Pluralist perspectives

First, pluralist theory believes that the workplace is composed of diverse sets of beliefs,
values, attitudes, and behaviours. Second, there are opposing sources of leadership and
attachment in organisations. Third, conflicts are inevitable because there are inherent
competing interests .Conflicts can even be helpful, if identified and controlled within
institutional responses .Fourth, the role of the management is to mediate among competing
interests. Fifth, Trade unions are legitimate representatives of employees, and they are
viewed positively because they help employees emphasise their decision-making power.
Sixth, the state promotes public interest. Seventh, ER stability can be attained through a
series of concessions and negotiations between managers and employers through the
collective bargaining process.

Strengths of the pluralist perspective

Unlike the unitarist, the pluralist theory emphasises that effective IR interventions can
resolve conflicts. A consultative approach can be used by the management in responding to
conflicts. Furthermore, it also considers other alternative decision-making processes
Conflict is not overlooked, but managed effectively through stakeholder participation.
Conflict can then be used to understand underlying tensions, so that they can be identified
and properly addressed. The pluralist perspective makes use of conflict management
strategies to engage groups that are in conflict, so that resolutions can be discussed and
implemented.
The pluralist perspective embraces a wider array of employee relations policies. Some
companies can adopt no-union policies, as long as there are employee organisations, while
other companies can motivate the use of trade unions. The girth of employee relations
policies can make pluralism specifically beneficial for diverse organisational and national
cultures. For instance, trade unions can be effective allies also in aligning individual and
organisational interests compared to the unitarist approach to ER. The pluralist
perspective is also suitable for collective IR systems, because it does not disregard the
role of trade unions in managing employee-employer conflicts.

Weaknesses of the pluralist perspective

The weakness of the pluralist theory is the inclination to dwell on on rules and procedures
and disregard the processes that also contribute to the resolution of conflicts. For
instance, through IR, laws can be made that impose certain ways of resolving workplace

conflicts. These rules, however, cannot adapt to emerging and different workplace
conditions.
In addition, the pluralist perspective is incapable of realising that the state also
represents commercial interests and not just public interests. The pluralist perspective
may focus too much on worker interest, which can lead to the inefficiencies of collective
bargaining processes.
Managing unitarist ER successfully
There are different ways of managing successful ER that has adopted the unitarist
approach. First, the management can focus on providing financial incentives and shared
ownership, so that the former can integrate employer and employee interests. The
management can stress on different kinds of profit-sharing and share ownership that are
made to ensure that every employee is provided the chance to have a financial stake in
the company.
Second, the management can also focus in different kinds of direct employee participation
and involvement in daily work activities. This can include different empowering and
participatory approaches to workplace management, so that individuals feel that they can
have wider latitude in controlling their work processes and results. The worker
empowerment and participation can permit higher forms of autonomy that can maximise
worker contribution. The management should ensure, however, that it is not providing a
superficial kind of participation, wherein major job processes are still provided top-down,
because this can only decrease employee satisfaction, instead of increasing it.
Third, the management can concentrate on the systematic use of progressive, highperformance, or high-involvement HR practices in domains of selection, training, job
design, communications, performance evaluation, rewards, and others, so that they can be
designed to maximise individual-organisation relationships and to produce high levels of
employee commitment, loyalty, and satisfaction.
Conclusion
The management follow different kinds of frame of references when dealing with
employee relations. This essay focuses only on two perspectives, the unitarist and the
pluralist. These perspectives have their own strengths and advantages, and they also fit
different kinds of company objectives and IR systems. Unitarist perspectives assume that
there is only one source of leadership and that conflict should and can be avoided through

the alignment of individual and organisational interests. Trade unions are seen negatively
by unitarists. This perspective also fits individualist IR. Pluralists believe that there are
competing interests and that conflict can be properly managed. This perspective asserts
the large role that trade unions can play in the collective bargaining process, which makes
it appropriate for collectivist IR systems. Organisations that have unitarist ER can make it
more effective for organisational goals through having a wide array of efforts that
improve employee satisfaction, motivation, and loyalty. Some of the suggested means are
profit-sharing methods and other ways that result to high-performance work systems.