Key Concepts in Industrial Relations and Marketing Strategy

Posted on Nov 1, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

Industrial Relations and Workforce Management

Trade Union Definition and Purpose

Trade Union: An organization formed by a group of workers that represents their interests.

Key Reasons for Joining a Trade Union:

  • Strength in numbers.
  • Negotiating pay on behalf of its members.
  • Representing workers in grievances with management.
  • Providing advice if dismissed or made redundant.
  • Offering advice if unfairly treated.
  • Working towards improved working conditions.

Example: National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Types of Trade Unions

Craft Union:
Represents a particular type of skilled worker. Example: An electricians’ union.
General Union:
Represents workers from a variety of trades and industries (e.g., skilled and unskilled workers across different sectors).
Industrial Union:
Represents all types of workers in a particular industry. Example: A union representing all workers in the mining industry.
White-Collar Union:
Represents non-manual workers. Example: A union representing office workers.

Employer Associations

Employer Association: An organization formed by a group of employers to provide benefits to its members.

Benefits of Employer Associations:

  • Strength derived from being a large group.
  • Acts as a pressure group.
  • Represents employers and negotiates with trade unions.
  • Facilitates sharing of ideas amongst members.
  • Sometimes organizes discounts for members when buying in bulk.

Example: Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).

Collective Bargaining and Industrial Action

Collective Bargaining: Negotiations between the management of a business (or several businesses) and a trade union (or several trade unions) regarding pay and conditions of employment.

Example: Management negotiates pay rates with the trade union representing the employees.

Industrial Action: Action that may be taken by a trade union to put pressure on management during negotiations. It involves halting or decreasing production.

Forms of Industrial Action:

  • Strike: Employees refuse to work.
  • Picketing: Employees taking industrial action stand outside their workplace to protest or prevent goods or people from entering or leaving the business.
  • Work to Rule: Rules are strictly obeyed so that work is slowed down significantly.
  • Go Slow: Employees perform their normal work, but intentionally more slowly.
  • Non-Co-operation: Workers refuse to engage with new working practices they disapprove of.
  • Overtime Ban: Refusal to work overtime.

Worker Participation

Worker Participation: Employees contribute to the decision-making process in the business.

Examples: Worker directors, works councils, quality circles, and more democratic styles of leadership.

Core Marketing Concepts and Strategy

Defining Marketing and Its Objectives

Marketing: The management process which identifies customer wants, anticipates their future wants, and then proceeds to satisfy them profitably.

How Marketing Helps a Business:

  • Increase sales revenue and profits.
  • Increase or maintain market share.
  • Improve the image of the product.
  • Enter a new market or market segment.
  • Develop new products or improve existing products.

Market Structure and Segmentation

A Market: A place where buyers and sellers come together to exchange products for money. Example: A fruit market.

Market Segmentation: The process where the market is divided up into groups of consumers who have similar needs.

Bases for Market Segmentation:

  • By income group
  • By gender
  • By use of the product
  • By age
  • By region
  • By lifestyle

Business Orientation

Product-Orientated Business:
One whose main focus of activity is on the product itself. Example: A business that invented a new kitchen tool.
Market-Orientated Business:
One which carries out market research to find out consumer wants before a product is developed and produced. Example: A business making chocolate bars finding out what type of chocolate bar appeals most to consumers.

Marketing Budget and the Marketing Mix (4 Ps)

Marketing Budget: A financial plan for the marketing of a product or product range for a specified period of time. It specifies how much money is available to market the product or range, allowing the marketing department to plan expenditure.

Example: Allocating $500,000 to market a new chocolate bar, based on which the marketing department decides on activities to realize target sales.

Marketing Mix: Describes all the activities which go into marketing a product. These are often summarized as the 4 P’s:

  1. Product
  2. Price
  3. Promotion
  4. Place