Contemporary Developments in Human Resource Development (5DER)

Introduction to the unit

5CER is a unit in CIPD level 5, and this aims at bringing out an improved understanding of employee relations within and beyond the organisation. The unit provides understanding in the development in theory and practice guiding learners to understand the context of employee relations. It provides guidelines that should be followed to promote understanding of how professionals can make positive judgements in different practices in the workplace. The unit provides an insight on the legislations that should be followed to ensure that learners acquire the knowledge on the employment laws guiding professionals in their line of work.

Employment relations legislation

This is among the main issues that the learners pursuing the unit should look forward to. Employment legislation is among the main issues that learners should understand in order for them to gain an understanding of how they are expected to manage the relationships between employees and employers in the workplace. The laws identify with the rights of the employees regarding a number of issues that the employees relate to in the workplace. This unit therefore provides guidelines to understanding how the laws are used to enhance protection of the employee rights, and improve the relations in the organisation. Important issues of discussion in this section relates to the understanding of the features that are considered to be part of the contract of employment. Learners have to also identify with the UK and EU employment laws, and students from other countries are also expected to identify with the employment laws in their respective countries. The learners have to also understand the scope of statutory trade union recognition in the organisation. This is a very important aspect, especially because trade unions are a group of stakeholders involved in ensuring that the employee rights are respected. In this perspective, the learners get to evaluate the most important aspects that contribute to management of employment relations laws in the most effective and favourable way.

Contemporary development in employee involvement and participation

In order to promote good employee relations, the employees have to be keen to ensure that they become involved in their workplace, and get to participate with the other employees and the employers to ensure that the organisational goals and objectives are met. The employees should work as partners in the organisation, which is an important attribute that contributes to the improvement of relations in the workplace, as all the employees get to participate in activities that support the processes taken to meet the organisational objectives.

The other issue that the learners should learn in relation to the employee relations is the different representations of workers in the organisation. This means that the learners should have knowledge on union and non-union forms of employee representation, and identify the roles and responsibilities of each in making sure that the employees are well represented.

Learners pursuing this unit should also gain an insight on the issues of employee voice, and how this impacts the performance of the organisation. Employees should be given an opportunity to be listened to. They should be empowered, and also be given the right to express their opinions and views regarding their involvement in the organisation. This is important as it improves the nature of employee participation in the organisation. These are important issues that learners should take note of when getting to understand the involvement of the employees and their participation in promoting employee relations.

Conflict behaviour and dispute resolution

Understanding conflict behaviour is a concept in the unit that the learners should be well aware of, especially because conflicts are part of the organisation, and the only way that positive relations can be developed is when conflicts are effectively resolved. The learners get to learn the differences between conflict and misbehaviour. They also get to learn the actions taken to deal with conflicts in the workplace. This means that they should be keen to differentiate between official and unofficial industrial actions. In addition, the learners should understand the trends in industrial sanctions that should be considered in dealing with conflicts experienced in the workplace.

The unit provides knowledge to the learners on the skills that they should have in order to manage conflicts in the workplace. The line managers should learn and gain skills necessary in advising people who find themselves in conflicts. The line managers should also act as coaches to guide the employees, and improve the circumstances in which they get to deal with the issues that affect their relationships in the workplace. Learners should identify with the skills for purposes of ensuring that they handle the conflicts and disputes, and also develop a platform where understanding is well promoted.

The unit also provides an insight on the issues of conciliation, mediation, and arbitration in situations when conflicts arise. These are important concepts that learners should equip themselves with in order for them to learn how to deal with conflicting issues in the workplace.

Learning objectives;

By the end of the unit, learners should;

• Be able to understand the nature and context of contemporary employee relations
• Understand employment relations legislations and their use in the organisation
• Understand the concepts of employee participation, involvement, and participation in the organisation to promote employee relations.
• Understand the concepts of conflict behaviour and management, and the issues that result to resolution of the disputes

The unit is suitable for learners who want to develop their careers in HR. the learners will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to manage people and promote positive relations in the workplace. The unit is also suitable for the professionals working in the HR field, whose interest will result to them gaining more knowledge and skills in promoting employee relations. Individuals taking responsibility in developing and promoting HR policies and strategies may also pursue this unit to learn the concepts of employee relations.

Winding up;

The contemporary development in employee relations is a unit that is suitable for individuals willing to advance their knowledge in promoting employee relations in the workplace. Learners are expected to complete an assessment of the 5CER unit. The unit will have a total of 3900 words, which will basically address the identified issues as described in this guideline.