4. Researching the New Industrial Relations

Abstract

Regardless of judgements about the novelty, permanence or extent of the “new industrial relations”, key features in the USA are a decline in union membership, the declining role of bargaining and a corresponding decrease in its scope; the increasing importance of human resource management; the increasing importance of “high‐tech” industries; the increasing need for a “responsible, flexible” worker; the conscious attempt to avoid and undermine unions by firms through location policies and sophisticated paternalism; the attempt to link pay more directly to the economic performance of the plant or firm through gain‐saving schemes, profit‐sharing and fragmented bargaining. It should not be assumed that these developments are widespread or actually represent a change in the management of people. A variety of methodological problems exist making it difficult to assess whether these features are in themselves “new”, notably those relating to the danger of generalising from specific and isolated cases, the problem of benchmarks, links between managerial intentions and practice, the measurement of attitudinal change and the notion of management strategy in itself. To demonstrate these problems and to provide documentary evidence current practices in the US car industry are examined, particularly to evaluate recent change. A multitude of research methods (including participant observation) are required in order to capture all the dimensions of shop‐floor industrial relations behaviour.

Citation

Wood, S. (1986), "4. Researching the New Industrial Relations", Employee Relations, Vol. 8 No. 5, pp. 23-30. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb055081