Financial Pressure Faced By Students Studying Abroad

Case Study of a Cheated Student

Discuss about the employment relation issue.

One of the major issues that are being faced by so many different students who are going to study aboard is financial pressure. This is a known fact that that in order to go and study in some foreign countries is one of the very expensive and complicated jobs. One has to make many sacrifices and undergo many c complicated processes for getting through it (O'connor, 2017). There are many steps that one has to cross for getting a degree from any foreign school. This is because the standard of living in the foreign countries is very huge and the students have to undertake many employment activities for their survival. Same is the case that has been shown in this assignment.

The issue arose when a student left his house and went to Australia to get a good degree from a very good and well reputed college. This is really a very expensive affair as getting a degree from such a foreign university needs a constant and a huge amount of money. The monthly fees are very high and so is the standard of living as well. So, this group of students fell into a very big problem when they came to stay in Perth. They saw that the money they brought with them was not enough so they had to start finding some jobs in some of the other respectable places. The student took a job of a cleaner in one of the well known cleaning company in Perth. This company was known as the ABC cleaning company and it takes young people who do internship for them as cleaners (Gandhi, 2015).  This student along with his friends had to take up the job through the help of a proprietor who promised them that they will be getting a good salary of 20 dollars per hour and the working hours will be eight hours per day. This seemed a good enough offer for the student and his friends. He also did not think twice about verifying the reputation or the background of the company. He also got assurance from many of the other workers who used to work in the company. This is one of the most important things to consider here. This was a great mistake that the students made (Countouris, 2016). They could have either taken the help from their parents or anyone at their families or at least the police. They must not have believed blindly upon the words of the proprietor in such a unknown distant country (Shannon, 2018). However in the light of this context one has to consider this fact that he was not really in a proper condition of thinking so much. He just had one thing in his mind that some way or the other he needed this job and had to join it immediately. Moreover he also got some kind of assurance from the other existing employees of that company. So, he did not really think about taking any further information before joining the company. The problem started coming up when the proprietor wanted them to invest some money for the purpose of the job security. The proprietor asked them to give a certain sum of money for the purpose of securing the job and also for getting the white card (Kim et al., 2017). These are very lucrative offers for a student like him who is very new to Australia and is trying very hard to make his both ends meet and also study in the Australian university at the same time. The proprietor did not really hand them over any document or any legal deed as a receipt of this monetary transaction that he was making with the students (Ridley-Duff  & Bull, 2015).

Theories of Employment Relations

The manifestations of the problem started as the proprietor did not really make any legal contract with them. He just said that one of his assistant would be contacting with them through email and will also come with the receipt. However these were only words and no written records or legal deeds were signed between those students and the proprietor.. This entire issue is based on the employment relations. The group of 20 students was cheated by this proprietor who promised them a job. He not only took money from these students but also did not give them any job (Bratton & Gold, 2017). There are however some of the theories of employment relations that might be considered in this aspect

This theory is of the belief that a work organization is a place where people must cooperate with each other. They must work together as a unified and loyal organization. In such an organization watch and every employee works abiding to the loyalty culture of the organization and they try to put forward their joint collaborative efforts for reaching their aim. The building block of this school of thought is loyalty. This loyalty must be present not only within the employees but the management as well. There has to be a very clear relationship between the organization and the employees. The organization has to take care of the fact that they are taking care of the interests of the employees. This includes maintaining a clearance and a transparency in each and every filed like the legal sides as well (Wan & Wang 2017). This is one of the most important aspects of the employment relations. The trust factor is one of the most important factors in the field of the employee relations. This is the duty of the employers to see that they can build a strong trust factor within the employers and themselves. It is the trust factor on which the company will work. The loyalty between the organization and the employees must be achieved right from day 1 itself. Often the managers and the employers are of the opinion that as they are superiors they can be dominating over the employees. Often they take the undue advantage of the employees. This is indeed a very corrupt practice. The same can be seen in the case that has been discussed here. This is not known that whether the proprietor really had the ownership of any company or was he somehow related to the ABC cleaning company. There is also the probability that he was really a thief, a cheat or a fraud who did not did not give any job to the students. He took the undue advantage of the young and inexperienced nature of the students. What he did shows the disloyal nature that was present within him (Colletta et al., 2016). Even if he was not associated with the ABC cleaning company in any way then he was at least working as a proprietor or a fake employer in the job market of Perth (Australia). His misdeeds and actions have surely created a very bad impression within the minds of the students and they will have this lack of faith on the employers whenever they are trying to search for a job for the second time in future. So, it is through these kinds of activities that the employers are not able to keep the faith and often lose the trust of their employees. Even if the ABC cleaning company had a middleman or a proprietor through whom they try to reach out to the clients they must be sure that they are not engaging any kinds of illegal or fraudulent activities. They must not carry any illegal activities in the name of giving employment to the students. This creates a huge conflict. The conflicts usually arise from the bad things. The bad thing that happened here is the cheating with the students. They were duped by the proprietor in a very bad way (Ackers, 2014).

Cooperation Theory

This theory is evidence of the fact that the organization is made of many different groups or sections. Each and every group has the loyalties, culture and a commitment towards each other. While recruiting the company must be assuring the employees that they will be getting a very friendly and transparent honest work culture. This school of thought believes that there are mainly two groups responsible for maintaining the employee relationship in a proper way (Rainnie, 2016). They are the trade union and the management. The management must be using the aspects of persuasion, coordination, cooperation in the place of the aspects like controlling and dominating. The management must take care of the needs and demands of all the employees. It is the manager who has to provide them the transparency in each and every aspect that they need. The trade union in particular is the body that is responsible for maintaining the legal obligations and the legal considerations. The people of the trade union are the ones who must be acting as the lawful delegates of the people. However in this case the delegates did not maintain the decorum or the duties that they need to perform. Rather they took the undue advantage of their power. The trade union might be represented by the proprietor promised the students that he will help them get a job. However he did not abide by his word (Anderson, 2016).  He did a breach of the legal obligations. He just gave false assurance to the group of the 20 students but at the end he ditched them. So, the main reason in this case is the breach of trust and legal obligations as well. It is more relevant in this case as there was no legal documents created at all. The students did a major mistake by trusting the proprietor only by his words. This gave rise to the conflict and this conflict resulted into the exchange of violent and angry words between the student and the proprietor. As a result of this, they even thought of going to the police. They thought of taking the help from the court in order to get justice. The proprietor seemed very rude and answered with the unkind words see you at the court. So, there was no positive change created out of this conflict (Peet & Hartwick, 2015). This is because the conflict was not managed properly at all. There were no positive responses from the proprietor and he did not have any mindset of helping the group of those twenty students. Once again the employee relationship was not followed here properly. The students lost their faith and their goodwill over the employer (Knights & Willmott, 2016).

Group Theory

This school of thought is of the belief that there will be class conflicts within the workplaces and this is very normal. This theory is of the belief that not only in a work organization but in a society as a whole there will be class conflicts as there will be people who are rich and people who are poor. As a result of this, the ones who are rich will surely have a dominating nature over the ones that are weak. This gives rise to a class conflict. The same happened here as well. The employer who is the proprietor knew that he can easily take advantage of the students. The students were new to the place and were really struggling and they were financially weak as well (Tapia Ibsen & Kochan, 2015). They were in desperate need of a job. The proprietor here had a strong position and he took the advantage of his power over the ones that were weak. However, this class struggle has a negative impact and this must not have happened at all. Students are left vulnerable at the hands of the employers who often take money from them and cheat them at the end. The same happened in this case as well. The group of 20 students did not get any guidance from anyone and so they ended up falling in the pit that was set by the proprietor for them. This has really created a very bad impression on the minds of the students (Aronowitz, 2016).

So, it can be said that the employment relationship is one of the major things that must be taken care of both by the students and by the employers as well. The scene that is mentioned in this case study is not the only one. This happens in each and every part of the world and there is no strict action being taken for it. It is for this reason that such cases of fraud are taking place every now and then. There is, however, negligence on part of the victims as well. This is because the students must have been more careful before trusting on the words of the proprietor. Even if they were assured, they must have done a thorough survey of this person who was the proprietor and who promised them a job in the ABC Company with a good pay (Savage et al., 2014).

Class Conflict Theory

There are some practices that must be adopted in order to check that these practices are not happening very often. They are-

• Being aware of the people on whom they can actually trust. In other words, being aware of the surroundings and the kinds of corruption that might take place is often very helpful. The students could have prevented the incident but doing the proper investigation of the person that they are trusting and they must have asked for some written and legal documents before handing over the money. One must also know about the background of the company and verify the background of the person who is promising them the job. If the students had verified the background of the proprietor then they would have got this information that he is a cheater.
• Consult with some trusted source and take the help of the police as well. This can really be very helpful as this will help the victims to take preventive measures. The best thing they can do is get help from the cops. This will threaten the frauds as they will get a very strict lesson (Karanges et al., 2015).
• Get some legal deeds before making any monetary exchange-This is one of the most important things that the job seekers must do at all costs. They must know the importance of the legal documents. This is one of the most important steps that are to be taken before trusting anyone. There are so many frauds and cheats roaming in the job market and they can take the undue advantage of the vulnerability of these people. Jobseekers must get the legal documents, read all the policies of the company, and get the background of the company verified. It is only after being totally sure about the job profile and the profile of the company that they must move forward.

So, it can be concluded that the case that has been projected in this assignment is really very common one. This has created a very bad impact on the minds of the students and they will have this fear whenever they will be trying to find any job later on. In order to see that this incident does not happen with others ever again, this issue has to be highlighted and people are to be made aware. Even if it happens they can take preventive measures when they have enough time

References

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