Theories Of Industrial Relations

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QUESTION ONE Compare and contrast Unitary, Pluralist and Radical theories of Industrial Relations. Give examples from at one South Pacific Island to support your answer. Industrial Relations can be defined as the means by which the various interests involved in the labour market are accommodated, primarily for the purpose of regulating employment relationships. It is concerned with the relationships, which arise at and out of the workplace (i.e., relationships between individual workers, the relationships between them and their employer, the relationships employers and workers have with the organizations formed to promote and defend their respective interests, and the relations between those organizations, at all levels). Industrial relations…show more content…
Furthermore not much is mentioned about the state in the unitary approach the most important players are the management and employees in here. The pluralist regard the state as an impartial guardian of the ‘ public interest” whose role is to protect the weak and restrain the power of the strong. Moreover, the radical view the state as protecting the interests of those who own the means of production. Furthermore on the topic of trade unions the unitary approach views them as intruders, who compete for the loyalty and commitment of employees. The pluralist, view unions as the legitimate representatives of employee interests at work with the right to change the visit to manage and also with the responsibility to seek compromise. The radical stipulate that due to the vulnerability of employees as individuals, it leads them to form worker collectives. Thus unions are seen as challenging the control of management and the distribution of national…show more content…
His focus is on the so-called degradation of work associated with ever-tightening management control. It is postulated that subordination and deskilling of labour will emerge from the combined effects of modern management and new styles of mechanization and automation. The ideal management objective is the removal of all worker control or autonomy, to be achieved through the specialized division and subdivision of tasks. Skilled craftwork is thus reduced to the status of unskilled labour. Taylorism, or scientific management, which developed at the beginning of the twentieth century, is seen as the conscious and systematic expression of this process of degradation. It is argued that one overall effect of the degradation of work will be to produce an affinity between intermediate-level workers (such as routine clerical staff) and the mass of the working
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