Framing Work: Unitarist,

Pluralist, and Critical

Perspectives

EMPR 100: Introduction to Employment Relations

Intended Learning Outcomes
• Compare the unitarist and the pluralist theoretical
frameworks in the study of employment relations.

• Identify prominent theories and describe the role of theories

in the study of employment relations.

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Contending Perspectives on Work
• Workplace controversies
and divided public opinion
• Labour unions and conflict at
work
• Flexible labour markets and
precarious work

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Contending Perspectives on Work
• Employer opposition and
free markets
• Management rights
• Employment regulations and
constraints on business

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Contending Perspectives on Work
• Same divisions exist among
academics studying work
• “At its heart are competing
assessments of the relative
interests of workers and
employers,” (Heery, 2016: p. 1)

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Frames of Reference
• Unitarist frame
• Employee and employer share interests → workplace cooperation.
• Pluralist frame
• Shared and divergent interests → balance through conflict
resolution.
• Radical frame
• Fundamentally opposed interests → exploitation of workers by the
powerful.

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
 Frames of Reference
EMPR 100

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Unitary Frame
• Employee and employer share
interests → workplace
cooperation.
• Conflict – mistakes by managers
or bad HR practices
• Unions – Failure of HR function
• Scholarly focus – Individual job
satisfaction and motivation

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Pluralist Frame
• Shared and divergent interests →
balance through conflict resolution
• Conflict – Natural part of
employment relationship, but
individual employees weaker
• Unions – Necessary for balance of
power and interests
• Scholarly focus – How institutions
like collective bargaining balance
interests
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Radical Frame
• Fundamentally opposed interests →
exploitation of workers by the
powerful.
• Conflict – Driving force in history
• Unions – Generally co-opted by
capitalist system
• Scholarly focus – Efforts to effect
systemic and structural change in the
political economy of society
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Offshoots – Neo-Classical Economist
• Market-based processes and
incentives
• Conflict – Not relevant, maximize
personal utility
• Unions – Create market
distortions and reduce utility
• Scholarly focus – Incentives and
market efficiencies (Dominant
school in Economics)
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Offshoots – Liberal Reformist
• Strong pluralist perspective – but
focus on unions misses reality of
marginalized workers
• Conflict – intersectionality and
core v periphery
• Unions – Good but inadequate.
Unable or unwilling to support
marginalized workers
• Scholarly focus – Broad social
movements and social justice
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Offshoots - Feminist
• Gendered interests at work
• Conflict – Structural, gender-
based discrimination
• Unions – Both a force for change
and a barrier to equity
• Scholarly focus – The role of
gender in work and employment
relations

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Offshoots - Race-based perspectives
• Critical race perspective on
segregation and control
• Conflict – Systemic racism in
society creates structural
discrimination at work
• Unions – Both radical and racist
unions exist
• Scholarly focus – Critical
questions on the role of race in
labour markets and employment
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
 Theories in Employment
Relations
EMPR 100

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
The Role and Purpose of Theory
“A theory is a set of general principles or ideas that are meant to
explain how something works, and is independent of what it intends to
explain.”

“The purpose of a theory (or set of theories) is to help explain what

causes something to occur, or to inform us of the likely consequences
of a phenomena.”

(Townsend et. al. page 1)

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
The Role and Purpose of Theories
For Practitioners
• For HR professionals,
theories inform decision-
making.
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
For Researchers
• For ER scholars, theories
form an essential part of
research.
• Theories may limit inquiry
• Exploring data (like notes
from an interview) is valuable
to ‘explore ideas, logics,
concepts, and premises’.
Theories Help Us Understand…
• Why have gender pay
inequalities persisted?
• Why do workers go on strike?
• What are the implications of the
gig economy for workers and
organizations?

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Narrow versus Diverse Approaches
• Underlying assumptions
about work and
employment relations has
potential to narrow how to
study work.
• What questions to ask.
• What research methods to
use.
• What purpose research
serves.
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Narrow versus Diverse Approaches
• Theoretically diverse field of
study.
1. Macro – meso – micro
levels of study.
2. Methodologically diverse,
quantitative and
qualitative.
3. Broad view of HRM and ER
as ‘a field of study’

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
No “One theory to Rule Them All”
• No “grand theory” despite
attempts
• Dunlop’s Industrial Relations
Systems Theory
• Employment Relations is an
applied field “an ounce of
fact is worth a pound of
theory” p. 8

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Let a 1,000 Theories Bloom…
Marxist Personnel Economics Human Capital Theory

Liberal-democratic voice Labour Regulation Theory Role Theory

Scientific management Institutional Theory Feminist Theory

Labour Process Theory Varieties of Capitalism Trust Theory

Human Relations School Paradox Theory Social Exchange Theory

High Performance Work Systems Leader-Member Exchange Theory Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity
(HPWS) (LMX) (AMO) Theory

Systems Theory Social Mobilization Theory Organizational Justice Theory

Evolutionary Theory Resource-Based View

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Questioning Theories
1. What does this theory attempt to explain or predict?
2. How did this theory develop in the ER/HRM field?
3. Where has this theory demonstrated high quality utility?
4. Where has this theory failed to explain adequately?
5. Where does this theory have scope for development?

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
 Key Terms

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Normative Components
• Normative – principles and
systems that ought to be
true.
• Ideologies of what should
be…
• Assumptions about the
underlying interests of
workers

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Explanatory Components
• Theoretical and analytical -
explanations of the nature Explanatory Normative
of work, employment
• “Minimum wage • “Work should
relations, and outcomes. laws cause provide a living
• Tools for understanding the unemployment” wage”
world… • Empirical claims • Value-based
that can be claims of how
tested the work should
be

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
 Applying Frames

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
Equity and Diversity
• Women possess interests distinct from male ideal type worker
• Implications of divergent interests
• Unitary – “Managing diversity”
• Employer management of diversity enhances cooperation and
improves business performance.
• Pluralist perspective – management self-interest & equity in
treatment and outcome required.
• Need laws and unions to balance interests and unequal power
• Critical perspective – persistent inequality demonstrates
failings of other perspectives.
EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations
High Performance Work Systems
• ‘Best practice’
• Universal theory of HRM
• ‘Best fit’
• Contingency theory HRM
• ‘Resources and processes’
• Resource-based view of the firm
• ‘New managerialism’
• Worker exploitation

EMPR 100
Introduction to Employment
Relations