Contribution of HR Theories

Running head: CONTRIBUTION OF HR THEORIES
CONTRIBUTION OF HR THEORIES
Name of student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CONTRIBUTION OF HR THEORIES
Response to question 1:
The pluralist theory focuses on the existence of power groups within the organization.
These groups have different opinions, different leaders and different requirements (Kaufman
and Gall 2015). These groups comprise of management and trade unions. This perspective
explains that conflicts within and outside an organization is normal due to different
perspectives of people and different leaders. This perspective is focused on showing the
bargaining power of employees due to the trade unions and the dual responsibility of the
employees towards the management and the trade union. Dunlop’s theory was developed for
improving the relationship between the three main actors of the organization- the employees,
the union and the management and for the purpose of solving various problems related to
these two groups and reaching an agreement that is acceptable to all the three actors (Bluen
2015). According to the Dunlop’s theory the industrial relationship is a sub set of industrial
nation and thus the logic applying to the industrial nation will apply to the industrial
relationships also. He calls it a systems theory because the elements of the industrial relations
are dependent upon each other and they all work together for achievement of a few common
goals collectively (Sen and LEE 2015). The three main factors that are to be considered while
applying the Dunlop’s model include: the first factor to be considered are the environmental
factors such as technological, social, political and other factors that affect the actors, the
second factor to be considered is the interaction between all the employees and the third
factor to be considered is the formulation of rules as a result of the interaction between the
different actors (Roberts 2017). Henceforth, the conflicts between the three actors can be
resolved logically than through chances because industrial relationship are a part of the in the
industrial nation. Dunlop’s theory was focused on reaching an agreement between the three
actors as the main part of the analysis and this is how the theory is different from the previous

2CONTRIBUTION OF HR THEORIES
theories where collective bargaining and conflict resolution between the actors was
considered as a main part (Guest 2016). Dunlop said that the main factor that binds these
three different actors together is their ideologies or beliefs about the society and others. For
example: there are three main groups in an organization. Employers group, the employees
group and the government body or the trade unions. The employees bargain for wages which
is fair according to them, the employer’s bargains to give wages that are fair according to
them then the government body tries to arrive at a fair wage rate and determine other rules for
work place that is agreeable to both by negotiating with them. However the environment
comprising of technological factors, market factors and power distribution affects the
bargaining process. The ideologies or the beliefs bind them together such as culture, politics ,
religion and others. This is how Dunlop’s Theory contributes to the pluralist perspective
because in the pluralist theory the main aim is at improving the relationship and reaching an
agreement. The Dunlop theory just like the pluralist perspective recognizes the existence of
the three power groups in an organization (McQuarrie 2015). This concept focuses on
reaching an agreement just as the pluralist theory thus it contributes to the pluralist
perspective. The institutional theory provides a social structure and it lays down the norms,
rules, schemes, routines for guiding the social behavior (Locke 2018). The most important
characteristics of the institutional theory is conformity. The organizations need to conform to
the social norms and rules in order to establish its legitimacy. The different elements of the
institutional theory specify how they are formed and how they finally decline. The
institutions under the institutional theory are social structures formed through different
elements and give meaning to the social lives (Orril 2016.). According to the institutionalism
theory, different business react differently to similar problems and those organizations
perform well which get institutional support. Powell and DiMaggio in 1991 combined the
concept of sociology and organization theory to create the theory of new institutionalism as

3CONTRIBUTION OF HR THEORIES
against the traditional concepts of actors (Richter 2015). It seeks to provide explanation to
organizational and social concepts. This theory suggests that organizations that want to
survive have to adhere to the rules and regulations of the environment in which they are
operating. Institutional support for both procedural and structural can lead to organizational
conformity to rules and regulations. For example: when an organization decides to enter
another country called as the host country it has its own rules and norms and the organization
has to adapt itself to those norms to avoid conflicts and to have better employment
relationship with the employees of the home country by understanding their requirements.
The organizations try to understand the working environment of the employees of the host
country so that better employment relationship and engagement relations can be there. This
concept provides an advanced approach to the pluralist theory. The corporatist theory
considers employees and the employers as two different organizations controlling and
representing people under them. This theory explains that the relationship between the two
group moves from pluralist bargaining to corporatism bargaining to authoritarian corporatism
finally. For understanding the industrial relation in the corporatism theory, we need to
understand the relationship between organized labor and capital in the capitalist market
(Kaufman 2018). The relationship between labor and capital economy covers the relationship
between the subsets. The issues in the organization arise from the relationship between the
labor and capital. These issues can be resolved through bargaining between the two groups.
The concept of organized means that the capital is represented through individual
organizations rather than a group of firms in the whereas labor exists in groups especially at
the time of wages bargaining- this bargaining binds the labor together and forms organized
labor (Naughton and Tsai 2015). There exists an imbalance between the two groups- labor
and capital. Labor is put at a much weaker position than capital, which has power because of
the role that they play. Labor can however play a powerful role if they can come together and