Today, at the beginning of the 21st century, the world is submerged in a wide range of demographic trends which have the potential to radically change the demographic, cultural and ethical mixture of the population in many countries within just a few decades. Top managers often say that their company’s people are its most important asset. In a tight job market and a global economy a company that puts people first – regardless of their race, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, or physical disability – wins. Companies, especially big multinational players which have to deal with these changes, are growingly forced to react. Employees, once a homogenous group in many countries, are increasingly diverse and need to be integrated within and into working environments. Diversity can present an immense source of opportunities but it can also mean the opposite, a big threat. Diversity management is a managerial approach in response Continue reading
Human Resource Management
Human Resource Management (HRM) is branch of management that deals with people at work, it is concerned with the human dimensions of management of the organization. As organization consists of people, therefore acquiring them, developing their skills, providing them motivation in order to attain higher goal and ensuring that the level of commitment is maintained are the important activities.
Wage Issues under Collective Bargaining
Almost all contract negotiations pivot upon, and most grievances and arbitration procedures thus ultimately deal with, four major areas : (1) wages and issues that can be directly related to wages; (2) employee benefits or economic “fringe” supplements to the basic wage rate; (3) “institutional” issues that deal with the rights and duties of employers and trade unions; and (4) “administrative” clauses that treat such subjects as work rules and job tenure. Probably no issues under collective bargaining continue to give rise to more difficult problems than do wages and wage-related subjects. When negotiations reach a stalemate, they frequently do so because management and trade union representatives are not able to find a formula to resolve wage disputes. And wage controversies are, for that matter, by far the leading overt cause of strikes; Over the past decade, for example, they have accounted for over 40 percent of all such work Continue reading
Workers Participation In Management – Definition, Features, Objectives, and Importance
Workers participation in management is an essential ingredient of Industrial democracy. The concept of workers participation in management is based on Human Relations approach to Management which brought about a new set of values to labor and management. Traditionally the concept of Workers Participation in Management refers to participation of non-managerial employees in the decision-making process of the organization. Workers’ participation is also known as ‘labour participation’ or ‘employee participation’ in management. In Germany it is known as co-determination while in Yugoslavia it is known as self-management. The International Labour Organization has been encouraging member nations to promote the scheme of Workers’ Participation in Management. Workers’ participation in management implies mental and emotional involvement of workers in the management of Enterprise. It is considered as a mechanism where workers have a say in the decision-making. Definitions of Workers Participation In Management According to Keith Davis, Participation refers to the mental Continue reading
Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining
In approaching collective bargaining, a trade union has series of goals, some economic and some non-economic, not all of which can be won from the employer at one time. Further more, a number of the goals are in conflict with each other. Therefore, trade union decides to give priority to these goals, and for giving priority union may classify the goals. There are many ways of classifying the goals, trade union seek to achieve through collective bargaining. The two categories used here are economic and non-economic, they may also be classified according to the members as individuals opposed to the unions as an institution, according to leader versus rank and file, or according to intra-union interest groups, such as the young against the old or one group of skill against another. It follows, then, that the priority ranking of the demands by the union represents a compromise between the different Continue reading
Coordination – Meaning, Definition, Features and Importance
Although Henri Fayol, James Mooney, Ordway Tead, Lyndall F. Urwick, Luther Gullick and Louis A. Allen, all consider coordination as a separate function of management, it seems more accurate to treat coordination as the essence of managing because the achievement of harmony of individual efforts towards the accomplishment of group goals is the very purpose of management. Coordination is inherent in all managerial functions. Each of the managerial functions is an exercise in coordination. A manager achieves coordination through the management process and co-ordination is the outcome of managerial functions. In fact, coordination makes planning more purposeful, organization better-knit and control more regulative, it is the key to the process of management. Coordination is the result of the process of management. Meaning and Definition of Coordination Coordination implies an orderly pattern or arrangement of group efforts to ensure unity of action in pursuit of common objectives. Continue reading
Importance of Work-Life Flexibility
Over the past decade, the phrase work-life balance has been commonplace but in recent years, the term workplace flexibility has been gaining more popularity. Work-life flexibility is becoming more and more common these days as some employees, especially millennials and other younger workers, prefer work-life flexibility and not work-life balance. Work-life balance basically implies that staff members should not be totally consumed by work responsibilities. Business organizations that have adopted this workplace ideal tend to have generous, albeit still clear, vacation policies. Such companies encourage their staff members to work the normal 9-5 work schedule with very little flexibility. In addition, they discourage workaholics. On the other hand, work-life flexibility entails providing employees with flexible work arrangements or flexible schedules that allow them to have some flexibility so that they can easily manage the increasing overlap of life and work. With work-life flexibility, employees would be able to have flexible Continue reading