Dominant Normative Orientation of Contemporary Industrial Relations - Assignment Example

Running Header: Take Home Exam (Management) Student’s Name: Name of Institution: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Question 2 Examine the extent to which pluralism should still remain the dominant normative orientation of contemporary industrial relations research. According to the authors, pluralism has been faced with many challenges such as neo-liberalism, Marxism and feminism. These concepts have been against pluralism for quite some time. Despite all this, pluralism has still managed to remain the dominant normative orientation within research and academic industrial relations. Pluralism comprises of the core beliefs that are concerned with the nature of employment relations. It provides a standard for the evaluation of industrial relations practices. It also serves as a guide when developing policy advice. Pluralist principles are said to embrace the interests of both the employees and the employers. Pluralism believes that both these interests are congruent. It is therefore prepared to acknowledge any conflicts of interest that may arise at work and it does not treat them as pathological symptoms because it is aware that such differences are normal. Pluralism also holds that there is an imbalance of power within employment relations. Pluralism should still remain the dominant normative orientation of contemporary industrial relations research because it has been effective in bringing industrial relation reforms. These reforms have been able to civilize the market order both materially and procedurally. Procedurally, pluralism has helped to protect workers from arbitrary treatment from their employers and has helped to bring about due processes into employment relationships. The rights of workers in terms of how they are treated at their places of work can now be protected because of pluralism. Materially, pluralism has helped to raise the living standards of workers. This is because their stay at work is now safer and their terms of employment can now be easily improved to take care of their interests. The pluralist tradition has seen the continuous search for both major and minor reforms in industrial relations. Many supporters of pluralism have argued that they have gradually transformed the society by refusing to be part of the people who are captures and exploited by certain political parties. They argue that they are advocates of change and that they are responsible for teaching the society to recognize its rights and fight for them. Pluralism has been expressed in the contemporary context and this is evident in the large number of contemporary industrial relations scholars that it has attracted. These scholars advocate for the respect of the workers’ rights and interests so that good working relationships can be fostered between employees and their managers. Another reason why pluralism should still remain the dominant normative orientation of contemporary industrial relations research is because the contemporary reform models are based on pluralist points of view. Most successful liberal market economies have been using pluralism to bring about positive reforms to them. Examples of these include the United States of America and Germany. Even though feminism has also played a greater role in contemporary industrial relations research, pluralism has received a greater response. This is because feminist points of view may tend to favor the rights and interests of one gender (female) and ignore the interests of the other gender (male). With pluralism, the division of labour on sexual or gender basis does not exist unlike in feminism. Pluralism seeks to be gender neutral and does not openly favor one gender over another. Pluralism does not seek to promote sexual or gender dominance in the workplace. Pluralism should still remain the dominant normative orientation of contemporary industrial relations research because pluralist industrial relations researchers have been able to disapprove claims made by the free marketers that the protective regulation of the labor market has caused perverse and many other effects. A good example is the study done several times in the United Kingdom whereby minimum wages have been regulated in recent years and there have been very few job losses. Pluralism has also been said to stimulate higher productivity, produce long-term efficiency, minimize costs and encourage long-term and useful relationships between managers and their employees. (642 words) Question 5 Treuren (2000) demonstrates the unusual ever-present and invisibility of the Australian state in industrial theory and presents a case for the theoretical recognition of the state while pointing out the characteristics of a state-cognisant theory. What does he mean and how relevant are his claims to understanding the role of the state in Australian industrial relations under the Fair Work Act 2009? The author of this article means that the involvement of the state in industrial relations in Australia is unusually high. This implies that the state is overly concerned about the industrial relations in the country. The system of employment in Australia relies heavily on the direct intervention of the state than on any other national system to such an extent that it is even construed in the Constitution of Australia. The involvement of the state in industrial relations has helped to shape the evolution of industrial relations, trade unionism and management practices in Australia. The author means that the state involvement is unusual because other regions are moving away from the era of being dominated by the state but the case is different in Australia where the state is fully involved in industrial relations. According to the author, the political and economic management in Australia have undergone fundamental changes over the years to be what it is today. The author has developed his argument that the Australian government is unusually ever-present in matters related to industrial relations by basing it on several stages. The first distinction made is between the levels of theoretical generality which have been categorized into three levels, namely: micro-level, meso-level and macro-level. The author’s statement also means that there is a distinction between the locations of analysis that is differentiated according to aggregated industry, workplace, national levels, occupation and sector. The author further notes that the government is the legislative section of the state that is supplemented by the executive element. The state plays a very substantial and significant role in the role in industrial relations in Australia. Those roles are described as the three levels that have been mentioned earlier i.e. meso level, macro level and micro level. The macro-level theorizing is the closest approach by the state and the political economy in regard to industrial relations. The meso level and micro level theorizing deal with a static state in regard to industrial relations whereby the variations are typically accounted for and the interface of forces that shape the behavior of the state in Australia are largely ignored. By the state being invisible, the author basically means that the macro level has declined and the meso level and micro level have remained predominant. A state-cognisant theory recognizes that industrial relations are at the centre of capitalist society. The centrality is as a result of the importance of the production process which depends on the triple identity of employees as consumers and workers and the application of capital and labor. The author has emphasized the position of the state in understanding the operations of industrial relations. The significance of the state has grown as a result of the restructuring that has come about from the integration of the domestic economy that is currently ongoing. Labor, finance, products and markets have also been made globally competitive. Domestic institutions have been made subjects to the new restructuring forces that have been mediated by state interventions and involvement. The behavior and activities of the state in industrial relations have been adequately discussed by the author. This is relevant in understanding the role of the state in the Fair Work Act of 2009. The 2009 Act makes provisions for the involvement of the state in employment relations matters. The Act specifies the duties and responsibilities of different stakeholders in the employment relations sector. It also provides the actions that the state can take in case the provisions of this Act are not adhered to by the different employment relations stakeholders. Through this article, the role and involvement of the state in industrial relations issues has been clearly spelt out. The Fair Work Act of 2009 can therefore be easily understood by analyzing the role of the state in industrial relations that have been provided by this author. (637 words) Question 4 The trade unions in many English speaking nations have been known to be hostile to the concept of non-union employee representation (NER) agreements. This hostility has been because the trade unions feel that the non-union employee representations could diminish or undermine the ability of the unions to organize, represent and collectively bargain on behalf of the workers. The hostility towards the non-union employee representations has usually been because the trade unions have been feeling threatened by the non-union employee representations. Trade unions feel that it is their conventional role to represent workers, organize them and engage in collective bargains on behalf of the workers. The trade unions do not want the non-union employee representations to carry out these duties because they will be a threat to their existence. This should not be the case because the non-union employee representations can play complementary roles to the trade unions. Instead on fighting or challenging each other, the two parties can work together for the common good of workers. The non-union employee representations can challenge the conventional role of trade unions in a number of ways. The first way is through running of conferences, seminars and workshops to ensure that the importance of these non-union employee representations is known by the trade unions and other workers at large. By highlighting on their importance, the non-union employee representations can make their importance be known to the rest of the industrial world. The non-union employee representations can also challenge the conventional role of trade unions by making their influence widely known. These non-union employee representations can do this by ensuring that they represent their members adequately and sufficiently to such an extent that their importance is not undermined. They should champion for the rights of their members and keep their interests at heart so that they are never undermined. The non-union employee representations can be complementary to the role of trade unions by representing employees or workers who are not members of trade unions. These non-union employee representations such as work councils can also champion for the rights of workers who do not belong to trade unions but are still employees recognized by the council of workers. The non-union employee representations and the trade unions can work together to ensure that all workers, whether members of trade unions or not, are well represented and their issues are well addressed. The non-union employee representations unions can represent the workers at the level where the trade unions are not present. For example, in everyday work situations, the non-union employee representations can be representatives of trade unions. They can deal with small issues that arise in the workplace that are not easily recognizable by the trade unions. They can deal directly with issues at the workplace no matter how petty they may appear to be. Trade unions usually deal with major issues that affect workers. The non-union employee representations can do more by ensuring that even the petty issues that may go unnoticed by the trade unions are dealt with. Both the trade unions and non-union employee representations can complement each other by ensuring that they work together for the interests of employees. The non-union employee representations should ensure that they do not spend all their time and effort opposing the trade unions. They should instead ensure that they work with the trade unions and form meaningful partnerships that ensure the interests of the workers are placed first. The non-union employee representations can also play complementary roles to trade unions by providing information about daily situations that occur at the workplaces that go unnoticed by the trade unions. These non-union employee representations should report such information so as to give the trade unions a chance to act on them at much higher levels. (622 words) Question 7 In the first case scenario of company A, the five dimensions of collective bargaining can be applied in different ways. The first dimension is level of bargaining. Since the workers of the salon are not represented by the union, the salon management has to respect the feelings and sentiments of all the workers, whether full-time or part-time workers. This will go a long way in encouraging the workers in their individual capacity and their roles in the place of work. The salon should therefore respect the sentiments and feelings of the workers. The second dimension is called bargaining agents. This has to do with the way the salon recognizes the right of the employees to have a say in the aspects of management and decision making that pertains to them. Since there is no union, the salon should ensure that the employees are involved in the process of making decisions and other aspects of management that affect them. The salon can also ensure that the workers become unionized so that they can belong to a union that will help them to bargain collectively for their rights. The employees who will be allowed to bargain on behalf of the others have to be identified so that they can do so when the need arises. The third level has to do with the scope of bargaining. This deals with the extent to which the employees are allowed to bargain. The issues that they are allowed to address when bargaining must also be addressed here so that it can be known what issues can be bargained for and which ones cannot. The fourth level is the status of bargaining. This shows the process of bargaining and how it progresses. The status shows how the process of bargaining is progressing and whether it is successful or not. One can be able to check on the progress of the entire bargaining process. In the second case scenario, company B should ensure that all the employees are unionized and not only the customer service officers. In regard to the level of bargaining, the first dimension, the rights of each and every worker should be respected to such an extent that their feelings and sentiments are respected. By not having all the workers in the unions, their rights are not being respected. They should be allowed to belong to unions that can collectively bargain for their rights. Their feelings and sentiments should be respected. Having only some workers in unions and other not represented at all does not cater for the level of bargaining well. The second dimension is the bargaining agents. Since it is only the customer service officers that belong to the union, they may only end up advocating for their rights and neglecting those of the other workers. They may not take the needs and interests of the other workers who are not members of their union seriously. The other employees also need to have representative or agents who can bargain on their behalf when the need arises. In reference to the scope of bargaining, the unionized employees will only be able to collectively bargain for their rights up to a certain extent. This is the scope to which the bargaining would cover. The fourth dimension which is the status of bargaining is appropriate in this case when assessing the progress of the bargaining process. Finally, the last dimension is the coverage of bargaining. This is appropriate in the sense that it deals with the issues that the workers are allowed to address when bargaining collectively. All the dimensions are appropriate in the sense that they address the issues that are relevant to collective bargaining. The rights of the workers are likely to be respected and the importance of unions will be known. (629 words) Total words: 2600 Read More