Strategic Human Resource Management

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Strategic Human Resource Management

Question one

Labor unions are organizations that represent the rights of the employees in any matters regarding to the employee’s employment terms. The strategic human resources management is the goals set by the human resources department for the better employee productivity in the company. For a long time, these two groups have been fighting making the general productivity of the employees in the company low. For this reason, the two groups need to work together so that they can improve the employee’s relationships with the company management to improve productivity (Bratton & Gold, 2003).

The management of the company should embrace the unions by ensuring that they consultations incase of a dispute. One of the strategic human resource goals is to increase the output levels of production in the company. Many companies in Canada are supporting the employees when they join these unions. Additionally, the management of these companies is not sideling the employees for joining these unions (Silva, 2011). Instead, the management is performing collective bargaining with the trade unions so that they can improve the employees output to the company. This way the management reduces the disputes that might occur resulting to poor productivity or shut down. When doing this, the management of the company has ensured that their strategic management goals are met.

In order for organizations to work with trade unions, they must be flexible and committed. In the past, it was discovered that many organizations were not committed to the trade unions. They only worked with them due to laws stipulated by the government. For instance, in Canada, management of the organizations only allowed to join the trade unions because it was a law set by the government (Silva, 2011). However, over the past few years, the management of these companies has realized that healthy relationships with employees are bearing fruits. Therefore, for this strong relationship, management is committing to work with the unions by being flexible when bargaining with the unions.

On the other hand, the unions need to prepare effectively for the purposes of representing their members in a strategic human resources environment. They work in the interest of their members. Therefore, they should do anything possible not worsen the situation. In Canada, the unions have realized that, in a strategic human resource environment, the best way to solve dispute is collective bargaining rather than creating strikes (Zumeta, Kennedy & Cockman, 2000). Henceforth, the unions prepare for consultations that will bear fruits for all their members in the strategic human resource environment.

Lastly, the unions are preparing themselves by having a flexible mind. This is because technology is changing at a fast globally. Additionally, the current business trends are also changing. In this case, in a strategic human resources environment, it is required that every employee should be ready to embrace change for the purposes of improving the company and the employees (Zumeta, Kennedy & Cockman, 2000). In this case, the unions have to be flexible enough and allow organizations to effect change with the current trends in the companies globally. This will help both their members and the company.

Question two

Emotional labor can be described as the process where employers expect the employees to portray certain emotions towards the customers. For instance, in a hotel, the employer expects the waiter is expected to smile so that he or she can attract more customers. This strategy is set to attract certain consumers. Therefore, it is a technique of consumer targeting. It has been argued that this form of labor is sometimes discriminatory since it infringes some rights. On the other hand, it is argued that it does not since it is promoting the company’s business operation (Bratton & Gold, 2003).

Those people who support emotional labor argue that it does not affect the rights of employees. This is because it is aimed at attracting the customers and not necessarily discriminating the employee. For instance, if the employees in a hotel are told to smile at the black customers, it is not that they are discriminating the rest of the customer; it is because they have seen that blacks are the potential customers. This means that the employer is targeting the black customers (Brennan & Brannan, 2005). Additionally, it is not against the rights of the employee since it is not affecting the employee.

They also say that the employees tend to create positive relations with customers. In this case, the employee creates a behavioral conduct towards the employees. The employee is regarded as a respectable person by the consumer due to emotional labor. If the employee is to use his or her normal emotions, he or she might be an ignorant person. This would create a negative attitude towards the customer. Additionally, it would create hatred between the employees and customers. Therefore, emotional labor helps in the improvement of the employee’s behavior, which is an advantage.

On the contrary, there are those people who argue that emotional labor infringes the rights of employees. For instance, there are certain jobs are given to women. In these jobs, the women are expected to attract the men by behavior in a sexual nature. This is where they have to dress in a sexual and behave as if they are attracted to the men sexually. In this case, the women might feel that their rights are infringed. This is because they are being used as sex objects and yet they are equal to the men (Flett, 2008). This shows that there is discrimination towards the rights of employees.

Secondly, they argue that when the employee goes an extra mile in showing emotional labor there are no rewards. Many employers tell the employees to use a certain code of conduct so that they can attract the customers. However, there is no employer who promises the employees an increment in their salaries if they follow the code of conduct. Additionally, when the employees portray these emotions they go an extra mile. This makes them be exhausted as compared to when they are not portraying any emotions (Schnall, Dobson, & Rosskam, 2009). Therefore, the employees are overworked without an increase in their salary

References

Bratton, J. & Gold, J. (2003). Human Resource Management. Theory and Practice.New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.

Brennan, E., & Brannan, A. (January 01, 2005). Participation in the Paid Labor Force by Caregivers of Children With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 13, 4, 237-246.

Flett, C. V. (2008). What men don’t tell women about business: Opening up the heavily guarded alpha male playbook. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.

Schnall, P. L., Dobson, M., & Rosskam, E. (2009). Unhealthy work: Causes, consequences, cures. Amityville, N.Y: Baywood Pub. Co.

Silva, S. R. (2011). Human Resources Management, Industrial Relations and Achieving Management Objectives. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labor Organization.

Zumeta, Z. D., Kennedy, M. & Cockman, M. A. (2000). Collaborative Labor Negociations: A Tool for Organizational Change. The Collaborative Work Place. Retrieved from: http://collaborateatwork.com/resources/iaflabor.php