(Solution) Assessment ID / CIPD_7HR01_24_01 7HR01 Strategic employment relations

Solution

Question 1 (AC 1.1) Provide an overview of the three main perspectives on employment relations, unitarist, pluralist and radical, explaining which approach is adopted at your organisation, critically evaluating how this influences the work of its people professionals.

Main Perspectives on Employment Relations

Unitarist Perspective

According to the unitarist perspective, the organisation is portrayed as one whole body with common goals among the employees and the employers, emphasising cooperation and loyalty (Kaufman et al., 2020). Under this approach, conflict is seen as unnecessary, resulting from poor communication or individual misunderstanding rather than inherent differences in interests. Saudi Aramco embraces a unitarist model, illustrated by the company’s culture of alignment between employees and management, where particular communication channels are structured, employees are extensively trained, and the career progression paths are clear (Aramco, 2025).

This approach has proven effective for Saudi Aramco due to its focus in collaboration and shared corporate objectives. The organisation places an emphasis on leadership development and workforce engagement initiatives like mentorship programs and internal mobility schemes, that contribute to a strong feeling of belonging (Aramco, 2025). The company also makes use of suggestion systems and performance-based incentives to actively encourage direct employee participation that lowers the likelihood of adversarial employment relations. However, while this approach promote unity, it can also restrict the opportunity for open discussions about any workplace grievances (Rogers, 2023). This may constrain employees from voicing dissenting opinions which can lead to unresolved tensions that can eventually lead to disengagement or high turnover among the employees.

By acting as intermediaries, people professionals maintain this balance by ensuring that communication is transparent and inclusive. The challenge, however, is to deal with the underlying issues without compromising the corporate narrative of unity (Van Buren III, 2021). This approach would be more effective if mechanisms for anonymous feedback were enhanced and structured forums for discussing employment concerns were created. The unitarist model clearly empowers a strong corporate identity, however, its effectiveness depends on creating the space for constructive dialogue while allowing for employees’ voices to not only be heard, but also effectively acted upon.

Pluralist Perspective

The pluralist perspective recognises that organisations have different groups of individuals with varying, and in some cases, conflicting interests. This assumes that structured conflict is normal and can be managed through collective bargaining and effective representation (Hill et al., 2021). This approach is demonstrated partially at Saudi Aramco, especially in industrial relations and the company’s engagement with workers’ committees, which are established to deal with employee concerns formally.

Saudi Aramco encourages workforce diversity and accommodates different views through the presence of structured dispute resolution mechanisms and employee representation bodies (Caniglia et al., 2020). This model works well for the organisation because of how employment relations are managed through mediation, formal grievance processes and structured career pathways that are fair. Saudi Aramco mitigates disputes and maintains operational stability by allowing employee representation within structured channels. Its effectiveness is somewhat limited, however, because it operates in the absence of formal trade union structures, due to Saudi laws that prohibit unionisation. This is a limitation as there are mechanisms to address grievances, but employee advocacy may not be as robust as a fully pluralist environment (Araújo, 2020).

At Saudi Aramco, the pluralist approach means that for people professionals they must possess strong negotiation and…..

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