Introduction
TASK 1
P1 .Importance of employee relations in respect to influencing HRM decision-making
As one of the major supermarket companies, Waitrose & Partners are required to build healthy relations with their employees. It is imperative as employees are an effective support system for an organisation and maintaining a healthy relationship with them would ensure Waitrose's long-term sustainability and future growth.
Employee relations have a wide impact on decision-making of Human Resource Management in a way that is described below:
Discouragement of Conflicts: In a supermarket with various posts and number of individuals working under same roof, there are high chances of occurrence of conflicts within the workplace. Healthy employee relations means that managers at Waitrose must engage employees with each other and promote positivity within the workplace. It is imperative that there is a healthy relationship among employees as well as with managers as this would help Waitrose in reduction of conflicts. This is because where critical decisions are made, the employees have complete faith in the decisions taken by managers. Moreover, healthy relations would allow the managers to effectively solve conflicts by taking non-biased decisions based on the facts and ethical behaviour which minimises this possibility for conflicts.
Integration of Goals: Employee relations play an important role in goal integration. Personal goals of employees are not necessarily similar with organisational objectives. They might not align with the same and this could cause conflict of interest in their action in case the decision taken by the managers did not align with that of the employees. Healthy relations would allow them to integrate the goals of employees with that of Waitrose which would allow them to freely take decisions that are beneficial for the organisation.
Employee Engagement and Commitment: Employee relations also help HR managers in enhancing the performance of employees and make them more competent as per the standards of Waitrose & Partners. Good relations would allow the managers to take tough decisions and performance measure techniques to effectively provide training to enhance employee performance. With bad employee relations, there are high chances of resistance which is ineffective for the performance of the company. Thus, it is imperative to maintain good employee relations to provide better guidance to employees and increase their competence.
Collective Decision-Making: At an organisation, each decision taken by HR managers has a wide impact on the organisation. But there are various decisions that which are quite complex and almost impossible to be taken at individual levels. Good relations with employees would allow the managers to consult with their teams and other employees by conducting effective meetings with the employees. Moreover, these meetings would eb fruitful as even if conflicts arise, they would be constructive and beneficial for the organisation. Thus, it is imperative for managers at Waitrose & Partners to effectively maintain good and healthy relationships with their employees at every level.