working in factories and industries under strict rules and poor working conditions called
for collective action on the part of workers as well as state intervention as a referee.
Therefore, employee relations as a discipline is the study of relationships between em-
ployees, employees and employers and their associations and the state in relation to
goals, values attitudes and behaviour. It is about the interaction between employees and
trade unions, employer associations and the state through various policies and labour
law as well as processes and of the provision of remedies where certain actors are ag-
grieved. Therefore, the key actors are the employer or employers’ associations who, in
isolation or collectively, work together in order to defend their interests against the em-
ployees or the state. There are also employees or employee representatives (trade un-
ions) whereby employees defend their interests alone or through trade unions. The ob-
jective of trade unions includes the regulation of the relationship between workers and
employers/employers’ associations. Unity is used as a source of bargaining power. The
state is the regulator of employment, employment conditions, and welfare through for-
mulation and execution of policies and procedures for mediation.
The understanding of employment relationships and the dynamics involved is well
established in four categories of theories which help us to develop a framework in
which we investigate and explain various employee issues (Farnham & Pimlott 1992).
For example, how should an employee react if mistreated or what attitude should em-
ployers take towards employees and vice versa.
Unitarist theory
The theory focuses on the unity of interests between the management and employees.
According to this theory, the management is supposed to form the direction of the or-
ganisation and communicate it to the employees for compliance. The theory holds the
following assumptions; that there should be employee compliance with a common ob-
jective and there is no need for a conflict of interests because employees and employers
have good reason to coexist. Therefore, trade unions have no room to highlight differ-
ences with the management.
Conflict/pluralist theory
Conflict theory is the opposite of the unitarist theory. The theory conceives an organisa-
tion as a place where there are divergent interests because there are different actors with
different needs and expectations. A conflict of interests is inevitable because people
belong to different teams that may have goals and objectives that conflict with the or-
ganisation. Since these actors display various sources of authority, foci of loyalty and
even interests, the implication is that the management has to strike a balance between
the goals and interests of the organisation and those of the employees. Management
strategies such as decentralisation and employees’ participation in management deci-
sions are in line with the recognition of the power of the pluralist approach to improving
organisational effectiveness.
Social action theory
Farnham & Pimlott (1992: 9) define social action as ‘behaviour of having subjective
meaning for individual actors’. The theory focuses on understanding the particular ac-
tion employees take in situations concerning the relationship with the management
rather than on just observing explicit behaviour in employment relationships because
people perceive the world differently. Meanings are derived from the social environ-