Foundations of Work and Employment - Literature review Example

Foundations of Work and Employment Name: Institution: Course Title: Tutor: Date: Introduction Historically, employment relations in Australia have been shaped by the government of the day. From 1983-1990, the Labour Party in agreement with Trade Unions promoted the social contract approach. Nevertheless, the same government in 1991-1996 brought numerous reforms that embraced pluralistic employment relations. With the coming of Liberal Part in 1996 into power up to 2007, they leaned toward neo-liberalism where individual bargains were encouraged (Lansbury, 2000, p.31). Presently, the ruling party (Liberal Party) have adopted Unitarianism with their ultimate concern being on improving Fair Work laws so that it works for everyone since they believe that the review of Fair Work Laws in 2012 was weak since it was influenced by those connected to Labour Party and thus, they want to ensure existence of harmonious workplace (Liberal Party, 2013). The rationale of this discourse is to establish the theoretical assumptions that the newly elected government bring to employment relations based on their workplace and employment relations. Moreover, the paper assesses and outlines the implications of their approach on employment relations. In this regard, the discourse first outlines in brief the various theoretical models on employment relations. Secondly, albeit in brief the paper examines the Workplace and industrial relation policy of the Liberal Party. Based on these prior pieces of information, the paper states the position of the current government which is Unitarianism. Finally, the paper interrogates the implication of such approach. Fox (1973, p.185) indicates that primarily there are three significant employment or industrial relations approaches. These are Unitarianism, Pluralism and Radicalism. Additionally, Heery et al. (2008, p.14-21) provides other alternatives such as Feminism, Marxism and Neo Liberalism. Bray, Waring, & Cooper (2011); Heery et al. (2008, p.14) notes that pluralism is the dominant approach in employment relations. They observe that this approach embraces the interest of employers and employees and accepts the fact that expression of conflict is not a pathological symptom. Moreover, the approach acknowledges the fact that workplaces have different individuals with varying interests and thus, there should be distribution of power across these interest groups. According to Fox (1966, p.393), Unitarianism is grounded on integration and creation of harmonious unit that operates to achieve a common purpose. Finally, he notes that for Radicalism, their premise of thinking is anchored on the fact that at workplaces there is unequal distribution of power and that to create a balance this uneven distribution must be contested regularly. Before being Elected, the Liberal Party through it Leader who is the current Prime Minister Mr. Tony Abbott promised to improve the Fair Work Laws. In this regard they believed that it would result into 14 point action areas (see appendix 1). From this policy statement, one can draw and see the presence of all the three theoretical models of employment relations. Nevertheless, the emerging dominant theoretical framework that has influenced the Liberal Party Workplace and Employment Relations Policy is Unitarianism. According to Liberal Party (2013), “all Australian want harmonious, productive and smart workplaces.” Moreover, the focus of the party is on clipping the powers enjoyed by trade unions and re-distributing it to individuals and firms. This shows that the Liberal Party are Unitarist. The rationale for stating that the Liberal’s Party policy of employment relations is unitarist is anchored on various propositions that if critically analysed supports the overall philosophy of Unitarianism as per Budd (2008, p.49) that “every workplace should be an integrated and harmonious entity that exists for a common purpose”. For instance, they want the entry of unions into premises and firms to be sensible and fair and equally be liable to court charges if they breach engagements. They seek to empower individual bargains outside trade unions; guarantee that law works for every party and create a harmonious, sensible & productive workplace. Since the paper has established that Liberal Party has adopted Unitarianism framework of employment relations, the questions that emerges is what are the implications of such perspectives? One outright implication is emergence of a stable working environment since the general philosophy of Unitarianism is to create a harmonious and stable environment (Edwards, 2003, p.11). indeed, Fox (1973, p.186) corroborates this observation by noting that the corner stone of unitary approach is unified authority and loyalty structures with managerial decrees being legitimised by all other interested parties. For instance Liberal Party (2013) states that they want to “promote harmonious, sensible and productive enterprise bargaining.” Such belief are equally affirmed in human resource literatures where Bray, Waring & Cooper (2011) observes that the role of the state is to guarantee common good by enabling managers to wield control and discipline agitators such as trade unions. Connected to the above, one of the ripple effects of adopting such view is the weakening of trade unions. Legge (2005) notes that Trade Unions have no role in the modern society since employers have recognised the need of effective human resource management. This is because in Unitarianism managers are the linchpin of employment relations and they are expected to offer strong leadership and communication (Kelly, 2002, p.69). The thinking behind this speculation is strengthened by Fox (1973, p.189) who opines that trade unions are historical carry over which were formed to counter unenlightened and short-sighted policies by then who did not see the need to treat their employees with dignity. Additionally, trade unions are seen as sectional greed who do not understand the overall aspirations of ‘national economy’ and hence their legitimacy is questionable. Lastly, trade unions are seen as pathways for those who seek to challenge the existing social order and thus, while they can’t be suppressed totally, they should be controlled effectively. The possibility of trade unions growing weaker as compared to say during the reign of Labour government is affirmed further by Fox (1973, p.190) where he notes that the role of trade unions under this framework is to battle/ contend or try and win the allegiance of employees. The possibility of such happening is clearly outlined by the Liberals where through commissions or direct government involvement they seek to enhance bargain power of employees directly with employers therefore curtailing function of trade unions. For instance, Liberal Party (2013) notes that “they want better protection for members of Registered Organisations, Create realistic timeframes for Greenfield agreements and ensure union right of entry provisions are sensible and fair.” Apart from weakening of trade unions, the other possible implication is the emergence of suspicious working relations between employer and employee or employer and trade unions. The one undoing of Unitarianism approach is the creation of tension between employer and other opposing parties especially trade unions since, the approach sees trade unions as the chief cause of all industrial unrests. Fox (1973, p.190) indicates that under this precinct, misunderstanding and disagreements at workplace are not inborn or natural but are as result of ineffective communication, efforts of agitators or inability of employee to appreciate commonality of aspirations. Fox (1966, 391) posits that in the above context there are no opposition groups. The concern is that once an alternative view is blocked, there are high chances that discontent is likely to emerge as some factions will see this as an approach towards limiting democracy and its principles of open bargain and engagement based on willing buyer willing seller without coercion. The above view is not healthy in the current democratic space where engagements are open and driven by good faith and lobbying. For instance, such approach can make firms grow too power so as to disregard opinions, needs and feelings of workers because there is vacuum on representation and articulation of conflicting ideas. Other things held constant, there is a good ground to speculate that there will be increased productivity of employees because of the unity and team work demanded by Unitarianism approach (Fox, 1966, p.391). Schiffman (2004, p.17) conceptualises team work as “the work of a number of persons in close association as members of one unit.” The result of such process would be enhanced synergy whereby the productivity per hour is higher as compared to an environment which is constantly bogged by divided opinions. Subsequently, such a united workforce that is geared in achieving a common goal would mean reduced industrial disputes as the focus is not only of pay rise, but also on productivity. From the above, it shows that the paradigm adopted by the Liberal Party and her partners is likely to elicit a mixed reaction. The rationale is based on the above findings where the adopted approach would guarantee positive aspects such as harmonious working conditions and improved productivity. On the other hand, the approach is likely to raise eyebrows in relation to deliberate weakening of trade unions and creation of animosity at work place owing to imbalance in power distribution where management hold a lot of sway in employment relations and trade unions are seen as agitators and cause of conflict in organisation. Hence, implementations of this framework should be cautious and well balanced to avoid negative ripple effects. Conclusion First, the role of the paper was to establish the theoretical assumptions that the newly elected Liberal Party bring to employment relations in Australia. Secondly, based on the Liberal’s Party policy on work place and industrial relations which mostly falls under the theoretical theme of Unitarianism, the aim of the paper was to the implications of this framework on employment relations. In this regard, the discourse outlined two positive implications and two negative implications. The positive ones are creation of harmonious working condition and possibility of improved productivity while the negatives are reduced power of trade unions and reduced trust as result of suspicion especially from management side. The paper therefore calls for a balanced implementation of this framework. References Blyton, P., Heery, E., Bacon, N & Fiorito, J 2008, The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations, New York, SAGE. Bray, M., Waring, P and Cooper, R 2011, Theoretical comparison, Chapter 3 in Employment Relations: Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). Sydney: McGraw-Hill. Budd, J 2008, A Meta-Paradigm for Revitalizing Industrial Relations, in Charles J. Whalen, ed., New Directions in the Study of Work and Employment: Revitalizing Industrial Relations as an Academic Enterprise, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 48-67. Edwards, P 2003, Industrial relations: theory and practice in Britain, Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Fox, A 1966, Management’s Frame of Reference, excerpt from Industrial Sociology and Industrial Relations, Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employer Associations, Research Papers 3, HMSO, London, Part 1, pp.2-14 in A. Flanders (ed) (1969) Collective Bargaining. Harmondsworth: Penguin, pp.390-409. Fox, A 1973, Industrial Relations: A social critique of pluralist ideology, in J. Child (ed) (1973) Man and Organization. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. pp. 185-233. Kelly, J 2002, Industrial relations: approaches to industrial relations and trends in national systems, London, Routledge. Lansbury, R 2000, Work place change and employment relations in Australia: prospects for a new social partnership, The drawing board: an Australian review of public affairs, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 29-45. Legge, K 2005, Human Resource management: rhetorics and realities Basingstoke: Palgrave. Liberal Party 2013, Improving the Fair Work Laws, viewed 26 September, 2013 from: http://www.liberal.org.au/improving-fair-work-laws. Schiffman, R 2004, Teamwork. Chiropractic Journal, 19 (1), 17-21. Appendices Appendix 1: Cut Out Section of the Liberal’s Party Policy on Workplace and Employment Relations Source: Liberal Party 2013. Read More