Theories Of Employee Relations

Over the past two decades, there has been a major shift in managing employee relations. Employee relations have become more strategic with the use of frameworks that are aligned with sharing a common workplace interest with employee commitment, rather that the traditional management control. Since the mid 1980’s, organisations have adopted certain employee relations perspectives such as unitarist and pluralist ideologies. This essay will assess the unitary approach to employee relations and how this approach can assist in the successful management of employee relations.

Fox (1968) argued that management approaches to employee relations are determined by the frame of reference adopted by managers. Thelan and Withall (1979) defined a frame

The theories outlook on conflicts is too negative and is not seen as a process that can reflect inequalities within the work environment. Conflicts are not always deemed to be disruptive to organisations and their operations. Certain conflicts can lead to staff and organisational development. If a learning approach was placed to conflicts, there would be improvements in employee’s problem solving skills. Solving certain conflicts will lead to positive outcomes such as improvements in team communication and team efficiency. The unitary perspective fails to address that resolving conflicts can enhance the organisations performance and contribute to achieving the common

By offering employees incentives such as share ownership or monetary bonuses, the common goal of the organisation can be integrated with the employee’s interests. Incentives are a good mechanism to create a positive working atmosphere within the organisation and a good way in instilling successful employee relations. Incentives such as profit sharing will give employees a financial stake within the organisation and job satisfaction as they feel valued and appreciated.

When managing employee relations with a unitarist perspective, management focuses on different aspects of employee involvement and participation by delegating daily work activities to employees. The work activities are distributed to various teams with one common goal. The unitarist perspective has a large focus on teams. The use of teams in an organisation will result in increased productivity. This gives the organisation a competitive advantage as they are operating more efficiently. As the teams become more productive, the organisation becomes more successful. The use of teams in a unitarist perspective also improves communication skills among the workforce. It is imperative that employees can listen effectively to carry out tasks efficiently and communicate with team members efficiently because of the responsibility top management places