Managing the Employment Relationship

The chapter begins by discussing what is meant by ‘the employment relationship’, a term that is often used in a simplistic way, obscuring the complexities of such a relationship. The chapter goes on to consider the different organisational perspectives with regards to managing the relationship before taking a look at the impact of the various ‘actors’ involved in the employment relationship. By taking a multi-level approach, the chapter allows us to explore the employment relationship from different perspectives. Section 8.6 looks at the role that the state, and in particular government, has in various aspects of managing people. The next section looks at employers organisations and the extent to which they are able to influence employment matters at the local level. No discussion of the employment relationship is complete without a consideration of the power relations between management and workers and between workers and the government and this is covered in Section 8.8. The remaining sections of the chapter look at employee ‘voice’ and the individual and collective representation of workers; Section 8.10 focuses on employee involvement, engagement and participation and looks at the role of Trade Unions and Works Councils. The final section of the chapter examines how the media are able to impact the employment relationship.