1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

Human Resource Management Practice: A

Substitute for Trade Unionism?

A. D. Akorsu and P. K. Akorsu

Abstract
This paper is a conceptual contribution to one of the key hypotheses in modern
industrial relations, namely, that unionization has been replaced by human
resource management practice at the workplace. The thrust of the argument is
that the decline in trade union membership and influence has only coincided
with the rising interest in human resource management practices and that while
some HRM practices can potentially hinder trade union influence, to claim that
HRM emerged as a substitute for trade unionism is unwarranted and even
misleading. There are, in fact, other factors militating against the influence of
trade unions in modern work places. The paper demonstrates that the
implication of HRM practices on workers is at best uncertain and that
employees still and will continue to require trade union protection. The paper,
however, emphasizes the need for trade unions to be flexible and to adopt co-
operative strategies, rather than their traditional antagonistic strategies in view
of the changing nature of work.

Introduction

Globalization and its associated trade liberalization have succeeded in making

the world one big market place. As a result, competition has increased greatly,
leading to industrial restructuring and /or major changes in the way work is
organized both at the corporate level and at the organizational level. These
changes are crucial for gaining a competitive advantage or for catching up with
the fast-moving international trade competition. Enterprises, especially, are
faced with a more intense and focused competition, with an increasing pressure
to find new ways of raising productivity. There has, therefore, been the need for
changes that require much more than simply reforming organizational
structure. Even more important are changes in human resource management
(HRM) practices. After all, the life line of any successful organization is its
human assets. At the moment, there is hardly any successful enterprise, which is
not experiencing the introduction of new forms of work organization as well as
Angela Dziedzom Akorsu, Institute for Development Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences,
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; Patrick Kwashie Akorsu, School of Business,
University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana.
The Journal of Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN 2026-500X © 2009 School of Business
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 29

new approaches to the management of labour. These have had implications for
firms as well as for labour.
Some studies have demonstrated that HRM as a paradigm leads to higher
productivity (Guest, Michie, Conway, & Sheehan, 2003; Godard, 2001a).
However, the effects of HRM practices on workers and their representatives
have often been neglected. In spite of the merits of HRM, there has been a
growing concern about the possible effects on workers and their
representatives, the trade unions. Human resource management as a paradigm
emerged and became prominent at a time when trade union membership and
influence has been weakening. Thus, there has been the tendency to claim that
HRM practice has emerged to weaken or even eliminate trade unionism at the
workplace without much critical assessment. This conceptual paper seeks to fill
this gap in the literature by critically evaluating the validity of this claim in the
light of the effects of HRM on workers and their representatives. The paper
profoundly opines that HRM practice and trade unionism can co-exist. The rest
of the paragraphs are organized into four sections. The first section introduces
the concepts of trade unionism and HRM. Following that is a present of the
conceptual framework for analysis. In the penultimate section, the actual
discussion is the penultimate presented and finally the conclusion is stated.

Trade Unionism and HRM in Perspective

Trade unions are voluntary organizations formed by workers to fight for

improved conditions of their members at work. According to Armstrong
(1999:694), trade unions have existed to “redress the balance of power between
employers and employees”. In other words, unions exist to let management
know that they cannot take workers for granted and that there will be, from time
to time, alternative views on issues affecting employees. A classic definition of
trade unions is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of
maintaining or improving the condition of their working lives. The emphasis
here is on the permanent associations and not associations created on ad hoc
basis.
Trade unions, through collective bargaining, try to promote and protect the
interests of their members. Occasionally, when negotiations have failed, trade
unions have employed strikes, boycotts and political pressure to achieve their
aims. However, the main procedure used by trade unions is collective
bargaining. Thus, the issue of collectivism comes into play since whatever
agreement is reached is binding on all unionized workers and in some cases,
even non-unionized workers.
There are many international conventions which guide and regulate the
activities of trade unions. The activities of trade unions are numerous but are
usually grouped under terms of employment and conditions of service,
30 1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

elements of which are outlined below. Trade unions strive to negotiate with
employers on issues such as:
 Wages and salaries
 Paid holidays
 Hours of work - A lot of bargaining efforts has been done by trade unions to
arrive at the present reasonable work hours of eight to ten hours working
time per day.
 Security of employment - Trade unions are also traditionally responsible for
protecting their members against unnecessary loss of jobs. They do this by
ensuring that in their bargaining agreements every worker is given
enough notice if he is to be dismissed and reasonable severance pay
negotiated for the worker.
 Conditions of work - They also ensure that workers work under good health
and safe environment. This they do with particular reference to issues
pertaining to accidents, the need for adequate ventilation, adequate light,
and freedom from excessive noise (ILO, 1992).

Thus traditionally, the terms under which people work are negotiated
between workers' representatives and their employers. Trade unions have also
been servicing organizations for their members. It has been said that “all
activities of trade unionism are forms of mutual insurance” (Taylor, 1994:141).
While trade unionism has been in existence from time immemorial, HRM is
a relatively recent development. Human resource management as a paradigm
became popular only in the 1980s and has been defined by Legge (1989:64) as:
“Composed of mutuality - mutual influence, mutual respect, mutual rewards,
and mutual responsibility”. The theory is that policies of mutuality will elicit
commitment, which in turn will yield both better economic performance and
greater human development. According to Armstrong (1999:11), “human
resource management has the virtue of emphasizing the virtue of treating
people as a key resource, the management of which is the direct concern of top
management as part of the strategic planning process of the enterprise…” .
The emergence and increasing importance of HRM has been triggered by
economic globalization with its increased competition. HRM has become one
of the ways that organizations have sought to raise productivity and to sustain a
competitive advantage in the global market (Guest et. al., 2003). It is also worth
noting that the development of HRM practice presents a form of reaction
against the scientific management approach to work organization and labour
management that had been in existence for a long time (Schiphorst, 2001). This
scientific management approach has features such as separation of manual
work from menial work, simplification and fragmentation of tasks, strict
control of labour, and mass production with its cost minimization (including
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 31

the minimization of labour cost).

Closely linked with the scientific management approach has been the
existence of trade unions to protect and defend the interests of workers and by
so doing, redress the balance of power between employers and employees
(Ramaswamy & Schiphorst, 1998). The negatively perceived features of the
scientific management approach have, therefore, provided a good basis for an
interest in alternatives. For instance, it has been argued that the fragmentation
of tasks inherent in the scientific management approach with its associated
repetitiveness and monotony often led to boring work experience and employee
job dissatisfaction. Also, excluding workers from making decisions concerning
their work is detrimental to efficiency and worker motivation. The level of
division of labour, often with strict controls, kills workers' initiative and
destroys competences, which in the long run hinders productivity (Schiphorst,
2001). These weaknesses in the scientific management approach undoubtedly
led to the quest for alternatives.

Table I: Ghana Trade Union Congress Membership, 1985 & 1998

Trade Union Membership 1985 1998
1. Communication Workers Union (CWU) 7,000 6,026
2. Construction, Building and Materials Workers 39,553 36,750
Union (CBMWU)
3. Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) 27,018 24,834
4. Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) 56,138 37,400
5. General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) 100,000 86,690
6. General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical 29,185 15,683
Workers Union ( GTPCWU)
7. Health Services Workers Union (HSWU) 30,000 32,745
8. Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) 120,000 106,483
9. Local Government Workers Union LGWU) 35,000 33,126
10. Maritime and Dockworkers Union (MDU) 31,085 29,012
11. National Union of Seamen (NUS) 5,011 1,871
12. Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) 63,000 89,324
13. Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) 20,000 10,081
14. Railway Enginemen’s Union (REU) 898 884
15. Railway Workers Union (RWU) 8,955 5,907
16. Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) 40,000 31,448
17. Timber and Wood Workers Union (TWU) 18,000 24,334
TOTAL 630,843 572,598
Source: Anyemedu (2000, p.4)

As a result of the quest for alternatives, there has been a paradigm shift from
32 1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

mass production with its associated industrial relations to lean production with
its associated human resource management. With regard to labour
management, there has been a shift from collectivity to individualization;
standardization to flexibility; strict control of labour to employee participation
and decreased supervision; and, from market approach to skills to investment in
employee development and training. Studies have shown that, indeed, HRM
leads to higher performance (Guest et.al., 2003). It is not surprising, therefore,
that HRM is also referred to as the high performance paradigm and no wonder it
has gained so much prominence as 'best practice' for employers.
Incidentally, the rising interest in HRM has occurred at a time when there is
a decline in trade union membership and influence in many countries (Verma et.
al., 2002; Machin & Wood, 2005). In Ghana, for instance, the beginning of the
1990s witnessed a steady decline in trade union membership among the Ghana
Trades Union Congress (the largest trade union centre), as Table I above
indicates.

Conceptual Framework

Conceptually, there are two main models of HRM the ‘hard’ and soft models.
The 'Hard' model, which, according to Legge (1989), reflects a unitilitarian
instrumentalism. This is also called ‘strategic HRM' because it focuses on the
integration of human resources with the overall business strategy in view.
Under this model, human resources are seen as a factor of production just as
land and capital, and the emphasis is on achieving business objectives. It can
also be seen to be concerned with adjusting flexibly the shape and content of
human resources to meet the shifting goals and requirements of the
organization at the minimum cost possible.
On the other hand, while the 'soft' model also focuses on integration of
human resource policies with the overall business strategy, it is done by treating
employees as valued assets. According to Legge (1989), employee
commitment is viewed as a source of competitive advantage and so emphasis is
placed on generating commitment through communication, motivation and
leadership. Despite the differences in approach, both the 'hard' and 'soft' models
have the same objective of raising productivity and maintaining competitive
advantage. They are both characterized by the new paradigms of labour
management and, therefore, both have implications for industrial relations.
Also, these models of HRM in one way or the other are driven by the
industrial relations’ philosophies and ideologies. These include pluralist,
unitarist and radical ideologies. Basic to all three ideologies is the way they
view conflict in industrial relations. Proponents of the pluralists and radical
ideologies argue that conflict in employment relations is inevitable due to the
existence of conflict of interest between the parties of industrial relations
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 33

labour and capital. The pluralists, therefore, concede to the relevance of trade
unions for ensuring a balance of power between capital and labour through
collective bargaining. Thus, according to Schiphorst (2001), the operations of
trade unions through collective bargaining can be described as the
institutionalization of class conflict in industrial relations. A second pluralist
assumption is that capital and labour in the negotiation process have more or
less equal power, which explains the success of collective bargaining. The
relationship between trade unions and management therefore is based on
“conflict-looking-for-solution” and has been labeled as “antagonistic co-
operation” (Hyman & Mason, 1995:191).
While the radical perspective also admits that conflict is inevitable, to such
theorists, power between capital and labour not equal because capital has
access to the resources and labour has no such access. In view of this, collective
bargaining is not a tool for joint regulation of conflict but a tool for suppressing
conflict and in this sense trade unions just work to manage workers' discontent
(Hyman & Mason, 1995).
Regarding the unitarist approach to industrial relations, conflict is viewed as
foreign to the relations between employers and employees. The existence of
any form of conflict is, therefore, attributed to the activities of trade unions as
troublemakers who “capitalize on the fears and uncertainties of workers”
(Hyman & Mason, 1995:12). In other words, trade unions are “an intrusion in
the private and unified structure, they compete illegitimately for control over
and loyalty of, employees and are considered foreign and alien to the private
affairs of the company” (Moonilal, 1998:79). This clearly suggests an anti-
trade union ideology and so managements that are driven by this ideology
openly express intolerance towards trade unionism at the workplace. The 'hard'
model of HRM, which sees human resources as a cost to be minimized, has a
strong engagement with this unitarist approach (Schiphorst, 2001).
The 'soft' model, on the other hand, is driven by a revised version of the
unitarist approach, a neo-unitarist approach, where conflict is attributed to poor
management practices, rather than to trade unions. Under this approach,
workers are believed to go on strike because of management's failure to win
their trust and commitment away from trade unions. This means conflict is
caused by lack of information from management and the activities of trade
unions. To prevent conflict, therefore, requires that management “prevent
misunderstanding, provide reliable information and ensure adequate
opportunities for self-fulfillment, expression of grievances and career
progression” (Hyman & Mason, 1995:13). The 'soft' model of HRM is also
anti-trade unions but in a subtle way. By creating an atmosphere where workers
do not feel the need for any union protection, trade unions are rendered
redundant.
34 1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

Compatibility of HRM and Trade Unions:

Research reports on the relationship between HRM practice and trade unionism
have been mixed. Authors such as Godard (2001), Delbridge & Whitfield
(2001) and de Menezes et. al., (2002) report positive social and psychological
implications of HRM practices on workers and their representatives whiles
others (Bailey et. al., 2001; Forth & Millward, 2004) have found them to be
associated with increased work intensification and stress.
In the 'hard' model, HRM is characterized by elements that show clearly that
they are driven by the unitarist ideology, which sees trade unions as conflict
causers and unwanted in the employment relations. For instance, if HRM is
about commitment, and management elicits commitment from workers
through communication and participation, then HRM and trade unions are
incompatible. Guest (1995) admits that commitment is essentially unitarist in
concept. The validity of Guest's admission is rooted in the saying that no one
can serve two masters and be loyal to both masters, management and trade
unions. Godard (2004) confirms this by saying that from a political economy
perspective, employees will always have a reason not to trust employers and
that although some level of consent and co-operation may readily be achieved
through HRM practices, the high level of commitment often assumed is more
problematic, even impossible. Thus, even if some level of commitment is
achieved, it will be minimal and difficult to sustain over a long period of time.
Also, the commitment of workers means they will not complain if they have
to work more hours to meet organizational targets when the need arises. It also
means workers will always be content with their wages and will not complain
about anything since management would keep them informed about the firm's
financial state, and they would have received other compensation packages
rather than monetary gains anyway. After all, among the main functions of trade
unions ensure reasonable work hours and wages; hence, if workers do not see
the need for that, then trade unions are irrelevant.
Individualization is another crucial feature of HRM that threatens trade
unionism. Deeply enshrined in trade union practice is collectivism, which is
made obvious in their collective bargaining procedures. Essentially, trade
unionism is all about the collective voice of workers and if HRM is resorting to
individualized pay, individualized contract, and individualized performance
related compensation packages, then it becomes difficult for trade unions to
make any meaningful bargaining. After all, what may be the grievances of some
may not apply to all. For instance, if an individual enters into an agreement with
a firm to work with it for five years, how can trade unions come in to negotiate
for a secure tenure of employment?
Flexibility in all its forms, as practiced under HRM also renders trade unions
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 35

impotent. Trade unions traditionally seek to protect their members against

wage exploitation, and HRM with its associated wage flexibility means
employers can adjust and readjust the wages of workers based on their
performance. This situation suggests that trade unions should stay away from
the discourse about wages. Also, numerical flexibility and time flexibility are
characterized by uncertainties in the employment relations so much so that it is
becoming difficult for trade unions to bargain on them. The same is true for
functional flexibility which dispenses with the strict definition of work tasks
based on which trade unions could bargain for wages as well as protection
against worker exploitations. According to Marchington and Parker (1990),
flexibility proposals have led to no guarantee of security of employment for
anyone. Yet, these are the very reasons why trade unions exist (the provision of
security in employment). Flexibility, in general, “weakens trade unions since it
erodes the degree of union control over work organization” (Moonilal,
1998:85).
Also inherent in HRM is increased employee participation. With employee
participation, workers are given the opportunity to communicate freely with
management. Workers can channel their grievances as well as their suggestions
directly to management. Management, on the other hand, keeps workers
informed about issues concerning the organization, such as financial updates.
If one can freely communicate with management directly and be heard, why
should one go through trade unions and lose the trust of the management that
has become pleasant, and paternalistic?.
Teamwork, can be said to present a threat to trade unionism in the sense that
workers are most likely to identify themselves with and be loyal to their teams
at the expense of trade unions. Teamwork is also closely linked to worker
autonomy and worker assertiveness, which in a way, suggests that workers are
made independent of trade unions.
Though some features of HRM, as discussed above, have threatened the
functioning of trade unionism, HRM practices cannot, and should not, be said
to be solely responsible for the decline in trade union membership and
influence. According to Guest (1995), the decline of trade unionism at the time
of the emergence of HRM was coincidental. He reports that, the interest in
HRM throughout the 1980s coincided with a steady decline in trade unions
membership (Guest, 1995:110). Moonilal (1998) also doubts the relationship
between trade union decline and HRM practices, when he says, “the question is
whether this is the doing of management or caused by reluctance on the part of
unions to break out of traditional cocoon of reactive protest” (p. 85).
Armstrong (1999) is of the view that the reasons for the decline in trade union
membership are not only just a matter of de-recognition by management
through their human resource practices, but also structural and economic,
namely: a shift in the economy away from large-scale manufacturing industries
36 1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

(traditionally heavily unionized) to the service industries (traditionally non-

unionized); a growing number of women, white-collar workers and part-time
workers; and the impact of general unemployment. The general conclusion that
can be drawn from the views of Guest (1995), Armstrong (1999) and Moonilal
(1998) is that the loss of trade union membership and influence may be partly
due to HRM practices, external economic and structural factors, and the
internal weaknesses within the trade unions themselves.
Though the elements of HRM have tended to appear as incompatible with
trade unions, a critical analysis of HRM features depicts consequences that
render the existence of trade unions still relevant and essential in employment
relations. To substantiate the above assertion, numerical flexibility, for
instance, can place some groups of workers in vulnerable situations. The ability
to adjust and readjust the number of employees implies retrenchment for most
workers. Time flexibility with its associated part-time, contract, and temporary
workers, among others, can also lead to uncertainty for many workers. Such
workers are left with offering their skills to many different clients and moving
between different places of work. A more severe possibility of time flexibility
on labour is the increase in the number of low-paid employees, who may hardly
enjoy social security, medical and employment protection. Although overtime
work is not compulsory by law in most countries, workers are often coerced and
/or even forced to work on holidays through special arrangements with their
employers. This, in the long run, may lead to health problems for workers due to
the virtual absence of rest. Also, it can be said that reward and wage flexibility
are simply exploitative constantly adjusting the wages of workers is
uncomfortably demeaning. Workers should have the dignity of having a regular
salary so as to plan their personal and family budgets.
The implication of employee participation, which is characterized by
flattening of hierarchies, is that more is expected of workers. It has been
described by Wickens (1993) as “seeking to steal the workers' knowledge as
well as a lean and mean production system” where every aspect of human
resource is fully tapped and where buffers are removed from workers. The
whole practice can be simply demanding of workers, both physically and
mentally. Thus, HRM, in general, and employee participation, in particular,
produces “gloomy analyses, in which workers lose even the awareness of their
own exploitation” (Warhurst & Thompson, 1998). Underneath employee
participation is the issue of work intensification. Workers are made to work
harder in relation to the opportunity to take initiative. As Blyton and Turnbull
(1998:228) put it, the system is “at best, lukewarm… fettering employees with
responsibility but without any commensurate power”.
A study conducted by Stewart and Garranhan (1995) showed that the
introduction of new management techniques does not improve the quality of
working life of the workers. It rather made work more distressing, thereby, an
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 37

Indicating that workers will continue to associate themselves with unions.

Employee participation has the tendency to breed conflict between workers and
managers. The flattening of hierarchies or the shift in the managers' power and
control can be difficult to accept. Managerial actions to hinder efforts toward
further skill development of employees are evident in most firms. This means
that workplace conflict still exists even with practices that tend to marginalize
trade unions. This also implies that trade unions are still relevant as a safety
valve in settling conflicts.
A further proof of the negative effect of HRM practices on workers is seen in
the 'de-skilling' and 'de-gradation' of many workers in organizations adopting
these new systems (Alder, 1994:227). Thus, instead of job enrichment, many
workers are experiencing decline in the quality of work. This, therefore, implies
that trade unions are still needed in the employment relations.
As can be seen from the foregone discussions, HRM has not been sufficiently
effective in serving the interests and well being of workers. Thus, HRM cannot
be a substitute for trade unions at the workplace. The literature on this subject
demonstrates that

the continued prosperity of an enterprise will increasingly depend on

the active support and co-operation of its workforce… such co-
operation will only be forthcoming in an atmosphere of trade unionism
along with mutual trust and respect where the workers are guaranteed
the greatest possible degree of consultation and involvement in the
decision making process. (Spyropoulos, 1985:31).
This seems to suggest that even firms need the existence of trade unions in
achieving their organizational goals, just as trade unions need the achievement
of organizational goals to exist. This is where trade unions need to rethink their
approach. After all, “the only guarantee of employment security [for the
workers trade unions seek to protect] is a profitable business” (Taylor,
1994:200).
Studies have shown that “changes in work organization and relationships
sought by management provide unions with new opportunities” (Kumar,
1995:41). Of course, whatever the new opportunities are, they cannot be
realized if trade unions continue to assume their adversarial approaches. To
Kumar, a proactive trade union strategy has the potential of not only more
effectively defending worker rights and improving workplace conditions but
also providing “the opportunity to develop a new activism in the workplace, an
opening to mobilize members around new or, at least, previously
underemphasized needs” (Kumar,1995:41). Exploring these new opportunities
requires co-operative strategies and not passive acceptance of managerial
decisions.
Thus, if trade unions are unable to survive in an atmosphere of HRM
practices, it cannot be totally due to the HRM practices that are incompatible
38 1 Journal of Business and Enterprise Development (2009)

with trade unionism but among other factors, due to trade union responses to
these new elements in work and labour management. Kumar (1995:42) has
argued that: “the most significant consequence of unions adopting more
positive responses to changes in work organization… is that it ensures them a
role in an industrial relations environment that has undergone fundamental
change”. After all, one cannot blame management for seeking new ways of
doing things in this era of globalization and increased competition. Firms need
to sustain competitive advantage, and HRM practices have been perceived as a
way to sustain the needed competitiveness. Spyropoulos (1985:38) also
supported this view by asserting that the decline in unionization is more due to
unions “failure to define their own strategy as an alternative to employers'
initiatives and policies”.
Regarding trade union responses to HRM, the ILO's World Labour Report
of 1992 argued that the response of many trade unions to HRM had been
inadequate, largely as a result of technical inadequacies and /or ideological
reservations. Many trade unions still cleave to their traditional adversarial and
antagonist attitudes, thereby robbing themselves of the opportunity sometimes
offered them to influence or contribute to this new system. Regarding union
responses to HRM practices in the United Kingdom for instance, the union
confederation did not explicitly endorse or criticize HRM practices, for, “most
individual unions pursued a position of decentralized neutrality the locals who
decided to become involved sought from management quid pro quos for their
involvement” (Beaumont, 1996:118). Recent trends, however, indicate the
awareness among many trade unions regarding the inevitability of the HRM
practices and are thus, responding favourably.
Responses by the Ghana Trades Unions Congress (GTUC) include attempts
to ensure internal adjustments by attracting new members, training trade union
officers and activists, participating in job creation, enhancing women's
participation and influence in trade union activities (Anyemedu, 2000). This is
not to suggest that GTUC is no longer engaged in its traditional role of
negotiating wages. Wage negotiation continues to be a major part of their role
but the approaches to such negotiations are far from adversarial. The adoption
of co-operative strategies is confirmed by Baah (2005:18) when he reports that
“there has been a significant reduction in industrial actions (strikes,
demonstrations, boycotts etc) in recent years”. Whiles this is remarkable, such
positive efforts, however, appear to be at the national union level only. The
adjustments at the individual work places are not known but Baah (2005:19)
has reported that “almost all recorded strikes took place at individual
workplaces”.
The analysis of trade union responses at the various workplaces, especially
in Ghana is crucial to this debate and while such analysis has been outside the
scope of this paper, it remains an important agenda for future research. It is by
 Akorsu and Akorsu: Human Resource Management Practice 39

such a study on that the peculiar case of Ghana can be highlighted as part of the
international debate on HRM and trade union compatibility.

Conclusion

In as much as some HRM practices can be said to be anti-trade union, the

arguments presented in this paper have shown that trade unionism can thrive
conveniently in an atmosphere of HRM practices. After all, the same HRM
practices have been shown to have some negative effects on employees,
making the presence of trade unions still valid and relevant. We, therefore,
opine that HRM practices have failed to replace trade unions in their attempts to
protect the interest of workers so as to win their trust and commitment. As
employee participation and team work have sometimes been abused by
management, employees still need trade union protection.
However, for the presence of trade unions to be felt, unions must change
their strategies. There is the need for unions to realize that the new management
practices are aimed at sustaining competitive advantage in an era of increased
global competition, a necessary requirement for continuous existence. Trade
unions need to move away from their traditional adversarial approaches and
adopt co-operative policies and strategies and at the same time guard against
the acceptance of all managerial decisions.

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