MGTO 231 Human Resources Management

1. MGTO 231Human Resources Management Employee relations Dr. Kin Fai Ellick WONG

2. Prologue • You may neglect all US specific cases.

3. You may often hear that both employers and employees want to improve their relations • You may also often hear that employers are not satisfied with their employees and employees are not satisfied with their employers • Paradoxical? • What leads to these lose-lose outcomes? • Any way for improvements?

5. What are good employee relations? • Fair and consistent treatment to all employees • Employees are treated as stakeholders • Stakeholders: people who have an interest in a company’s or organizational affairs. • Respect for the individuals • Bi-directional communications • Employee relations representative • Employee relations policy

6. Bi-directional Communications • Employee relations representative: • A member of the HR department • To ensure that company policies are followed • To consult with both supervisors and employees on specific employee relations program

7. Bi-directional Communications • Employee relations policy • It is designed to communicate management’s thinking and practices concerning employee-related matters • Prevent problems in the workplace from becoming more serious

8. Types of information in communications • Facts • Information that can be objectively measured or described • E.g., the cost of computer, salaries • Feelings • Employee’s emotional responses to the decisions made or actions taken by managers or other employees • Rumors • Information that cannot be easily verified and may be widely distributed among employees

10. The communications process within an organization Noise Communication Channel Sender (Encodes Message) Receiver (Decodes Message) Feedback Noise Source: Managing Human Resources, 4th Edition, p.438

11. Communications process within an organization • Sender • who has a message to send to the receiver • Must encode the message and select a communication channel • Words and numbers for facts • Body language or tone of voice for feelings

12. Receiver • Decodes the message and understands its true meaning from sender • Effective communications depending on whether the receiver can decode the message • Feedback • Information sent from receiver back to the sender • Noise • Any irrelevant information

13. Bi-directional communications • Senders and Receivers can be at higher or lower levels • Downward communication • Communication that allows managers to implement their decisions and to influence employees lower in the organizational hierarchy • Upward communication • Communication that allows employees at lower levels to communicate their ideas and feelings to higher-level decision makers

15. How to foster bi-directional communications? • Three types of programs for better communications • Information dissemination programs • Top-down • Employee feedback programs • Bottom up • Employee assistance programs • Bi-direction

16. Information dissemination programs • Information dissemination • The process of making information available to decision makers, wherever they are located • Employees who have access to abundant information are more likely to feel empowered and are better able to participate in decision making

17. Methods of disseminating information • Employee handbook • Sets the tone for the company’s overall employee relations philosophy • Informing both employees and supervisors about company employment policies and procedures and communicating employees’ rights and responsibilities

18. Written communications • Memos • Financial statements • Newsletters • Bulletin boards

19. Audiovisual communications • To disseminate information that goes beyond the printed words • Teleconferencing: the use of audio and video equipment to allow people to participate in meetings even when they are a great distance away from the conference location or one another

20. Electronic communications • Email • Voice mail • ICQ, MSN • Problems of being abused by the employees

21. Informal communications • Information exchanges without a planned agenda that occur informally among employees • Management by walking around (MBWA) • A technique in which managers walk around and talk to employees informally to monitor informal communications, listen to employee grievances and suggestions, and build rapport and morale

22. Other methods • Meetings • Retreats • An extended meeting in which company takes employees to a relaxing location

23. Employee feedback programs • Giving employees a voice in making decision on policy formulation (procedural justice) • Making sure that employees receive due process on any complaints they lodge against managers • Two ways to collect the feedback • Employee attitude surveys • Appeals procedures

24. Employee attitude survey • A formal anonymous survey designed to measure employee likes and dislikes of various aspects of their jobs • Appeals procedure • A procedure that allows employees to voice their reactions to management practices and to challenge management decisions

25. Common management actions appealed by employees • Allocation of overtime work • Safety rule violations • Performance evaluations • Merit pay increases • Specification of job duties

26. Employee assistance program • A company-sponsored program that helps employee cope with personal problems that are interfering with their job performance • Common problems include: alcohol or drug abuse, compulsive gambling, eating disorder • It involves four steps

27. Step 1:identify troubled employee • Self-identification • Supervisor identification • Step 2: EAP counseling • Referral to an EAP counselor • Step 3: Treatment • Step 4: problem solved or employee is terminated

29. A program that rewards employees for their ideas and contributions • Monetary rewards, awards, vacation, etc.

30. To understand some difficulties of using a recognition system, complete the in-class exercise

31. Conclusion • What leads to these lose-lose outcomes? • Communication matters!!!! • Any way for improvements? • Same coding system (encoding-decoding) system • Remove noise • Ensure the availability of the feedback channel