Conflict in Employment Relationship with Reference to the Unitarist, Pluralist and Marxist Perspective

Conflicts are realities of life and can be defined as a “situation of competition in which the parties involved are quite aware of the incompatibility of future condition whereby each party wishes to occupy a position that is incompatible with the wishes of the other” (Olu & Adesubomi, 2013, p. 2). They have no boundaries. They occur whether we like it or not, especially when there is disagreement and misunderstanding which stands as major key characteristics of human relationships. The relationship could be domestic, national, or international (Spiroska, 2014). Furthermore, conflicts happen when people are incompatible. In the organizational setting, conflict could arise due to failure of the employer, not honoring certain agreed bargaining. Henry (2009) indicated that if the workers’ right and prerogative is not appropriated rightly, it could cause conflict; such workers’

The changes brought up labor unions in the United States over recent history has brought about a movement. This specific movement has shaped the way that employees and workers are treated in the workforce,and how they maintain their quality of life through this employment. Many people think that the labor unions’ influence has created a power struggle between management and union leaders. In many cases this can be considered true, as there have been countless feuds between management teams and labor unions, especially in recent history. In today’s times, on the one hand, some people believe the existence of unions are a necessity in order to ensure and promote employee freedom; while on the other hand some people view labor unions as just another problem in the line of employee success.

“Robert Tobias (2010) argues that to be effective, human resource managers need to embrace the possibility of positive and productive relations with labor unions.” (Riccucci pg. 10-11)

Over the last two centuries the relationship between organizations and their employees have changed as the result of interactions between the two groups and in response to changing governmental legislation. During this period, labor unions arose to advocate for workers and address the inherent power imbalance between individual workers and organizations (Thornton, 2013). In workplaces were unions represent employees, Foss (2008), defines labor relations as the “ongoing interchange between the union and the employer that identifies their common and specific interests and creates mechanism to clarify, mange, reduce and resolve conflicts over their specific interests” (p. 1). The legal framework governing the practice of labor relations is

ACAS. Workplace relations the key to better UK productivity - Sir Brendan Barber. Available at:

Todd (2012) has interviewed employer association representatives and examined their public statements and submissions. From her research, she questions whether the changes to the industrial relations system that employer associations advocate would enhance productivity. With regard to issues such as penalty rates and job security, there is evidence that these relate to cost cutting and enhanced managerial prerogative rather than productivity. Discuss

Blyton, P and Turnbull, P (2004). The Dynamics of Employee Relations. 3rd ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 48,49,87,88.

Page 2 - Describe 4 factors, 2 internal and 2 external, which impact on the employment relationship

An employment relationship describes the dynamic, interlocking economic, legal, social and psychological relations that exist between individuals and their work organizations. Palgrave Macmillan (2013), Glossary [online] Available at: < http://www.palgrave.com/business/brattonandgold/glossary/glossary.htm> [Accessed 17th September 2013]. Factors that impact on this relationship both have a detrimental effect to the running of a business. I will focus on two internal and two external. These being:

History shows that there has been conflict of power within the workforce between union and management. This essay will discuss if management should have the right to determine whether a union should operate within their workplace. It is necessary first to discuss the roles of unions and management in the workplace and discuss both points of view on the power distribution between unions and management in the workplace.

A union is an organization of workers who join together in order to have a voice in improving their jobs and the quality of work within the organization. In many occasions, unions help employees of an organization negotiate pay, benefits, flexible hours and other work conditions that may arise. Unions have a role because some degree of conflict is inevitable between workers and management (Noe, 2003). In this paper, I will be discussing the impact of unions and labor relations within an organization.

University of Toronto professor Shafique Virani hypothesized that, today, there is a lack of pluralism in relation to the acceptance of religious diversity and beliefs. For example, in his TEDTalk at UTSC, he referenced the association of Christianity with the KKK as well

The Dominance and the Pluralist Theories led to the development of socialism and liberalism respectively. The two theories had notable differences, almost contrasting one another. For us to analyze and contrast the two theories, it is notable to understand the fundamental perceptions of Dominance and the Pluralism.

Employers, unions and governments have mainly divergent concerns about the future directions and impacts of workplace conflict and the effect it has on their objectives. Employers are concerned about economic performance and viability in the face of an increasingly competitive local marketplace. Staff or wages cuts which may be necessary to stay economically viable will almost certainly cause conflict with employees. Unions are concerned that poor performance in the business economy will cause higher unemployment and put workers current terms of employment at jeopardy, a potential cause of great conflict. Unions also fear that continuing measures by the state to reduce their powers will cause further falls in membership levels, mean reduced influence onto employers.

In organizations, they seek an employer who can be an asset and it is important for them to know the efforts that they can bring up in every organization (Yaqub, Khan, 2011). The responsibility of the employer is to hire workers in the company and offer them a wage or salary as an exchange of their working hours. In Britain, there is an effect of trade unions and the perception of the employer by using the link of employer-employee data from the 1998 Workplace Relations Survey (Bryson, 2005). The Workplace Relations Survey takes into consideration of the general applicability to be tested in more thorough than has been conceivable to date in able to analyse the relationship between the employees’ view of management-employee relations and the components of their work environment. The survey offers a one of a