Rhetoric in Communication: A Tool for Collective Bargaining and Industrial Harmony

Abstract

This article examined rhetoric in communication as a tool for collective bargaining and industrial harmony. Factually, industrial crises, disagreement and consequential disharmony seem to have, over some reckoned time, characterized the industrial system. This syndrome has, in a significant way, affected not only the relationship between employers and employees but also the productivity of the staffers. Enviable profit-making and productivity is the utmost objective of any given institution, company and other establishments, be it the private or public sector. But the primary essence of the existence of such an establishment is often thwarted by industrial disharmony. The objective of this research is to investigate the role of rhetoric in collective bargaining and industrial harmony. The aims were to establish the integral bond among rhetoric, collective bargaining and industrial harmony, examine the important role of good oratorical habit in resolving industrial disharmony, and the import of the achieved harmony in an organization’s productivity. The research was anchored on the three theories of rhetoric: Ethos (which appeal to authority), Pathos, (which appeal to emotions) and Logos (which appeal to reason, logic, and the word) and the Behavioural Management theory. While Rhetorical theory takes care of the ethics of respect for all parties, their emotions and qualitative logical arguments, the Behavioural Management theory emphasizes the vitality of social interactions and employee satisfaction in the workplace for optimal achievement of the organization’s goals. Recommendations were made among which are the adoption of a dynamic approach and the maintenance of good communication system in the course of collective bargaining for sustainable communication and desired productivity.