Showing papers on "Industrial relations published in 1991"

Job Insecurity: Coping with Jobs at Risk

Abstract: This book, which is concerned with the impact of job insecurity on individuals, organizations and industrial relations, is a major contribution to an increasingly important topic in an era of continued organizational restructuring and change. The authors explore the personal experiences of job insecurity for individual employees and the variety of ways in which people cope with their feelings of uncertainty and ambiguity. They examine collective behaviour through the impact of job insecurity on union activities and union-management relations. They also explore the relationship between organizational effectiveness and job insecurity, and outline a number of strategies that organizations can adopt to address its potentially destructive impact. Finally, they argue that the issue requires positive action taken by government, employers and unions.

Bringing Capital Back In, or Social Democracy Reconsidered: Employer Power, Cross-Class Alliances, and Centralization of Industrial Relations in Denmark and Sweden

Abstract: The political domination of Social Democrats in Denmark and Sweden beginning in the 1930s was stabilized by the absence of intense opposition by capital to reformist programs aggressively opposed by business and the Right elsewhere in the world. This quiescence was not a symptom of weakness or dependency; rather, it was a product of a class-intersecting, cross-class alliance behind institutions of centralized industrial relations that served mutual interests of sectoral groupings dominating both union and employer confederations. Well-organized and militant, and backed by Social Democrats, employers in the two countries used offensive multi-industry lockouts to force centralization on reluctant unions. Analysis of these cross-class alliances and their pay-distributional objectives is used to challenge a widely held view that centralization and Social Democratic electoral strength are sources of power against capital. It also occasions a reassessment of conventional understandings of farmer-labor coalitions and the decline of industrial conflict in Scandinavia in the 1930s. According to the alternative view presented here, capital was included rather than excluded from these cross-class alliances, and industrial conflict subsided dramatically in part because employers achieved politically what they had previously tried to achieve with the lockout.

The Impact on Economic Performance of a Transformation in Workplace Relations

Abstract: This study examines how a transformation in patterns of conflict and cooperation affected economic performance in 25 work areas of a large, unionized manufacturing facility in the period 1984–87. Unlike most studies of industrial relations and economic performance, this study clearly distinguishes conflict from cooperation but evaluates the two together, rather than focusing on only one. An analysis of data collected from union and employer records and interviews strongly suggests that work areas with “traditional” labor-management relations, rooted in adversarial assumptions, had higher costs, more scrap, lower productivity, and a lower return to direct labor hours worked than work areas with “transformational” relations, characterized by increased cooperation and improved dispute resolution.

Testing the Survey Method: Continuity and Change in British Industrial Relations:

Abstract: Throughout much of the 1980s, a picture of institutional continuity was drawn by many industrial relations researchers from large-scale surveys, which appeared at odds with reports of substantial change that other accounts documented. This paper explores how differences in the research instruments used may contribute to discrepancies in the amount of change which has been recorded, by examining the results of interview material from managers in 15 firms which had also participated in a survey of industrial relations, the Warwick Enterprise Survey. Our findings were broadly similar in the mapping of institutional arrangements, management organization and the distribution of responsibilities at different levels, but certain differences were also noted. The paper discusses whether these differences are reconcilable and to what extent they were a function of the different research instruments. It is argued that the focus of our open-ended interviews tended to differ from that of surveys with scope for more exploration of how managers were innovating around institutions and had changed the way institutions worked, thereby suggesting that greater change was occurring than the survey could document. In researching industrial relations the risk of surveys is that they may bias the argument towards stability if they concentrate on institutional forms and the formal locus of decision-making.

The re-emergence of small-scale production: An international comparison

Abstract: During the 1970s the long standing trend towards centralisation in the organisation of business ceased, and was reversed in many advanced industrialised countries as the share of employment in small enterprises and establishments began to increase. The article documents the important developments in the size distribution of production of the six largest OECD countries, and examines various explanations for the changes, such as the business cycle, the sectoral recomposition of the economy, labor cost advantages in small firms, and the spread of flexible specialisation. It also discusses potentially unfavourable effects of these changes on wages, working conditions, and industrial relations, and proposes institutional reforms to mitigate, or avoid, such effects.

Interpersonal Relations as a Context For the Effects of Appraisal Interviews on Performance and Satisfaction: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract: The field study reported here examined the effect of interpersonal relations between supervisors and subordinates on the content and efficacy of performance appraisal reviews. One to two months aft...

Bolton 20 years on : the small firm in the 1990s

Abstract: Preface - Sir Charles Villiers and Stan Mendham An Economic Survey 1971-1991 Change and Continuity in Small Firm Policy since Bolton Problems and Preoccupations Banks and the Provision of Finance to Small Businesses Taxation The Small Firm Equity Gap since Bolton The Small Business Owner-Manager Management Training and Support Employment and Employment Relations in the Small Enterprise Managers and Management within Small Firms Some Factors Influencing the Future of Small Scale Enterprise in the UK The Contributors

Reshaping the state : New Zealand's bureaucratic revolution

Abstract: Between 1984 and 1990 the fourth Labour Government embarked upon the reform of the structure, operation, and role of the public sector. That reform was the most thorough in New Zealand's history, and the changes rank amongst the most radical and comprehensive undertaken anywhere in the world. Not only were the scope and scale of the changes remarkable (involving commercialization, corporatization, privatization, the restructuring of numerous departments, the introduction of a new form of financial management, major changes to industrial relations, and an attempt to provide culturally more sensitive and responsive public services) but they were implemented with breathtaking speed and vigour. This book provides a systematic and critical analysis of these changes. It explores the theoretical basis of the reform programme, the nature and content of the changes, the management of the change process, and the problems of implementation. Particular attention is given to three pivotal pieces of legislation: the State Owned Enterprises Act 1986, the State Sector Act 1988, and the Public Finance Act 1989. The book also examines the effect of the reforms and evaluates their costs and benefits. This work is aimed at teachers and advanced students of politics, policy studies, public administration, accounting, public economics and industrial relations, as well as public servants.

Personnel Management: The End of Orthodoxy?

Abstract: Within the broad field of British industrial relations, personnel/human resource management grew significantly as a focus of conceptual and empirical analysis during the 1980s. This paper reviews the central features of this development and considers the prospects and priorities for future research. It argues that human resource management now represents a new orthodoxy within the general subject area, partly replacing the traditional Donovan framework. Research exploring the application of human resource management is reviewed. This reveals that only modest innovation has occurred, often with little evidence of positive outcomes. Seeking an explanation for this limited impact, attention is focused on the nature and effectiveness of personnel management. The reasons why there might be a ‘problem’ of personnel management are considered. Finally, the sustainability of the new orthodoxy is called into question.

Personnel Management: A New Approach

Abstract: Part 1 The nature of personnel management: the philosophy of personnel management the personnel role in the organization personnel policy and strategy human resource planning. Part 2 Personnel management and organization: human resource planning in practice organization structure organizations and culture authority, leadership and management organizational communications interpersonal communication procedures for administrative action and mutual control computers in personnel work consultancy and consultants. Part 3 Employee resourcing: labour markers forms of employment and the contract of employment job analysis recruitment strategy and employment documentation selection methods employment interviewing and decision-making health, safety and welfare equalizing employment opportunity termination of the employment contract. Part 4 Training and development: the training framework work design and motivation learning principles and training skills management development performance assessment and the appraisal interview. Part 5 Employee relations: trade union recognition and employee participation negotiating agreement grievance and discipline preparing for tribunal. Part 6 Pay: payment administration: job evaluation pensions and sick pay incentives, performance pay and fringe benefits.

‘Them and Us’: Social Psychology and ‘The New Industrial Relations’

Abstract: This article sets out to examine the impact of ‘new industrial relations’ techniques on worker attitudes to management and to worker-management relations. We found 17 case studies of share schemes, profit-sharing, quality circles and autonomous work-groups which reported relevant evidence on worker attitudes. Although workers often welcome new industrial relations techniques, there is very little evidence of any impact on ‘them and us’ attitudes. Drawing on social-psychological theories of attitude change, the persistence of ‘them and us’ attitudes can be explained by the ways in which new industrial relations techniques have been implemented and managed in organisations. Workers have often lacked choice over participation in new schemes; there has been a lack of trust between the parties involved, together with inequality in status and benefits and a lack of institutional support for the schemes among senior management. It is argued that these conditions explain the failure of new organisational initiatives to bring about changes in ‘them and us’ attitudes.

High-Technology Agglomeration and the Labor Market: The Case of Silicon Valley:

Abstract: In this paper the pattern of labor-market activity associated with major high-technology agglomerations within the USA are examined, drawing upon the results of a mailed questionnaire survey of firms in the semiconductor industry. The analysis is focused upon the cluster of specialized semiconductor firms in Silicon Valley, to determine the contribution of local labor-market processes to the growth and development of this high-technology production complex. Fluid employment relations and efficiencies in search and mobility within the local labor market provide Silicon Valley firms remarkable flexibility in meeting their labor demands and help to ensure a rapid circulation of knowledge and information within the production complex. The accelerated transfer of technological knowledge allows Silicon Valley firms to build cumulatively upon a common stock of technological successes and failures, contributing significantly to the innovative dynamism of the region.

An Introduction to Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations

Abstract: PART ONE: INTRODUCTION: 1. A Framework for Analyzing Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations 2. The Historical Evolution of the U.S. Industrial Relations System 3. The Legal Regulation of Unions and Collective Bargaining 4. The Role of the Environment PART TWO: THE STRATEGIC LEVEL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND STRUCTURES FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 5. Management Strategies and Structures for Collective Bargaining 6. Union Strategies and Structures for Representing Workers PART THREE: THE FUNCTIONAL LEVEL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 7. Union Organization and Bargaining Structures 8. The Negotiations Process and Strikes 9. Dispute Resolution Procedures 10. Contract Terms and Employment Outcomes PART FOUR: THE WORKPLACE LEVEL OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 11. Administering the Employment Relationship 12. Participatory Processes PART FIVE: SPECIAL TOPICS 13. Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector 14. International and Comparative Industrial Relations 15. The Future of U.S. Labor Policy and Industrial Relations Appendix A: Private Sector Mock Bargaining Exercise Appendix B: Public Sector Mock Bargaining Exercise Appendix C: Grievance Arbitration Exercises

The proletarianisation of academic labour

Abstract: This article looks at industrial relations changes, conflict and control in higher education, particularly among university academics. It suggests a tendency towards proletarianisation, and a focus on the academic labour process is useful in explaining growing conflict. An apparent HRM agenda and (reluctantly) increasing managerialism are forms, not causes, of change which is driven by funding pressures similar to those affecting other HE systems.

The effects of unions on investment and innovation: evidence from wirs*

Abstract: The above is representative of much popular discussion of the effects of unions on investment and innovation. In the professional literature, the view that unions deter investment by expropriating quasi rents is also commonplace (see, e.g. Simons (I944), Baldwin (I983), Grout (I984)). In addition, it is argued that union-foisted restrictive work practices might make investment a more costly process (see, e.g. Denny and Nickell (I989)). In recent years, the above theoretical notions have appeared to receive some empirical support, in that in the United States, the level of the investment-capital ratio does appear to be lower in union firms (see Hirsch (I988) and references therein). In this paper, we use information contained in the i 984 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey in order to investigate the actual impact of unions on investment. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. In Section I. I we informally review the alternative channels through which unions might affect investment. Section I.2 contains a simple theoretical model of investment which embodies all the alternative channels. Our results are to be found in Section II, and, finally, some conclusions are contained in Section III.

Public Relations and "Women's Work": Toward a Feminist Analysis of Public Relations Roles

Abstract: (1991). Public Relations and 'Women's Work': Toward a Feminist Analysis of Public Relations Roles. Public Relations Research Annual: Vol. 3, No. 1-4, pp. 67-84.

Employment Relations: Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management in Australia

Abstract: Changing patterns of industrial relations and human resource management in Australia - an historical overview structuring human relations management and union strategies - corporate level the politics of employment relations the public sector.

Community of Suffering and Struggle: Women, Men, and the Labor Movement in Minneapolis, 1915-1945

Abstract: Elizabeth Faue traces the transformation of the American labor movement from community forms of solidarity to bureaucratic unionism. Arguing that gender is central to understanding this shift, Faue explores women's involvement in labor and political organizations and the role of gender and family ideology in shaping unionism in the twentieth century. Her study of Minneapolis, the site of the important 1934 trucking strike, has broad implications for labor history as a whole. Initially the labor movement rooted itself in community organizations and networks in which women were active, both as members and as leaders. This community orientation reclaimed family, relief, and education as political ground for a labor movement seeking to re-establish itself after the losses of the 1920s. But as the depression deepened, women -- perceived as threats to men seeking work -- lost their places in union leadership, in working-class culture, and on labor's political agenda. When unions exchanged a community orientation for a focus on the workplace and on national politics, they lost the power to recruit and involve women members, even after World War II prompted large numbers of women to enter the work force. In a pathbreaking analysis, Faue explores how the iconography and language of labor reflected ideas about gender. The depiction of work and the worker as male; the reliance on sport, military, and familial metaphors for solidarity; and the ideas of women's place -- these all reinforced the representation of labor solidarity as masculine during a time of increasing female participation in the labor force. Although the language of labor as male was not new in the depression, the crisis of wage-earning -- as a crisis of masculinity -- helped to give psychological power to male dominance in the labor culture. By the end of the war, women no longer occupied a central position in organized labor but a peripheral one.

Employment Relations and the Labor Market: Integrating Institutional and Market Perspectives

Abstract: From a market perspective, workers' access to bureaucratic personnel structures at work is related to the transferability of their occupational skills. An institutional perspective emphasizes "normative and coercive" factors like union power, establishment size, occupational status, and extent of government employment. Building on these two perspectives, we examine the impact of an occupation's external marketthe extent to which it offers systematic within-occupation movement among employers on internal job mobility and protection structures and the availability of grievance procedures. Data from a sample of Chicago workers and their employers confirm aspects of both market and institutional theory. Results also support our core hypothesis, that incumbents of occupations embedded in strong external markets are less likely to have these governance structures available.

Union Membership Attitudes and Participation

Abstract: For George Strauss, Daniel Gallagher and Jack Fiorito, eds., The State of the Unions, Madison, WI: IRRA, 1991. UNION MEMBERSHIP ATTITUDES AND PARTICIPATION Daniel G. Gallagher James Madison University and George Strauss University of California, Berkeley The strength of a union depends, in part, upon its ability to mobilize its members not only in strikes but also in policing the collective agreement, filing grievances, and serving in the capacity of union stewards or committee members. Overflow crowds at union meetings, thousands of workers demonstrating in front of city hall, or every member wearing a union button all give the impression of unity and strength. Satisfied, highly committed members are more likely to support their union in strikes or political activities and to assist in organizing campaigns. Further, satisfied members serve as living advertisements of the advantages of union membership and so help win elections as well as public support generally. The reverse occurs when member are unhappy. Scope of Coverage This chapter provides an overview and critique of research dealing with union members' attitudes toward their union and their participation in it. The introduction clarifies the distinctions between attitudes and behaviors and assists in integrating the various types of research to be considered. The central sections discuss first attitudes and then participation. One concluding section critiques present research and offers suggestions for future research; A second considers the policy implications of this research. A few caveats. First, the chapter deals with individual attitudes and behaviors. What unions as a whole do is not within the area of our focus. Secondly, to avoid overlap with other chapters, we minimize attention to such issues as why members join unions (Chapter 2) or their political activities (Chapter 9). Finally, although we refer to English language research on union members in other countries, literature in other languages is not reviewed, for example, the substantial Dutch literature cited by Klandermans (1984, 1986). Research Trends Union attitudes and behaviors received considerable attention during academic industrial rclations's Golden Age, especially between 1948-1953 (see: Spinrad, 1960; Strauss, 1977), but were then largely ignored in North America. Meanwhile significant studies of membership attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Batstone, Boraston and Frcnkel, 1977; Nicholson, Ursell, and Blyton, 1981; and Klandermans, 1984) were conducted in Europe. By contrast with North American authors, Europeans were more aware of the literature in political science and sociology and more likely to look at unions as social movements. Since 1980 North American research interest in union members has considerably revived, especially since a younger generation of industrial relations

Link between Business Strategy and Industrial Relations Systems in American Steel Minimills, The

Abstract: This study tests the “strategic choice” proposition that variation in workplace industrial relations policies and practices is related to differences in business strategy. A cluster analysis of data from a 1988–89 questionnaire examining workplace industrial relations and business strategies in U.S. steel minimills suggests that the industrial relations systems of these mills can be broadly categorized as emphasizing either cost reduction or employee commitment; similarly, the business strategies of the mills appear to stress either the manufacture of a few products in large quantities at the lowest possible cost, or more flexible manufacturing, with products marketed on some basis other than cost. Further investigation shows a significant association between the type of workplace industrial relations system and the business strategy choices in these mills.

Trade Unions and the Disaggregation of the Working Class

Abstract: Much current debate on the experience of trade unionism in the 1980s and its prospects for the 1990s involves the clash of simplistic generalisations. The problems of numerical decline and lack of internal cohesion are widespread, but not universal afflications. Individual unions, and different national movements, vary considerably in the efficacy with which they have responded to changes in the economic and political environment and in the nature of the workforce. To understand such differences we need to develop subtle analyses of what are complex and contradictory tendencies; and to propose credible scenaries of the next decade we need to be able to separate cyclical (and potentially reversible) from secular trends in the environment of industrial relations. Comparative research is only beginning to suggest the basis for a more scientific approach to the questions discussed above.

Privatization, Regulation and Industrial Relations

Abstract: The article examines the consequences of privatization for the industrial relations of former public corporations. Three effects of privatization are explored: the ending of direct political control, the creation of a regulatory framework for the major utilities, and the replacing of a ‘political’ orientation by a ‘shareholder’ orientation in privatized companies. It is argued that each may have significant consequences for management strategies and industrial relations, although these may not be what either protagonists or opponents of privatization have anticipated.

Market failure in training? : new economic analysis and evidence on training of adult employees

Abstract: and Overview.- Job Training: Costs, Returns, and Wage Profiles.- Firm Financed Education and Specific Human Capital: A Test of the Insurance Hypothesis.- On-The-Job Training of New Hires.- Employee Training Programs in U.S. Businesses.- Firms' Propensity to Train.- Training and Employment Relations in Japanese Firms.- Market Failure for General Training, and Remedies.- Nonmarket Failure in Government Training Programs.

The Climate of Workplace Relations

Abstract: 1. Setting the Stage 2. Change and Continuity in Workplace Industrial Relations 3. The Climate Concept 4. The Research Design 5. The Overall Findings 6. The Case Study Analysis 7. Conclusions and Future Inquiry.