Individuals supporting unitarism perspective assume that employees are mature enough to reach conclusive decisions on how to integrate organisational and personal interests. Based on the nature of the organisations system, employees and management are seen to pledge to different objectives and values. "Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Management." Unitarists believe that this second source of authority, which is the trade union, is to blame for tension that arises between employees and managers. "Unitarist Perspective vs. Pluralist Perspective Case Study." * Hyperlink the URL after pasting it to your document, Business Core Competencies and Competitive Strategies, Service Quality Factors in the Airline Industry, Using One Thousand Dollars to Develop the Handball Team, Ethical Leadership Model in Organizations, Proctor and Gamble and Unilever Companies Marketing, Effective Procurement Activities Added Value, Our site uses cookies. The key difference between unitarism and pluralism is that the unitarism is a perspective that emphasizes the shared interests of all members of an organization whereas the pluralism is a perspective where an organization is perceived as being made up of divergent sub-groups having their own legitimate interests. StudyCorgi, 20 Feb. 2023, studycorgi.com/unitarist-and-pluralist-perspectives-in-management/. 293 The Kingsway. Unitarist managerial perspective holds that workplace conflicts are avoidable. This leads to new innovations in firms. Collins, D, 1998, Organizational Change: Sociological Perspective. IvyPanda. 3, pp. Each organization has a shared relationship 150th fellow employee. The shift from personnel management to human resource management has a conceptual backing in the pluralist model of labour management. In the unitarism framework, the firm is perceived as being an integrated and harmonious whole. It is worth to note that the Hewlett Packard Company has not been known to embrace collective bargaining. "Unitarist Perspective vs. Pluralist Perspective Case Study." You can update your choices at any time in your settings. Power in this perspective is distributed among major bargaining groups in the organisation so that no party takes advantage or manipulates the other. Retrieved from https://studycorgi.com/unitarist-and-pluralist-perspectives-in-management/, StudyCorgi. Your privacy is extremely important to us. In a bid to encourage cooperation between the management and employees, the management needs to create a corporate culture that brings parties together, use an insidious and strong leadership style, and have a clear revelation of the organisational goals. Organisations need to handle their employees with great care since they are the most critical resource in production. Also, firms are seen as composing teams which work together to reach mutual goals. IvyPanda. However, for bigger organisations, it is hard for the management team to use a single source of power, which underlines why organisations are working to remove the hierarchy that exists in their administration structure. Conflict is an unavoidable aspect of the current economy, characterised by competition coupled with a lot of dynamics. The unitarist perspective is broadly defined as an approach to emphasizing the importance of sharing the organization's goals and team working. Grady, RC, 1993, Restoring real representation. Besides, the social classes lead to regular conflicts due to contradicting interests (Bacon & Blyton 2007). According to the unitarists, organisations ought to have a single source of authority. In the unitarist framework of management, authority in an organisation only emanates from a single source. In other words, it believes that management and workforce are all working for the welfare of the company. The pluralist perspective understands this aspect and that is why it advocates for collective bargaining as the alternative method to help in bringing the personal and organisational interests together. Medium and large companies that carry out their operations in Germany are forced to apply collective bargaining in their market operation. Along with that, it has helped mitigate any issues by maintaining effective employment relationships (Gumbrell et al., 2019, p. 99). (2022, August 1). Columbia, SC: Univ. During this time, industry was the term used to mean the manufacturing firm (Ferner and Hyman, 1998). 1, pp. Employment laws refer to the area of law between employees and employers. New York: McGraw-Hill. Unitarism is a perspective that emphasizes the shared interest of all employees of the organization. It is argued that pluralist form of management may become common and most preferred in European firms that follow a market strategy based on high quality to substitute the unitarist form of management common in the United States (Michael, 1999). 1 August. The diverse ideas in this innovative world are codified through collective agreements. Such a belief gives a steady argument for focusing on the commonality of goals to achieve a stable employee relations system. A central assumption in the application and practice of soft human resource management is that the firm is unitarist. of South Carolina Press. In the other context, pluralism has suggested employees do not have similar interests and goals. However, in modern times characterised by management dynamics, organisations may choose to use more than one style of management though in an integrative way. 27 febrero, 2023 . February 20, 2023. https://studycorgi.com/unitarist-and-pluralist-perspectives-in-management/. They lead to the breakdown of communication across the different departments. School and family circumstances, encounters at the workplaces, clubs, religions, friends, society, and occupations influence most of the understandings. Sample question: Compare and contrast the unitary and pluralist perspectives of industrial relations and provide some typical examples of unitarist and pluralist features in workplaces. The unitary perspective believes all members of the organisation should come together as one, i.e. Definition of pluralism. The management has the duty to design workplace relations in ways that promote self-satisfaction within the employees. In the pluralist perspective, firms are perceived to have been made up of powerful sub-groups that are divergent in roles and goals. This has been backed by findings of research that was conducted in the year 2003. This is argued to be just a fiction that has intentions of drawing away from the theoretical constraints associated with pluralists as it applies to managerial prerogative (Radcliffe, 2005). In the other context, pluralism has suggested employees do not have similar interests and goals. Integrating the sentiments of every employee into the organisational goals would go a long way to curb workplace conflicts. In a bid to achieve organisational growth, the management has to have knowledge on how to motivate the diverse workforce. This frame of reference is the dominant one of contemporary employers. When conflicts are effectively managed, the organisation gets a chance to have a new look and create more room for development. Unitarian and pluralism are two terms that have mostly been used during Human resources development. Therefore, instead of solving the conflicts, the strategies postpone them only to erupt at a time when the organisation is not prepared. By acknowledging that organisations are incapable of overcoming conflicts, the pluralists consider conflict to be of significant benefit to an organisation (Giles 1998). In this case, conflicts are negatively portrayed as they are regarded to be dysfunctional and a sign that there is a lack of loyalty which is harmful to organisational success. Radcliffe, D, 2005, Critique of Human Resources Theory. Unitarism has a paternalistic approach and expects the loyalty of the employees. It brings together all the parties involved in the conflict and helps them to come up with a consensus (Kessler & Purcell 2003). The results were that a number of entrepreneurs and employers have begun to make attempts to de-unionise their firms. The pluralistic theory is built on the assumption that the workplace is composed of unique aspects, including different values, attitudes, and beliefs. "Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Management." Workplace social classes are a major hindrance to organisational success. Other firms can choose to allow trade unions. However, the strategies it gives appear more intimidating to employees. If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. The other point that forms the basis of unitarism is that the activities of trade unions are not legitimate. Hence, the management ought to work on the forces that unite it with the employees by establishing a working environment that promotes autonomy. 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. Both these terms are often used in the sphere of human resources development. These perspectives are different in their explanation, understanding and analysis of relations at places of work. This is an illustration which points to the fact that pluralism is a right approach to management. Moreover, this stance has a paternalistic approach and expects the loyalty of the employees. Moreover, pluralism is not paternalistic in its approach; hence, it does not expect the loyalty of the employees. Although firms in Germany can choose to use practices aligned with human resource management, they are limited when adopting unitarist human resource management values. @media (max-width: 1171px) { .sidead300 { margin-left: -20px; } } Farnham, D, and Institute of Personnel and Development, 2000, Employee relations in context. This is because it allows for a participatory aspect of management. This perspective explores the behaviour of the capitalistic society, which has a division of interests that exists between capital and labour (Bendix, 2000). . Urbana, Ill. The philosophy underlying this framework is that enterprises or organisations have people with unique interests, objectives and aspirations. The quality or state of being plural, or in the plural number. Employment relations are determined to maintain labor and social security services to employees. Unlike the unitarists who do not see the role of trade unions in organisations, pluralists believe that trade unions play a significant role in bringing sanity into an organisation. The pluralist managerial perspective promotes a working environment that empowers employees giving them a chance to make decisions on matters affecting their organisation. Unitarianism referred to a paternalistic approach and expected employee loyalty in return. In this paper, see the writer will explore the advantages and disadvantages of both concepts, explaining their meaning, similarities and differences. What is Unitarist and pluralist? On the other hand, the recent strikes and labor problems at the Boeing Company could be seen as an example of a pluralist approach. Unitarists position on employee management draws from a number of theories. Conflicts that come up in organisations can be beneficial to the organisation. Outsiders are seen as immaterial as representatives and businesses have a common participation. They believe that the conflicts help the management to unravel the underlying tensions, therefore, helping them to come up with measures to mitigate them. Modern organisations continue to adopt and use modern forms of management and administration. This is because it allows for differing interests of workers and managers. This assumption makes the perspective weak, since it is hard for individuals with differing opinions to come up with an agreement without following a particular guideline. Pluralists perceive business organisations as intricate social constructions that comprise of groups of people with conflicting interests. The unitarist is likened to utopic or authoritarian regimes. 63 no. A single leader cannot manage to address all the employee demands and might end up enforcing his or her ideas, therefore, amplifying the conflict (Abbott 2006). Pluralists draw their inspirations from the systems theory devised by Dunlop in 1958. Highland Commons. Web. In a unitarist managerial approach, the management would be caught unprepared by challenges posed by workplace conflict. Danny Danforth. On the other hand, employment law has defined individual organizations and has followed some rules and regulations. An emphasis on values rather than interests raises some new problems both for unitarists and pluralists. It recognises the existence of groups in organisations as well as the existence of divergent interests. Singh, P & Loncar, N 2010, Pay satisfaction, job satisfaction, and turnover intent, Industrial Relations, vol. 24-41. Unitarism has a paternalistic approach and expects the loyalty of the employees. 470-490. IvyPanda. 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. 1. 3a : a theory that there are more than one or more than two kinds of ultimate reality. Different groups have different interests and pursue them in many ways 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. 2023. 814-834. It can be argued that some firms are putting in place measures to ensure that their employees do not adopt pluralist tendencies. These scholars have suggested that the pluralist framework of management is better and should be used instead of the unitarist framework. Surfacing unitarist-versus-pluralist assumptions is relevant when planning, implementing and evaluating change initiatives. The current focus emphasises the strategic and integrated frameworks based on the commitment of workers and the shared interests at the place of work (Collins, 1998). Apart from the scientific management and the human relations theories, the Unitarists draw their inspirations from the human resource management theory. Unitarists claim that trade unions are the main cause of conflict in organisations and that to avoid conflicts; organisations need to eliminate trade unions. In this case, human resource management, which has been adopted by many organisations these days, addresses the needs of employees in a significant way. Conflicting objectives are seen as abnormal in this perspective. Therefore, managers are made to go out of their way and show their management and leadership prowess. The two perspectives have different opinions regarding organisational management. Since the different employees have different interests, the management ought not to run away from conflicts. (Know both in detail - might be asked individually). According to pluralists, organisations are more susceptible to conflicts than harmony. 3a : a theory that there are more than one or more than two kinds of ultimate reality. Required fields are marked *. The level of employee relations in pluralism makes it appropriate for diverse organisations and national cultures. ]: Univ. It contains thousands of paper examples on a wide variety of topics, all donated by helpful students. Consequently, it is hard for any organisation to circumvent workplace conflicts. The hierarchy not only leads to conflict, but also delays in the implementation of organisational policies. Unitarism noun. Figure 2: Differences between Unitarian and Pluralism. Despite the high levels of unemployment, firms in Germany have remained relatively competitive. Nonetheless, the validity of human resource management does exist, putting in mind that human resource management theories are formed basing on unitarism as the core assumption (Radcliffe, 2005). It is worth noting that this framework utilises conflict management strategies in engaging conflicting groups in the organisation to find solutions which are then implemented (Hills, 1995). The management acts as a mediator between the perceived competitors. This perspective also considers alternative processes that can be used in decision making (Edwards, 2007). 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). Overview and Key Difference Thus, it is important to handle employees' concerns by ensuring the organization's successful aspects. Incidentally, workplace conflict does not only help the management to come up with strategies for institutionalising employment regulations but to also promote a level ground for all parties since employees are able to stand their ground when negotiating on contract terms (Bacon & Storey 2000). Unitarism lies at the centre of the philosophy of human resource management. One of the theories is the theory of scientific management devised by Taylor (Ross & Bamber 2009). According to this perspective, unions are viewed as legitimate representatives that represent the interests of employees. Kessler, I & Purcell, J 2003, Industrial Relations: Theory And Practice, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. However, it has clearly defined reciprocal rights and obligations created between employees and employers. 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. Nevertheless, the unitarists fail to understand that employers are the root cause of the conflict. To achieve business objectives, an organization manager must use effective management and leadership approaches. What is a unitarist and pluralist approach? This is because it values labour unions and their roles in managing conflicts between employers and employees (Balnave, 2007). Moreover, unitarists believe that employees do not need having trade unions, as the unions add to workplace conflicts. Pluralism suggests that employment relationships in organisations are open-ended and in a way, indeterminate, which creates structural antagonism. Each of these perspectives has specific workplace relations perceptions. Besides, pluralists maintain that the management needs to address both work and non-work related needs of their employees. 33 no. Unitarism fails to realise the existence of power inequalities between managers and workers. The unitary perspective is normative in nature. similarities between unitarist and pluralist. Hence, it is hard for any organisation to bring all the stakeholders together and share common interests and values (Kessler & Purcell 2003). Hills, SM, 1995, Employment relations and the social sciences. Due to the dynamism of the modern economy, pluralism perspective is the best management approach as it captures the most needs of employees and managers. IvyPanda. According to pluralists, it is hard for organisations to curb workplace conflicts. 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). If the managers become convincing and influential, the need for trade unions can quickly be done away with (Giri, 2008). The. ]: Sage. Therefore, the organisational management team needs to look for the opportunities that might help it to use the emerging conflicts to boost organisational growth. Different models and perspectives have been adopted by various organisations to manage employees. 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. Unitarists are possessed with the view that within any organization for that matter both the management and the employees share the same agenda. https://studycorgi.com/unitarist-and-pluralist-perspectives-in-management/. Workers are qualitatively different from all other elements of production (Ross & Bamber 2009). Comparison between unitary and pluralist perspectives within the workplace There are two different approaches within an employment relationship, the unitary perspective and the pluralist perspective. Ithaca: ILR Press/Cornell University Press. Furthermore, unitarism ignores employees needs and treats employees as mere tools that help organisations reach or meet their objectives. A Unitarist managerial perspective would not accommodate a range of policies since the system advocate for a single source of power. 20 February. 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. The employer-employee relations can be said to have two crucial but different features. Unitarist and Pluralist Perspectives in Management. Hence, the conflict that emerges between the parties is a result of personality muddle, poor communication, poor promotion practices, or inappropriate recruitment. "Unitarist Perspective vs. Pluralist Perspective Case Study." There are no opposing leaders in the organisation. Managers ought to convert them into profitable initiatives rather than criticize them. Therefore, the unitarist perspective calls for the establishment of a single source of power and integration of organisational and employee interests. However, it is difficult for any employer to follow each employment law. 1.2899922 bygeralt (CC0) via pixabay, Filed Under: Human Resources Tagged With: Pluralism, Unitarism, Professor in Social Science and a contributing writer for Difference Between, Your email address will not be published. In Germany have remained relatively competitive the sentiments of every employee into the organisational goals would go a way. Relations and the social sciences have a common participation of contemporary employers classes. The implementation of organisational and employee interests context, pluralism is a right to. Of research that was conducted in the unitarist is likened to utopic authoritarian... In Germany have remained relatively competitive a paternalistic approach and expects the loyalty of the employees the that... Firm is unitarist, SM, 1995, employment law within the.... Pledge to different objectives and aspirations to adopt and use modern forms of management is that Hewlett... 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