EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS STRATEGIES
For any organization to survive and be
competitive in business, it must strategize to maneuver its way through the
varied competitions in the industry it belongs. The competitive pressures are
in two categories: short-term and long-term. These pressures impact the firm’s
HR strategies and labour management initiatives.
The short-term competitive pressures
target immediate gains, cost savings and quick responses to market changes to
stay afloat in the turbulence of the business season. When external market
indicators such as demand, supply and price change, it becomes expedient that
business managers take frantic steps to address these matters. Some of these
pressures are cost reduction, globalization, labour market flexibility, and
technological change. When an organization is faced with very high costs and wants
to mitigate them, it reduces labour costs by downsizing its workforce to
reposition itself to survive in the market.
Long-term competitive pressures focus
on sustainability, innovation, and building organizational capabilities, and
these drive organizations to undertake several steps to see the business
survive for the foreseeable future. With long-term competitive pressures,
organizations get into the attraction and retention of top talents. Here, they
go in for the very best of skills on the market and offer them competitive
salaries and wages including running work systems that allow for work-life
balance or integration.
Another area is the embrace of
organizational adaptability where they employ efficient means of change
management and the openness to innovation in all areas of work which serves to
increase efficiency and effectiveness at the workplace. The encouragement of
knowledge creation also sees firms invest in research and development
initiatives, all to keep the organization sustainable in the long term.
The management of employment relations
in young businesses gets affected when factors in the market become
unfavourable and discouraging. Initiatives such as layoffs and downsizing are
some measures we take when hit by uncertain market tendencies. This survival
means is not an easy decision to make because it creates a very discomforting
and uncertain work environment. When employees are not sure of the security of
their jobs, they tend to be too cautious affecting their delivery. This goes a
very long way to affect the quality of services to clients.
When dealing with the reduction of
benefits as a measure to survive short-term competitive pressure as an
organization, management loses a level of commitment from employees. When work
benefits such as health insurance costs, paid holidays, and retirement plans
for employees are affected, they become very alarmed and concerned. They begin to doubt the
psychological contract because they feel their due is being taken away from
them over a situation, they think management can handle by using other
resources as a cushion for the shocks the business appears to be experiencing.
To keep employees in good spirits,
management must give employees regular updates on the progress of work to
contain the challenges of the pressures at hand so as to win their confidence
and get them to give their very best in their respective roles. Besides leadership
can once a while go out of their way to organize some refreshments for the
employees to keep the working bond strong.
As part of the mechanisms to control
the effects of job insecurity, people professionals must keep reminding the
employees of the very healthy times of the organization and the sort of
advantages they enjoyed when things were under firm control. In such times,
communication between management and employees must always be excellent and time-sensitive.
In conclusion, short-term and
long-term competitive pressures are bound to happen to an organization at
several instances in its growth. The effects may vary depending on the
industrial factors and the robustness of the management of the firm. Some firms
do pull out of business when a couple of short-term pressures hit them. These
pressures have varied effects on the business with regards to how they affect
the employment relationships – when the people professionals are very skilled,
the effect on productivity is minimal. Whatever measure a firm adopts to deal with the pressures, they
must ensure the business remains competitive at every time, else, they fail
beyond recovery.
PAUL ANANG AMASAH
21ST NOVEMBER, 2024
THE COLLEGE BUSINESS CONSULT
thecollegebc@gmail.com
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