Reference no: EM133179942

1. Is authority and power linked? Is employment relations inherently a power/authority relationship? 

2. Does management has power to openly exercise authority in the organization? To what extend. 

3. In the employment sphere this is reflected in a belief that people should not lumped together as a unit of a factors of production or treated impersonally, rather they should be seen as individual human beings each with his or her own aspirations, attitudes, attributes, and each in their sphere of work, able to make a unique and significant contribution to the successful operations of the organization.  Do you agree/disagree with the statement? Why

4. Do you think the level of freedom decide the individualism and collectivism? 

5. It is this interrelationship between individualism and collectivism which lies at the heart of industrial relations? 

6. Discuss how you can maintain trust and integrity in organization or community. In your groups discuss one example of trust and integrity issues faced either at workplace, community, home etc

7. Do you think state involvement in Industrial and Employment relations is justified? Support your discussion with the example

8. In relations to Labour legislations in Fiji, discuss any industry relations case to determine whether the process is fair and just in all aspects

ANSWER THE 8 QUESTIONS ABOVE WITH THE 3 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS BELOW

Case study 1 

Peter, who is Black, was finally called for an interview at Den's car wash. Peter was hired for the job where he had to work with seven other men who were students. He was given little instruction and when he asked questions, those men were not helpful. After some time, few co-workers invited him to join lunch or during breaks, but others consistently cracked ethnic and racial jokes. One day Peter overheard the manager say that Black people were responsible for increased violence in the community. This encouraged others also to pass racial jokes. One busy Sunday afternoon, a whole section of the car wash equipment broke down because someone had allowed the system to become overheated. Peter worked on that section until his co-worker took over. The system had broken down at some point after that. The manager was furious and accused Peter of negligence. Although Peter insisted that the equipment failure was not his fault, the manager fired him. Peter believed he was discriminated against because he is Black, while his co-workers and managers are White.

Questions

1. Briefly discuss the case. What is the main issue?

2. Do you think Peter was treated differently by his co-worker because of his race and color?

3. Assume peter files a case against the company. As the manager, how will you solve this case?

Case study 2 

Rita applied for a job at Jack and Jill as a children's caretaker. She worked part-time as a kindergarten teacher and cared for children with mental and physical disabilities while in secondary school. In the initial interview, Rita was told that she was the ideal candidate and likely to be hired. She satisfactorily passed her pre-employment medical examination and the doctor confirmed that she could meet the requirement of being able to lift children. The interviewer reviewed the completed medical form at a second meeting and noticed Rita's hand. The assistant administrator had not observed her left hand's middle and ring fingers were much shorter than those on most hands. The interviewer and another director discussed Rita's disability and the job requirements. Even though they both wanted to hire Rita, they didn't think she would be able to cope with the gripping or clasping needed to lift children. Although Rita said she could perform the duties and had done similar tasks in her previous job with children with disabilities, she was not hired.

Questions

1. Do you think the decision not to hire Rita was fair?

2. Is there any law in Fiji that Rita can use if she decide to report this matter to Ministry of Labour? Discuss.

Case Study 3 

Nancy was a Senior Marketing officer at ABC company. She mainly was out of the office attending meetings with clients. As part of the benefit, she was given a company car. She was very efficient with her work and the company recorded 20% sales increase with the marketing strategies. She sometimes used the company car to attend to her personal matter. One Sunday, while she was returning after attending one function, she got involved in an accident. It was found that she was drunk at the time of the accident. The company issued her with a warning letter for the incident. In another incident, the delivery truck of the same company was involved in the accident. The investigating officer found the driver was drunk during the accident and the vehicle was used after working hours. The driver was issued a termination letter.

Questions

1. Discuss the main issues in the case study.

2. Analyze both situations. Do you think the decision made in both cases is fair and equitable?

3. How would you solve the issue?