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Managing Human Element at Work

Notes labour courts). Essential as these are, they operate only when a dispute arises. Equally
important are dispute prevention through communication, consultation and negotiation
procedures and mechanisms which operate largely at the enterprise level. They are not
particularly common in many Asian enterprises. Their importance has increased in the
current decade when changes in the way organizations are structured and managed have
created the potential for workplace conflict. A more positive movement from personnel
management to strategic human resource management is called for.

7.5.5 Industrial Relations/Human Resource Management Training
Not many developing countries in the region have facilities for training in labour law and
industrial relations, negotiation, wage determination, dispute prevention and settlement, the
several aspects of the contract of employment, and other related subjects such as safety and
health. More facilities are probably available in human resource management (the distinction
is becoming increasingly thin). Since industrial relations have assumed a particularly important
role in the context of globalization, structural adjustment and in the transition to a market
economy, employers in each country would need to identify what aspects of industrial
relations and human resource management should be accorded priority, how training in
them could be delivered, and what concrete role is expected from the employers’ organization.
7.5.6 Balancing Efficiency with Equity and Labour Market Flexibility

During this century industrial relations and the law in industrialized countries have paid
considerable attention to the means through which the unequal bargaining position between
employees and management can be rectified. The imbalance in their respective positions
has been corrected primarily through freedom of association and collective bargaining.
There after the focus in some countries has been more on the relationship between
management and labour and their organizations rather than on their relationships with
the state. This has been due to the fact that the latter has adopted a less interventionist
role than in developing countries, based on the premise that regulation of the labour
market should to a large extent be left to employers, workers and their organizations.
However, in some Western European countries, Australia, as well as in less industrialized
and non-industrialized countries, attention has focused on relationships with the State
because of the role governments have played in regulating the labour market (not only
through laws but sometimes also through labour courts or tribunals), or in directing
economic development and industrialization.

Traditional industrial relations view labour problems as arising due to employers wishing
to use resources productively and to generate profit, while employees wish to maximize
their return on labour. The State intervenes for a variety of reasons. The setting in which
industrial relations developed was conditioned by the national environment—political,
economic, social and legal. But today the conditioning environment increasingly includes the
international and regional context. Globalization has created pressures on industrial relations
for efficiency in the employment relationship, reflected for instance in the emphasis on
flexibility (type of contracts, working time, pay etc.) and productivity.
7.5.7 Freedom of Association, Labour Rights and Changing Patterns of
Work
With the disappearance of major ideological differences with the end of the cold war, unions
are moving towards a concentration on their core industrial relations functions and issues.
In some Asian countries freedom of association, including labour rights in special economic
zones has arisen as an issue. The need for employees and their representatives to be involved
in change and in transition, and the willingness of employers to involve them, is an
emerging issue in many Asian countries.
Changing patterns of work (e.g. more homework, part-time work, sub-contracting) have
created concerns for unions in particular. Job insecurity, social security and minimum

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