hi, can you tell me what is meant by the socioligical term 'unitarism'?
  i would like to know it's origins, e.g. where, when and who created
it. so it's history please!

and how does 'unitarism' relate to human resource management?

thank you, 
harry

Hi, thanks for the question. I found some quality scholarly articles
on the matter that I think will prove useful to you. I'll start with
the foundations of the term and then proceed to a discussion on its
relation to HRM.


Background on Unitarism:

Human Resource Management Guide
http://www.hrmguide.net/hrm/chap1/ch1-3.html
"Unitarism

Unitarism has been defined as the spirit of a team defined by a common
purpose. It embodies a central concern of HRM, that an organization's
people, whether managers or lower-level employees, should share the
same objectives and work together harmoniously. From this perspective,
conflicting objectives are seen as negative and disfunctional."

Theoretical Origins of Unitarism and its relation to Human Resource Management:

An impressive scholarly work on the theoretical origins of Human
Resource Management and Unitarism specifically.

Ethics, Conflict and Human Resource Managers in the New Economy
http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:KS3UyuCDcQwJ:www.gu.edu.au/school/irl/airaanz2004/Papers/Provis,VanGramberg_048.pdf+unitarism+origins&hl=en
"Unitarist perspectives focus on conformity and goal sharing and imply
an absence of conflict in a well functioning organisation. Workplace
actors who do not fully acknowledge management?s prerogative or its
call for obedience and loyalty are treated as aberrant. Unions and
collective bargaining are avoided where possible. According to
Kochan?s (1982) report on an early application of the unitary
framework for analysing conflict in a US organisation, unitarist
theorists did not deny the existence of conflict but attributed it to
interpersonal rather than economic or structural factors."

Philisophical foundations of Unitarism:

"Then the implication seems to be that unitarism emerges from a
contract view of work relationships that would most naturally see the
ethical justification for HR decisions in a deontological view (see
Shaw 1999: 63)."

Plauralism as an alternative to Unitarism:

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:KS3UyuCDcQwJ:www.gu.edu.au/school/irl/airaanz2004/Papers/Provis,VanGramberg_048.pdf+unitarism+origins&hl=en
"On the other hand, pluralism emphasises diversity of opinion and
relies on a process capable of allowing these different interests to
be heard and reconciled. This is not to deny the reality of power
structures which operate to maintain the status quo, but the inclusion
of powerful groups, such as unions, in conflict negotiations offers
the possibility of moderating an employer dominated process. Indeed,
Dunlop (1958)suggested that workplace outcomes were reflective of the
wider power balance in society. He envisaged socialist governments
acting to buffer the power of employers through legislation favourable
to workers."

The Moderating Effect of Human Resource Management Orientation on
Business and HRM Strategic Responses to Environmental Change
BY HARRIET J. KIDOMBO
http://bij.hosting.kun.nl/iaup/esap/publications/nairobi/moderatingeffectofHRM.php
"HRM also implies a shift of focus from manager-trade union
relationship to management?employee relations and from collectivism to
individualism. Torrington (1991) observes that human resource
management seeks to eliminate the mediation role of trade unions by
adopting a unitarist frame of reference. In the industrial relations
context, Swanepoel (1999) explains the unitary perspective as
referring to the views of those who regard management and employees as
having identical interests such that workers cooperate with management
and work together as a team by seeking to assist management achieve
its objectives. Unitarism means HRM seeks to implement measures
designed to motivate workers, communicate details of organizational
goals and construct policies for securing employee loyalty and
commitment (Armstrong, 1999). While the unitarist perspective is
increasingly becoming a major aspect of HRM, it has been criticized
for failing to comprehend the motives of individual employees and for
failing to accept and recognize the inevitability of conflicts of
interest between management and workers (Storey & Sisson, 1993)."

"This paper has attempted to explore the literature on human resource
management   It is notable that although the HRM concept has been
around for two decades, the literature contains more questions than
answers on both the practice and academic status of this field."

Human Resource Management in the United States developed out of
competition from Japanese companies that emphasized loyality and
collective objectives. The goal of "unitarism" in HRM is to create an
atmosphere where workers are motivated as a collective to pursue
common goals to the company. The following excerpt outlines the
historical development of Human Resource Management and its relation
to the "unitarist" framework:

" Hendry (1995) explains that HRM was born out of perceived failure by
American industry and management in the face of Japanese competition
in international and domestic markets. The belief was that American
firms failed to inspire the same kind of commitment that characterized
Japanese firms. Ouchi (1981) cited in Hendry (1995) compared American
and Japanese management values and concluded that American firms were
characterized by job insecurity, quick promotion (in contrast to
Japanese pillar of seniority progression), specialized careers,
bureaucratic control, emphasis on individual decision making and
responsibility and narrow focus on departmental interests.  As such,
it appeared that the short-term, non- strategic orientation of
American firms was closely associated with the ideals of individualism
rather than loyalty and collectivism. In pursuit of such short-term
profit goals, American firms emphasized cost reduction measures such
as removal of discretionary expenditures like training and research
and reducing employee headcount."

Brunel
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola/power/unitary.html
"Unitarist views represent a legitimising management point of view.
Yet being one of the ruled or even being one of the rulers involves
tensions and conflicts. In the "free, open" society freedoms of speech
and personal choice may be to hand but whistle-blower or shift worker
and even managerial freedom of action is constrained. In accepting a
contract of employment an individual submits to the legitimised will
of the employing organisation in return for a reward (the
consideration). The person's activities and application then become
shaped by job/role obligations and supervisory authority and hierarchy
prevail over these."

Additional Sources:

2002 'Towards a New Public Unitarism: Employment and Industrial
Relations in the Australian Public Service', The Economic and Labour
Relations Review, 13 (1): 2002: 60-87. (with M. O'Donnell).

THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP AND THE FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:Bps4ktFf2usJ:www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapter/063122257X%255CEdwards_C01.pdf+%22unitarism%22+sociology&hl=en

Human Resource Magazine
http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/

IHRIM
http://www.ihrim.org/

Google Search Terms Used

unitarism and "human resource management"
(also-narrowing terms)

Thanks again for your question. I think this material should cover all
of your questions. Hope it helps! Please let me know if you need some
clarification of my response.

Regards,
Anthony (adiloren-ga)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by harry_ss-ga on 28 Apr 2004 17:02 PDT

hi Anthony,
the answer that you have given me is rich in info but i need a bit of
clarification on the major points of how unitarism relates to human
resource managemnt. sorry its just that the info is a bit vast and
some bullet points of info (simplification for me) would be useful as
i cant seperate what is actualy relivant?
thank you, its just that i dont mean to be a pain but i need all the
help that i can get please!

Harry.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by harry_ss-ga on 28 Apr 2004 17:04 PDT

but i would just like to add the info on the explanation is A+ and
thank you again, and please respond ASAP, thank you

---

Request for Answer Clarification by harry_ss-ga on 29 Apr 2004 04:41 PDT

BOTH THE ANSWER AND COMMENTS ARE a+, BUT I ALSO NEED SOME VIEWS OF
UNITARISM AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT BY PROFESSORS OF SOCIOLOGY, SO
WHAT THEY THINK OF IT.

THANK YOU,
HARRY

---

Clarification of Answer by adiloren-ga on 29 Apr 2004 12:07 PDT

Thanks for the comment pink freud, you have synthesized and simplified
the information nicely. I realize that was kind of a lot of
information to weed through. In addition to pink freud's helpful info,
I'll provide a quick definition of the goals of human resource
management and comment on how unitarism relates to these central
themes.

DEFINITION AND GOALS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
(my comments in brackets)
HRSGB.org
http://www.hrsgb.org.za/HR_scope_and_definition.html#DEFINITION
"It is proposed that we take human resource management to be that part
of management concerned with:

*  all the decisions, strategies, factors, principles, operations,
practices, functions, activities and methods related to the management
of people as employees in any type of organisation (including small
and micro enterprises and virtual organisations);
[Unitarism is a strategy or method for providing a framework to best
manage people as employees. The unitarist ideal is to create a system
where the employees of an organization share the same goals as the
employer and work as members of a single team in pursuit of the
goals.]

*  all the dimensions related to people in their employment
relationships, and all the dynamics that flow from it (including in
the realisation of the potential of individual employees in terms of
their aspirations);
[Unitarism emphasizes the goals of the collective and is based on the
assumption that the employers or leaders of an organization have set
the goals and that employees joining the organization consent to
pursue those common objectives. In this way, the aspirations of the
individual employee are of little importance to the oranization as a
whole and serve only as potential sources of conflict. Therefore, the
primary assumption of unitarism is that it is possible to create a
familiar goal to which all members of an organization are willing to
work towards.]
 
*  all aimed at adding value to the delivery of goods and services, as
well as to the quality of work life for employees, and hence helping
to ensure continuous organisational success in transformative
environments."
[Human resource management itself sets a primary goal. Namely, to
create an efficient workplace, usually with the motivation of making
profits for the organization. Therefore, unitarism is employed as a
concept to better achieve this goal. If a company is able to create an
atmosphere where all the employees are seeking to make profit for the
company, the organization will theoretically be more efficient and
effective.]

I hope this, in addition to pink freud's comment and the information
provided in the original answer provides you with a solid
understanding of this concept and its interelation to HRM. Thanks
again for your question Harry.

Cheers,
Anthony (adiloren-ga)

This essay might be of interest to you:

www.findfreecollegeessays.com/show_essay/20414.html

I think what Harry probably wants is something like this:

WHAT IS UNITARISM

E.G. - Unitarism is the idea that people in an organization have a
common set of goals and that forming a cooperative, conflict-free
process for dealing with organizational issues is not only possible
but the most successful approach.

THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF UNITARISM

E.G. - Unitarism is an idea that predates HRM and has a different
application in these other original contexts (e.g. political).
However, with respect to people mangement in organizations it can be
traced to the advent of personnel management. It was one of several
perspectives for viewing the dynamic of how workers and management
ought to relate. Of course, the basic ideas behind this conception
could speculatively be traced back to ancient master-servant views of
employee loyalty, etc.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF UNITARISM FOR HRM

E.G. - Basically it negates the view of competing groups within an
organization with conflicting interests. Thus, the role of HRM as
primarily about negotiating those competing interests is replaced by
one that focuses on tuning all aspects - e.g. employee involvement,
commitment, appraisal and reward - such that there are shared values
and goals and cooperation is the means to achieving them.

EXAMPLES AND TRENDS IN HRM THAT DEMONSTRATE THE INFLUENCE OF UNITARISM

E.G. - Unitarism in HRM is generally identified as "hard" (as opposed
to "soft") HRM which places the emphasis on the individual worker as a
member of the organization pursuing mutually beneficial and
complementary objectives and tends to reject "us and them" practices
like collective bargaining. Things like the trend toward individual
contracts, decline of unions and increase in direct, sophisticated
employer-employee relationships that encompass continual learning,
development and non-financial rewards are all considered effects of
unitarism on contemporary HRM.

***

These are just example points. Hope this helps.