Union vs. Non Union
Providing Employee Voice and Harmonising the Employment Relationship
By: Samantha
“Employee Relations involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale” (Unknown Author, 2012). The pluralist perspective views the employee relations in an ‘us versus them’ approach where there appears to be conflicting views as to whether there is a power imbalance in the working industry which later causes conflict between the employer and employee, as a result there is a lack of trust. It is that perspective that invites a trade union to be involved in order to collaborate in contributing solutions that would otherwise result in a lack of employee voice. Unitarism represents the idea that employees benefit from their employers, and employers benefit from their employees; a unity that shares the same beliefs and goals and proves that there is more of a balance with respect to power, trust and loyalty. Due to this equilibrium there is a mutual agreement that a unionized approach would go against everything a unitarist stands for as the participation the employees are entitled to have had a positive impact on their employee voice. The theory of Marxist should not go unmentioned however, as it imposes an underlying concept and describes that the work we do, we’re never truly rewarded for it, and that what you get is nowhere near what you have contributed to the company and what they get out of it. There will always be an imbalance within the working industry and a need for mechanisms that will provide employee voice allowing for a harmonisation within the employment relationship. Unions, although declining, do have an undeniable influence among the employee and how they influence corporate decision making especially in industries that have a higher risk with line managers who believe that their time could be focused on more beneficial things other than communication with their
By: Samantha
“Employee Relations involves the body of work concerned with maintaining employer-employee relationships that contribute to satisfactory productivity, motivation, and morale” (Unknown Author, 2012). The pluralist perspective views the employee relations in an ‘us versus them’ approach where there appears to be conflicting views as to whether there is a power imbalance in the working industry which later causes conflict between the employer and employee, as a result there is a lack of trust. It is that perspective that invites a trade union to be involved in order to collaborate in contributing solutions that would otherwise result in a lack of employee voice. Unitarism represents the idea that employees benefit from their employers, and employers benefit from their employees; a unity that shares the same beliefs and goals and proves that there is more of a balance with respect to power, trust and loyalty. Due to this equilibrium there is a mutual agreement that a unionized approach would go against everything a unitarist stands for as the participation the employees are entitled to have had a positive impact on their employee voice. The theory of Marxist should not go unmentioned however, as it imposes an underlying concept and describes that the work we do, we’re never truly rewarded for it, and that what you get is nowhere near what you have contributed to the company and what they get out of it. There will always be an imbalance within the working industry and a need for mechanisms that will provide employee voice allowing for a harmonisation within the employment relationship. Unions, although declining, do have an undeniable influence among the employee and how they influence corporate decision making especially in industries that have a higher risk with line managers who believe that their time could be focused on more beneficial things other than communication with their