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PART FIVE EMPLOYEE AND LABOR RELATIONS
C H A P T E R
T w e l v e
Maintaining Positive Employee
Relations
12
Lecture Outline
I. Employee Relations
II. Employee Relations Programs for Building and
Maintaining Positive Employee Relations
A. Ensuring Fair Treatment
B. Improving Employee Relations through
Communications Programs
C. Develop Employee Recognition/Relations
Programs
D. Use Employee Involvement Programs
III. The Ethical Organization
A. Ethics and Employee Rights
B. What Shapes Ethical Behavior at Work?
C. The Person (What Makes Bad Apples?)
D. Which Ethical Situations Make for Ethically
Dangerous (Bad Cases) Situations?
E. What Are the “Bad Barrels”?—The Outside Factors
That Mold Ethical Choices
F. Steps Managers Take to Create More Ethical
C. Discipline without Punishment
V. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers
A. How Companies Become “Best Companies to
Work For”
B. The “Best Companies to Work For”
C. SAS: Great Benefits, Trust, and Work–Life
Balance
D. Google: Happiness and People Analytics
E. Fed Ex: Guaranteed Fair Treatment
F. A “Best Company” Human Resources Philosophy
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ANNOTATED OUTLINE
I. Employee Relations
Employee relations is the activity that involves establishing and maintaining
the positive employee-employer relationships that contribute to satisfactory
II. Employee Relations Programs for Building and Maintaining Positive
Employee Relations
A. Ensuring Fair Treatment Unfair treatment reduces morale, poisons
trust, increases stress, and negatively impacts employee relations and
performance. Fair treatment reflects concrete actions such as
“employees are treated with respect” and “employees are treated fairly.”
1. Bullying Bullying involves three things: imbalance of power, intent
B. Improving Employee Relations through Communications Programs
Employers use various communications tools to bolster their employee
relations efforts. For example, an employer can use an open-door policy
to encourage communication between employees and managers, an
employee handbook to provide basic employment information, and the
website, email or hard-copy memoranda to communicate other
information of interest.
1. Using Organizational Climate Surveys Employee attitude, morale,
or climate surveys play a part in many firms’ employee relations
efforts.
C. Develop Employee Recognition/Relations Programs Opportunities for
1. Using Employee Involvement Teams Suggestion teams are
temporary teams whose members work on specific analytical
assignments, such as how to cut costs or raise productivity.
Problem-solving teams identify and research work processes and
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V. Employee Engagement Guide for Managers
A. How Companies Become “Best Companies to Work For” Through using programs
B. The “Best Companies to Work For” Several organizations publish these lists.
C. SAS: Great Benefits, Trust, and Work–Life Balance Has an extraordinary
D. Google: Happiness and People Analytics Modeled their practices after SAS. Uses
E. Fed Ex: Guaranteed Fair Treatment Builds trust through communications. Uses a
F. A “Best Company” Human Resources Philosophy There is no guarantee that what
Employee relations
The activity that involves establishing and maintaining the
positive employee-employer relationships that contribute to
satisfactory productivity, motivation, morale, and discipline,
and to maintaining a positive, productive, and cohesive work
environment.
Fair treatment
Reflects concrete actions such as “employees are treated with
respect,” and “employees are treated fairly.”
Procedural justice
Refers to just procedures in the allocation of rewards or
discipline, in terms of the actual procedures being even-
handed and fair.
Distributive justice
Refers to a system of distributing rewards and discipline in
which the actual results or outcomes are even-handed and
fair.
Social responsibility
Refers to the extent to which companies should and do
channel resources toward improving one or more segments of
society other than the firm’s owners or stockholders.
KEY TERMS
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INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
12–9. Working individually or in groups, interview managers or administrators at your
employer or college in order to determine the extent to which the employer or
college endeavors to build two-way communication, and the specific types of
programs used. Do the managers think they are effective? What do the employees
(or faculty members) think of the programs in use at the employer or college? (LO
12.2: Discuss at least four methods for managing employee relations.)Encourage
12–10. Working individually or in groups, obtain copies of the student handbook for your
college and determine to what extent there is a formal process through which
students can air grievances. Based on your contacts with other students, has it
been an effective grievance process? Why or why not? (LO 12.4: Explain what is
12–11. Working individually or in groups, determine the nature of the academic discipline
process in your college. Do you think it is effective? Based on what you read in
this chapter, would you recommend any modifications? (LO 12.4: Explain what is
12–12. You need to select a nanny for your or a relative’s child, and want someone ethical.
Working individually or in groups, what would you do to help ensure that you
ended up hiring someone ethical? (LO 12.3: Explain what is meant by ethical
12–13. Choose two companies, one (such as software firm SAS) that you believe is known
for outstanding employee relations, and one that is known for less harmonious
employee relations. Using any sources available, write a two-page report laying out
the factors that you think explain the differences between the two companies’
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become ‘Best Companies to Work For’?”)Student answers will vary but the key elements
12–14. For this activity, you will need the documents titled (1) “HRCI PHR® and SPHR®
Certification body of Knowledge” and (2) “About the Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM) Body of Competency and KnowledgeTM Model and
Certification Exams.” Your instructor can obtain these documents from the
Pearson Instructor Resource Center and pass them on to you. These documents
list the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI or SHRM certification exam
needs to have in each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic
Management, and Workforce Planning). In groups of several students, do four
things: (1) review the HRCI and/or SHRM documents; (2) identify the material in
this chapter that relates to the required knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write four
multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable
for inclusion in the HRCI exam; and (4) if time permits, have someone from your
team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so the students in other
teams can take each other’s exam questions. (Covers all learning objectives) The
Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at
12–15. Explain what is meant by ethical behavior. (LO 12.3: Explain what is meant by ethical
behavior.)
12–16. What is employee relations? Why is it important and what would you do to improve
the employee relations in a company where relations were bad? (LO 12.1: Define
HR in Action Case Incident 1: Enron, Ethics, and Organizational Culture
12–17. Based on what you read in this chapter, summarize in one page or less how you
would explain Enron’s ethical meltdown. (LO 12.3: Explain what is meant by ethical
12–18. It is said that when one securities analyst tried to confront Enron’s CEO about the
firm’s unusual accounting statements, the CEO publicly used vulgar language to
describe the analyst, and that Enron employees subsequently thought doing so
was humorous. If true, what does that say about Enron’s ethical culture? (LO 12.3:
APPLICATION EXERCISES