BACK GROUND AND FRAMEWORK OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

BACK GROUND AND FRAMEWORK OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS


Introduction

• Concept of IR originated in the USA in the early 20th century.

• It soon extended to Great Britain

• It entered public discourse in 1912 in the aftermath of violent industrial conflicts

Introduction

• IR became known as the processes and institutions through which employment is managed, such as trade unions and employers’ associations, collective negotiations, labour legislation and organized conflict.

Introduction

• It provided the basis for academic research and teaching.• Some writers:–Labour and trade unions were regarded

as positive forces for social improvement.–Their perspectives converged with

progressive employers.

Introduction

• Their common belief was that social peace could be encouraged by a better understanding of the sources of industrial conflict and the mechanics of collective regulation.

Model of Industrial Relations

Early writers on IR came from a variety of backgrounds.

As the study became increasingly institutionalized it became a study in its own right.

A most notable writer wasJohn Thomas DunlopIndustrial Relations System

appeared in 1958


For Dunlop the defining characteristics were

The full range of rule making governing the workplace.

Analysis of the rules of employment.

John Thomas Dunlop



The actors (employers, workers and their organizations and governments) involves in their formation and administration

John Thomas Dunlop



The Contextual Influences (economic, technological and political) required a distinctive theoretical apparatus which identified industrial relations as a separate discipline.

John Thomas Dunlop


JD’s Model was 1st published in 1958 and revised in 1993

John Thomas Dunlop


It defines IR as the field defined by the study of interaction between: Workers, Employers, Their Associations and The State.

John Thomas Dunlop


The interactions take places against the background of several variables: Technology The design of

work Power relations

within society at large.

John Thomas Dunlop


The system is kept in tact by shared ideology,

Its product is the norms that govern The Employment

Relationship and the Labour

Market

John Thomas Dunlop


The IR system is Flexible and can be applied at:

Enterprise Domestic Occupational and Sectoral National And International Level

John Thomas Dunlop

Model of Industrial Relations IR system as a distinct subset of the

Economic System and separate of the Political System.

John Thomas Dunlop

Political System

Industrial Relations System

Economic System


Criticisms of JD IR System:1. The assumption of

shared a ideology driving the system rather than power and conflict was excessive.

John Thomas Dunlop


Criticisms of JD IR System:2. The separation of the

industrial relations system from the other systems namely the political system, was problematic.

John Thomas Dunlop

Properties of John Dunlop’s Model

1. Model which explains why particular rules are established.

How and why they change in response to changes


2. Argument – IR is a discipline in its own right

3. It is related to economics and to social systems in general.


4. He envisaged the following:

Regulated relationships at the workplace as a social product.

Concerns with analysis at the level of the individual or even the primary group


• The main elements of the Model are: Interrelatedness of

institutions and behaviour.Rules that govern the

relationship between actors and institutions.

The Impact of Dunlop’s Work

(i) Dominated IR Research for decades

(ii) It became the starting point from which most other influential commentators proceeded.


(iii) There was no difficulty in appreciating the impact of his work.

(iv) It provided a mechanism for grounding the subject area.


(v) It enabled the movement away from the narrow concentration on collective bargaining.

(vi) It enabled the claim that IR as a discipline in its own right


(vii)He developed the thinking of Industrial Relations as having a theoretical core through the study of the Industrial Relations Systems.


NOTEa. Views the IR System as a subsystem

of the wider society or the total social system.

It is seen as providing certain essential influences and constraints

b. IR System is regarded as comprising actors, context & ideology

They bind the IR Systems together and a body of rules created to govern the actors at the place of work

The Creation of Rules

The creation of rules is seen to be the central aim of the Industrial Relations System

IR Rules

The Creation of Rules There three (3) groups of actors who take

part in the rule making process.

(i) Managers and their supervisors.

(ii) Non-managerial workers and their Spokesmen.

(iii)Specialized government agencies and specialized private agencies

Impact of the Environment on the Industrial Relations System

Impacts are

(i) Technological aspects of the work place.

(ii)Markets and budgetary constraints

(iii)The focus and distribution of power in the larger society.

BACK GROUND AND FRAMEWORK OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS


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Model of Allan Flanders

• Allan Flanders (1910-1973)• Member of the Oxford School of Industrial

Relations.• Developed a particular institutional

approach to the analysis of industrial relations.

• Published “The System of Industrial Relations in Great Britain” (1954)


• Other Contributions The design of State Income Policy, The reform of Collective

Bargaining, Productivity Bargaining And his impact of the Donovan

Report of the UK in 1968.


• Alan Flanders furthered the work of Dunlop

• He focused on Why management on the whole is slow to innovate labour relations and have little to do with labour relations?


• He believed that

An immense amount of experimenting and education was needed about changes in management methods and outlook that he considered necessary.


• He believed that

An Industrial Relations System required that ideology be sufficiently compatible and consistent, so as to commit a common set of ideas which recognizes an acceptable role for each other.


• He claimed that“Voluntarism” is in a way common to all actors, and prescribed a limited role for specialized public agencies.

Marxist Approach to Industrial Relations

• The Marxist approach to the study of Industrial Relations is rooted in the theory of conflict founded by Karl Marx.


• Conflict theory is based on the premise that: Conflict exists in society and in

organization, It is essential to reorganize this and

have a framework to deal with it.


• Marx argues that conflict arises in organizations because of different values and interests,


• In the context of trade unionism and the industrial environment, the conflict is pitted between employers and employees.


• According to Marx, industrialisation engerders the polarization of societies into two (2) classes:

The Bourgeoisie The Proletariat


The Bourgeoisie – those who owns the means of production (factors, land, etc.) and

The Much Larger Proletariat – the working class who actually perform the labour necessary for the means of production.


The Pyramid


• He argues that relationship between the two (2) classes is Fundamentally Parasitic

“Dialectical Materialism”.


• It remains this way along as the proletariat are always under-compensated for the true value of their labour by the bourgeoisie (according to the labour theory of

value)



• This allows the bourgeoisie to grow absurdly wealthy through the exploitation of the proletarian’s labour.



• The Marxist sees no difference in the conflicts between: Society and Individual, and even within organizations.


• Hence the class conflict in industry is a reflection in society as a whole and this outcome is the same leading to revolution.


• The Marxist perspective also has the following:

i. The institution of the capitalist society grows out of the power base of the bourgeoisie, and do not represent a permanent solution of the conflict.



ii. Trade Unions exist to enable the workers to gain a power base on which they can secure improved terms and conditions from the capitalists.



iii. Unions offer protections against the owners and managers, hence the need for collectivism which is more powerful than individualism.



iv. Trade Unions are not necessarily seen as the basis for revolution, but they contribute to the wider class struggle in society.


• Note: In the essence of equal opportunity and difference among human beings, Marx developed ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (A.D.R.)


• Criticism of the Marxist Approach

i. The Marxist Approach fails to recognize changes that have taken place in society since Marx wrote over 100 years ago.


• Criticism of the Marxist Approach

ii. The Marxist view on power and property is also not relevant since today the distribution of power and property has changed, and it is more widely spread than before.


• Criticism of the Marxist Approach There is much more social

mobility today, and the simple division of society described by Marx no longer exists.

BACK GROUND AND FRAMEWORK OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS.

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