Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
RELATIONS
Key Players
Approaches to IR,
Impact of Globalization to IR
Key Issues in IIRs
International Trade Union
Social Dumping
Key Players
Employees
Employee
Government
Collective Bargaining
Role management, unions and Government
Machinery for resolution of industrial disputes,
Individual Grievances and disciplinary policy and
practices.
Labour legislations and
Industrial Relations training
Approaches to IR:
1.
Impact of Globalization to IR
1. Intra country system for consulting employees at an early stage in
any potential conflicts Austria & Germany.
2. Rapid development economics, high productivity gives ample scope
for dealing with wage claims and avoiding potential disputes Latvia
and Slovakia.
3. In the RUSSIAN Federation, the low level of disputes can be
attributed to complex legal procedures that make all but a minority of
strikes technically, illegal.
4. Greece and Italy have a strange practice of holding regular one day
national strikes that involve large sections of the working population.
5. High levels of inward investment also give increased opportunities
for individuals to change their mentality as well as their jobs.
6. Finally quality movement in the world wide.
Improvement in
Recruitment
drive
Develop
Workers
centres:
Union need to
pool resources
via Mergers
International
Trade Union
Lobby for
Restrictive
National legi
International
Trade
secretariats (ITS)
slation
Using the good
offices of
international
organizations
Chapter 7
Global issues in HR
By Anju Chawla
Adjunct Faculty, HR
SCMS NOIDA
Checkpoint 1 of 3
HRM in the host country context
Factors influencing standardization or adaptation
of work practices and the role of HR, including
HCN culture workplace environment, and
international experience and subsidiary mandate.
Retaining, developing and retrenching local staff.
HR implications of language standardization: HCN
selection, training and promotion on the basis of
language skills.
Monitoring HR practices used by foreign
subcontractors.
Introduction
We need to consider some general points about the field of
international industrial relations. First, it is important to
realize that it is difficult to compare industrial relations
systems and behavior across national boundaries; an
industrial relations concept may change considerably when
translated from one industrial relations context to another.
Cross-national differences also emerge as to the objectives of
the collective bargaining process and the enforceability of
collective agreements.
(cont.)
Introduction (cont.)
Schregle has observed:
A comparative study of industrial relations shows that
industrial relations phenomena are a very faithful expression
of the society in which they operate, of its characteristic
features and of the power relationships between different
interest groups. Industrial relations cannot be understood
without an understanding of the way in which rules are
established and implemented and decisions are made in the
society concerned.
(cont.)
Introduction (cont.)
Poole has identified several factors that may underlie these
historical differences:
the mode of technology and industrial organization at critical stages of
union development
methods of union regulation by government
ideological divisions within the trade union movement
the influence of religious organizations on trade union development
managerial strategies for labor relations in large corporations.
(cont.)
Introduction (cont.)
Union structures differ considerably among Western
countries. These include industrial unions, which represent all
grades of employees in an industry; craft unions, which are
based on skilled occupational groupings across industries;
conglomerate unions, which represent members in more than
one industry; and general unions, which are open to almost
all employees in a given country.
(cont.)
Introduction (cont.)
Introduction (cont.)
These differences in union structures have had a major
influence on the collective bargaining process in Western
countries. Some changes in union structure are evident over
time.
The lack of familiarity of multinational managers with local
industrial and political conditions has sometimes needlessly
worsened a conflict that a local firm would have been likely to
resolve.
Increasingly, multinationals are recognizing this shortcoming
and admitting that industrial relations policies must be flexible
enough to adapt to local requirements.
This is evidently an enduring approach, even in firms that
follow a non-union labor relations strategy where possible.
Pan-European pensions
The EU Council of Ministers has approved the pension funds Directive
that sets standards for the prudential supervision of pension plans in
the EU. The Member States will need to implement the Directive by
the middle of 2005. The Directive covers employer-sponsored,
separately funded pension plans. The Directive provides pension
funds with a coherent framework to operate within the internal
market and allows European companies and citizens the opportunity
to benefit from more efficient pan-European pension funds. Once
implemented, the Directive will ensure a high level of protection for
both members and beneficiaries of pension funds.
(cont.)
One of the concerns related to the formation of the SEM was its impact on
jobs. There was alarm that those Member States that have relatively low
social security costs would have a competitive edge and that firms would
locate in those Member States that have lower labor costs. The counteralarm was that states with low-cost labor would have to increase their labor
costs, to the detriment of their competitiveness.
There are two industrial relations issues here: the movement of work from
one region to another, and its effect on employment levels; and the need for
trade union solidarity to prevent workers in one region from accepting pay
cuts to attract investment, at the expense of workers in another region.
There is some, although not as much as was expected, evidence of social
dumping in the EU. It is likely that this issue will be a contentious one in
Europe for some time and multinationals need to be aware of this debate
when doing business in Europe.
(cont.)
(cont.)
(cont.)
contd
Sunglasses: Culture enables us to frame issues.
We look at the world according to the tint or the
color of the lenses that we wear. But as
professionals, we have a responsibility towards
our organizations to ensure we have the right
lenses.
Iceberg: Just as a larger part of the iceberg is
under water, there are a lot of things happening
in any interaction that are below the surface. We
have to make an effort to see not only what is
above but also what is below the surface
All the analogies point to: Our attitudes, traditions, beliefs and values
together define who we are and when these
values are shared by a social group, it forms our
culture. This social group can be as small as a
family or as large as a nation. Culture influences
how we think, what we do and how we look at
the world, just as we would wear a particular
color of sunglasses. Culture is learned and is
influenced by the people around us and the
interactions that we have over time, until it
becomes like the water all around us.
Connecting dots
In any pressure situation, we always revert to
the core disposition of who we are culturally.
So, it is important to explore more about
culture and be aware of the defaults.
Chapter summary
The literature reviewed in this chapter and the discussion
surrounding the formation of regional economic zones such as
the European Union and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) support the conclusion that transnational collective
bargaining has yet to be attained by trade unions. As Enderwick
has stated:
The international operations of MNEs do create considerable
impediments in effectively segmenting labor groups by national
boundaries and stratifying groups within and between nations.
Combining recognition of the overt segmentation effects of international
business with an understanding of the dynamics of direct investment
yields the conclusion that general multinational collective bargaining is
likely to remain a remote possibility.