Employee Relations in Contemporary Organisations Essay

Employee Relations in Contemporary Organisations - Essay Example The main impetus for employee relations is the need for participation in management and the encouragement of participation as a result of democracy (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004 p276). They state that â€Å"participation is by definition a higher-trust and positive-sum activity where the emphasis is placed on the shared resolution of issues to the mutual benefit and gain of those involved† (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004 p276). This implies that participation is an appropriate means through which both employers and employees can resolve their differences. However, the idea of participation led to the creation of trade unions and the incorporation of trade unionist policies in workplaces (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004). Also, the inclusion of European social policies encouraged bargaining and collective participation. Evolution from the Old Unionism Boxall and Purcell (2003) identify that the old industrial relations of the early 20th century was about control and stability and gaining agr eements to keep the production system going and avoiding disruptive conflicts. These arrangements were not legally enforceable. However, the post-war era ushered in a new period where participation of employees in organizations was done through unions. These unions were representatives of employees through collective bargaining arrangements. Collective bargaining is defined as â€Å"a process through which representation of employers and employee organizations act as joint creators of substantive and procedural rules regulating employment† (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004 p226). In other words, these were situations where important and relevant issues between employers and employees were discussed. The most common 'substantive' issue is the demand for fairer wages. Also, it involved the utilization of a clearly laid down procedure or system whereby employees could assert their demands based on the market value of their collective supply of labor. Most businesses after 1950 had unio ns. The only exceptions were traditionalist organizations that hated unionism and sophisticated paternalists who had management policies which substituted for the unions' presence (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004 p303). However, towards the 21st century, employee relations evolved after the old system of tripartite negotiations collapsed. In the 1980s, trade unionism and collective bargaining fell because of three main things: 1. There was a reduction the proportion of employees covered by collective bargaining arrangements. 2. There was a growing tendency for those arrangements to be local rather than national and 3. The narrowing of the scope of collective bargaining. In 1984, 70% of employees were members of collective bargaining groups. However, in the 1980s, the structures of the trade unions were exposed because they were not capable of dealing with the economic restructuring (Blyton and Turnbull, 2004). In 1990, only 52% of workers were members of collective bargaining groups. By 1 998, this figure had fallen to 40%. Today, the main framework of employee relations include three main elements; science building, problem-solving, ethical systems(Kaufman, 2004 p42).

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to the class of 2012. I greatly appreciate sharing my journey with you. I believe the greater the difficulty, the greater the glory and the glory is what we celebrate tonight. When I was first asked to speak in front of the graduation committee, I said to myself, "I can't do this", "what do I have to say anyway", "I don't have time", "I'm in the middle of midterms" and "it's just something else I have to prepare for." After pondering over all these "excuses," I'm here and I have an answer to my own questions. The reason I'm here is because my achievements are much greater than me. I owe most of my success to the faculty, staff, and students of Shelton Community College. I need to show my gratitude and appreciation to those who helped me get on this stage tonight, something I never thought was possible. Let me explain why. I was born and raised in Southern California in a difficult area, where going to school was not a priority. My high school was composed of gang violence and drive-by shootings. In addition, I was living in an environment where people abused themselves, as well as others. People around me were selling drugs, using drugs, involved in gangs, and dropping out of school. Most of my high school girlfriends were getting pregnant and working the welfare system to make a living. That was what my life was like, then. I first visited Washington state in the summer of '93, at the age of 15. I didn't realize it then, but that visit opened my eyes to what was possible and gave me hope for the future. I settled in Shelton for the summer and joined the STAR program through Shelton High School. I was to go to summer school from 8 a.m. to noon and do a work assignment from 1-4 p.m. Can... ... possible for us to have a dream and has impacted us in many ways. I know we will always remember SCC as a home, a life, and a future, all in one campus. You provided us a quality education in an atmosphere that has encouraged all of us to achieve our educational goals. We are now life-long learners, responsible members of our communities, and are proud citizens of a rapidly changing world. You have provided us an equal access to educational opportunities, maintained high standards of excellence, and promoted a sense of campus community. Therefore, I APPLAUD Shelton Community College for successfully fulfilling its mission with the class of 2006. Go celebrate tonight! Spend time with your families and show them your appreciation. Please remember that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, and that's why it's called the present. Dream big!

Clearly Comics Questions

Clearly Comics Questions Answer the following questions in full sentences. 1. What, can you infer (guess), is the season? How do you know? If I would have to guess, I would say that the season is summer because of the fact that one of them is wearing shorts and a tank top, and the other one is wearing a t shirt. Also they are both outside playing basketball, it seems. 2. How does the boy in the baseball hat react to what the other boy has said about his family? How can you tell?The boy in the basketball hat thinks that the boy is strange because he lives with both his parents, which now a days many families are broken up, with both parents living in different places. You can tell this because of the fact that he just walks away after hearing that the other boy lives in an unbroken home. 3. How can you tell the difference between what is said and what is thought? You can tell this because the words that are said appear as text bubbles but the single thought the boy in the basketball h at thinks is called a thought bubble. . How does the boy who has been left behind feel at the end? How do you know? You can say that he feels lest out about the fact that he is the 1% in that group of friends that has a stable home and his friends push him away for that because they are jealous, this could make the boy feel alone. 5. What can you infer is the reason that the boy with the baseball hat is so surprised that the other boy lives with both parents? Socratic Seminar QuestionsMaybe because the people around the boy with the stable home all have broken families that don’t live together and for the boy with the basketball hat thinks that findings some one that lives with both his parents is something weird to see now a days. 6. Nowadays there are many different types of families. Using your personal experiences and the ideas contained within the comic, write a paragraph about the reasons why families are changing.Now a days, families are changing specially because many parents aren’t ready to have the responsibility of having a child in their life, so at the end of the day, the couple fight between each other because of all the pressure involved in having a child to raise with, for example, low income or not enough maturity in behave of one or both parents. Before two people decide on having a child they should first decide if the relationship is strong enough to hold the weight of the responsibility of having to take care of another life.

Can Bloggers Replace Professional Journalists

When blogs first appeared on the internet, there was a lot of hype and hoopla about how bloggers might somehow replace traditional news outlets. After all, blogs were spreading like mushrooms at the time, and almost overnight there seemed to be thousands of bloggers online, chronicling the world as they saw fit with each new post. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we can now see that blogs were never in a position to replace news organizations. But bloggers, the good ones at least, can supplement the work of professional reporters. And thats where citizen journalism comes in. But lets first deal with why blogs cant replace traditional news outlets. They Produce Different Content The problem with having blogs replace newspapers is that most bloggers dont produce news stories on their own. Instead, they tend to comment on news stories already out there — stories produced by professional journalists. Indeed, much of what you find on many blogs are posts based on, and linking back to, articles from news websites. Professional journalists hit the streets of the communities they cover on a daily basis in order to dig up stories important to the people living there. The stereotypical blogger is someone who sits at their computer in their pajamas, never leaving home. That stereotype isnt fair to all bloggers, but the point is that being a real reporter involves finding new information, not just commenting on information thats already out there. Theres a Difference Between Opinions and Reporting Another stereotype about bloggers is that in place of original reporting, they do little but vent their opinions about the issues of the day. Again, this stereotype isnt totally fair, but many bloggers do spend most of their time sharing their subjective thoughts. Expressing ones opinion is very different from doing objective news reporting. And while opinions are fine, blogs that do little more than editorializing wont satisfy the public hunger for objective, factual information. Theres Immense Value in Reporters Expertise Many reporters, especially those at the largest news organizations, have followed their beats for years. So whether its a Washington bureau chief writing about White House politics or a longtime sports columnist covering the latest draft picks, chances are they can write with authority because they know the subject. Now, some bloggers are experts on their chosen topics as well. But much more are amateur observers who follow developments from afar. Can they write with the same kind of knowledge and expertise as a reporter whose job it is to cover that topic? Probably not. How Can Bloggers Supplement the Work of Reporters? As newspapers downsize into leaner operations using fewer reporters, they are increasingly using bloggers to supplement the content provided on their websites. For instance, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer several years back closed down its printing press and became a web-only news organization. But in the transition the newsroom staff was cut dramatically, leaving the P-I with far fewer reporters. So the P-I website turned to read blogs to supplement its coverage of the Seattle area. The blogs are produced by local residents who know their chosen topic well. Meanwhile, many professional reporters now run blogs hosted on their newspapers websites. They use these blogs too, among other things, complement their daily hard-news reporting.