Ch12 Industrial Relations Rev1

7/28/2019 Ch12 Industrial Relations Rev1

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

MBA423Human Resource Management

Suva

Trimester 3, 2008Prepared by Feue Tipu

MBA


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APPROACHES TO INDUSTRIAL

RELATIONS

Some perceive industrial relations in terms of

class conflict, others in terms of mutual

cooperation and others still in terms of groups

with competing interests.

Human resource managers need to understand

these varying approaches because they providethe ideological underpinning for much of the

debate about IR reform and the role of HRM.


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UNITARIST APPROACH

Workplace conflict is seen as a temporary digression,resulting from poor management, employees who do not

fit with the organisations culture or trade union activity.

Trade unions are regarded as competitors for the

employees commitment and cooperation.The underlying assumption is that it is to the benefit of all

to focus on common interests and promote harmony.

Conflict in the form of strikes, therefore, is regarded as

not only unnecessary, but destructive.Advocates of the unitary approach seek a radical overhaul

of the industrial relations system. Emphasis is on

enterprise IR and direct negotiations with employees.


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Main Features of the Unitarist Perspective

ASPECTS UNITARIST PERSPECTIVE

General PhilosophyEvery workplace is an integrated and harmonious entitythat exists for a common purpose.

Role of Management To provide strong leadership and good communications.

Role of EmployeesTo be loyal to the organization and its management inrecognition of their common objectives.

UnionsUnions are seen to compete for the loyalty andcommitments of employees.

Industrial Conflict

Conflict is not inherent in the workplace. Conflict isseen to be the result of faulty communications, thework of agitators or a failure of employees to grasp thecommonality of interests.


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PLURALIST APPROACH

In contrast to the unitary approach, the pluralistapproach sees:

organisations as coalitions of competing

interests, where managements role is tomediate among the different interest groups

trade unions as legitimate representatives ofemployee interests

stability in industrial relations as the product ofconcessions and compromises betweenmanagement and unions.


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Main Features of a Pluralist Perspective

ASPECTS PLURALIST PERSPECTIVE

General Philosophy

An enterprise contains people with a variety of differentinterests, aims and aspirations. Power is said to be evenlydiffused among the main bargaining groups in such a waythat no party dominates the others.

Role of the StateRegarded as the impartial guardian of the public interestwhose role is to protect the weak and restrain the powerof the strong.

Role of Management

Should not expect blind obedience or suppress any ideasor aims that conflict with their own. The aim is to reconcileconflicting opinions and keep the conflict within acceptablebounds so that it does not destroy the enterprise.

Unions Unions are viewed as the legitimate representatives ofemployee interests at work with the right to challenge theright to manage.

Industrial ConflictConflict is inevitable and legitimate consequence of thevariety of interests in the workplace.


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MARXIST (RADICAL) APPROACH

Marxists, like the pluralists, regard conflict

between management and employees as inevitable.

However, where pluralists see conflict inherent in

all organisations, Marxists see if as a product of acapitalist society.

Adversarial relations in the workplace are simply

one aspect of class conflict.

The Marxist approach thus focuses on the type of

society in which an organisation exists.

For the Marxist, therefore, all strikes are political.


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Main Features of a Radical Perspective

ASPECTS RADICAL PERSPECTIVE

General Philosophy

There is a fundamental and inherent conflict ofinterest between workers and employers, a conflictthat derives from the unequal distribution of income

and wealth in a capitalist society.

PowerThose who owns the means of production havepower superiority over those who sell their labor forwages.

Role of the StateThe state plays an integral role in protecting theinterests of those who own the means of prodcution.

Unions

The vulnerability of employees as individuals leadsthem to form worker collectives. Unions challengethe control of management and the distribution ofnational product.


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The key weapons in adversarial industrial

relations (unions)

Strike: refusing to work

Bans: refusing to undertake particular jobs or workwith certain people

Boycott: preventing others from doing business with

the companyPicket: preventing other employees, customers andsuppliers from entering the work site

Industrial tribunal: union seeks assistance of an

industrial tribunal such as the Industrial RelationsCommission


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The key weapons in adversarial

industrial relations (management)

Lockout: employees are not allowed to enter theworkplace

Injunction: company obtains civil court order to stop

union from undertaking some form of industrial actionStrike breakers: company uses non-union members tofill jobs of striking union members

Employer associations: company uses employer

association to exert its influence on the unionIndustrial tribunal: company seeks assistance of anindustrial tribunal such as the Industrial RelationsCommission


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PARTIES IN INDUSTRIALRELATIONS

Three major parties - government, employerassociations and trade unions.

The unique system of compulsory arbitration thatrequires the grouping of employers and employeesinto registered organisations has fostered the growthof trade unions and affected employer approaches toindustrial relations.

Competitive pressures, legislative changes, thecontinuing decline in union membership, increasing

demands for deregulation of the labour market and aless centralised industrial relations system have seenthe established system of compulsory arbitrationrevised and come under threat.


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TRADE UNIONS

The old system of compulsory arbitration encouraged tradeunionism.

Union concerns have traditionally focused on pay rates,conditions of work and job security.

Increasingly, however, unions are moving away from thesebread and butter issues and adopting an approach ofstrategic unionism that includes industrial democracy,social welfare, training, industrial policy and taxation.

Moreover, because most awards, determinations and

industrial agreements set only minimum rates andconditions, unions also seek to negotiate above-awardconcessions from employers. Some unions see enterprise

bargaining as being limited to just that.


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Trade Unions (cont)

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the

major peak trade union organisation.

The present economic industrial and political climate raises

the possibility of an employer-led and government

supported assault on unions, that , if successful, could

destroy the power of the trade union movement.

The reality is that most unions have not adapted well to the

loss of privileges that they enjoyed under the old

centralised wage setting system.

Regardless, there is an increasing realisation among someunion leaders that Australia must be internationally

competitive and that the key issue is how to make the cake

bigger, rather than how to divide it.


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Reasons Why Employees Join

UnionsCompulsion

Protection

Social pressurePolitical beliefs

Solidarity

Tradition

Pay and conditions

Communication

Health and safety

Ch12 Industrial Relations Rev1

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