BX3051 Employment Relations

Chapters 2 & 3:
Analytical Tools & Values - IR versus HRM
& Dominant Paradigms in ER
Overview
• Overview of the evolution of ER, including
critical insights on the rise of HRM and an
assessment of IR versus HRM
• Paradigms that inform ER as an academic
discipline: Unitarism, Pluralism and Radicalism
Class Activity
Read:
What’s the point of industrial relations? A
statement by the British Universities Industrial
Relations Association (BUIRA, October 2008)

Questions for discussion:

1. What are the major points put forward in
defence of industrial relations?
2. Why did the Buira feel the need for such a
statement?
 Industrial Relations (IR)
• The term ‘Industrial Relations (IR)’ goes back
to the late 19th Century.
• The Primary Motivation for Creating IR was
the Labour Problem.
• Motivated by public and corporate concern
over the deteriorating state of employer–
employee relations in the early twentieth
century.
Industrial Relations (IR)
• This deteriorated state, manifested by
maladies such as large-scale violent strikes,
high turnover and absenteeism, and the
growth of militant trade unions and socialist
political parties, was known at the time as the
Labour Problem (Kaufman, 2008: 324)
Industrial Relations (IR)
4 solutions to the Labour Problem:
• Professional/Progressive Labour Management
(Human Relations)
• Protective Labour Law and Social Insurance
• Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining
• Macroeconomic Stabilisation
Industrial Relations (IR)
• Therefore, as from its very origin (in the US at
least), IR ‘is about using institutional change
and social engineering to modify and
strengthen the market system in order to
promote a co-operative mutual-gain outcome’
(Kaufman, 2008: 329)
Human Resource Management (HRM)
• Traditionally, HRM was seen as a form of
‘progressive’ management, often referred to as
Personnel/Welfare management and was seen
as being a part of IR
• Today for many, IR is seen as a subcomponent
of HRM
Employment Relations (ER)
• Today, while HRM mostly remains in the field of
Management /OB studies, there is an
increasing consensus towards accepting a
broader definition i.e. Employment Relations
(ER) encompassing IR and HRM
• ER = IR + HRM
What’s a Paradigm?
• A paradigm can be understood as a ‘Frame of
Reference’.
• A frame of reference relates to one’s
perspective on the world. It comprises the
assumptions, values, beliefs and convictions we
draw on to interpret and understand the way
things are and why things happen.
Dominant Paradigms in ER
There are 3 distinctive frames of reference in ER
(See Alan Fox):
– The Unitarist perspective
– The Pluralist perspective
– The Radical/Marxist perspective (including
Critical Political Economy)
Unitarist Perspective
• The viewpoint is that the employment relation
is grounded in mutual cooperation and
mutual interest between employers and
employees
• Trade unions are regarded as competitors for
employee commitment and loyalty to
organisational goals

(Source: Balnave and al. Employment Relations

in Australia, 2009, 11)
Unitarist Perspective & ER
• Manage people by emphasising goals of
organisational commitment and policy
integration with business needs
• Management’s role is to define goals and
harness minds, emotions and efforts of
employees
• Involves ‘top-down’ communication to ensure
employees understand organisational goals
and expectations
Pluralist Perspective
• Regards conflict as inevitable because of the
competing interests of employers and
employees.
• Trade unions are the legitimate
representatives of employee interests and
have the right to challenge management
prerogative
Pluralist Perspective
Management
• to advance interests of the organisation
• recognises separate and legitimate interests
of stakeholder groups
Employees
• pursue personal interests
• recognise legitimacy of management’s
interests
Pluralist Perspective
Unions
• legitimate representatives of employees
• sometimes challenge management
• maintain responsibility to seek compromise
State
• important in creating policies and laws that
protect ‘public interest’
• protect the weak in the employment relationship
• constrain the powerful
• promote compromise
Pluralist Perspective & ER
Influence of pluralist values seen in:
• public statements of politicians on the policies
and laws they support
• language used by employers and their
representatives and trade unions
• actions of employers and trade unions at
enterprise level
Radical/Marxist Perspective
• The employment relationship as subject to
enduring conflict in which the control
exercised by employers over employees is
illegitimate and can only end when major
social change is achieved
• Regards industrial conflict as a result of class
struggle in the wider society
Radical/Marxist Perspective
• Unions are an outcome of the power
imbalance in the employment relationship
• Such frame of reference is most likely to be
found in Labour studies and Critical Political
Economy (See Giles & Murray)
Radical/Marxist Perspective
Management:
• Control workers in order to produce profit
Employees:
• Hold a subordinate and unequal position unless they
realise their situation and rebel
Unions:
• Represent employees in the struggle against employers
State:
• Protect the interest of employers
Radical/Marxist Perspective & ER
Examples of radical values:
• notions about inequity of ‘the system’
• deep mistrust of employers
How do these paradigms impact
our understanding of ER?
Concepts Unitarism Pluralism Radicalism
Power Relations Not an issue, a matter A matter of regulation Structured antagonism
of management to foster industrial and an imbalance of
prerogative democracy power to be
counteracted by
workers collective
organisation
Conflict Pathological, should Acceptable in a Inherent to the ER, a
be resolved by democratic society and matter of class struggle
fostering a common the result of conflicting
understanding of interests; can be
mutual gains; a matter resolved through
of good management bargaining, IR is about
conflict resolution
Unions A nuisance to be A legitimate A vehicle for workers
avoided representative of struggle OR a way to
employees and subsume workers
broader working class activism, away from
interests socialist alternatives
How do these paradigms impact
our understanding of ER?
Concepts Unitarism
State / An impediment to market
Institutions efficiency and obstacle to
flexibility
Employee Empowerment in view of
Participation improving the organisation
of work and promoting job
motivation and satisfaction
Core Value Individualism/Performance
ER focus Efficiency, employee
commitment, loyalty and
engagement
Pluralism Radicalism
Necessary for economic Biased towards capital;
governance et corporatist
coordination; collective arrangements as a form
bargaining as a key for of labour
conflict resolution accommodation
The embodiment of Manipulation, HR
democracy at work, strategy for union
Employee voice (direct avoidance,
and indirect intensification of work
participation) vs. quality of working life
Collectivism/Social Solidarity/Activism
cohesion
Industrial democracy, Exploitation,
efficiency and equity subordination, control
(Fair Go), employee and resistance
compliance
Class Activity
Discussion Questions:

1. The emphasis of Industrial Relations is on collective

responsibility rather than individual freedom. Do
you agree with this statement? Explain your answer.

2. Industrial Relations does not fit with small and

medium enterprises. Do you agree with this
statement? Explain your answer.
Class Activity
Read:
The case study: Conflicting values among managers
(Chapter 3 of the text book)

Questions for discussion:

1. Identify and discuss the unitarist and pluralist values
in this story.
2. Does Pam have any space to do things her way?
3. How should a union delegate, like the nurse in Pam’s
ward, respond to these developments? Does she go
to war because of the CEO or try to work
cooperatively with Pam on ward-specific issues?