Bipolar Tension and Employee Relations Challenge at a Higher Education Institution

Abstract

This is a case of employee relations challenge at ASE, a Palestinian higher education institution (HEI). It reflects on real narratives and experiences of an accumulative and an endured conflict between ASE s labor union and its top management due to rigid administrative policies and pitfalls while transitioning through a strategic reform. The case urges readers to revert to the roots, envisage, and analyze internal employee relations under crises from a dialogical and a sociopolitical perspective based on ideas drawn from the Habermas s Theory of Communicative Action (TCA). HEIs are envisaged as sovereign workplaces that function on pluralistic values generating positive dialogue communication between all stakeholders and subsequently healthy employee relations. This case examines different episodes where ASE s management utilized autocratic leadership for utilitarian drivers causing employee exclusion and mounting tensions on campus. Consequently, several forms of overt resistance prevailed including strikes, apathy, and work interruptions.