What are the four grand strategies built around paternalism?

Answer 1

1.Unilateral employee maintenance and care : unions are actively and aggresively avoided and kept out. However,chances are that unions will not get involved easily ,simply because workers are not treated badly.

2.Constitutionalised adversarial employee maintenance :

Trade unions are dealt with reluctantly and in a very antagonistic,adversarial manner on the minimum of issues such as pay and working conditiond. Once again,because the emphasis is on cost containment,and unions have to be dealt with simply because they cannot be wished away or avoided,the dealings with unions will preferably be built around win-lose,distributive style negotiations. How ever in this instance managements approach will be to show the unions that they are not needed becayse the employees are well cared. For and members of a happy family. In this way it is hoped that the workers really will not have any need for unions and that the unions will start to feel unwelcome.

3. Intergrative negotiated employee maintenance/care.

In this case managements approach to interaction with the unions shifts from a pure conflict/adversarial stance to a more friendly ,accommodating attitude,aimed at broadening the scope of issues over which management will engage in discussions,deliberations and consultation with the unions. The style of interaction will thus be of a more integrative nature,especially when it comes to issues such as job descriptions,job evaluation,employee well-being programmes etc. Issues such as wages will often be dealt with at different ,higher level such as a bargaining council,where distributive bargaining will still be prominent. Thus,because trade unions may have been recognised for quiet some time and because collective relationships will have matured ,management will accept that more constructive relationships in general can actually help to create a happier work force.

4. Joint employee care and maintenance.

This approach takes it one step further. The approach is still to create an image of an organisation which is orientated towards the general well being of its employees,but there is an even greater shift towards pro-unionism . Trade unions are in fact welcomed as co-equals with management in the effort to create a caring environment. Trade unions are valued as true patners in the process of caring for employees and in the creation of a secure,safe working environment. Structures for union-management cooperation on all the issues related to sucn an environment (as spelt out ealier) are set up,and an approach of extensive information sharing is followed.

Source: South African Human Resources Management Theory and practise 2012: BJ Swanepoel,BJ Erasmus, and HW Schenk.