They lead to the breakdown of communication across the different departments. One of the means adopted is through strategies that are used in the recruitment exercise where managers look for recruits with unitarist tendencies and leave out those who seem to have union tendencies. London: SAGE. The unitarist framework holds that workers and managers can pull together to achieve common objectives, values and interests. Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Management. Hence, it is illogical to claim that trade unions are the root cause of conflict witnessed in organisations (Kessler & Purcell 2003). Ferner, A and Hyman, R, 1998, Changing industrial relations in Europe. Another theory from which unitarists draw their position regarding employee management is the human relations theory. As evidenced by Kramar et al., (2021, p. 567), Unitarian addressed individual employees' interests in the workplace. Views: 108. This is a bit strange as the parent companies back in the United States are known to use the unitarist form of human resource management (MichaeL, 1999). Although pluralism does not consider management power exercised, it has recommended dispersed effective power instead of concentrating on some individual persons. The employee relations in organisations emerged amidst industrial relations which began in the 1920s in Europe. The implication is that the ideas of unitarism and pluralism in industrial relations need to be reconsidered. The perspective of not having similar approaches is another vital difference between unitarist and pluralism(Dawkins et al., 2021, p. 30). It needs to give employees the power to make decisions at their workplaces, which would facilitate in avoiding conflicts, as employees would agree with their colleagues on policies to adopt. "Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Management." The managerial relations are the most crucial in an organisation as they determine its success. The management acts as a mediator between the perceived competitors. The unitary perspective believes all members of the organisation should come together as one, i.e. The pluralistic approach does not view the role of managers as to implement organisational policies. Cape Town: Juta. The managers need to understand that the employees have the right to present their opinions on how they would like to be governed (Bacon & Blyton 2007). In comparison to the unitarist theory where there is only one source of loyalty and authority which resides with management, the pluralist theory has many sources of loyalty and authority to management, trade unions and other interests groups. 3, pp. Third parties are viewed as irrelevant as employees The firm works closely whereby the management and employees share common objectives or purpose. The perspective on conflict is another major difference between unitarism and pluralism. School and family circumstances, encounters at the workplaces, clubs, religions, friends, society, and occupations influence most of the understandings. Trade unions have legal backing in the representation of workers as they aid employees in emphasising their power in decision making (Colling and Terry, 2010). The personnel model majorly focused on the management of people as tools that were aimed at propelling the organisation towards the achievement of the stipulated goals of organisations which are geared towards profit-making. It is worth to note that the Hewlett Packard Company has not been known to embrace collective bargaining. However, it has had constraining factors that undermine it. The pluralist form of management emphasises the fact that conflict in organisations can be resolved by way of using effective industrial relations. However, it has been identified that conflict has been considered abnormal in this approach. Therefore, it would not mind to embrace the numerous policies even though they might lead to conflict within the diverse workforce. LinkedIn and 3rd parties use essential and non-essential cookies to provide, secure, analyze and improve our Services, and (except on the iOS app) to show you relevant ads (including professional and job ads) on and off LinkedIn. Organisations also have different kinds of attachments. This generates different kinds of constraints. However, there is no single company which operates in Germany that has fully modelled itself as a valid user of unitarism in its human resource management. Unitarism is a perspective that emphasizes the shared interest of all employees of the organization. A Unitarist managerial perspective would not accommodate a range of policies since the system advocate for a single source of power. ]: Blackwell. Employee relations emerged from industrial relations in Europe in the early 1900s. Pluralists maintain that the management has the duty to promote pluralism and give all parties in the organisation an opportunity to participate in making decisions on matters affecting the organisation (Ackers 2002). What is Unitarist and pluralist? The management has the duty to conduct a free and fair promotion and recruitment exercise, come up with quality communication systems that are capable of showing the employees where their interests fall, and deal with people susceptible to personality disorders (Bacon & Blyton 2007). According to this perspective, the managements role involves the provision of strong leadership and fostering of good communication. The pluralist theory is accommodative in nature. Towards the end of the 20th century, a shift in the management of worker relations has been experienced. Abbott, K 2006, A review of employment relations theories and their application, Problems and Perspectives in Management, vol. Nevertheless, the unitarists fail to understand that employers are the root cause of the conflict. Most of the modern organisations do not have trade unions (Abbott 2006). Moreover, they posit that whenever the management senses that conflict might erupt in an organisation, they work towards coming up with innovative methods that would turn the conflict into a productive initiative. In contrast, pluralism does not have a paternalistic approach and does not expect the loyalty of the employees. hard and soft pluralism employee relations. Managers are supposed to treat employees in a manner that tries to suppress internal conflict over power by ensuring that it does not allocate powers to individual employees. The radical perspective is sometimes referred to as the Marxist view. Although there is no significant backing, it can be speculated that Germany has many organisations which follow the unitarist approach of management. This is because it values labour unions and their roles in managing conflicts between employers and employees (Balnave, 2007). StudyCorgi, 20 Feb. 2023, studycorgi.com/unitarist-and-pluralist-perspectives-in-management/. 1. Hills, SM, 1995, Employment relations and the social sciences. Different employees and organisational leaders hold different opinions and have competing interests (Gennard & Judge 2002). Figure 2: Differences between Unitarian and Pluralism. Bendix, S, 2000, The basics of labour relations. Contemporarily, employee empowerment is one of the strategies used in unleashing the employees potential. It recommends the power to be nicely dispersed rather than concentrated in the hands of a few individuals. Wilton, N, and Wilton, N, 2011, An introduction to human resource management. Unitarism view conflicts as dysfunctional whereas pluralism acknowledges conflicts and view them as desirable. Rather than imposing policies on employees, managers are supposed to help in reconciling the competing parties within an organisation. Edwards, P, 2007, Industrial relations: Theory and practice. The unitarist approach holds that workplace conflicts are avoidable. student. StudyCorgi. Despite the high levels of unemployment, firms in Germany have remained relatively competitive. According to this approach, managers may detour them by bringing all the stakeholders together. The pluralist managerial perspective advocates for collective bargaining, which is a valuable approach in organisation management. In a bid to achieve organisational growth, the management has to have knowledge on how to motivate the diverse workforce. They can and should make sure that an organization is managed from a single source of power. This is IvyPanda's free database of academic paper samples. Such employees would stop being productive subjecting the organisation to retarded growth (Ackers 2002). This paper was written and submitted to our database by a student to assist your with your own studies. Such a system is achievable by encouraging teamwork within the organisation. Unitarian has clearly defined individual employees who share common interests and goals. Verge-2 Condos. Nevertheless, this scenario is not the reality in many organisations. Learn more in our Cookie Policy. Pluralist and Marxists theories open the door to collective bargaining - You are free to use it to write your own assignment, however you must reference it properly. (2023, February 20). "Unitarist Perspective vs. Pluralist Perspective Case Study." This is contrary to the unitarist model of management, which does not identify the presence of a conflict in firms. Unitarism also lacks a descriptive framework of how the firms common interests can be identified and how they can be shared in different organisations. Traditionally, they have been expounded in terms of interests, and values are significantly different from interests. Unitarianism has defined conflict as dysfunctional aspects, while pluralism has acknowledged conflict as the most desirable. Select Accept to consent or Reject to decline non-essential cookies for this use. 2 : the quality or state of being plural. The database is updated daily, so anyone can easily find a relevant essay example. Moreover, unitarists believe that employees do not need having trade unions, as the unions add to workplace conflicts. They make it hard for an organisation to solve internal differences harmoniously. Therefore, these approaches can set the rules and regulations based on industrial relationships. One of the aspects of managerial relations is the collective bargaining (Bacon & Blyton 2007). Since it is hard for organisational leaders to do away with competition within the organisation, they need to look for ways of exploiting the competition in a profitable way. Unitarism has a paternalistic approach and expects the loyalty of the employees. In return, the management would be able to come up with measures to mitigate their potential effects or address them before they happen (Bacon & Blyton 2007). Andover: Cengage Learning. To achieve business objectives, an organization manager must use effective management and leadership approaches. The pluralist managerial perspective promotes a working environment that empowers employees giving them a chance to make decisions on matters affecting their organisation. The perspective acknowledges that it is hard for an organisation to overcome workplace conflicts and it gives a method of embracing the conflict in a productive way. Pluralism also gives ample opportunity for employees to voice out their opinions. Organisations need to handle their employees with great care since they are the most critical resource in production. Hence, trade unions would facilitate to gather the opinion of the employees and bring them on the table for the organisation to make decisive decisions. This frame of reference is the dominant one of contemporary employers. Similarities and differences between unitary theory and pluralist theory: Unitarism is a perspective that emphasizes the shared interest of all employees of the organization. This is one of the main End of preview They believe that for an organisation to curb organisational tension, it has to make sure that it establishes a working environment that promotes self-fulfilment. However, very few companies operating in Germany apply the unitarist perspective of management (Michael, 1999). The employment relationship can be conceptualised as Alan Fox (1966) introduce three main frames of reference; unitarist, pluralist and radical approaches. Though it is argued that most of human resource management theory has a foundation in unitarism, most of the big and mainstream firms have put minimal emphasis on changing the management style that they use-the pluralistic manner. For this reason, organisations cannot overcome conflicts. Unitarism is a perspective that emphasizes the shared interests of all members of an organization while pluralism is a perspective that perceives an organization as being made up of divergent sub-groups having their own legitimate interests. Meanwhile, pluralists hold that workplace conflicts are inevitable. Management is the source of power. In the pluralist perspective, firms are perceived to have been made up of powerful sub-groups that are divergent in roles and goals. This aspect relates with the argument about the importance of trade unions in organisations. Western firms, particularly the Australian firms, have tiny elements of pluralism. This perspective also considers alternative processes that can be used in decision making (Edwards, 2007). Pluralists emphasise on the need for striking an even-handed balance between the different interests in a business organisation to circumvent negative results. Along with that, it has helped mitigate any issues by maintaining effective employment relationships (Gumbrell et al., 2019, p. 99). IvyPanda. Therefore, it is required for the organization's management department to reach out to individual employees to make compromises. Integrating the sentiments of every employee into the organisational goals would go a long way to curb workplace conflicts. Based on the nature of the organisations system, employees and management are seen to pledge to different objectives and values. In the unitarism framework, the firm is perceived as being an integrated and harmonious whole. Conflict is inevitable. You can use them for inspiration, an insight into a particular topic, a handy source of reference, or even just as a template of a certain type of paper. According to this approach, managers may detour them by bringing all the stakeholders together. In the pluralist perspective, firms are perceived to have been made up of powerful sub-groups that are divergent in roles and goals. What is Pluralism In this perspective, trade unions are seen as unnecessary because the loyalty between workers and managements are regarded mutually exclusive where there cannot be two sides of organization. London: Institute of Personnel and Development. According to unitarists, both managers and employees share a common interest of making sure that their organisation grows steadily, and thus when a crisis occurs within the organisation, it would not lead to insolvency of the organisation (Ross & Bamber 2009). 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