MPPL 6005: Leadership and Human

Resource Management (LHRM)

Lecture 14: Collective Bargaining

Prepared by
Professor Amir Mohammad Nasrullah, PhD (Brunel,
London)

Prepared for
Master of Public Policy and Leadership Program

Department of Public Leadership, Management

and Governance
School of Business

East Delta University

Fall 2019
 Theories of Collective Bargaining:
The important theories of collective bargaining :
1. The Marketing Concept
• The marketing concept views collective bargaining as
a contract for the sale of labour. It is a market or
exchange relationship and is justified on the ground
that it gives assurance of voice on the part of the
organised workers in the matter of sale.

• According to this theory, employees sell their

individual labour only on terms collectively
determined on the basis of contract which has been
made through the process of collective bargaining.
 Theories of Collective Bargaining:
2. The Governmental Concept
• The Governmental Concept views collective
bargaining as a constitutional system in industry. It is
a political relationship and views collective bargaining
and the Agreement as Law.
• The union shares sovereignty with management over
the workers and, as their representative, uses that
power in their interests.
• The application of the agreement is governed by a
weighing of the relation of the provisions of the
agreement to the needs and ethics of the particular
case.
 Theories of Collective Bargaining:

3. The Industrial Relations (Managerial) Concept

• The industrial relations concept views collective bargaining
as a system of industrial governance. It is a functional
relationship and views collective bargaining as Jointly
Decided Directives.
• The union representative gets a hand in the managerial role.
Discussions take place in good faith and agreements are
arrived at. The union joins with company officials in
reaching decisions on matters in which both have vital
interests.
• Thus, union representatives and the management meet
each other to arrive at a mutual agreement which they
cannot do alone.
 What happens if there is a failure
• When the employer and union reach a
deadlock in the negotiations over mandatory
subjects of bargaining, it is referred to
as impasse.
• The ultimate result is either Strike or Lockout.
– Strike: from employees side
• Wildcat
• General
– Lockout: from employer side
 Impasse resolution techniques
Generally, there are four important
techniques of impasse resolution,
namely:
– Negotiation,
– Mediation,
– Conciliation and
– Arbitration
for the settlement of trade disputes.
 Methods of Collective Bargaining
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more
people or parties intended to reach a beneficial
outcome over one or more issues where a conflict
exists with respect to at least one of these issues.
• This beneficial outcome can be for all of the
parties involved, or just for one or some of them.
Negotiators need to understand negotiation
process and other negotiators to increase their
chances to close deals, avoid conflicts, establishing
relationship with other parties and gain profit.
 Methods of Collective Bargaining
Mediation is a dynamic, structured, interactive process
where an impartial third party assists disputing parties in
resolving conflict through the use of specialized
communication and negotiation techniques.
• All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively
participate in the process. Mediation is a "party-centered"
process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs,
rights, and interests of the parties.
• The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide
the process in a constructive direction and to help the
parties find their optimal solution. A mediator is
facilitative in that she/he manages the interaction
between parties and facilitates open communication.
 Methods of Collective Bargaining
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
process whereby the parties to a dispute use a
conciliator, who meets with the parties both separately
and together in an attempt to resolve their differences.
• They do this by lowering tensions, improving
communications, interpreting issues, encouraging parties
to explore potential solutions and assisting parties in
finding a mutually acceptable outcome.
• Conciliation differs from arbitration in that the
conciliation process, in and of itself, has no legal
standing, and the conciliator usually has no authority to
seek evidence or call witnesses, usually writes no
decision, and makes no award.
 Methods of Collective Bargaining
• Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute
resolution (ADR), is a way to resolve disputes
outside the courts. The dispute will be decided
by one or more persons (the "arbitrators",
"arbiters" or "arbitral tribunal"), which renders
the "arbitration award".
• An arbitration award is legally binding on both
sides and enforceable in the courts.
• Arbitration is often used for the resolution
of commercial disputes, particularly in the
context of international commercial transactions.
 Parties involved in CB
• Collective bargaining is a two party process of
employers and employees. Both the parties collectively
take some action. There is no direct intervention of any
third party.

• It is mutual a give-and-take rather than take-it-or-leave-

it method of arriving at the settlement of a dispute.

• However, there are two other parties indirectly

involved:
– Government; and
– The Financial Institutions
Problems of Collective Bargaining
amir.m.nasrullah@gmail.com
amir.nasrullah@cu.ac.bd