Employee Relations November 2005 - CIPD

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONS November 2005 SECTION A - Case Study Note: It is permissible to make assumptions by adding to the case study details given below provided the essence of the case study is neither changed nor undermined in any way by what is added. You are the Personnel Officer at Tinpot Enterprises, a retail outlet which has grown in sales and market share. It employs ten people in managerial grades, 50 in administrative and technical grades, 25 in secretarial/clerical grades and 250 shop assistants in ten departments. It is viewed as a good company for which to work. There is a waiting list for jobs with the company. The management style is paternal and Tinpot Enterprises prides itself in that it looks after its workforce from ‘the womb to the tomb’. It has always operated progressive personnel policies, dealt with employee complaints fairly and speedily and paid superior pay and fringe benefits relative to its competitors and other companies in its locality. It invests a significant amount of time in informing, and consulting with, the workforce. It has always been a non-union company believing it can look after the interests of its employees better than any trade union. Although there was some interest amongst employees in joining a trade union a few years ago, this came to nothing. However, the company knows that a trade union(s) would see gaining recognition from it as a great coup. Your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is aware that a statutory procedure whereby trade unions can gain recognition from employers now exists. However, the CEO is adamant that the company should remain non-union and that no demands for representation by union(s) should arise from the employees. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) knows you have a knowledge and understanding of the current published research on union recognition and of the experiences of many other organisations in dealing with union recognition claims. You have been asked by the CEO to: 1. Produce a strategy to enable the company to continue to remain nonunionised. 2. Provide, drawing on appropriate research, a justification for your specific employee relations proposals. 3. Explain how you will ensure your plan is capable of implementation. You are advised to spend 50% of your time on (1) a further 25% on (2) and the remaining 25% on (3). 5709
EMPLOYEE RELATIONS November 2005 SECTION B Answer SEVEN of the ten questions in this section. To communicate your answer more clearly, you may use whatever methods you wish, for example diagrams, flow charts, so long as you provide an explanation of each. 1. Your line manager has heard that the policies of the government can influence the behaviour of the players in employee relations. He asks you to explain the main roles of the UK Government in employee relations. Outline, and justify, your reply. 2. Your Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is a member of the Employee Relations Committee of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). He has just been nominated to be a member of the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederation of Europe (UNICE) Negotiating Committee to attempt to negotiate a Framework Agreement on minimum standards of training provision for all employees in the European Union. He is unsure what all this will involve him in. The CEO turns to you for help and guidance. What would you tell him? 3. You overhear some of your managerial colleagues being critical of the Personnel Department. They are saying we do not really need a Personnel Department to manage disciplinary matters. It is best outsourced to lawyers. Drawing on published research and wider organisational practice, how would you counter their views? 4. Your CEO believes organisations cannot gain added value from joining an employers’ association. You have been called by her to a meeting to discuss this issue. Your views are different to the CEO but you know she is open to persuasion. Formulate, with evidence, the case you would put to her. 5. Your organisation’s senior management has decided that competitive advantage will lie in achieving continuous improvement in the quality of product/service provided. There is, however, concern amongst senior managers as to the employee relations implications of this strategy. Drawing on appropriate evidence, what advice would you give to the senior managers? 6. You are to present a paper to a meeting of non HR/personnel management colleagues on the importance of management style in determining an employee relations strategy. Drawing on contemporary research, outline the content of your reply. PLEASE TURN OVER 5709
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Employee Relations November 2005 - CIPD

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