Employee Relations: Theoretical Frameworks and Impact on Voice Communication

Employee Relations

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Analysing the Theoretical Frameworks of Unitarist, Radical and Pluralist Perspectives...........3
Evolution of Employee Management Relationships Using Theoretical Frameworks.................5
Impact on voice communication..................................................................................................6
Outline and overview of approach or campaign..........................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Industrial relations or employee relations refer to the efforts of any business organisation
towards creating and maintaining healthy and productive relationships between all employees,
management, administration and owners of the respective business organisation. For a business
organisation to operate successfully within the operational industries for a sustained period of
time, with increased performance and efficiency, it effectively needs to possess and maintain
productive, healthy and amicable bilateral relationships between its workforce and the
operational management (Ackers, 2019). Failure of any business organisation to create and
maintain healthy and productive bilateral relationships between its workforce and management
can effectively result in decreased performance, efficiency, productivity and profitability of the
business organisation in the consumer markets, in addition to decreased employee motivation
and job satisfaction levels. This report evaluates the employee relationship efforts of CabinetCo,
an assembler and manufacturer of kitchen units that operates from its headquarters in South East
Melbourne, Australia. The business organisation employs a total of 200 different individuals in
various operational departments for its functions.
MAIN BODY
Analysing the Theoretical Frameworks of Unitarist, Radical and Pluralist Perspectives
Scholars of the industrial relations in a business organisation such as Mr. Alan Fox
describe three main theoretical frameworks also known as perspectives with the intention to
understand and evaluate the employee relations within any business organisation (Lasisi and
et.al., 2020). These perspectives or frameworks differ in their understanding, interpretations and
analysis of the workplace relations, workplace conflicts, union roles and job regulations, from
each other. The three main theoretical perspectives or frameworks of employee relations within a
business organisation such as CabinetCo are as follows:
Unitarist Perspective: In this particular framework of industrial relations in a business
organisation, all operational members within the business organisation are homogeneous, with
all members possessing similar shared interests in relation to their operations within the business

organisation. In Unitarist framework, as all employees and employers within a business
organisation mutually cooperate with one another, it effectively makes all third parties of the
business organisation redundant or irrelevant (Cullinane, 2016). This Unitarist approach to
industrial relations encourages the workforce and management of a given business organisation
to operate towards achieving goals that are commonly shared between them both, owing to their
inherent loyalty towards the business organisation. The success of Unitarist approach at a
business organisation depends on the level of cooperation with which its employers and
employees perform against each other. Unitarist approaches to industrial relations demands
inherent loyalty from all members of the workforce and management towards the business
organisation, with the approach being significantly managerial oriented towards its applications
and emphasis. For the Unitarist perspective, there are two main implications in a business
organisation, with first one relating to workplace conflict between employees and management
being viewed as an irrational activity, which has negative consequences for the business
organisation and should be suppressed by management of business organisation by making use
of coercive means (Brewster, 2019). The second implication relates to the view that trade unions
within a business organisation are considered unnecessary, as all employees already possess
inherent loyalty towards the business organisation.
Pluralist Perspective: In this theoretical perspective, business organisations are viewed as being
made up of various divergent and powerful sub groups within the business, with each sub group
possessing its own legitimate loyalties, leaders, aims and objectives within the operations of the
business organisation. The two main sub groups that are present in most business organisation on
the basis of the pluralist perspective include the business organisation’s management and the
trade unions formed by the workforce of the business organisation. Pluralist perspective operates
on the view that there exists more than a singular source of power in relation to the relationships
between a business organisation’s leaders or management and its workforce. In this industrial
relations approach, the trade unions are thought to balance the power dynamics within a business
organisation between its leadership, management and employees or workforce (Kaufman, 2018).
Pluralist theoretical framework supports the idea that workplace conflict between the business
organisation’s employees and management or leadership is bound to occur inevitably, yet still
considers this workplace conflicts as a key component for the future growth and development of
the business organisation. In this framework, the roles of a business organisation’s management