MANAGING THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
Executive summary
The report highlights the importance of developing competent labour-management relationships in Singapore’s industries. Starfish Oil Company has faced challenges due to alleged cases of favoritism and unfairness in its working environment. As such, the company ought to foster its union representation to ensure the issues are enacted based on guidelines provided by law. The code of industrial relations practice postulates that the issues be addressed at the organizational level. The practices guarantee work continuity to achieve set production levels to achieve long-term sustainability goals. Besides, the recommendation addresses the unfairness issue highlighted by the workers in aspects such as pay rates and awarding of contracts. As such, the recommendation serves to promote the need for equity and respect for workers to achieve maximum productivity levels. Moreover, union representation in a partnership agreement serves to increase the business efficiency required to achieve set productivity levels. As such, the partnership agreement serves to address the money-related dispute, which has hampered the company from achieving market goals. So, the recommendations ensure that the company achieves a harmonious working environment to address concerns such as favoritism and unfairness. However, there is a need to communicate with contractors in a bid to provide job security needed to increase their commitment.
Introduction
Labour-management relations are aimed at protecting the interests of labor markets through its managerial system. As such, labour-management targets the highest level of mutual understanding in industrial sections that are utilized in the production process. Besides, the relations are vital in developing a harmonious environment in the organization for smooth operation. An organization with a competent labour-management operation stands to achieve its set goals and objectives within the set timeframes (Petri, Plummer & Zhai, 2012). Over the last six months, Singapore’s government has outlined measures to promote cooperation and responsibility regarding labor relationships. Besides, the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) has initiated the provision of grocery credit cards as a strategic move to bolster labor-management relations. Also, employers have set guidelines meant to address the growing concerns on the Labor relations act in Singapore, thus bolstering business (Floyd, 2019). Therefore, the development of competent labor-management relations is vital in addressing issues facing companies like Starfish oil.
Issues definitions
The company has been faced with challenges to cut costs of its operations while at the same time increase its production in Asian oilfields. The problem has been necessitated by the downtown in the North Sea oil sector relative to the harsh working conditions in the region. As such, the industry has experienced a slim market positioning in the global oil market plummet, which is an 18-year low. Besides, the company has faced challenges in its union representation, but the union has not negotiated on critical terms of employment, such as pay rates. Hence, employees at the firm have complained of favoritism; thus, a deep insight must be developed into the matter (Freund & Ornelas, 2010). Local staffs in Singapore have therefore raised the alarm on the increased favoritism exhibited by the senior managers to the union representatives. Moreover, issues on temporary contractors have also been raised and require immediate action to mitigate the pressing issue.
Improvement of the company’s policies and procedures
Recommendation 1:
The Code of Industrial relations practices
The company has to adopt the code of industrial relations practices to ensure that it improves its policies and procedures. The background of the code of industrial relations practices dated back in the 1950s and characterized by an adversarial and confrontational nature (Industrial Relations, 2010). Working condition was poor at the company level, and business operations were disrupted, leading to low productivity. The low work output was as a result of frequent disruptions and lack of teamwork and organizational discipline. However, Singapore’s independence in 195 proved to be the turning point despite the hard-economic situations subjected by the British administration (Xing, 2020). Over the years, Singapore has developed tripartite partnerships that have successfully replaced adversarial relationships in the country’s labor markets (Industrial Relations, 2010).
It is important to utilize the code of industrial relations practices to help present employees’ concerns, thus resolving their problems. The Codes of Practice presents written rules which stipulate how individuals or bodies must act under given situations in the working environment. As such, the code f industrial relations practice is important in Singapore since it fosters the partnership between the management, employees, and the union (Xing, 2020). Hence, the collaborated initiative helps realize a motivated and productive workforce to work towards realizing business success in the foreseeable future. Besides, the code of industrial relations plays a vital role in utilizing employee’s full potential, thus contributing towards the achievement of a harmonious working environment. In Singapore, the code of practice has been used to increase workers’ income, thus raising their standards of living (Bélanger, Edwards & Haiven, 2020).
The use of the code of industrial relations practice benefits Starfish Oil company by ensuring the continuity of production (Deshpande, 2016). As such, the company would benefit from the continuous employment of its managers and workers hence increasing production. So, the organizational resources would be fully utilized to ensure the firm achieves an uninterrupted flow of income for its stakeholders. Besides, the code of industrial relations practice would enable the employees to raise their concerns on issues such as favoritism (Deshpande, 2016). Also, the company would articulate its challenges in its quest to reduce costs while increasing production in the Asian region (Zeff, 2012).
Moreover, the company could utilize stipulations by John Budd to improve the firm’s policies and procedures based on efficiency, equity, and voice. Guidelines by Budd exemplifies that a company like a Starfish oil ought to provide a human face towards employment (Budd, 2014). As such, the guidelines downplay the traditional perception of employment relationships to ensure that Starfish Oil policies are aligned to articulate concerns raised by its stakeholders. So, the policies and procedures are developed to provide equity and fair treatment to all its stakeholders, thus achieving set goals and objectives. Also, Budd outlines that the company must listen to the employee’s voices, thus developing a great respect for human concerns (Budd, Gollan & Wilkinson, 2010). Consequently, the firm policies and procedures must align with human rights and respect for prosperity being under the management watchdog (Budd, 2014). As a result, the guidelines challenge Starfish Oil to develop an intellectual framework to analyze its institutional policies in a move to foster procedures that guarantee maximum productivity.
The approach used to resolve perceptions of unfairness
Recommendation 2
Since the company is already unionized, Starfish Oil management should cooperate with the union representatives to resolve the issues faced by the company, such as favoritism. Under the industrial agreement act, the union representatives should be invited by the government to deliberate on the issues affecting the company. For instance, the union should be invited to develop a common approach towards the unfairness relating to the varying pay rates, the deployment of contractors, overtime, and shift allocation (Johnstone, Ackers & Wilkinson, 2010). As such, the meetings stand to play a vital role in addressing the terms and conditions of employment at the enterprise level. Besides, the meetings should comprise of at least the employer and the employee’s representatives to ensure fair representation of their issues (Bélanger, Edwards & Haiven, 2020). So, the meetings set out to set the minimum employment terms, thus promoting equity and respect for human rights in the workplace environment.
The recommendation aligns with the philosophy of trade unions in Singapore, which articulates for a collective bargaining power directed towards achieving set workplace goals and objectives. Trade unions in Singapore spearhead negotiating employees’ wages and working conditions, thus ensuring they are not exploited by their employers. Besides, the trade unions work towards regulating the relationship between the workers and the employers in a bid to promote productivity at the workplace (Lim, Elms & Low, 2012). Moreover, under union representation, the company’s management is provided with the right of management based on the prerogatives provided by the industrial relations act. Hence, the company’s management should utilize its mandate by listening to the workers’ concerns on pay rates, shift allocation, and the use of contractors. The issues are within the company’s jurisdiction, as exemplified by the Industrial Relations Act (Floyd, 2019). The company requires to utilize its managerial prerogatives based on the workers’ natural rights hence assisting trade unions in controlling the workers relative to the powers manifested by the Industrial Regulations Act.
Since the collective bargaining spearheaded by the trade union may not achieve a shared agreement, the management is required to manage its operations based on the Industrial Relations Act. Hence, the company can utilize guidelines laid down by the Act to regulate the relationships between the employees and workers (Lim, Elms & Low, 2012). So, the Starfish Oil company is poised to prevent and settle the various trade disputes, such as the use of contractors. Therefore, the company would be in a position to resolve perceptions regarding unfairness in the workplace environment. If the disputes are beyond the company’s control, the Industrial Relations Act mandates the firm to submit them to the ministry of manpower (Johnstone, Ackers & Wilkinson, 2010). The ministry has the power to conciliate and arbitrate the issues affecting the company and its employees. The decision by the arbitration committee is often final with no chance of appealing. As such, the disputes would be resolved within a short period of time, ensuring production continuity.
Based on the Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) in Singapore, pay rates issues could best be resolved through an enterprise agreement. Thus, Starfish Oil company ought to utilize enterprise agreement to resolve on the best amount payable to the workers per hour. Consequently, the agreement stands to provide the minimum terms of employment to ensure the workers do not feel exploited due to poor salaries. The intervention by IAC would ensure that the company fulfills its legal requirement on equity in the workplace environment as a strategic measure to achieving set goals and objectives (Budd, 2014). IAC ensures that the pay rate issue is addressed at the organizational level, thus promoting the need to develop sectoral and collective bargaining across industries in Singapore. So, the law requirements by IAC ensure that the agreement legally binds the workers and their employers.
Recommendation 3: union representation on a partnership deal
The company needs to undertake further measures by engaging the union representatives on a partnership agreement. The partnership agreement serves to increase business efficiency by improving employment securities and developing flexibility (Pohler & Luchak, 2014). Thus, Starfish Oil would be capable of spurring the workers’ commitment despite challenges at the workplace. The company’s management should thus develop a working partnership agreement as a strategic approach to improving business performance. The partnership agreement should be adopted since the enterprise arrangement only targets at resolving the current issues mostly on favoritism. As such, the company needs to ensure the employees are well motivated and committed to organizational interests. In the long-term, the company would achieve continuity in production after addressing the workers’ concerns through enterprise and partnership agreements. The voice of the organizational stakeholders is critical in addressing organizational sustainability into the future relative to current developments (Gibson, Hassan & Tansey, 2013).
The partnership agreement with the union representatives serves to address productivity issues faced by Starfish Oil company. Hence, the company would fully turn its attention to the Asian oil fields, including those in Singapore, since it forms the firm’s long-term sustainability goals. The productivity issues faced by the company would be addressed by increasing their ability to retain skilled support staff through the use of profitable production and support projects (CIPD, 2019). As a result, the firm stands to address problems caused by the downturn experienced in the North Sea Oil Sector through the deployment of a partnership deal with other stakeholders in the industry. To ensure the partnership agreement works, productivity-related profits should be shared with the workers, thus serving as a source of motivation required to increase their commitment to organizational goals and objectives (Freund & Ornelas, 2010). Besides, the company needs to enact guidelines highlighted by NTUC in 2019 to promote fairness while carrying out the company’s business.
The partnership deal is beneficial in that money-related disputes would reduce, thus helping the organization concentrate on more important roles. As a result, the company would achieve an increase in the production and continuity of its services since the workers would be committed to achieving stipulated targets (Petri, Plummer & Zhai, 2012). As a matter of fact, the partnership agreement with the union representatives is advantageous to the company since its interests would be protected. Moreover, the concerns raised by the workers would be articulated based on their rights and equity, as stipulated by law (Budd, 2014). So, the agreement highlights the rules of the engagement, thus stipulating guidelines to be followed while addressing worker’s disputes to achieve a harmonious working environment. Finally, the partnership agreement stands to benefit the company by ensuring their concerns, such as pay rates and temporary contracts, are handled based on guidelines provided by law. Hence, fairness and equity would be realized to articulate the issues faced by the company.
Furthermore, the partnership agreement should communicate on the need to have contractors. Hence, the agreement would be capable of addressing how workers can secure their employment with their rights safeguarded from exploitation from the management. The employees’ job security is vital for its success since the workers require to feel safe (CIPD, 2019). The ability to secure contracts should be based on merit to encourage fairness in the company’s deals, thus developing long-term sustainability (Gibson, Hassan & Tansey, 2013). As such, full-time workers should have their jobs secured to ensure they are easily motivated towards developing commitment to company goals in the long-term. The recommendation is supported by the Tripartite taskforce, which highlights the importance of developing flexibility at the workplace to accrue long-term benefits (CIPD, 2019). So, Starfish Oil company has to address the work environment issues to achieve the results necessary to receive the full benefits of the present-day workforce.
Conclusion
The reports highlight the importance of labor-management relations in achieving the labor market interests. The company has been facing internal and external problems that require a strategic approach to address the concerns raised by the workers. For instance, Starfish Oil company has been faced with favoritism issues with workers complaining of unfairness. As such, the company is not in a prime position to achieve set organizational goals if the issues are not articulated based on guidelines provided by the union representatives. Therefore, the recommendations serve to provide the best course of action. For example, the recommendation to improve the company’s policies and procedures serves to ensure that the workers’ concerns are articulated appropriately. Also, the partnership agreement serves to ensure that the issues faced by the company are addressed based on a legal perspective, thus achieving long-term organizational sustainability. As a result, the recommendation postulates the use of competent measures in addressing unfairness and favoritism issues outlined by the workers and the management.
References
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