Question

Choose any dispute that has occurred between an employer and its employees. This could be something that has been in the news recently, it could be something that you have experienced in an organisation where you have worked, it could be something that was particularly high-profile and has since been resolved (such as the dispute involving Junior Doctors in 2015/16) or it could be something that took place some time ago (such as the miners’ dispute in 1984/5).

Reflect on that dispute and answer the following questions:

Give a brief explanation of what occurred
Apply the pluralist or unitarist model to try to explain why the dispute occurred
Explain the key external factors that impacted on the situation and determine whether they contributed to the dispute arising
Explain the role of the employee representatives in trying to resolve the dispute.

As this is a level 5 submission, please submit all attempts with a Harvard Reference sheet at the back of your document.

Solution

Introduction

In the contemporary business environment, conflicts are a common occurrence and often inevitable. Nevertheless, unchecked conflicts in a workplace could be uncontrollably leading to irreversible damages to an organisation sustainability. As noted in CIPD (2020), as a result of distinct experiences and perspectives in the workplace, the involved individuals tend to see the world distinctly. This indicates varying reactions to the different work situations impacting the relationships with others. In this report, a conflict emerged between a licensed marijuana caregiver termination after being linked with age discrimination (Canibas Legal Group, 2018).

Conflict Explanation

The selected case was evident in Michigan state in Outback employees after the management had started an investigation of whether drugs were being sold in their organisation. As a result, the company management decided to terminate four of its employees. After termination letters were issued, an opportunity for engaging the employees by the employees to the management was offered. It is through the termination hearings that it was identified that one of the staff (Bobbie Henry) was engaging in a business of selling drugs in the organisation property to other employees and their customers. From this, the Outback employee relations department terminated Henry’s employment. Due to this, an age discrimination case was initiated by Henry. This was the case despite having issues with the credibility of prima facie evidence of the age discrimination as other employees younger than Henry and being suspected of similar problems had been terminated. The court tribunal ruled in the favour of the organisation and pointed out that there was no evidence of age discrimination in the termination process. By following a strict business judgment role and context, the tribunal decided that the organisation had a valid case that Henry had acted in violation of the organisation policies. This is by trading marijuana on the company premises, and as such, the termination was legitimized, non-discriminating, and legally binding.

Pluralistic/ Unitaristic Model in Dispute Explanation

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