CH 1

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CH 1

• The approaches of Industrial Relations

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Learning objectives

• Understand the different views of the employment
  relationship and the interaction in an IR System
• Explain the integral nature of the concept of
  conflict, cooperation and regulations
• Identify the importantce and difficulties of
  comparing industrial relations in different
  countries.
• Appreciate the character of labour process and
  labour market within capitalism and the
  interrelationship between macro and micro
  employment issues

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• Industrial society is a complex and dynamic
  society (consist of group, societies and
  institution) they are interrelated, however have
  different attitudes and perceptions. They are
  also being influenced by external environment.
• We cannot ignore the working aspect of human
  being, as working hour dominate most of our
  time.

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• There are different types of organizations
• 1.Big organization, small organization, local or
  international.
• 2. They constitute of 3 main actors
• Shareholder- represented by management,
  association of employers. Always to gain as much
  profit and productivity.
• Employees- being represented by trade unions. To
  get good salary and good working conditions
• Government being represented by specialize
  government agencies concern with workers,
  enterprise and their relationship. Try create
  industrial harmony
• Each of the actors above always conflicting
  between one another in order to achieve their
  objectives.
• 3. Besides the above 3 main actors, in the
  present context academicians have also considered
  another actor which can also influence the nature
  of IR i.e Stakeholders.

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• Does industrial harmony between the three actors
  can be easily achieve particularly between
  employees and management?.
• To moderate their conflict, the interference of
  the government is crucial. Government influence
  the relationship by introducing rules and
  regulations and some code of industrial harmony.
  Within the Malaysia contact, some of the related
  rules are industrial relation acts, trade union
  acts, employment act, code of Industrial harmony
  and etc. (pls. refer to Ministry of HR website).

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Definition IR

• Industrial relations encompasses a set of
  phenomena, both inside and outside the workplace,
  concern with determining and regulating
  employment relationship

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What is Industrial Relations?
A particular set of phenomena associated with
regulating the human activity of employment

• The making and administering of the institutions
  and rules of work regulation
• Socio-industrial conflict (in all its forms) and
  its resolution
• Explicit and implicit bargaining between
  employees and employers

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Industrial Relations

• Much of Industrial Relations at lower level of
  study place considerable emphasis on factual
  approach.
• - Author concentrated their efforts in
  describing situations as they saw it
• - they produce guide book rather than theories
  and explanations. Eg. Describing union structure,
  laws etc.

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• In studying IR it is easier to study and to
  discuss through frame of reference.
• Frame of reference each person perceive and
  interpret events by mean of conceptual structure
  of generalizations or contexts postulate about
  what is essential, assumptions as what is
  valuable, attitude about what is possible and
  ideas about what will work effectively.
• It constitutes the frame of reference of that
  person.

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• The nature of employment organization

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Approaches to industrial relations
Approaches to organisations
Approaches to industrial relations
Wider approaches to industrial relations
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Unitary perspective

• Assumptions
• Capitalist society
• Integrated group of people within the work
  organization
• Common values, interests and objectives
• Nature of conflict and its resolution
• Irrational and aberrant ( straying from the path)
• If there is/are conflict, they are Frictional and
  personal
• Coercion (force) or paternalism (limiting freedom
  through regulation)
• Role of Trade Unions
• Intrusion from outside
• Historical anachronism (relating to a wrong
  period)
• Management only forced to accept trade unions in
  economic relations

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Unitary view

• Organization is
• A group that united
• Having same objectives
• Single authority/kepatuhan yang satu
• common value, interest and objectives (nilai,
  minat dan objektif yang sama)
• Managers have the right to manage, managers have
  prerogative to make decisions. Those who
  challange is not rasional.

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• The unitary perspective has a great deal of
  support in industry and government. Eg. Based on
  research the bulk of British mgrs. Maintain a
  preference for unitary in decision making. e,.g
  pronounce hostility to the power of trade unions,
  limited amount of personal commitment to
  collective presentation.
• What is your view about Malaysia?

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• So is in the government. For example in UK
  unitary perspective play important part in the UK
  IR Act 1971, one of the aim of the act was to
  reduce the incidence of what was termed
  disruptive and disorderly behavior by the use
  of external legal control.
• What is your view about Malaysia?

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• Unitary also has considerable support in the
  academic sphere. A great deal of work in human
  relations school fall into this category- it
  emphasizes the important of social relations in
  industry. It stresses that conflict is the result
  of poor social relations, to overcome they
  suggest for ex. Better communication, they ignore
  differences in interest the source of conflict.

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to

• According to Fox this view of organization had
  been abandon as incongruent with reality, but it
  should not be discard lightly. It provide
  subconscious foundation (the right to manage) for
  mgrs seeking to maintain clear distinction
  between those issues they prepare to negotiate
  and those they are prepared only to consult. Also
  appear to have provide the basis for HRM (comment
  interest, culture and values ideology within
  organization,

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Pluralist perspective

• Assumptions
• Post-Capitalist society, where a relatively
  widespread distribution of power and authority
  within the society, a separation of ownership
  from mgt. a separation ,acceptance and
  institutionalization of political and industrial
  conflict
• Coalescence of sectional groups within work
  organisation
• Differing values, interests and objectives
• Competitive authority/loyalty structures (formal
  informal)
• Nature of conflict and its resolution
• Rational and inevitable
• Structural and institutionalized
• Compromise, negotiate and agreement
• Role of Trade Unions
• Legitimate and accepted in both economic and
  managerial relations
• Internal and integral to organization

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• Conflict result from industrial and
  organizational factors.
• 1. Different roles of mgt. and employees
• Mgrs responsible for efficiency, productivity and
  profitability
• Employees more of personal term (better pay
  ,good working conditions and good job security.

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• 2. Conflictual behavior result form
• Specific situation (e.g the closure of some part
  of organization and change to new technology)
• general management principal (to cut cost,
  increase profit and productivity)

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• According to Fox mutual independent of sectional
  groups exist only in the common interest in the
  survival as a whole.
• Pluralist also assume sometime normative
  divergencies between the parties are not so
  fundamental or so wide to be unbridgeable. Where
  each group prepared to limit its claim and
  aspiration.
• Resolution of the conflict is characterized by
  the need to establish accepted institution and
  procedures which achieve collaboration, through
  comprehensive, codified systems of negotiated
  regulations.

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• THE NATURE OF IR

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Unitary Human resource management
Management or manipulation?

• Focus
• Strategic integrated managerial approach to the
  management of people
• HRM support for achieving business aims and
  objectives
• Mechanisms
• Individualism (human relations, organisational
  psychology)
• Integrating planning, monitoring and control of
  human resources (not just employees)
• Securing employee commitment or organisations
  aims objectives (performance based rewards,
  employee involvement)

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Unitary Human resource management

• Antara ciri-ciri HRM (Amstrong)
• Pekerja perlu diurus, secekap dan seketat
  mungkin, seperti juga sumber-sumber lain supaya
  dapat memaksima nilai tambah.
• Perlu ada satu sistem, bantu-membantu dalam
  bentuk komunikasi - contoh team briefing, dll.
• Penggunaan teknik penglibatan pekerja contoh
  QCC
• Memberi penekanan terus terhadap qualiti contoh
  TQM
• Flexible dalam penyusunan kerja - kos efektif
  dalam penggunaan buruh.
• Penekanan terhadap temawork.
• Strategi latihan Pekerja diberi latihan dalaman
  sendiri untuk menyesuaikan dengan teknoligi yang
  digunakan, daripada mengambil pekerja yang telah
  ada skill. Ini meningkatkan pengantungan
  pekerja pada majikan dengan cara mengasingkan
  mereka mengikut pekerjaan.

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Unitary Human resource management

• Berbagai contoh yang dapat kita lihat bagaimana
  pihak pengurusan boleh menggunakan berbagai
  kaedah untuk mengekploitasikan dan menurunkan
  tahap keupayaan buruh. Antara nya
• Buruh, buruh hanya mahir dalam sebahagian dari
  proses kerja tertentu contoh hanya line
  tertentu.
• Flexible company, ada pekerja tetap - untuk
  jangkamasa panjang. Pekerja kontrak sementara -
  ikut keperluan syarikat. Dengan membahagi kan
  buruk kepada dua kategori berlakunya proses
  divide and rule.
• Responsible autonomy Satu kaedah pengurusan
  saintifik, di mana pekerja diberi sedikit hak
  untuk mengawal kerja mereka sendiri, tetapi ianya
  dalam bidang yang pengurusan lihat dapat capai
  objektif organisasi dan dapat meningkat
  keberkesanan organisasi - majikan lebih untung.
• Personal Control dimana orang yang diatas
  bertanggung jawab terhadap kerja dan aktibiti
  orang bawahan.
• Bureaucratic control berasaskan polisi ,
  peraturan dan undang-undang di tempat kerja

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Pluralist Input-output model
Input
Conversion
Output
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Marxist Control of the labour process

• B.M B.B.G BARANG
  PASARAN
• CAPITALS
• Mesin,
• Alatan dan
• Buruh
• B.M Barang Mentah
• B.B.G Barang Boleh Guna

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Marxist ( Control of labour process)

• Proses Kawalan Buruh ( Control of labour process)
  
• Thomson mendefinasikan proses buruh labour
  process sebagai satu cara dimana bahan
• mentah ditukar oleh buruh dengan menggunakan
  alat-alatan atau mesin, pertama kepada
• barang-barang untuk digunakan dan kemudian di
  bawah sistem kapitalis ianya ditukar
• kepada barangan yang boleh ditukar didalam
  pasaran.

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• Thomson - Asas Theory ini ialah
• 1. Social Relation yang wujud antara pekerja
  dimana ianya akan menghasilkan keupayaan
  (kekuatan) dan kapasiti ini diambil oleh
  kapitalis sebagai satu jalan (cara) untuk
  mengeluarkan barangan yang bernilai, dan tidak
  secara langsung buruh juga dianggap sebagai
  barangan (komoditi).

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• 4 unsur wujud daripada teori ini
• Perhubungan Buruh - modal satu bentuk ekploitasi
  - keuntungan biasanya lebih pada modal.
• Logik timbun - tambah (acumulation) iaitu pemodal
  akan cuba tingkatkan proses pengeluaran dan
  turunkan kos pengeluaran.
• Tertingkat pengeluaran, bertambah faktor kawalan
  sama ada secara am/khusus.
• Pemodal akan menggunakan berbagai kaedah
  sistematik untuk mendapat kerjasama dan budi
  bicara pekerja untuk meningkat pengeluaran
  keuntungan lebih pada pemodal.

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Marxist Control of the labour process

• Focus
• The way capital controls labour
• Mechanisms of management control
• Scientific management or deskilling
• Segmentation of labour (core periphery)
• Bureaucratic control (policies, procedures
  rules)
• Responsible autonomy (self-control or adoption of
  management values as integral part of job?)
• Employee response
• Resistance (restrictive practices)
• Collectivism (joint regulation)

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System Approach

• Originated by Dunlop, being subjected to
• a variety of interpretation, uses and criticism.
  However they do not
• invalidate the systems approach but they
  suggested accommodation and
• Refinement. It is a broad based integrative model
  that sought to provide tools of analysis to
  interpret and gain understanding the widest
  possible range of IR facts and practices and to
  explain why particular rules are establish in
  particular IR systems and how and why they change
  in response to changes affecting the system.
• This model sees IR as a subsystem of society
  distinct from but overlapping, the economic and
  political subsystem

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System Approach

• Four interrelated elements
• Actors- management, non-managerial employees and
  their representatives
• And specialize government agencies concern with
  IR.
• Context influence and constraints on the
  decisions of the actors which
• emanate from other parts of society, such as
  technology, market,
• budgetary and the locus of power in the
  society..
• Ideology beliefs within the system which not
  only define the role of each
• Actor or groups of actors but also define the
  view that they have of the role
• of other actors in the system. If the view
  compatible-stable IR system and
• other wise.
• Rules the regulatory framework, developed by a
  range of process and
• presented in variety of forms which expresses the
  terms and nature of the
• employment relationship.

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System of industrial relations - 1

• Dunlop - Actors, working within contexts
  (environment), developing a body of rules, held
  together by an ideology
• System producing rules (IRS) and system governed
  by rules (production)
• Naturally stable and orderly?
• Emphasis on roles rather than people
• Importance of environmental influences

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System of industrial relations - 2
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• WIDER APPROACH TO IR

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Comparative approach

• Difference between
• Comparative (analysing different countries)
• International (transnational institutions and
  phenomena)
• Importance of comparative approach
• Inform public policy debate
• Changing world economy
• Development of fair international employment
  standards
• Problems of comparison
• Lack of common terminology and definitions
• Differences between stated institutional
  framework and reality of actual practice
• Problems of transferability

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Convergence

• Logic of industrialisation
• All countries subject to same economic,
  technological and market forces
• All need concentrated, disciplined workforce with
  new and changing skills
• Similar government role in providing economic and
  social infrastructure for industrialisation
  (competing for same international investment)
• Modified convergence
• Countries at different stages of
  industrialisation
• Alternative solutions to common problems
• Regional based convergence

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Divergence

• Distinctive value systems and cultural features
• Heterogeneity within national industrial
  relations systems (decentralisation
  flexibility)
• Different strategic choices by Government,
  employers and unions at macro (society) and micro
  (organisation) levels on nature, content and
  process of employment relationship
• Political-economic framework of newer
  industrialised countries versus pluralistic
  framework of older industrialised countries