LRM4801
Assignment 2
DUE 7 July 2025
, Assignment 02
Question 1
Introduction
The automotive sector in South Africa, particularly companies like Ubuntu AutoTech
South Africa (UASA), is undergoing transformative shifts due to the rapid integration of
digital technologies and automation brought on by the Fourth Industrial Revolution
(4IR). As industries adapt to these technological changes, the nature of the employment
relationship is being redefined, prompting critical examination of how employers engage
with workers and trade unions in a highly unionised context. Labour relations theory
provides multiple lenses namely the unitarist, pluralist, and radical perspectives to
analyse how organisational change is managed and how power is distributed among
workplace stakeholders. Understanding which theoretical stance an organisation like
UASA adopts is vital for assessing its approach to managing conflict, promoting
employee voice, and sustaining industrial harmony amidst technological disruption. This
assignment examines the labour relations perspective evident in UASA’s practices, with
particular attention to its handling of workplace transformation, stakeholder
engagement, and collective bargaining in the evolving digital economy of South Africa.
1.1 Comparison of UASA’s Labour Relations Approach from Pluralist and Radical
Perspectives
UASA’s current labour relations approach appears to adopt a cooperative yet top-down
model of stakeholder engagement, which reflects a unitarist assumption that
management and employees share common goals. However, when evaluated through a
pluralist lens, this approach reveals inherent tensions that must be negotiated through
structured mechanisms such as collective bargaining and consultation (Fox, 1966).
Pluralism assumes that the workplace consists of diverse groups with legitimate, and at
times conflicting, interests primarily between employers and trade unions representing
employees. In this view, conflict is natural and managed through institutionalised
procedures, such as union involvement, joint decision-making, and dispute resolution
mechanisms (Bendix, 2019). From this perspective, UASA’s limited consultation during
Assignment 2
DUE 7 July 2025
, Assignment 02
Question 1
Introduction
The automotive sector in South Africa, particularly companies like Ubuntu AutoTech
South Africa (UASA), is undergoing transformative shifts due to the rapid integration of
digital technologies and automation brought on by the Fourth Industrial Revolution
(4IR). As industries adapt to these technological changes, the nature of the employment
relationship is being redefined, prompting critical examination of how employers engage
with workers and trade unions in a highly unionised context. Labour relations theory
provides multiple lenses namely the unitarist, pluralist, and radical perspectives to
analyse how organisational change is managed and how power is distributed among
workplace stakeholders. Understanding which theoretical stance an organisation like
UASA adopts is vital for assessing its approach to managing conflict, promoting
employee voice, and sustaining industrial harmony amidst technological disruption. This
assignment examines the labour relations perspective evident in UASA’s practices, with
particular attention to its handling of workplace transformation, stakeholder
engagement, and collective bargaining in the evolving digital economy of South Africa.
1.1 Comparison of UASA’s Labour Relations Approach from Pluralist and Radical
Perspectives
UASA’s current labour relations approach appears to adopt a cooperative yet top-down
model of stakeholder engagement, which reflects a unitarist assumption that
management and employees share common goals. However, when evaluated through a
pluralist lens, this approach reveals inherent tensions that must be negotiated through
structured mechanisms such as collective bargaining and consultation (Fox, 1966).
Pluralism assumes that the workplace consists of diverse groups with legitimate, and at
times conflicting, interests primarily between employers and trade unions representing
employees. In this view, conflict is natural and managed through institutionalised
procedures, such as union involvement, joint decision-making, and dispute resolution
mechanisms (Bendix, 2019). From this perspective, UASA’s limited consultation during
