Unitarism a social affair How Unitary Approach Unites

Unitarism: a social affair. How Unitary Approach Unites…

Social Theory: Fox’s Frames of Reference (Fox, 1966) ▪ ‘Beyond Contract’ (Fox, 1974) Pluralism is part of the industrial conflict problem. ▪ Unitarist approach – organisations will see success in if they draw on community cultural values (Fox, 1974).

The Unitary Argument: ▪ Psychological and Sociological Perspective – motivation and power ▪ Procedures and Policy – good Human Resource Practices ▪ The Organisation – cultural and employee relations

Unitarist argument. . Pluralism is part of the problem. Unitarism unites us all.

Fox’s Frames of Reference. . The Social Theory and Psychological perspective. ‘attitudes and behaviour in economic and organisational contexts are conditioned by contingent, intersubjective conceptual structures arising both from general processes of socialisation, and from direct experience in the workplace’ (Fox, 1966)

Pluralism. . ▪ Exchange of labour for money ▪ No party buys into each other’s values or aims. ▪ Begins from point of discord ▪ Anticipates conflict ▪ Of it’s time (transition from Victorian Industrialisation to Postmodern work place)

Unitary. . A social relationship: a cooperative pursuit of common aims and values, drawn on effective division of labour based on skill. The Ideal Employee-Employer Relationship

Motivation Theory. . ▪ Intrinsic Motivation – to be valued, developed, recognised and to provide altruistic contribution to wider social community. ▪ A study of workers from eight countries found that less than a third of workers would stop work altogether if they won the lottery. ▪ The majority of workers in all countries would continue working (Sutton, 2015).

Post Modern Organisation. . Post modern organisations give individuals the opportunity to flourish in a way that they couldn’t otherwise accomplish – organisations provide employees with the power to be their best. .

Power to the People Individual Knowledge Worker. . ▪ Foucault’s Theory of Power/Knowledge (Foucault, 1980): Power comes from and resides within knowledge It does not reside within particular institutions – employed at all levels Knowledge creates, and replicates, individual identity and is seen as relational ‘one can only ever be seen to be something in relation to something else’ ) Foucault, cited in Townley, 1990: 522).

Post Modern Organisation. . ▪ Organisations have changed the way that they view and value their employees. ▪ Knowledge workers have more power and influence in flatter organisations. ▪ Knowledge workers sculpt and direct organisational goals and aims through creativity and innovation

Power to the Employee. . ▪ Move to team work, away from strict management ▪ Increase individual intrinsic value and sense of shared goal ▪ Reaffirms personal identity through relationship with organisation

Therefore. . Pluralism is out moded and damaging: ‘Foucault - what counts as truth depends on, or is determined by, the conceptual systems in operation’ (Townley, 1990: 519) If you come with a concept that anticipates conflict, there will be conflict. . If you come with a unitarist perspective, both employee and organisation will thrive.

Policy, procedures, and practices. . . “a regime which provides human beings no deep reason to care about one another cannot long preserve its legitimacy” Richard Sennett

Tipping the scale. ▪ Social partners ▪ High performance – flexibility (3) ▪ Mutual gains

Knowledge based work systems. . . ▪ Toyota-GM: NUMMI ▪ Thursfield and Kellie (2013) – Paradox of Management ▪ Narrowing the gap: Atlassian

The Unitarist Organisation. . ▪ Businesses are organisations that are unitaristic – one centre of power , one vision, one interest ▪ Pluralism destroys business – multiple centres of power, multiple visions of interest.

The Unitarist SME ▪ SMEs are dominant in business (99. 3% in the UK) and are largely unitaristic ▪ 76% of 5. 3 m (ie 4 Million) SMEs are non-employers due to the fear of pluralism and radicalism

Let’s unite! ▪ Let’s get rid of ‘twin envoys of conflict’; pluralism, and its cousin radicalism. ▪ Let’s enhance job creation and sustainability in the UK.

In conclusion… ▪ Pluralism is outmoded; work is more than money and conflict. ▪ Human Resource Management supports and accentuates the Unitarist relationship. ▪ Today’s post-modern organisations are community businesses that value social partnership working.