EMPLOYEE RELATION POLICIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY IN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS (A CASE STUDY OF SELECTED HOTELS IN RIVERS STATE)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Employees are among an organization’s most important resources and coined as most valuable assets. The nature and amount of work performed by them have a direct impact on the productivity of an organization. So maintaining healthy employee relations in an organization is a pre-requisite for any organization in order to achieve growth and success. According to CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development) Employee relations is a broad term that incorporates many issues from collective bargaining, negotiations, employment legislation to more recent considerations such as work-life balance, equal opportunities and managing diversity. It comprises of the practices or initiatives for ensuring that Employees are happy and are productive. Employee Relations offers assistance in a variety of ways including employee recognition, policy development and interpretation, and all types of problem solving and dispute resolution. It involves handling the pay–work bargain, dealing with employment practices, terms and conditions of employment, issues arising from employment, providing employees with a voice and communicating with employees. Employee relations is concerned with maintaining employee-employer relation, which contributes to satisfactory productivity, increase in employee morale and motivation Once there was a time when “Employee Relations” meant labour relations that fragmented into Negotiate. Orchestrate. Dictate.

HR professionals helped negotiate collective bargaining agreements. The provisions of the contract defined the relationship between management, unions, and workers. Today, Employee Relations is a much broader concept. It involves maintaining a work environment that satisfies the needs of individual employees and management, improving employee morale, building company culture, conveying expectations. An effective employee relation involves creating and cultivating a motivated and productive workforce. It’s necessary to keep the dynamics of employer-employee relationship in mind. It covers all the relations between employers and employees in industry. Employee relations also includes giving scope for employee participation in management decisions, communications, policies for improving cooperation and control of grievances and minimization of conflicts. People are generally motivated from within, but HR and organization focus should be on what they can do to help foster the type of environment where employees thrive to give their best sustainability. Motivated employees have higher level of work engagement, reduced turnover and better sustainability as compared to disengaged employees. Since the organization success is directly linked with the sustainability of its employees the companies maintaining strong employee relations initiatives will benefit because their workforce is highly motivated to put their best efforts. Hence managing these relationships becomes important for business success, as strong and healthy relationships can lead to greater employee happiness and even increased productivity.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Employee relationships are known to play significant roles in fostering organizational sustainability. Tendencies such as increasing spread of market globalization, new technological developments, the reduction of product life cycle and aggressive completion, are generating high level of environmental changes and uncertainty for organisations of all types (Volberda. 2009; Sanchez. 2015). These circumstances require rapid responses through adaptations of organizational attitude and capabilities, which lead to innovative management approaches and organizational methods (Bueno 2009). Traditional sources of competitive advantage are changing and it is imperative to deploy new strategies to successfully compete under changing external conditions. For example, employee relations and flexibility are emerging as competitive weapons that allow organizations to counteract current market evolution and competitive levels (Ahmed el cil 2009: Volberda. 2009). Regardless o f the specific response adopted by organizations, it is broadly believed that environmental dynamism forces managers to pay increasing attention to management o f the organisation’s social issues (Wright & Snell. 2013). From a management point of view, human resources management activities used by organisations in the new competitive landscape are changing. This can be seen, for example in job descriptions. Nowadays individual contribution to organizational goals is being substituted by team accomplishments.

1.3 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The major purpose of this study is to examine cost control and effective project delivery of construction companies. Other general objectives of the study are:

1. To examine various employee relation policies and how it affects the sustainability of an organization
2. To examine the importance of employee relations in organizational sustainability.
3. To examine the impact of employee relation policies on organizational sustainability.
4. To examine the roles of employees in organizational sustainability.
5. To examine the relationship between employee relation and organizational sustainability.
6. To examine ways of enhancing healthy relationship between employees and employers in an organization.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the various employee relation policies and how does it affects the sustainability of an organization?
2. What is the importance of employee relations in organizational sustainability?
3. What are the impacts of employee relation policies on organizational sustainability?
4. What are the roles of employees in enhancing organizational sustainability?
5. What is the relationship between employee relation and organizational sustainability?
6. What are the ways of enhancing healthy relationship between employees and employers in an organization?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

H₀₁: There is no significant impact of employee relation policies on organizational sustainability.

H₀₂: There is no significant relationship between employee relation and organizational sustainability.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Employee relations have proved to be a significant aspect of improving relationship in the workplace. In addition, Employee relations set the rules and regulations that govern the employment relationship. The study was set out to ensure that employee relations in the workplace are improved and the employer and employee agree and work together towards achieving the organization goals. The study sought to establish fundamental ways of improving organization sustainability by improving employee relations strategies. It is hoped that findings of the study will be found helpful by service organizations of study to improve the relationship between their employees and the management of the organizations. It is also hoped that the study will introduce appropriate ways of ensuring employee satisfaction in the organization, ensuring that all employees related issues are resolved and the overall employee sustainability is improved. Finally, this research added to existing literature on influence of employee relations on organizational sustainability in service organizations. It also formed the basis upon which other studies will be done.

1.7    SCOPE OF THE STUDY 

The study is based on employee relation policies and organizational sustainability in service organizations in Rivers state.

1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY

Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1. DEFINITION OF TERMS

Employee relations: The relationship between employee and employer that sets the rules which govern employment relationship.

Organisation: A firm, an enterprise or an institution that provides employment opportunity.

Policy: Adequacy or inadequacy of a system. It is management structure in relation to goals and objectives which can be harmful or beneficial to the system.