Key points:
- Learning about employee and management rights.
- Learning about managing employees and discipline.
Key contents:
Within an organisation, both employees and employers have rights. Employee rights include statutory rights, contractual rights, and other types such as privacy, free speech, etc. Statutory rights include safe work conditions, the right to form a union, protection from discrimination and racism, etc. Contractual rights are the ones stated in the employment contract and policies.
Just like employees, employers also have rights which are supported by property laws and common law. These include the right to manage workforce, hire, fire, assign, and discipline employees. Also employers have a right to fire an employee at any given time and for any reason, except if any of the following are involved: public policy exceptions, implied contracts or lack of good faith and fair dealing.
There are times when the rights of the employer and the employee are in conflict, so HR professionals have to balance the rights by designing policies that are fair to both parties.
Discipline is the tool that managers use to change the behaviour of an employee. It can be approached in two ways: a progressive approach relies on punishment that leads to firing. Positive discipline uses counseling to encourage the employee to change their behaviour.
Difficult employees who exhibit poor performance and insubordination must be dealt with the use of discipline. However, discipline may not be the best way in all of the cases. The need to use discipline can be avoided by having a good HRM system.
Source
- Gomez-Mejia, L.R., Balkin, D.B. and Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Global Edition 8/E. Pearson. London, Chapter 16.
Basics of Human Resource Management 