Showing papers on "Industrial relations published in 1980"

The practice of public relations

Abstract: Part 1 EVOLUTION Chap. 1 What is Public Relations? Chapt. 2 The Growth of Public Relations. Part 2 PREPARATION/PROCESS Chap. 3 Communication Chap. 4 Public Opinion Chap. 5 Management Chap. 6 Ethics Chap. 7 The Law Chap. 8 Research Part 3 THE PUBLICS Chap. 9 Print Media Relations Chap. 10 Electronic Media Relations Chap. 11 Employee Relations Chap. 12 Multicultural Community Relations Chap. 13 Government Relations Chap. 14 Consumer Relations Chap. 15 International Relations Part 4 IMPLEMENTATION Chap. 16 Public Relations Writing Chap. 17 Public Relations and the Internet Chap. 18 Integrated Marketing Communications Chap. 19 Crisis Management

Class struggle and the transformation of the labor process

Abstract: The reorganization of work in the early decades of this century was not the simple product of a group of far-sighted industrial engineers any more than it was the direct result of an omniscient capitalist class. The basic need for this reorganization (as well as the limits of its development) was set by a broad process which can best be termed capital accumulation. But, as I have argued in this paper, the particular forms, timing, and ideological effects of this reorganization in the United States were conditioned by the patterns of interacting organizations including the state and emergent occupational groups as well as the constitutive formal and informal organizations of the capitalist class and the working class. Relegating these patterns to the status of only epiphenomenal effects of an underlying and determinant process of capital accumulation obscures important political consequences which arise from these patterns themselves. To identify only a few: The contemporary system of American “industrial relations” finds its origins in the forms and timing of the reorganization of work examined in this essay. Although they did not spring into existence in their fully developed forms (and although their patterns did not evidence an uninterrupted unilinear development), many of elements — and the relations between them — of contemporary American labor relations were prefigured during the period studied here. For we find, especially during the crucial period of World War I, the American labor movement in a situation of double jeopardy — heavily dependent on the state to provide the basis legal conditions for organizing, but without a party of its own to struggle politically to maintain these conditions in periods when state managers find it less expedient to continue or extend these arrangements. With a significant part of the organized labor force concentrated in war-related industry, with collective bargaining defined as a set of technical operations in which legal and engineering experts from both sides engage in processes of productivity bargaining, and with the routinization of tasks and erosion of traditional work rules conducted under the aegis of conservative trade unions, we observe, in that period, a pattern of labor relations closely corresponding to that of our own.

Does Labor Time Decrease With Industrialization? A Survey of Time-Allocation Studies [and Comments and Reply]

Abstract: Theoretical debate on the evolution of human labor is addressed in this paper. In particular, the direction of change in family labor time from preindustrial food production to postindustrial wage labor is examined through a survey of time-allocation studies. The research is concerned not only with the quantitative results of the studies, but also with their methodological construction, in particular, the ethnographers' definition of labor. Unlike earlier attempts to test labor theories with time allocation studies, this research includes both productive and reproductive work. Using a comprehensive definition of labor, the survey brings into question certain theoretical assumptions about the evolution of family labor, in particular that transition from food-producing household economies to industrialized wage labor brings about the demise of the family as a labor group. What the measures of productive and reproductive labor indicate, and what has not been sufficiently emphasized by scholars of the family,...

The Labor Relations Process

Abstract: THE LABOR RELATIONS PROCESS, 9th Edition provides you with the latest information available on current research, issues and events in labor relations. To bring this dynamic field to life, the book integrates real-world examples and quotes from practitioners. This comprehensive text examines the labor movement from its inception to current and emerging trends, including topics such as unions, labor agreements, collective bargaining, arbitration, and labor relations in government, white-collar, and international contexts. The authors give an in-depth analysis of all facets of the relationship between management and labor, including a study of the rights and responsibilities of unions and management; the negotiation and administration of labor agreements; and labor-management cooperation. Other topics explored include the results of the labor relations process, and collective bargaining issues such as healthcare costs containment, pensions, labor productivity and alternative work arrangements.

Masters, Unions, and Men: Work Control in Building and the Rise of Labour, 1830-1914

Abstract: The incidence of industrial conflict and the nature of workplace industrial relations have occupied a central place in public and academic commentary on British society. Debate about the role of the trade unions in the state, the degree of authority that the unions can and should exercise over their members, the desirability of a legal framework for collective agreements, the nature of rank and file militancy and the means and techniques of re-establishing employers' authority over the work in the face of an expanded workers' frontier of control all lie at the heart of the social crisis that marked British society from the end of the 1960s.

Comparison of Selected Work Factors in Japan and the United States

Abstract: Industrial relations practices in Japanese companies in Japan and the United States were compared with practices used in American companies. The competing theoretical models underlying these comparisons are those of cultural diversity and sociology of organizations/convergence. Survey and organizational data from thirty-seven companies in ten industries were analyzed in testing hypotheses concerning differences in work environment, style of supervision, job satisfaction, and attendance. More support was received for a modified convergence argument than for cultural diversity.

Training in Canadian industry: research, theory and policy implications

Abstract: 35 leaves. ; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 33-35) ; "Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, Montreal, June 2, 1980.";"Published in G. Hebert & J. Mercier (eds). Current and future persperspectives in Canadian industrial relations, St. Foy, Quebec: Laval University, Department of Industrial Relations, 1981.";Cover title.

A Re-Examination of the Mobley, Horner & Hollingsworth Model of Turnover: A Useful Replication.

Abstract: : The empirical validity of the Mobley, Horner & Hollingsworth model of employee turnover was tested with clerical employees. Results were consistent with the model in that only intention to quit exhibited a significant regression coefficient in the prediction of turnover. Implications for future research in the area are discussed. (Author)

The Role of Environmental and Behavioral Uncertainty as a Mediator of Situation- Performance Relationships1

Abstract: The causes and consequences of two types of uncertainty (environmental and behavioral) were investigated in a simulated job environment Employees worked with a structuring or considerate leader, o

The Emergence of Shop Steward Organization and Job Control in the British Car Industry: A Review Essay1

Abstract: During the decade since the publication of the Donovan Report,2 analysts from all sections of the political and ideological spectrum have come to recognize that structural features of British trade unionism and collective bargaining have played an important role in the progressive decline of the British economy. In particular, the autonomy from central union control enjoyed by shop stewards and the remarkable control exercised on the job by rank and file workers have been identified as major barriers to productivity growth insofar as they render management's efforts at technical and organizational innovation both more difficult and more expensive. 'Informal' work rules and restrictive practices (which are often 'formally' incorporated in collective agreements), such as demarcation lines, seniority systems, overmanning, and limitations on the speed and output of machinery, are the concrete embodiment of these constraints on management's freedom of action, which are in turn generally viewed by workers as indispensible bulwarks of their earnings, job security, and even their social identity. It has often been argued that these characteristics of British trade unionism are largely the result of the formative influence of the craft tradition on its development, with its fragmented bargaining structures and its commitment to local autonomy and craft control; one influential diagnosis went so far as to identify the generalization of craft practices to other groups of workers under conditions of full employment as one of the crucial steps in the transformation of British industrial relations since the Second World War.3 Yet the origins and dynamics of shop steward organization and job control, together with their impact on the national economy, are still much less well understood than such phenomena as the contribution of trade union militancy to the profit squeeze on employers and to inflation generally through wage drift, leapfrogging pay settlements, and the diffusion of wage increases from high to low productivity sectors.4 There is nothing new about the deceleration of productivity growth in British manufacturing industry especially evident in international comparisons nor about vocal attempts to attribute responsibility for the loss of British pre-eminence to the restrictive influence of trade unions. The rate of rise of British productivity, as measured by aggregate statistics of output per man hour, began to fall behind that of the US and other Western European nations in the 1870s; while the post-Second World War period marked a significant improvement on British performance during the previous 75 years, Western Europe and Japan achieved much more substantial

The Australian System of Industrial Relations: An Analytical Model

Abstract: This article develops a model of the Australian system of industrial relations. Dunlop's systems approach is initially examined, and both theoretical and struc tural changes are introduced. To breathe life into Dunlop's model it is postulated that the actors are involved in an on-going authority struggle. This struggle is the engine driver of change within the system. Structural alterations are introduced to take account of relevant Australian institutions. These involve recognition of the division of powers between State and Federal Governments, the use of industrial tribunals, and the role of the High Court. The Australian system is seen to consist of many actors. The article then develops moti vational/behavioural assumptions to explain the role of the major actors within the system.

By days i make the cars

Abstract: Life experienced by an automobile assembly line worker is described, and feelings of workers about their jobs were explored in three separate ways. The author spent five months as a line employee; he extensively interviewed 22 workers; and he distributed a questionnaire to all workers in the final assembly complex on both shifts of a particular day, receiving 209 usable responses. Most workers' feelings centered mainly around the job itself, the company, and the union. When discussing the possibility for change, most workers commented on management or supervisory style in the plant or on other general modifications. Although workers wanted changes, they were uncertain about the mechanisms for effecting change. On-the-job observation indicated that after arriving at the plant workers spend time in undefined activities (talking and setting up concession stands). During the eight-hour day, workers adapt to the sameness of their jobs in a number of ways, (e.g. playing games, working slowly to force themselves to catch up, and trading jobs). Some workers adapt in harmful ways (e.g. drugs, liquor, sabotage, and theft). It was concluded that workers may become more interested in how decisions are made if the occupational environment is adequate. The real problem in assuring appropriate working conditions stems from company impersonality, bad stock, and favoritism. Human relations are just as important as industrial relations in the automobile assembly line plant.

The Causation of Strikes: A Review of Theoretical Approaches and the Potential Contribution of Social Psychology:

Abstract: This paper reviews four approaches to the study of strikes, centered on organizational environments, industrial relations institutions, collective interests and consciousness, and approaches from within psychology which have looked at employee needs, or attitudes, in relation to job dissatisfaction, and hence industrial conflict. Despite their identification of salient features of strike causation, none of these approaches has drawn on insights from social psychology, and all have focused on strike causes to the virtual exclusion of strike processes. The paper proceeds to analyze significant dimensions of strike processes, viz. industrial relations climate; the distinctions between triggers, issues, and demands; strike content and context; and transitional and final strike outputs. These and other features are combined into an integrated model supported by evidence from the strikes literature.

Labor Guide to Labor Law

Abstract: 1. Federal Regulation of Labor Management Relations: A Statutory and Structural Overview. 2. The Collective Bargaining Unit. 3. Union Organizing Rights and Employer Response. 4. Protection of the Employee's Right to Union Representation. 5. The Duty to Bargain. 6. Strikes, Striker Rights, and Lockouts. 7. Picketing, Boycotts, and Related Activity. 8. Union Regulation of Work and the Antitrust Laws. 9. Enforcement of Collective Bargaining Agreements and the Duty to Arbitrate. 10. Union Membership and Union Security. 11. Rights and Responsibilities of Union Members. 12. The Duty of Fair Representation. 13. Unions and Equal Employment Opportunity. 14. Federal-State Relationships in Labor Relations. 15. Statutory Appendices. 16. Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 as Amended. 17. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 as Amended. 18. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as Amended. Index.

The development of labour market policy in sweden and in germany: competing or convergent models to combat unemployment?

Abstract: This study consists of three parts. The first part defines the objectives of the country-comparison Sweden-Germany, and it describes the strategical options which are available for a selective manpower policy: demand strategy, supply strategy, mobilisation strategy and compensatory strategy. The second part deals with some policy consequences following from new international trends in employment and unemployment. Special consideration is given to the development of state regulation and of industrial relations. One finding is that Sweden's regulation of the labour market emphasizes job protection, whereas Germany stresses various compensations in case of redundancy. The third part presents detailed information on the development of selective labour market policy in both countries during the last fifteen years. The core of this part, however, consists of a synopsis of the Swedish and German labour market policy. “The Swedish model” is mainly characterised by strategies influencing demand and mobilisation of labour, whereas “the German model” relies relatively more on supply management and compensatory strategies. Sweden spends five times more on selective measures than Germany relative to the Gross National Product. The net effect on unemployment decreases in Sweden, whereas the application of this efficiency criterion for Germany still hints at an optional range for introducing more selective measures. One consequence of this result is that labour market policy should emphasize problems of policy implementation and concentrate on influencing processes in the labour market. The convergent trend of the “Swedish model” and the “German model” lies in the increasing application of selective employment subsidies designed to maintain workplaces or to create new jobs.

The psychology of strikes

Abstract: Behaviourist studies of child development have shown that strikers seeking higher pay have experienced an above average childhood history of intermittent reinforcement schedules such as 'variable interval' pocket money. Freudian analysis of middle management has discovered that the 'death wish' is especially prevalent among personnel and industrial relations specialists. Personality studies of militant shop stewards have shown they manifest paranoid hostility toward the punitive father figure in their dealings with management. The psychologist's role in industrial conflict therefore should be directed toward breaking down deep-seated tendencies among the actors, and through a programme of counselling and open communications restoring the basic human trust and bonds of affection that lie waiting to be developed in all people. Well-established methods of psychological nurturance can thus be skilfully applied to reform British industrial relations.

What is participation? a review of the literature and some methodological problems

Abstract: This paper sets out a brief summary of the analysis of industrial relations systems that has emerged from the work of scholars observing the British situation over the past twenty years. In particular it focuses upon the 'consensus-convergence model' favoured by American academics in the 1950s and secondly, upon the 'informal-formal divergence' model put forward by a group of Oxford scholars in the 1960s. Both models emphasize institutional aspects of the system: the needs and aspirations of the actors are seen as part of the input of the system largely in so far as as they involve conflict or disorder. The output of the industrial relations system is seen to be rules, the most important of which are the procedures by which disputes may be resolved and individual grievances may be handled. The production of such rules depends on the support forthcoming through 'a sufficiently high degree of consensus among those whose interests are most affected by their application'.-"^ THIS paper sets out to examine the main features of the contingency model of participation put forward by Walker. It examines the model from a methodological perspective referring to experience of participative techniques of management to bring out the value-laden nature of the exercise and the difficulties on achieving 'rigour' in relation to the criteria for 'success' set out by Walker (op. cit.), French and Wall and Lischeron. Finally it refers to two paradigms of participation. One is that of 'constitutional pluralism' in which the participant is assumed to have only a narrow instrumental approach to industrial democracy. The other is that of 'primitive democracy' in which the individual is normally assumed to maintain high and sustained levels of awareness and involvement once having achieved to political 'maturity'. It concludes by adopting the former more cynical view of the world.

Industrial Relations in the Small Firm

Abstract: This article examines the impact of industrial relations and employee relations on the small firm. The argument is that “industrial relations” is seen by small organisations as being synonymous with the threat, both collective and individual, of externally imposed regulations.

Organisation strategies and industrial relations

Abstract: Stuart Timperley discusses two important themes in the management of industrial relations in organisations: firstly, that it is possible, through managerial decisions and actions, to influence industrial relations and, secondly, that a case can be made for such decisions and actions to be implemented.