What is the belief among pluralists regarding conflict in organisation?
Conflict is necessary but it can be managed and resolved
Conflict is necessary but it can be managed and resolved — option 3.
The pluralist frame of reference. From Alan Fox’s classification of the assumptions managers hold about industrial relations. The pluralist sees the organisation not as one harmonious team but as a coalition of groups with legitimately different interests — owners want return, employees want security and reward, managers want control. Because the interests genuinely differ, conflict is inevitable and normal, not evidence that something has gone wrong. But it is also containable: it can be brought into recognised machinery, negotiated and settled.
| Unitarist | Pluralist | Radical / Marxist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organisation is | One team, one purpose — a family | A coalition of interest groups | An arena of wider class conflict |
| Conflict is | Abnormal — caused by poor communication, troublemakers or misfits | Normal, inevitable, manageable | Structural, and not resolvable inside the firm |
| Trade unions are | An intrusion and a rival for loyalty | Legitimate representatives of a real interest | A vehicle of a wider struggle |
| Management’s job | To lead the single team | To mediate between groups and reach accommodation | Agent of capital |
Why the other options fail, one by one. Option 1 is the unitarist position — conflict is unnecessary. Option 4 is unitarism in a harder form, suppression by rules. Option 2 is self-contradictory: no frame of reference holds that conflict matters and should nevertheless be ignored. Only option 3 pairs inevitability with manageability, which is exactly the pluralist combination.
What follows from the pluralist view in practice. It is the assumption underlying the whole institutional apparatus of industrial relations: recognition of trade unions, collective bargaining, grievance procedures, joint consultation, conciliation, arbitration and industrial tribunals. If conflict were merely a management failure, none of this permanent machinery would be needed; the pluralist holds that it is a normal and necessary part of organised work.
The management style that follows is negotiation rather than command — and the pluralist accepts that a settlement is a compromise in which neither side gets everything, which is what distinguishes it from the unitarist hope of complete agreement.
Hence, the answer is option 3.
Similar Questions
In Collective Bargaining, an ‘impasse’ refers to :
Which of the following perceive pluralistic approach to Industrial Relation :
A. Work place conflict is seen as a temporary aberration, resulting from poor management, from employees who don’t mix with organisation’s culture.
B. Trade Unions as legitimate representatives of employees interest.
C. Stability in industrial relations as the product of concession and compromises between management and union.
D. Organisations as coalitions of competing interest, where the management role is to mediate amongst the different interest groups.
E. Conflict arises not just because of competing interests within the organisation but because of division within the society between those who own resources and those who have only labour to offer.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Which of the following are settlement machineries of industrial disputes under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947?
A. Works Committee
B. Collective Bargaining
C. Conciliation
D. Adjudication
E. Voluntary Arbitration
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Match the List-I with List-II
LIST I
Forms of StrikesLIST II
Appropriate MeaningA. Economic strike I. A strike aimed at protesting illegal conduct by the employer. B. Unfair labour practice strike II. A strike that results from a failure to agree on the terms of a contract that involves wages, benefits and other conditions of employment. C. Wild cat strike III. A strike that takes place when one union strikes in support of the strike of another. D. Sympathy strike IV. An unauthorized strike occurring during the term of a contract. Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Which one of the following is a facility to file anonymous complaints ?
Which of the following are tripartite bodies ?
(a) Indian Labour Conference
(b) Standing Labour Committee
(c) State Level Advisory Boards
Code :
The Right to strike is a __________.
Which one of the following represents a system where by an employer regularly deducts a portion of employee's wage to pay subscription fee of trade union ?
Consider the following elements :
(a) Actors
(b) Inputs
(c) Context
(d) Output
(e) Ideology
Which of these are not the elements of John T. Dunlop's Framework of Industrial Relations System ?
With respect to collective bargaining match the items in List - I with those in List - II, using the codes at the end of the items.
List - I List - II (a) Win - Lose (i) Winning is everything (b) Lose - Win (ii) Nothing for nothing (c) Lose - Lose (iii) Everything for everything (d) Win - Win (iv) Relationship is paramount Code :
Important Questions from Collective bargaining and workers’ participation in management
Through which one of the following influences of workers’ participation in management regarding ‘safety and welfare and work-related’ issues are resolved?
Assertion A: Workers participation in management is involvement of workers only in such areas of activities of the enterprises where they can make some positive contribution.
Reasoning R: Workers may not be competent enough to understand and appreciate the managerial aspects of the enterprise.
- Which one of the following is not a function of plant council ?
- Which one of the following industrial relations approach believes in state intervention via legislation and the creation of industrial tribunals as supporting management's interest rather than ensuring a balance between the competing groups ?
- What is the term coined for the system of communication and consultation, either formal or informal, by which workers of an organization are kept informed, as and when required, about the affairs of the undertaking and through which they express their opinion and contribute to decision-making process of management ?
