Does the ‘sophisticated paternalist’ (or HRM) managerial style to the employment relationship provide the means by which the o

Does the ‘sophisticated paternalist’ (or HRM) managerial style to the employment relationship provide the means by which the old-style ‘them and us’ between employees and employers can be overcome – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS: 

Choose ONE of the following questions and submit an essay of 2,500 words electronically to Turnitin via the Blackboard site by Wednesday 13 December 2017. You should demonstrate evidence of having consulted a variety of different sources (from the reading lists provided) and of integrating such material with lecture/tutorial notes, practical examples drawn from current employment relations developments and your own personal ideas and arguments.

• Which analytical perspective is the most relevant to understanding contemporary employment relations – unitary, pluralist or radical? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• Does the ‘sophisticated paternalist’ (or HRM) managerial style to the employment relationship provide the means by which the old-style ‘them and us’ between employees and employers can be overcome – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• Are trade unions outmoded and unnecessary – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• What are the advantages to workers of collective bargaining as a method of determining terms and conditions of employment? Why has collective bargaining declined and how has it changed since the early 1980s? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• Have the employment relations policies of successive Conservative (including Conservative-led coalition) and New Labour governments since 1997 been marked by an essentially ‘neo-liberalist’ character – yes or no?

• Why has the public sector been the arena for much of the employment relations conflict that has occurred in Britain over recent years? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• Is the depiction of non-union employment relations in Britain as a Dickensian ‘Bleak House’ scenario justified – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• Do current forms of employee involvement or participation transfer any real decision-making powers away from managers – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• In the light of the historically low levels of strike activity manifest in recent years in the UK, does this mean that labour conflict is not an important feature of contemporary employment relations – yes or no? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.

• To what extent do organisational ‘equal opportunities’ policies help to combat gender disadvantage and inequality in employment relations? Utilise case study material to illustrate your point of view.