Personnel Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Personnel Management - see ExampleWhen a political party takes on a particular way of life of employer-employee relations, the choice is often visit by Purcells (1987) guiding principles which give due consideration to such factors as the stockholders interests, the market conditions in which the company operates, the companys level of growth, managements biases and its perceptions of power and conflict. It is trustd that personnel management systems are also determined by the different dimensions of organizational ownership, size, strategy and structure, not to mention past history and market conditions. Based on these influences, the management- childbed relations mode that emerges is either the unitary or pluralist type (Fox, 1966, 1974).The managers inclined to a unitary frame of reference believe that management and employees share a common interest, namely, the survival and growth of the company, and as such should find as aberrant any conflict that may result from the ex istence of a labor union or any company troublemakers. The pluralist view, on the other hand, recognizes that all stakeholders in the company have legitimate interests that should be met, diverse though they may be. For this reason, the different interest multitudes, including the unions, are within their rights to bargain and compete to impart a share in the balance of power and to achieve a negotiated order out of miscellanea (Legge, Karen). Individualism and CollectivismThe unitary and pluralist theory of Fox on employee relations resemble Purcells concept of individualism and collectivism in many ways, except in the attitude towards unionism and collective bargaining. Individualism and collectivism, as defined, are not opposites but two facets of a managerial belief system concerning employees. The individualist modal value of management attaches value to the individual and his right to advancement and fulfillment at work. Hence, this leans more on paternalism and eschews th e group action characterized by unionism. In a collectivist regime, management recognizes the collective interests and rights of a group of peck in the decision making process, which can best be expressed through a labor union. There is another, more radical frame of reference said to be of Marxist origin that looks at society as a jumble of antagonistic class interests. Called macho management, this theory runs along the homogeneous lines of the dog-eat-dog concept in which the weak will be eaten alive by the strong if the former do not watch out. Society, according to this concept, is cleaved by deeply rooted social and political inequalities and is held together as much by coercion as by consent. Management in this configuration keeps a quad from employees and generally treats them with suspicion. As work inducement, the macho managers try to keep the workers in line with the carrot-and-stick approach. 5 Employee dealings Models Under the Purcell and Fox frames of reference, there are five different models of management-employee relations traditionalist, sophisticated-paternalist, consultative, constitutionalist and standard-modern. The traditional style views muckle as simply a factor of production, as hands to be exploited or a cost