-75%
Solution
The unitarist perspective considers the organisation as a whole and emphasise that shared goals exist amongst all employees, managers, and other actors within the organisation. The approach is consistent with Saudi Aramco’s goal to maintain uninterrupted operations for its extensive oil and gas network. Its large scale gives the need for a unified goal in order to coordinate effectively and to be efficient at performance outcomes. Unitarist model promotes a cohesive work environment as team focuses on the collective goals, emphasises team than individual agenda and puts organisational interest above individual interest (Kaufman et al., 2020).
The unitarist perspective considers the organisation as a whole and emphasise that shared goals exist amongst all employees, managers, and other actors within the organisation (Kaufman et al., 2020). The unitarist model operates by fostering a unified focus on goals at the unit level, thereby increasing efficiency and coordinated performance outcomes. More specifically, this involves having employees and management working towards the same goals, in order to avoid potential conflicts and have a smooth workflow which will guarantee operational stability. This unified approach is beneficial to ensure the cohesion required to manage complex operations well and achieve performance excellence, giving organizational benefits over individual interest (Kaufman et al., 2020).
In practice, however, unitarism at Aramco can be limiting. For example, focusing on the organisations’ objectives so much can obscure the individual employee grievances, thereby leading to unresolved tension. People professionals in this context stress on developing policies with the aim of aligning employee objectives to corporate goals, tying the actions of employees under a single mission, often through training and engagement programs. According to Bray et al. (2019), this approach balances operational alignment, although at the cost of unintentionally silencing individual voices in favour of group considerations. For people professionals, this poses a unique challenge of negotiating between Aramco’s goals with a commitment to the welfare of individual employees who may feel that their particular need is practically overlooked to the overarching mission of the organisation. Therefore, while unitarist practices can foster perceived strong alignment among them, individual input might be marginalised which can affect people professional’s role in balancing the corporate goal with employee welfare.
One more challenge of the unitarist approach is that of concentrating decision-making power within management, the possibility of which may limit opportunities for employees’ participation in organisational decisions. The consequence is that it can put people professionals into positions of trying to deal with power imbalances while prioritising management goals which in turn can lead to lack of employee engagement and morale (Budd, 2020). In these cases, people professionals are responsible for dealing with any alienation that employees may feel, and need to create strong channels of communication and feedback. Overall, unitarist practices work well for keeping Aramco going and sufficiently focused and aligned, but they may also restrict employee expression.
Pluralist Perspective
The pluralist perspective sees the organisation made up of differing interests that must be negotiated and compromised to operate (Van Buren III, 2021). This is particularly important for Saudi Aramco, which is a multi-cultural and multi-professional workforce. In this pluralist perspective, Aramco is able to treat conflicts as constructive engagement rather than as disruptions.
In situations of diverse employee interests and organisational goals, people professionals’ emphasis is on building channels of open communication and mediation between conflicting employee interests and organisational objectives. Through this, Aramco can start a practice of collective bargaining or organise employee focus groups to understand on essential issues, creating a platform for diverse perspectives. This thereby aligns employee satisfaction with corporate objectives, as it creates a shared ownership of organisational goals (Ackers, 2021). However, pluralism also brings about challenges as high management level and people professional skills are needed to cope with conflicting interests, while still avoiding polarising the workplace.
Moreover, the pluralist model is suitable for large organisations, but, unfortunately it fosters the ‘us versus them’ mentality which is often typical for the organisations where managers and employees view themselves as separate and often opposing parties. For instance, in Aramco case, the focus on innovation could be in contrast with the employees’ need to have a stable employment. Van Buren III (2021) explains that with this conflict, people professionals find themselves in a critical role to mediate between these competing interests in a manner that produces balanced outcomes that protect Aramco’s long-term interests and the well-being of its workforce. While pluralist approach encourages collaboration and participation, if not managed carefully, it can strain resources and decision-making process. Overall, the pluralist model is best suited for Saudi Aramco in terms of supporting diversity in the workforce and effectively resolving conflicts constructively, however, it needs a balanced approach to prevent potential divisions and promote a cohesive workplace culture.
Radical Perspective
Drawing from the radical view, the employment relations context is understood to be inherently conflictual, and most particularly in a capitalist context where power imbalances exist. From this perspective, employment relations are imagined as an area for struggles over power and units of collective bargaining are viewed as indispensable instruments of balancing organisational and employee interests (Barba-Aragón & Jiménez-Jiménez, 2020). Although this method may not be viable for Saudi Aramco where traditional trade unions are not that common, some of the radical perspective can give us insights on Saudi Aramco’s employee relations. For example, the organisation does not always have open power conflicts, but does have implicit hierarchies which can create tensions if not addressed properly.
However, in Saudi Aramco context radical approach may…
Please click the following icon to access this assessment in full
