Industrial Relations and Conflict Management

Question: Discuss about the Industrial Relations and Conflict Management. Answer: Introduction ABC News 24 aired a programme named "At Their Mercy" which was reported by Quentin McDermott and presented by Kerry O'Brien. In this programme, Four Corners analyzed that the impact of bullying and bastardization of medical interns in renowned hospitals on interns themselves as well as on the patients(McDermott Michelmore, 2015). Such kind of toxic culture affects the life of the young trainees. Some of them get involved in this cycle of abuse while some of them cannot get out of it easily which might led them to suicidal tendencies also. The interns who successfully revive from such conditions might have distorted behavior with their colleagues and patients too. It can be considered as the after-effects of harassment and bullying to which the medical practitioners have gone through during their training period or in their work places. In this paper, being a senior executive, I would like to advice the Chief Executive Officer in health sector organization, about the ways as to how t o tackle such problems occurring with the medical staff and practitioners. I would like to suggest the ways through which medical practitioners can get hold of faith and beliefs of patients on them and on the other hand can protect themselves from such situation. Discussion The existing issue in the health sector is bullying and harassment of the medical interns in teaching hospitals. The Chief executive officer of the Medical Department is strictly responsible for changing the scenario as, the relation between an organization and its members is based on two types of contracts or obligations, which are not in the form of document but only based on their mutual beliefs. Psychological contract is based upon the individuals belief regarding mutual responsibility between a person and an organization. The other one is an implied contract, in which, mutual responsibility characterizes the interactions occurring at the level of association between an individual and an organization. Due to the changing work environment, the relation between the employers and the employees introduces various issues, which could not be considered by applying the modern models of motivation. However, the managerial implications of psychological and implied contracts can improve the situations arising in an organization. Subjectivity or prejudice of contracts might occur in an agreement arising in a relationship between the two parties to a contract. Agreements between an employer and an employee based on relationships provide less consideration to the economic benefits and consider hard work and loyalty on the part of employee and continuation of employment on the part of employer. Hence, such arrangements are required to be applied by the CEO so that the relationship between the organization and the employees tends to be too strong and trustworthy that the employees tend to serve the organization with loyalty and hard work without consideration of the economic benefits. Moreover, harassment and bullying at workplace affect the work culture and create unsafe environment as described in "At their Mercy". Squelch and Guthrie (2012) addressed this aspect in their article. It is the responsibility of an organization to provide safe work environment to the employees under the legislation of work health and safety. The organization must identify such risks and imply systematic approach to control and monitor harassment and bullying in the workplaces by applying model Work Health and Safety Act(Squelch Guthrie, 2012) The WHS Act requires employers and the employees are not involved in such conduct that creates an unhealthy environment in the workplace. The CEO must take the responsibility to educate and inform all the employees regarding their obligations related to harassment and bullying as well as to prevent them against the harmful effects of such conduct. In Keegan v Sussan Corporation (Aust.) Pty Ltd, the court awarded damages to the employee who suf fered bullying for 11 days. It demonstrated the significance of proactive response to such kind of complaints in the workplaces(Aust LII, 2014). Psychological contracts between the employer and the employees occur in the form of unwritten expectations and are required to be continuously renegotiated as such contracts are the strongest determinant of the behavioral conducts in an organization(Schein, 1980). A component of Psychological contracts is normative beliefs in which, certain specific actions are considered as appropriate while some other might be considered as inappropriate. The normative beliefs which occupy obligations of reciprocity only appear under the category of psychological contracts(Nicholson Johns, 1985). In expectancy models, a term called performance-outcome (P-O) can be established as a psychological contract because in such a case, there is a commitment of an employee to perform well followed by a reward(Guest, 2016). The CEO of the medical department should imply upon such possibilities in the organization so as to motivate the employees to perform well. It is the responsibility of the CEO to provide the professional as well as compassionate environment to the employees in order to motivate them. Theory of Equity is also an important factor of psychological contract as it manages the expectations of the employees in a more general sense. Expectations based on equity depend upon the standards of fairness considered in a workplace (O'Donohue et al., 2015). When employees experience inequity in the workplace or their expectations are not fulfilled, it cannot be considered as violation of contract but it increases dissatisfaction in the minds of the employees(Robinson Rousseau, 1994). It might result in various behavioral adjustments of the employees in the form of reduced performance and less loyalty towards the profession. The CEO must implement corrective measures in the case of perceived inequities and unprofessional behavior in the organization such as, by increasing the remunerations of the employees or by changing the environment as it should be in an ideal situation. When employees suffer from unethical behavior during their training period, it creates an overall change in their behavior which causes negative impact on their profession also (Payne et al., 2015). On the other hand, if implied contracts are considered, it is the mutual obligations between the employer and the employees, which describe relationship between the two employees or between the employees and the organization. Although, there is existence of psychological contract between them, implied contract can also be created between them through actions and reactions. Such contracts refer to the conditions of employment, commitments towards organization, and contributions of employees(Oliver, 1982). The pattern of interactions might be similar for more than one employee that creates implied contract but, each of them possess individual psychological contract. When there is an occurrence of more probability of comparison between the psychological contracts of the employees, it reduces the conflict and stabilizes the relationships. It increases the likelihood of continuity and maintenance of the relationship (Trybou et al., 2016). The CEO should increase this probability in the or ganization so as to reduce unnecessary causes of conflicts in the organization as well as to stabilize the environment in the workplace. It would also increase the probability of employee retention. There is a connecting link between implied and psychological contracts. The manner of interactions that is responsible for framing implied contracts at the level of relationships leads to the formation of psychological contract in the minds of individual employees (Cassar Buttigieg, 2015). Formation of the implied contract and the relationship between employer and employees can be facilitated by an agreement between the employees regarding the terms of the psychological contract. The aspect which should be considered by the employer is that psychological and implied contracts are based on mutual obligations and conventional pattern of relations respectively (Rodwell et al., 2015). Therefore, the employers should avoid betraying employees on their part. Otherwise, it may lead to the termination of the long-lasting relationships also. The implications of psychological and implied contracts are necessary due to various reasons. Population demographics are the most probable reason. With increase in the age of functional or working population, their experience increases (Rousseau, 1989). The longer the duration of relationship with an organization, the more expectations and mutual obligations are likely to be perceived. Such perceptions put a great impact on the attitude and behavior of the employees and the employer as well. The other reason for implying such contracts is the inclination of workforce towards written contracts. It prevents the right of the organization to terminate their employees on their will. Moreover, such contracts are not much specific and increase the probability of negotiations between the employer and the employees (Restubog et al., 2015). Thus, for a better relationship between the members and an organization, the implied contracts should be made extremely essential. From the point of view of behavioral aspect, psychological contracts negatively impact the motivation of the employees towards their organization. Theory of equity and expectancy models is directly connected with the performance of the employees. If the employees receive rewards or their performance is not according to their expectations, it negatively impacts their performance and attitude towards their organization. Currently, organizational cultures have accepted 'Make or buy' strategy for hiring employees. In this context, buy-oriented organizations hire employees with specific skills at market remuneration rate to use them immediately. Make-oriented organizations provide employment to the employees on the basis of entry level and then provide them training according to the requirement of the organization. Such organizations having corporate cultures are characterized by implied contracts relationships. Thus, CEO should imply such contracts in the medical department so as to avoid the current management issue occurring within the department. Conclusion The medical department in Australia is currently facing a management issue due to which, the beliefs and faith of medical practitioners is declining over the department. Due to this reason, they are not able to perform their duties with dedication and it is affecting their patients in a negative manner. Being a senior executive, I have recommended some strategies to the CEO of the medical department to reduce this issue. I would like to suggest that proper implication of psychological contract and more specifically implied contract would probably benefit the environment of the organization. The employees will retain their beliefs on the organization and it will directly benefit the patients. 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