Because of such divergence of interests, the issue of power and authority to control the production process become fundamental. The resolution of conflict is characterized by the need to establish acceptable procedures and institutions which achieve collaboration through comprehensive, codified systems and negotiated regulation. There has to be an acceptance of the need for shared decision making, the legitimacy of role is not automatic but must be sought by and management’s maintained by management by rather than itself ‘management consent” by “management right”. Trade unions are seen to provide a countervailing power of management and therefore are seen as legitimate. Such legitimacy, according to Fox (ibid) is founded not just on industrial power or management acceptance, but on social values which recognize the right of interest groups to combine and have an effective voice in their own destiny. Marxism Concentrates on the nature of the capitalist society surrounding organisations, where Hyman (1975) argues, system is “the production privately owned…., profit is the key influence on and control over production Company policy…., is enforced downwards by the managerial owner’s agents…” Marxist general theory argues that: (1) class/group conflict is the source of societal change, without it, the society will stagnate (2) class conflict arises primarily from the disparity in the distribution of, and access to, economic power within society the principal disparity being between those who own – capital and those who supply their labour (3) the nature of the social society’s and political institutions is derived from this economic disparity and reinforces the position of the dominant establishment group, for example, through differential access to education, the media, employment in government and other establishment bodies. Social and political conflict in whatever form is merely an expression of the underlying economic conflict within the society.
Because of such divergence of interests, the issue of power and authority to control the production process become fundamental. The resolution of conflict is characterized by the need to establish acceptable procedures and institutions which achieve collaboration through comprehensive, codified systems and negotiated regulation. There has to be an acceptance of the need for shared decision making, the legitimacy of management’s role is not automatic but must be sought by and maintained by management itself ‘management by consent” rather than “management by right”. Trade unions are seen to provide a countervailing power of management and therefore are seen as legitimate. Such legitimacy, according to Fox (ibid) is founded not just on industrial power or management acceptance, but on social values which recognize the right of interest groups to combine and have an effective voice in their own destiny. Marxism Concentrates on the nature of the capitalist society surrounding organisations, where Hyman (1975) argues, “the production system is privately owned…., profit is the key influence on Company policy…., and control over production is enforced downwards by the owner’s managerial agents…” Marxist general theory argues that: (1) class/group conflict is the source of societal change, without it, the society will stagnate (2) class conflict arises primarily from the disparity in the distribution of, and access to, economic power within society – the principal disparity being between those who own capital and those who supply their labour (3) the nature of the society’s social and political institutions is derived from this economic disparity and reinforces the position of the dominant establishment group, for example, through differential access to education, the media, employment in government and other establishment bodies. Social and political conflict in whatever form is merely an expression of the underlying economic conflict within the society.