Managing Employee Relations

The Intersection of Employee, Industrial Relations and Hard HRM in
Modern Australian Industries: People as a Resource

Name: Robert James Mortaruolo
  Student Number: 23415304        
Unit Code: MGF 2341
Tutorial Time: Monday 1pm
Tutor: Mahin Shahin

ISSUE 1

ISSUE 2

ISSUE 3

Introduction

The essence of this media portfolio focuses on the notion of employees being viewed as resources. The first issue examined will take an in-depth and sustained insight into the idea that firms are compromising on employee safety as part of their quest to improve organisational performance.  The dangerously inappropriate drug administration at the Essendon Football Club (AFL) will form the foundation for which this concept is supported. Furthermore AFL clubs risking players who are suffering concussion and injuries will reinforce this idea. The second issue will further explore the nature employee-employer relationship between AFL clubs and players, specifically the importance of Industrial relations coming in in the form of external ‘agents’ and the ‘AFL players union’ will be looked at. These external bodies are pivotal in securing a player’s health and wellbeing ensuring there not treated as a resource. The final issue has its focus on the business environment whereby employers are prepared to make employees redundant as soon as better alternative presents itself. Specifically the mining industry is examined and the notion of Hard HRM is discussed at large.  Downsizing by mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and poor working conditions on the mine corroborate the key ideology of this portfolio that employees are viewed simply as expendable resources.