Strikes and Employment Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Strikes and Employment Relations - Essay Example Changes in the definition and description of workforce conflicts across various time periods will provide an exhaustive understanding of whether the conflict can be considered as an influential feature of contemporary employment relations or not. Strikes can be described as the temporary disruption of work by certain groups of workers or employees. The objective behind strikes is expressing grievance or enforcing particular demand. Strikes can be temporary and in severe cases may lead to permanent closure of the factory or manufacturing site. In general, strikes have always been hampering for the company as it involves loss of time, money and productivity. However, strikes have been used as an influential method by worker unions to put their demands in front of the management. Strikes are conducted with specific and calculative purposes. As a result of its high influence and potential harm, they are often considered as a biggest manifestation of the industrial conflict. Nonetheless, looking at the present decline in the number of strikes, it cannot be concluded that strikes are the only source of conflict between employees or workers and management. Yet, it cannot be concluded that strikes have lost their importance or are sh rinking. From a worldwide perspective, it is clear that strikes are still a major source of communication and interaction in many parts of the globe. The interconnectivity between employment relations and human resource management can be understood by associating them with different managerial ideologies. For instance, unitarist ideology is dominated by autocratic and authoritarian style, where managerial control over decision making in disciplined and under strict control. In another form, unitarism can also be considered as a more paternalist management approach.