organisation. This also acts a platform for their growth in the organisation. Such employees normally regard participation as a form of reward given to them because of their productivity. Employees who are involved in the goal setting process are usually quite committed to their achievement. However, this principle does not apply in Singapore. Most managers place more emphasis on making their workers implement their decisions. Because decisions have not made by these workers, then chances are they are less committed towards them and most of them will not be bale to achieve their objectives.
Communication
There are certain elements that must be adhered to when trying to come up with an effective communication system within any one given enterprise. This is because communication is vital when trying to conduct performance appraisals, when performing project activities and also when motivating employees. The first aspect that management needs to institute is communication mechanisms. It should then make sure that workers understand those mechanisms and are able to apply them well within the organisation. What this means is that employers need to institute mechanisms that do not make him out as superior. Communication should be two-way so that employees may feel valued and appreciated. Both countries have tried adopted this mechanism. In Eire, this has been in place for very many years. However, the same cannot be said of Singapore. Communication channels and mechanism have just been embraced recently. It should be noted that this does not undermine the fact that it is still in existence. (Chia, 1995)
Training and development
In Ireland, employee relations systems are such that there is adequate preparation of employees to take on the tasks at hand within the organisation. Most enterprises usually recruit graduates and place them in training programmes immediately. This is supposed to equip them with the technical knowledge and capabilities necessary for them to operate effectively within that organisation. However, the same cannot be said of Singapore, training does occur but is not a crucial part of their day to day operations. This could act as breeding ground for conflicts within the organisation because employees are usually not very familiar with all the tasks necessary to run the organisation.
Training does not just apply to employees alone. It should also be implemented among the managers of an organisation. In Ireland, supervisory training management programmes are quite common. This is because most organisations realise that managerial tasks present new challenges every day and there is a need to be keep up with the trends. In Singapore, most training practices are left for subordinates rather than employers. It is important to remember that a manager’s attitude towards their employees will be shaped by the forms of instruction they receive (training) and this will eventually affect the way they go about achieving organisational goals.
It should also be noted that career development is another essential part of employee relations systems. Ireland is better identified with career development. This is mostly because their enterprises are characterised with numerous job rotation opportunities. This is backed up by on job and off job training. What this does is that it gives employees all the skills necessary to grow within the organisation. Most of them will have the ability to work well in teams since they have the necessary skills to support each other within the organisation. On top of this, there are also chances of developing their careers in those organisations. Lastly, employees identify with the goals of the organisation and try their best to implement this when working for it. Consequently, organisations in Eire are more effective in the achievement of their gaols. In Singapore however, some of these aspects do not receive a lot of attention. Off and on job training is adopted by relatively few companies and employees rarely grow with an organisation. (Bartlett and Sumantra, 1994)
Conclusion
One can say that employee relation systems in Eire are more people centred. This is seen in their training, communication, policies and practices. The reason is that their economy has moved towards that direction. Singapore’s employee relations are more centred on production; consequently, they have not embraced effective human management strategies that will assist in achievement of organisational objectives.
References
Bartlett, C. and Sumantra G. (1994): Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose; Harvard Business Review 78
Chia, R. (1995): The New Leaders That Asia Need; Asian Business, Vol.31, No.9, pp 56 to 58
Drucker, P. (1993): The Post Capitalist Society; Butterworth-Heinemann, England
Edwards, P. et al (1994): The Workplace and Labour Regulation in Comparative Perspective; ILR Press, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Handy, C. (1990): The Age Of Unreason; Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Massachusetts
Lorenz, E. (1992): Trust and the Flexible Firm- Industrial Relations; University of California) Vol.31, No.3, pp 455 to 456
Schein, E. (1995): Human Resource Practices In Organization Transformation: Are They Culture Specific? Paper presented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Nanyang Technological University Seminar, Singapore
Schregle, J (1981): In search of Alternative Models for Asian Industrial Relations: A Discussion Paper; Agenda for Industrial Relations in Asian Development, Proceedings of the Asian Regional Conference on Industrial Relations, Tokyo, Japan
About the Author
Author is associated with SuperiorPapers.Us which is a global Research Papers and Term Papers Writing Company. If you would like help in Research Papers and Term Paper Help you can visit www.SuperiorPapers.Us
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