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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