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Employment Relationship Management

Module description

This module examines the key approaches, practices, and tools to manage and enhance the employee relationship to create better working lives and the significant impact this can have on organisational performance.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will develop understanding of practices aimed at supporting better working lives, differentiating between employee involvement and participation. You will also learn about conflict and misbehaviour, assessing emerging trends in conflict and industrial sanctions, third-party conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. Finally, you will learn about performance, disciplinary and grievance matters and how to manage these lawfully.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe employee voice, engagement, and practices to support better working lives.
• 2. Identify how to manage performance, disciplinary and grievance matters lawfully.
• 3. Describe the role of employee bodies in employment relations.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Explain different forms of conflict behaviour and dispute resolution.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Work independently and be self-motivated.
• 6. Develop effective independent study skills.

Syllabus plan

• Introduction to module including key terms and assessment criteria.
• A review of emerging developments to inform approaches to employee voice and engagement.
• Differentiating between employee involvement and employee participation and how it builds relationships.
  • Assessment of a range of employee voice tools and approaches to drive employee engagement.
  • A critical evaluation of the interrelationships between employee voice and organisational performance.
• The concept of better working lives and how this can be designed.
• Distinguishing between organisational conflict and misbehaviour, and between informal and formal conflict.
• Distinguishing between official and unofficial employee action.
• An assessment of emerging trends in the types of conflict and industrial sanctions.
• Distinguishing between third-party conciliation, mediation, and arbitration.
• Explain the principles of legislation relating to unfair dismissal in respect of capability and misconduct issues.
• Analysis of the key causes of employee grievances.
• The skills required for effective grievance and discipline-handling procedures, and how to advise on the importance of handling grievances effectively.
• The main provisions of collective employment law.
• A comparison of the types of employee bodies, union, and non-union forms of employee representation.
• An evaluation of the purpose of collective bargaining and how it works.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you have been deferred for any assessment you will be expected to submit the relevant assessment. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment. 

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Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be expected to submit the relevant assessment. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 40% 

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Taylor, S. and Woodhams, C. (eds). (2022) Human resource management: people and organisations. 3rd ed. London: CIPD Kogan Page. Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2023).

Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 16th ed. London: Kogan Page.

Aylott, E. (2022) Employment law: a practical introduction. 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page.

Aylott, E. (2022) Employment relations: a practical introduction. 3rd ed. London: Kogan Page.

Web-based and electronic resources:

•  www.acas.org.uk Website of ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), which aims to improve organisations and working life through better employment relations.
• www.cipd.co.uk Website of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Knowledge Hub.

 Other resources:

Exeter University Electronic Learning Environment (ELE).

Key words search

HR; Human Resources; People Management; People Professional