Industrial Relation Report: Trade Union SWOT Analysis and Challenges

This report analyzes the emergence of trade unions in Samoa, exploring the contributions of Scientific Management Theory to the Unitary Theory of industrial relations. It begins by defining and contrasting Scientific Management and Unitary theories, then conducts a SWOT analysis of the Samoan trade union, highlighting strengths like political backing and weaknesses such as a lack of policy. Opportunities include fair negotiation, while threats involve political conflicts and management dominance. The report identifies challenges faced by employees, employers, and the government within both unitary and capitalist environments, such as a lack of fixed policies and political support. Recommendations include the establishment of clear policies, fair negotiation practices, and government intervention to reduce disputes. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of fair negotiation and the avoidance of unscrupulous policies to foster industrial growth, summarizing the SWOT analysis findings and challenges faced by key actors.

Running Head: INDUSTRIAL RELATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
The purpose of this study is to generate opinions about the emergence of the trade union
in the country of Samoa. The first section of this study attempts to throw lights on the concepts
aswell as the definitions of both the Scientific Management theory and unitary theory, with an
aim to find out the contributions of the Scientific Management Theory on Unitary Theory of
industrial relations. In order to make the discussion vivid this report conducts a SWOT analysis
of the trade union of the country. This SWOT analysis reveals the challenges that each of the
three actor faces. On the basis of the challenges derived through SWOT analysis a couple of
recommendations has been made which is again followed by the conclusion and summary
section.
Concepts & definitions:
Scientific management theory is an essential device to analyze as well as synthesize
workflows. The concept of scientific management theory is intertwined with the theory of
Taylorism. In other words, the base of the Scientific Management theory is the four principles
that Taylor has been provided. The first principle states that, the works can be replaced with “the
rule of thumb”. In other words, the work procedures of an industry can be managed by applying
common sense and consciousness. Second principle states that, the recruitment of the workers
should depend on their capabilities. In other words, workers should not be assigned to a job
randomly, instead, they should be assigned to the very jobs, they are capable of doing.Again, this
principle also emphasizes on the importance of motivation and training so that the full
potentiality of the workers is utilized (Rainnie 2016). The third principle emphasizes on the

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monitoring of the workers’ performance. The fourth principle emphasizes on the role of the
managers in an industry. According to this principle, the managers of an industry should plan the
training programs effectively so that the workers can perform efficiently. On the contrary the
Unitary perspective or the Unitary theory encompasses an unitarist view regarding the
relationship between employee and the respective industry in which the employee work in. This
theory states that there lies a unity of interest between Workforce and management. Again, this
theory highlights that conflict among the management aswell as the employees occurs due to the
poor employment practices (Pernicka and Glassner2014).
As per the unitary perspective of Industrial relation, it can be said that, the unitary
perspective has been developed depending on the assumption that, an organization should be
considered as an integrated group of people, who are governed by a single authority.
Expectation of the reader:
The readers may expect that, this report will be helpful for understanding Scientific
Management Theory and its contribution to the Unitary theory. Again, the readers will also
expect that, this report will conduct a thorough analysis of the pacific island trade Union case
and after the analysis, this report will reveal the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as
threats of trade unions. In this context, the readers will also expect that, this report will highlight
all the challenges faced by the actors of Industrial Relations and provide effective
recommendations to overcome these challenges.
Body
a. SWOT analysis with pacific island examples:

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Strengths:
After a thorough analysis of the pacific island trade Union cases, it can be said that, one
of the strengths which pave the ways for future opportunities of a trade union in an industry, is
strong political backing. Trade union of pacific island gains support from the ruling political
party of that country. Another strength of Trade Union is, it possesses control over the
management of a company.Empirical studies establish the argument that, Trade Union receives
trust and supports from the employees. Again, trade union is also capable of gaining support
from the media (Berntsen and Lillie 2016).
Weaknesses:
After a thorough analysis of the pacific island trade Union cases, it can be said that, one
of the major weaknesses of trade union is that, trade unions often face lack of proper policies and
rules in favor of them (Eldridge2013).Arguments established through empirical evidences, mark
this as the reason why, often trade unions indulge into movements which are unorganized and
futile (Larsson 2014).
Opportunity:
After a thorough analysis of the pacific island trade Union cases, it can be said that, there
are several opportunities that can make the future of trade unions in pacific island, brighter. For
instance, one of the opportunities in front of the trade union is fair negotiation. This will be
helpful to solve disputes between management and employee in a fair way without any kind of
aggressive interaction between two parties. Empirical studies establish the argument that, an
opportunity in front of trade unions of pacific island is to construct a healthy work environment
through the formulation of prudent workplace policies and requesting support from International

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Labor Organization to verify and implement policies in favor of trade unions in pacific island.
This will eliminate the chances of disputes (Connolly Marino and Lucio 2014).
Threats:
After a thorough analysis of the pacific island trade union cases, it can be said that, political
conflicts, lack of support from the politicians or ruling party. Empirical studies establish the
argument that powerful domination by the management and increasing competition in the labor
market may also proved to be the other threats in front of trade unions of pacific island
(Pernickaand Glassner2014).
Main actors of Industrial relation:
Main actors of industrial relation are-employees, employers and the Government.
b. Challenges faced by three main actors are:
1. challenges faced in a unitary environment:
Lack of fixed policies in favor of the actors of industrial relation, lack of political support
due to political instability and dispute due to the domination by a single authority are the
challenges faced in a unitary environment, by the three actors of industrial
relation(Bomersand Peterson2013).
2. challenges faced in a capitalist environment(Connolly Marino and Lucio 2014).
Lack of support from the government is one of the major challenges that the main actors
face. Lack of cooperation on the part of the management is another challenge that the
main actors of industrial relation encounter (Connolly Marino and Lucio 2014).

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3. Recommendation:
As per the recommendation it can be said that, there should be fixed policies and rule in
favor of the trade union. Again, the trade union should also be careful of the unscrupulous
policies that induce the conflicts between trade union and the management. The management as
well as trade union leaders should cooperate with each other and should conduct negotiation in a
fair way. Again, the government should formulate policies of fair negotiation, in order to reduce
disputes between the trade union as well as the management and foster uninterrupted growth of
industries (Egels-Zandén and Merk 2014).
4. Conclusion:
a. Summary:
As per the findings of the report, it can be said that, this report has conducted an analysis
of the strengths, weakness, opportunity and threats of trade unions. This SWOT analysis has
revealed that, though the strengths of trade unions are political backing, sometimes the support
from the ruling parties are in favor of the management. This is the reason why often the
movements by trade unions become futile. Moreover, this SWOT analysis also pointed out that
one of weakness of trade union is unorganized revolts, which enhances the chances of further
disputes with the management. Again, this SWOT analysis has also marked the lack of fixed
policies in the favor of the trade union is one of the major challenges to trade union. This
research conducted in this report has also marked the Lack of fixed policies, lack of support from
the government are the challenges faced by the actors of industrial relation. Finally, this report

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emphasizes on fair negotiation and exclusion of unscrupulous policies as the effective ways to
combat those challenges.
.

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References
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Egels-Zandén, N. and Merk, J., 2014. Private regulation and trade union rights: Why codes of
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Larsson, B., 2014. Transnational Trade Union Action in Europe: The significance of national and
sectoral industrial relations. European Societies, 16(3), pp.378-400.
Pernicka, S. and Glassner, V., 2014. Transnational trade union strategies towards European wage
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334.
Rainnie, A., 2016. Industrial relations in small firms: Small isn't beautiful. Routledge.