FOXS FRAMES OF

REFERENCE
MANAGEMENT STYLE
Textbook Reading
Blyton & Turnbull (2004) Ch2
Redman & Wilkinson (2006) Ch7,
(2009) Ch8

Professor Peter Ac
kers

Alan Fox Frames of

Reference
(i) What is a frame of reference?
SOCIALISATION
(ii) Three main frames:
(a)
(b)
(c)

Unitarist
Pluralist
Radical

Professor Peter Ac
kers

(iii) Question: What sort of

organisation is business
enterprise?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

Model of enterprise
Attitudes to conflict
Role trade unions in
enterprise
Attractions
Problems

Professor Peter Ac
kers

THE PLURALIST VIEW:

A ONE-SIDED
RELATIONSHIP?
The employer-employee or, as British law put it for
so long, the master-servant relationship is one of
acute imbalance. The employer possesses the
economic power. The right of hire and fire,
remuneration levels, working hours, work practices,
indeed all facets of life at the workplace have been at
the disposal and control of the employer in a society
such as ours
(Clive Jenkins and Barry Sherman, Collective
Bargaining, 1977, p.1)
INSTITUTIONALIZE
Re-Balance Asymmetrical Power Relations

Professor Peter Ac
kers

FOXS FRAMES OF
REFERENCE
3 Usages
1)

Ideology / Perspective

2)

Management Style eg. Ford IBM

3)

Historical Period (State Policy) eg Britain

1945 79 PLURALISM
1979 97 NEO UNITARISM
1997 NEO PLURALISM

Professor Peter Ac
kers

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
FRAMES
OF REFERENCE AND
MANAGEMENT STYLE
MANAGER
UNITARIST
PLURALIST
RADICAL
TRADE
UNIONIST

IDEAL TYPES

Professor Peter Ac
kers

PLURALIST RECIPE
MANAGE CONFLICT
RECOGNISE
TRADE UNION

PROCEDURES CONSULTATION
COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING

WAGES & CONDITIONS

FLANDERS Management can only regain power by
sharing it
JOINT REGULATION

Professor Peter Ac
kers

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

UNITARISM -> NEO UNITARISM

(EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT)
PLURALISM -> NEO PLURALISM (Ackers 2002)
(PARTNERSHIP)

Professor Peter Ac
kers

FRAMES OF REFERENCE
AND
MANAGEMENT STYLE
Questions
(1)

Outline the main differences between Unitarism and

Pluralism

(2)

Why does Fox believe that Pluralism is a more

realistic approach to managing organisations than
Unitarism?

(3)

Foxs article was written in 1966. Do his arguments

still hold
For the 21st century?

(4)

Which Management Style is Freemantle criticising

and why
does he call for An end to the art of compromise?

(5)

Trade Unions are central to Foxs two frames of

references.
Some would argue that today they are no longer
necessary.
What point is the Guardian Cartoon making? Do you
agree with it?

Professor Peter Ac
kers

QUESTIONS
1.

What features of the Edwardes

industrial relations style do both
accounts mention?

2.

How do their interpretations differ?

Which is the main frame of
reference used by each?

3.

What problems would there be with

Macho Management as a long-term
style of management?
Professor Peter Ac
kers

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