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Workplace Relations1

WORKPLACE RELATIONS

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Workplace Relations

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Workplace Relations 2

Workplace Relations

Introduction

Workplace relations can defined as relations that pertains individuals working and

interacting in the same business environment. Therefore, workplace relations include

relationships between employees, and managers, or between customers and employees or

between vendors and employees. The relations in a business enable employees to develop an

acceptable code of conduct in a professional environment. Suitable examples of workplace

relationships and ethics involve being hardworking, honest or having a respectful behavior

towards co-workers. Thus, workplace relations directly influence the ability of workers to

drive an organization or business towards success. Additionally, such relations are multifaced

and can exist within and outside a business environment. Relationships in the workplace also

include superior-subordinate relationships, friendships, and family relationships. In Australia,

workplace relations agreement involves a relationship between an employee and an

employer. For instance, Australian current issues regarding workplaces involve paid parental

leave, building code 2013, Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG), and the national workplace

relations system (Charlesworth & Macdonald, 2015). Therefore, this paper is set to address

the Australian national workplace relations system.

The National Workplace Relations System Issue in Australia

Recently, the national workplace relations system in Australia has created welfare

network of conditions and terms of employment. The Australian National workplaces

relations were established by the 2009 Fair Work Act, which protects most private sector

employers and employees in Australia (Kaine, 2016). Therefore, the employers are obliged

with a duty of understanding the components of the Act to avoid future complication and

legislative quarrels due to breaching of the requirements. The Act addresses several issues

that the employers are required to do so as remain law-abiding and competitive in the field

Workplace Relations 3

they are operating. Besides, the Act aims at maintaining a well-adjusted background for

prolific workplace relations that would enhance the prosperity of the national income

alongside the social inclusion of all citizens. Therefore, the Act is meant to maintain the

welfare of all participants without biasness.

The Act is designed to offer broad privileges to both employees and employers. For

instance, it addresses on provision of terms and conditions for employment, setting

responsibilities and rights of employers, employees, and an organization about the

occupation. The Act correspondingly provides its management by setting up the Fair Work

Ombudsman as well as Fair Work Commission. Apart from the highlighted guidelines and

provisions, the Act similarly offers the market participants assured welfare after deductions

of fair enforceable and relevant least possible conditions as well as terms over the National

Employment Standards (NES), Modern Awards, and National Minimum Wage. These

provisions have individual demands that have specifications.

The National Employment Standards (NES)

The Australian businesses are mandated to perform at least ten standards to show their

commitment in the Act of 2009 irrespective of the size of their business, industry, and any

related activity. The aim of the principle is to protect people working in the country and

maintain equality at the workplace. The standards that the businesses are required to adhere

issue such as the hours of work subjected to their workers. The employees should as well be

offered flexible working schedule. The other standards may include parental leave, annual

leave, public holidays leave, redundancy pay and notice of termination.

Modern Awards

NES offers necessary provisions that should be offered to all employees, the recent

awards are given to particular individuals. The Awards are some of the additional offerings

that the companies must be willing to provide in motivating their employees to work toward

Workplace Relations 4

the productivity of the business. Therefore, the industry must be ready to offer these awards

in their work agreement to boost the morale of their employees (Charlesworth, Sara, & John

Howe, 2018). The Modern Awards generally contain entitlements involving penalty rates,

minimum wages, rest breaks, allowances, leaves, dispute settlements, and classifications.

National Minimum Wage

Minimum wage refers to the total base rate that a worker should be compensated for

regular working hours. The least possible wage is determined by the type of industry the

employee is hired under depending if it is Enterprise Agreement or the order of minimum

wage (Farbenblum & Berg, 2017). Irrespective of the industrial instrument used in paying the

employees, the minimum wage cannot be below that which is set by the nation, as a rule, is

closely monitored by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) annually aiming at establishing the

need for the increase in the minimum wage due to rise in living standards.

The Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Commission

The central role of the Fair Work Ombudsman is to encourage productive,

coordinated, and cooperative workplace relationships and ensure the workplace laws are not

breached. The commission investigates the reported cases of violating the awards,

regulations, and registered agreements (Tobin & Jones, 2016). They assess the suspected

breach and litigate in some cases to make sure that the people do not break the laws. On the

other hand, the FWC has the mandate on varying and setting minimum wages, industrial

awards, dispute resolution, and approving any enterprise agreement besides handling cases of

unfair dismissals the commission is set to do the functions previously managed by the

Workplace Authority.

Analysis of the National Workplace Relations Systems Using Pluralism Theory

The pluralism theory paradigm analyzes industrial relations between workers and

employers on the grounds of work and employment relationship from a general perception in

Workplace Relations 5

the imperfect labor markets. The analysis is triggered by conflicting interests between the

employees and employers. Therefore, the employment association is a bargaining challenge

for market participants with competing interests. Employment results are determined by

various environmental elements which affect every stakeholder's bargaining power.

Modification of employer associations in the aspect of bargaining challenges raises

critical questions concerning allocation and distribution of available resources, rules and

regulations governing relations between workers and employers (Markovits et al., 2016). In

the same context, labor unions, corporations, public policies and dispute resolution measures

play a significant role in enhancing pluralist industrial relations. Additionally, workers,

business owners, managers and company leaders are regarded as human representatives but

not economic agents. Therefore, behavior basics used by individuals in the decision-making

process are essential in influencing emotions, cultural norms and values, habits, social norms

and cognitive limitations of employees in the workplace. They also act as motivators to

promote justice and fairness in the workplace.

Pluralist industrial relations focused on the labor policies which changes imperfect

labor markets are changed with employment terms and conditions determined by market

factors and rational individuals (Lange, Ross, and Vannicelli, 2016). The theory also ensures

capital and labor are maintained at equilibrium with bias on one side. Therefore, industrial

relations theory and policies must pay attention to the associations among the desired goals

and objectives of the workforce, company owners and the entire locality to look for

appropriate mechanisms of attaining a practical and reasonable equilibrium among these

specific welfares. The theory asserts that income imbalances can lead to economic growth

decline by reducing consumers’ purchasing power and deterring investments in physical and

human capital (O’Laughlin, 2016). Moreover, excessive organizational power creates low

wages and working conditions that burden the society with increased welfare costs. In this

Workplace Relations 6

context, behavioral basics involved in decision making reveal that employee perceptions

about equality positively influence employee turnover, productivity, and safety.

Analysis of the National Workplace Relations Systems Using Unitarist Theory

Unitarists use a set of values and assumptions to refer to workplace conflicts as a

particular characteristic of the interactions between employees and managers (Dawes, and

Flew, 2016). The theory asserts that workplace conflicts arise between the two parties due to

deviation from mutual relationship. According to this perspective, managers and employees

share a common interest for the success of the organization such that occurrence of conflicts

will not subject the company to insolvency conditions (Tapia, Ibsen, & Kochan, 2015).

Divisions in the workplace are mainly caused by obsolete recruitment and promotion

procedures, personality disorders, deviance of stakeholders and poor communication

techniques.

To eliminate such divisions and disparities, the rational management team should

focus on possible ways to remove potential sources of conflicts. Additionally, the recruitment

and promotion procedures should be equal and fair to build strong relationships between

employers and workers (Higgins, 2017). The management team should also establish a robust

information system to eliminate communication barriers that could otherwise lead to

misunderstandings within the organization. Therefore, the mutual corporations of all

stakeholders maintain employees’ loyalty, hence, the organization work as a team in all

entities to achieve desired goals and objectives.

Conclusion

In summary, the National workplace relations systems have played a critical part in

promoting fairness and justice in the workplace by establishing and implementing policies to

govern employers and employees' relationships. The two theories highlight precisely that

worker’s productivity, turnover and safety are improved when employers advocates for

Workplace Relations 7

equality in the workplace. This is detrimental in eradicating unnecessary conflicts in the

workplace which are caused by poor communication techniques, obsolete recruitment and

promotion procedures and personality disorders. Therefore, the complete eradication of such

disparities in the workplace encourages good relationships among stakeholders, hence,

making the organization achieve the desired goals and objectives.

Workplace Relations 8

References

Charlesworth, S. and Macdonald, F., 2015.Women, work and industrial relations in Australia

in 2014. Journal of Industrial Relations, 57(3), pp.366-382.

Charlesworth, Sara, and John Howe. "The Enforcement of Employment Standards in

Australia: Successes and Challenges in Aged Care." International Journal of

Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations 34, no. 2 (2018): 111-140.

Dawes, S. and Flew, T., 2016. Neoliberalism, voice and national media systems: An

interview with Terry Flew. Networking Knowledge, 9(5), pp.1-10.

Farbenblum, B. and Berg, L., 2017. Migrant workers’ access to remedy for exploitation in

Australia: the role of the national Fair Work Ombudsman. Australian Journal of

Human Rights, 23(3), pp.310-331.

Higgins, B., 2017. Regional development theories and their application.Routledge.

Kaine, S., 2016.Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2015. Journal of

Industrial Relations, 58(3), pp.324-339.

Lange, P., Ross, G. and Vannicelli, M., 2016. Unions, change, and crisis: French and Italian

union strategy and the political economy, 1945-1980. Routledge.

Markovits, A., Gourevitch, P., Ross, G., Martin, A., Bornstein, S. and Allen, C.,

2016. Unions and Economic Crisis: Britain, West Germany, and Sweden. Routledge.

O’Laughlin, B., 2016. Production and reproduction: Meillassoux’s Femmes,

greniersetcapitaux. In Critical Anthropology (pp. 57-90).Routledge.

Reeves, A., McKee, M., Mackenbach, J., Whitehead, M. and Stuckler, D., 2017. Introduction

of a National Minimum Wage Reduced Depressive Symptoms in Low‐Wage

Workers: A Quasi‐Natural Experiment in the UK. Health economics, 26(5), pp.639-

655.

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Tapia, M., Ibsen, C.L. and Kochan, T.A., 2015.Mapping the frontier of theory in industrial

relations: the contested role of worker representation. Socio-Economic Review, 13(1),

pp.157-184.

Tobin, A. and Jones, N., 2016. Productivity Commission releases Final Report on workplace

relations framework. Governance Directions, 68(2), p.91.

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