An Introduction to Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition

Quizzes

Self-test Questions

1. Name six essential features of a good disciplinary procedure, as laid down by ACAS.
2. Under the European Works Council Directive, what is the size of a company that triggers the requirement to set up a works council?
3. The current qualifying period of employment that allows a dismissed employee to claim unfair dismissal is two years. True or false?
4. What are the four possible approaches to the bargaining relationship with employees examined by Guest?
5. Trade union membership in the UK is currently at its highest recorded level. True or false?
6. Give two examples each of gross misconduct and misdemeanours.
7. Give six examples of measures of engagement in an organisation.
8. If your organisation intended to declare 85 redundancies, what would be the length of time during which, at law, you would have to consult with employees before implementing those redundancies?
9. What are the essential features of a ‘partnership agreement’?
10. What is ‘Kaizen’?

Answers

1. The ACAS advice is given in full in Chapter 4.

2. More than 1,000 employees in one EU member state or more than 150 employees in each of two or more EU member states.

3. True. The qualifying period was raised to two years in 2012.

4. New Realism

• Traditional Collectivism
• Individualised HRM
• The Black Hole

5. False. Membership has declined substantially since the peak of 12 million in 1979 and stood at around 7.3 million in 2010.

6. Table 4.4 sets out a number of examples.

7. Select six from:

• Understanding of organisational purpose
• Commitment to key competencies, such as customer satisfaction, quality improvement, etc.
• Satisfaction in the job they carry out
• Satisfaction with the rewards
• Plans on staying or leaving the organisation
• Willingness to go the extra mile
• Willingness to put forward new ideas and to accept changes in their job and the organisation
• Proud to work for the organisation
• Agreeing to promote the organisation to their friends and recommend people to work for the organisation
• Views on ‘fairness’ within the organisation
• Degree of trust in senior management and their own manager
• Belief that the organisation is a ‘happy’ or ‘fun’ place to work
• Belief that the organisation cares about its employees
• Belief that the organisation is serious about equal opportunities and diversity

8. 30 days.

9. In return for formal recognition and bargaining rights and elements of job security, unions agree to a commitment to work together to make the business more successful and to encourage their members to take a full part in the involvement process.

10. A system imported from the Japanese which puts obligations on and encourages employees to come up with ideas that can improve the way their work is carried out and increase efficiency, quality and other measures.

Annotated Links

The ACAS website, which includes their publication lists, some of which are available to download at no charge. http://www.acas.org.uk

The TUC website, giving information on union activities and viewpoints on legislation. http://www.tuc.org.uk

Incomes Data Services website including many articles from IDS reports, Studies and Briefs. http://www.incomesdata.co.uk

See CIPD podcast 37 at http://www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts/_articles/_employeeengagement37.htm?WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished

Annotated Further Reading Guide

Bach, S. (2012) Shrinking the State or the Big Society? Industrial Relations Journal, 43(5): 399–415.

An overview of the effect of government policies on employee relations.

CIPD (2011) Employee Relations at Capgemini UK. Partnership, but not as we know it. CIPD.

Case study looking at a partnership strategy.

CIPD (2012) Managing Employee Relations in Difficult Times, CIPD Research Report.

Colling, T. and Terry, M. (2010) Industrial Relations, Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. Wiley.

Gilbert, P. and Foley, P. (2012) Ways to Improve Engagement Using Employee Surveys. Workspan, October, 55(10): 60–64.

Hann, D. (2010) The Continuing Tensions between European Works Councils and Trade Unions. European Review of Labour and Research, November, 16(4): 525–540.

A detailed case review of the financial sector in Germany and the UK.

Holmes, E., Lilico, A. and Flanagan, T. (2010) Modernising Industrial Relations. Policy Exchange.

A non-academic approach to changing current UK IR systems and practice.

IDS (2012) Achieving a Stoppage-free Olympic Park Build, IDS Pay Report 1089, January, 15–17.

An interesting case study showing how the experience gained on Heathrow Terminal 5 was successfully transferred to the Olympic Park site.

IDS (2012) Employee Engagement Surveys. Incomes Data Services.

Designing surveys, interpreting results and follow-up action. Includes a selection of case studies including William Hill, Harrods and Apex hotels.

McKintosh, S. (2012) Empowering Employees to be Social Ambassadors at PepsiCo. Strategic Communication Management, June, 16(5): 26–29.

This case shows that employees and their use of social media are vital ingredients of engagement strategy.

Tucker, M. (2012) Make Managers Responsible. HR Magazine, March, 57(3): 75–78.

A US survey giving examples of how small companies make their managers accountable for engagement.

Truss, C. (2012) Lens on Engagement. CIPD, August.

An examination of employee engagement themes.

Williams, S. and Adam-Smith, D. (2010) Contemporary Employment Relations, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.

Concise and critical approach to understanding employment relations.

ACAS publish a number of short advisory booklets on the following subjects:

• Employee communication and consultation
• The Company Handbook
• Employment policies
• Redundancy handling
• Supervision

For details of bargaining processes, read:

Colling, T. and Terry, M. (eds) (2010) Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. Blackwell.

Gennard, J. and Judge, G. (2010) Managing Employee Relations. CIPD.

For more analysis of employee engagement, see:

Holbeche, L. and Matthews, G. (2012) Engaged: Unleashing your Organisation’s Potential Through Employee Engagement. John Wiley.

McGee, R. and Rennie, A. (2011) Employee Engagement. CIPD toolkit. CIPD

Robertson-Smith, G. and Markwick, C. (2009) Employee Engagement: A Review of Current Thinking. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies.

Walker, S. (2012) Employee Engagement and Communication Research. Kogan Page

For an example of an employee recognition scheme at Vauxhall Motors and other organisations, plus an examination of the John Lewis Partnership employee involvement scheme, see:

Stredwick, J. (2008). Cases in Reward Management. Lulu.

A comprehensive coverage of employment law is given in:

Daniels, K. (2008) Employment Law, 2nd ed. CIPD.

Lewis, D. and Sergeant, M. (2011). Essentials of Employment Law, 11th ed. CIPD.

(These are both updated regularly.)

You will find ongoing updates in:

Incomes Data Briefs, published fortnightly by Incomes Data Services.

Industrial Relations Law Bulletin, published fortnightly by Industrial Relations Services.

Extra Case Studies

Case 1

How an in-depth statistical analysis of employee opinion survey results boosted engagement at Barclays

The recent research at Barclays, supported by employee engagement, well-being and resilience specialists Robertson Cooper, illustrates the importance of ensuring that positive engagement is underpinned by well-being.

Barclays’ approach is centred on a model with the aim of ensuring high, and sustainable, levels of employee engagement. The following three elements are designed to translate employee engagement into better performance:

• Commitment – employees’ attachment to the organisation, both a rational cognitive attachment and an emotional one, which translates into discretionary effort behaviours.
• Performance support – a local work environment that enables productivity and success.
• Well-being – a climate that promotes employees’ physical and emotional health, where mutual support is the norm and there is respect for the needs of the person.

Unearthing the real picture

Barclays carries out well-established, regular engagement surveys, which are run across its business units. The results of these exceed sector norms and also compare favourably to a global high-performance norm group. But, at the same time, qualitative data were also being collected, and the findings from these sources reflected some concerns not exposed by the existing survey.

The bank also wanted to explore the reasons behind staff turnover and absence levels. Barclays has an excellent reputation as an employer but there were concerns that some good people leave before fulfilling their potential. It was hoped that better understanding of well-being would provide some new insights to help retain the best people. While sickness absence was not at overly high levels for the sector, there was a desire to more fully investigate the links with well-being.

Robertson Cooper’s ASSET survey tool was employed to look more closely into the state of employee well-being. The survey asked not only whether or not certain workplace issues were present, but also how troubled by them the employees were. For example, long hours may be a factor that people are comfortable with, while their relationship with their line manager might be unbearable. Tackling the first will therefore not result in any great improvements, but addressing the second will have a dramatic positive impact.

An initial pilot project was implemented across a number of areas within two of Barclays’ main business units. An online survey was made available to employees in these areas for completion over a one-month period, and the results were then collated and analysed.

The results

The ASSET pilot confirmed generally high and positive commitment and engagement levels. The survey showed that, while engagement levels accounted for about 16 per cent of the variation in productivity levels, this increased to 24 per cent when psychological well-being was included.

A closer examination revealed first that, although figures were good, there were significant differences between business areas on some aspects of well-being, including: control; balanced workload; job security and change; and job conditions. Recognising this allowed Barclays to tailor any action plans to address specific well-being-related issues in different business units and areas.

Second, relationships were revealed between the results from the ASSET survey and sickness absence levels and performance data. The most significant correlations with sickness absence were with the following items in the ‘job conditions’ scale:

• Work being too closely monitored.
• The nature of work being dull and repetitive.
• The nature of work being unlikely to change.

A large number of respondents were from contact/call centres, where these aspects of the job are particularly prevalent. Often it is ‘burn-out’ that is equated with sickness absence, as continuous high levels of pressure result in stress and emerge as physical and/or mental ill health. In this case, it is ‘rust-out’ (boredom) that is more likely to be the source of the problem. This illustrates the need to ensure that work is challenging; this can be just as important for well-being as feeling supported and having sufficient breaks.

Many large organisations make a concerted effort to manage change and enable people to adapt, but it is always worth considering whether or not some employees may be bored as a result of repetitive work and too little change. Barclays can now reconsider job design, or possibly recruitment processes, to improve the nature of the environment and to increase the likelihood of an accurate job/person match. This will also help its goal of improving retention levels.

Brand promise

Finally, the survey results also yielded evidence of the relationship between perceived levels of autonomy and brand advocacy. It seems that ensuring that employees feel empowered to make a difference, and are given the space to do so, means that they are more likely to speak and feel positively about the organisation.

The likely explanation for this is that a strong sense of control inspires a belief that one has the scope to deliver the brand promise to customers. In turn, this can reinforce the extent to which one identifies with the brand on an emotional level.

Concepts such as the satisfaction mirror show that positive interactions at the customer interface strengthen positive emotions for both the customer and the service provider. As well as improving the experience of both client and employee, this is a win-win situation, as it is likely to generate a stronger attachment to the brand for both parties.

Barclays has placed well-being in the core of its people strategy and recognises that, to sustain high levels of engagement, employees have to feel healthy and productive with a strong sense of purpose in relation to their work. The benefits of this can prove to be far reaching for the organisation in terms of improved and sustained employee satisfaction and engagement, as well as providing demonstrable business benefits in areas such as customer satisfaction.

The project has demonstrated that understanding engagement and underlying well-being can provide a deeper level of insight into the drivers of employee performance and behaviour.

Source: Tinline, G. and Hodgins, H. (2012) A Closer Look at Employee Opinion Survey Results Boosts Engagement at Barclays. Personnel Today, 11 April.

Case 2

The role of mediation in resolving conflict at East Sussex council

Mediation is a key part of the government’s plans for employment law reform. It hopes that, by referring all employment disputes to mediation, it will reduce the number of tribunals that take place. However, it needn’t look far to see a successful mediation service already in action. Leatham Green, assistant director of HR at East Sussex County Council, talks to Personnel Today about how mediation has transformed the Council’s dispute resolution process.

While the number of disputes at East Sussex County Council was always small compared with the size of its workforce, the operational and emotional impact of dealing with them was significant. ‘We spend months, if not years, in some cases looking into grievances and dignity at work complaints, and at the end of it nobody is happy. So it was about whether or not there was a better way of living,’ says Green.

A formal dispute took an average of 32 days for an HR adviser to deal with, with a similar amount of time invested by line managers, legal advisers and trade union representatives. These disputes also had a notable effect on the Council’s reputation, levels of sickness absence and staff turnover.

Mediation service launched

In 2008, the Council launched an internal mediation service with the aim of settling such disputes in a way that left those involved feeling happier, and cutting down on the time and money that went into the formal dispute process. ‘Mediation takes place over a maximum of three days. That includes the prep time, the actual day and the follow up,’ Green explains. ‘It’s kind of a no-brainer really.’ He adds: ‘The time it took to do it and the investment were more about the cultural change and the behavioural shift rather than the actual doing, which was relatively straightforward.’

Mediation is now offered to any employee involved in a dispute but they are not forced to take it. If they want to take out a formal grievance instead, they can, and many still do. Green estimates that the proportion is around 70/30 in favour of formal procedures. Despite this, the number of formal workplace disputes has fallen by 47 per cent since the launch of the Council’s internal mediation service. Green warns, however, that, due to the culture change that has to take place, mediation is not a quick fix. ‘It’s a slow burner rather than a revolution,’ he says.

Getting the message across

A core challenge that the HR team faced was getting the message across that mediation could be as robust as formal dispute procedures. ‘We have had issues with some trade union colleagues and managers saying: “I’m in a dispute and it’s caused me a lot of angst and grief, I don’t want it resolved in a day” and that’s because they have so much emotional connection with it that it doesn’t feel like it could be solved that quickly,’ Green explains.

However, the Council made an effort to make sure trade unions were part of the process. The initiative, which saw the Council win Personnel Today’s first ever award for Innovation in Dispute Resolution, sponsored by mediation services provider TCM, was thought up in a ‘cup of coffee chat’ with their trade union lead, Tony Watson from Unison. ‘Tony had said, because he comes from a social working background where mediation is used a lot in family courts, that there is this way of doing things which could translate easily. It came, as many great things do, from chatting in a non-confrontational environment,’ Green says.

‘They were involved from that conversation, before we’d pitched the idea at all, so they did feel very strongly connected to it.’ Union colleagues were also involved in delivering mediation at the Council, alongside the HR team and legal advisers. Green explains: ‘Because we use unions to mediate, there’s no hidden agenda and they’re involved in the network of how we develop the service and improve it. We give them commissions because there are some very highly skilled trade union officials and we can make use of them from an organisational perspective.

‘Certainly, from the feedback I get from organisations that haven’t brought in the trade unions and given them that sense of trust, confidence and transparency, it doesn’t work so well and it isn’t as effectively embedded into their operation.’

Role of unions is crucial

He adds that the trade union member is crucial in helping the individual to ‘take that leap of faith’ and use mediation instead of the formal procedures. The union involvement also helped Green get backing from the Council leaders when implementing the mediation service. Due to the political nature of the environment in which he was working, it was a huge issue whether the unions were going to fight the initiative or would get on board. ‘The fact they were on board helped us to get cross-party buy-in,’ says Green. ‘I was very fortunate with the leader of the Council; he is very open to testing something.’

The Council use a number of methods to raise awareness for the mediation service. It sends out email alerts, messages with pay slips and posts stories on its Intranet. While confidentiality has to be maintained, the team will link stories to events within the organisation, such as using case studies of those who have returned to work through mediation after being off with work-related stress.

Between 2008 and 2011, 150 cases were successfully resolved through mediation at the Council without further intervention being required. The service has reaped an array of rewards for the Council on an initial investment of £25,000, which it recouped within one month. Savings were made because fewer cases were going through the formal dispute process, with the cost to resolve an average mediation case at the Council coming in at £2,400, compared with £12,500 for the formal grievance service.

Positive results

Alongside this, the Council benefited from productivity savings, the return to work of a number of people on long-term sickness absence and a more positive employer brand. Green comments: ‘The feedback that’s come from trade unions as well as focus groups is that staff believe we’ve got a genuine desire to address conflict and that we haven’t set out to upset them as an organisation.’

As a result of the success of the mediation service, the Council has supported the introduction of mediation at other public-sector employers, such as Westminster City Council and the South East Probation Service, while Jaguar has used the Council as a case study to develop its own policy. However, he says that the government has not yet examined the Council’s success story as part of its drive to make mediation an integral part of resolving employee disputes.

‘I would hope that they would want to make use of what is going on, but nobody from the government’s network has called me to see what we are doing that they could perhaps use, which I found a little bit disappointing because we’ve been working on this since 2007 in a government environment and got it to work.’ He adds that, in order to convince organisations of the benefits of mediation, the government will need to share the stories of those who have done it successfully.

However, Green is grateful for the recognition that the Council received for its efforts on mediation at the Personnel Today Awards. After six years of being shortlisted for, but not winning, various awards, Green says winning the award for dispute resolution was well worth the wait.

Source: Chamberlain, L. (2012) Resolving Conflicts through Mediation at East Sussex Council. Personnel Today, 29 March.