An Analytical View of the Key Elements in Management/Union Relationships through the Introduction and Implementation of the Job Evaluation Programme
Muhammad Ali EL-Hajji

Abstract
UNLESS the job evaluation programme gains employee acceptance and support management needs to be prepared to reconsider some aspects of the principle of “management prerogative” and “employee rights” without underestimating or exaggerating the right of either. A clear understanding mapping out the programme’s direction and objective must be translated or reflected in a joint management – union venture, with the programme’s strategy complimenting the organization’s mission and sense of purpose. This should include a desire to bring about harmony, improved team work and team spirit, thereby promoting cordial relations among all the parties concerned. This in turn will help strengthen both vertical and horizontal communication channels within the organization which must lead to an improved, seamless delivery of service where all parties understand a common purpose. By contrast, failure to go down this route will mean that the job evaluation programme risks becoming no more than a waste of time, effort and resources. As a consequence it can be anticipated that it will be reduced to simply creating a source of confusion and or chaos. At best the programme will turn out to be an academic exercise only. There may still be much thought, with thought – provoking assumptions and perhaps even some good ideas. But these will operate in a vacuum only with no direction forward. No matter how much carefully studied and soundly designed the job evaluation programme is, winning employee acceptance is an inevitable requirement. It is incompatible with conventional wisdom for management to have a programme that affect employees’ livelihood and yet is conducted and administrated by a single party’s mind (management only) without sharing that vision and gaining the support of the other interested parties. This paper identifies the need for the development of strong cooperative relations together with the necessity for a joint effort between the interested parties to exist before any job evaluation programme can be successfully taken forward. Furthermore, it considers that the twin opposites of over-emphasis upon “management prerogative” and the underestimation of the management’s role and responsibility are both common causes for why a job evaluation programme may fail. The topic of this paper, therefore, is to deal with and explore a problematic area with controversial views. For many employers it may feel that job evaluation programmes only serve to place a millstone round their respective necks. Nonetheless, the topic is not one that can or should be circumvented and this paper seeks to address the subject matter head-on.

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