Human Resource Management and Trade Unionism at the University of Nairobi: Complementarities and Contradictions
Abstract
T
he subject of Human Resource Management has
attracted a lot of attention
from both scholars and practitioners
in the recent years
. There is a general belief
that
human resource management
plays a critical role in the performance of
organisations, both public and private,
by meeting employee needs wh
ich in turn
enables them to be more productive
. However, despite the acknowledged
importance of human resource management in
organisation
s
, trade unions
continue to exist in many public organisations.
This study sought to establish the
role of trade unions
at
the University of Nairobi
in view of the increasing
emphasis on human resource management
.
The literature review revealed that the relationship between human resource
management and trade unionism depend
s
on whether an
organisation
assumes a
unitarist
ic or a pluralistic approach to managing the employment relationship.
A
public organisation that assumes a unitaristic approach will normally embrace
human resource management and discourage trade unionism while, a public
organisation
that assumes a plural
istic approach will generally accept trade
unions.
Major findings of the study showed that although the University
of Nairobi
’s
human resource management
system has some strong points, it has inherent
weaknesses that need to be addressed. An examination o
f the different
human
resource management
functions
at the University of Nairobi including:
human
resource planning
;
recruitment and selection
; training and development;
performance appraisal
; compensation;
health and safety
;
employee relations
;
equal opportunity
employment
revealed that they are generally inefficient and
ineffective culminating in an overall inefficient and ineffective
human resource
management
system.
T
he study concluded that the existence of trade unions at the University can
be
attributed to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of
its human resource
management
system
. E
mployees generally form and join trade unions because
they see them as a means of meeting their human resource needs, and solving
their problems within the emp
loyment relationship. This implies that if
employee needs are met through an efficient and effective
human resource
management
system, it is unlikely that they wil
l feel the necessity of
forming/
joining a trade union
URI
http://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/magutu/publications/human-resource-management-and-trade-unionism-university-nairobi-complementaritiehttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/49967
Citation
magutu, J. 2010. Human Resource Management and Trade Unionism at the University of Nairobi: Complementarities and Contradictions. , Pretoria. SA: University of South AfricaPublisher
University of Nairobi,