Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-17T13:15:23.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Nature of Workplace Relations: A Typology of Social Relations and Analysis of Industrial Relations Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

David E. Morgan
David E. Morgan*
Affiliation:
School of Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour, University of New South Wales
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There has been growing concern over the role of industrial relations arrangements in the workplace in Australia. In response more industrial relations research has focused on the workplace over the recent past. Although this work has centred on a range of themes, it has however relied on essentially the same theoretical framework or industrial relations paradigm. The basis of which is the analysis of bargained rules — the result of the joint-regulation of employment and workplace practice. In other words, the bargaining paradigm focuses overwhelmingly on one type of labour-management relation — viz. bargaining. This paper proposes a typology based on a number of types of social relations in order to broaden the basis of industrial relations analysis. It is used to analyse the characteristics and dynamics of a number of industrial relations systems currently under debate in Australia over the reshaping of industrial relations.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , June 1993 , pp. 140 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, Michael, Green, Roy (1992), “Workplace productivity and joint consultation”, Australian Bulletin of Labour, June.Google Scholar
Angwin, Michael (1991) “Myths and Realities: A Review of the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey” Economic and Labour Relations Review, 2:1, 57–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ballot, Michael (1992), Labor-Management Relations in a Changing Environment, Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Blau, Peter (1964), Exchange and Power in Social Life, Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Block, Richard, et al (1987), “Industrial Relations and the Performance of the Firm: An Overview”, in Klein, M., et al (eds), Human Resources and the Performance of the Firm, IIRC, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 319–343.Google Scholar
Boyle, Elizabeth, Lawler, Edward (1991), “Resolving Conflict Through Explicit Bargaining”, Social Forces, 69:4, 1183–1204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boxall, Peter, Haynes, Peter (1992), “Unions and Non-union Bargaining Agents under the Employment Contracts Act 1991: An Assessment After 12 Months”, New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 17:2, 223–232.Google Scholar
Brown, William (1972), “A Consideration of Custom and Practice”, British Journal of industrial Relations, 10:1, 42–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Willie, Wadhwani, Sushil (1990), “The economic effects of industrial relations legislation since 1979” National Institute Economic Review, No. 131 Feb, 57–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burawoy, Michael (1985), The Politics of Production, Verso, London.Google Scholar
Business Council of Australia, Industrial Relations Study Commission (1989), Vol 1, Enterprise-Based Bargaining Units: A Better Way of Working, BCA, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Business Council of Australia, Industrial Relations Study Commission (1991), Vol 2, Avoiding Industrial Action, Allen and Unwin & BCA, Melbourne.Google Scholar
CAI-ACTU (1988), Joint Statement on Participative Principles, CAI-ACTU, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Callus, Ron (1991), “The Australian Workplace Industrial relations Survey and the Prospects for Enterprise Bargaining”, The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 2:1, 42–56.Google Scholar
Callus, Ron, Morehead, Alison, Culley, Mark, Buchanan, John (1991), Industrial Relations at Work, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Castles, F. (1985), The Working Class and Welfare, Sydney.Google Scholar
Clegg, Stewart (1989), Frameworks of Power, Sage, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, William (1989), “Improving Productivity and Quality Through Collaboration”, Industrial Relations, 28:2, 299–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Joel, McKersie, Robert (1989), “Negotiating Transformation: Bargaining Lessons From the Transformation of Employment Relations”, Acadamy of Management, Best Papers Proceedings, ed. Hay, Frank , Acadamy of Management, Washington, 366–370.Google Scholar
Deakin, Simon (1991), “Legal change and labour market restructuring in Western Europe and the US”, New Zealand Journal of Industrial Relations, 16:2, 109–125.Google Scholar
Deutschmann, Christoph (1987), “Economic Restructuring and Company Unionism-the Japanese Model”, Economic and Industrial Democracy, 8, 463–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dore, Ronald (1990), “Two Kinds of Rigidity: Corporate Communities and Collectivism”, in Brunetta, R., Dell'Aringa, C. (eds), Labour Relations and Economic Performance, University of New York Press, New York, 92–113.Google Scholar
Drago, Robert, Wooden, Mark, Sloan, Judith (1992), Productive Relations? Australian Industrial Relations and Workplace Performance, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.Google Scholar
Edwards, Paul K. (1992), “Industrial Conflict: Themes and Issues in Recent Research”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 30:3, 361–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Paul (1986), Conflict at Work, Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Etzioni, Amitai (1961), A Comparative Analysis of Complex Organizations: On Power, Involvement and Their Correlates, Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Fox, Alan (1974), Beyond Contract; Work, Power and Trust Relations, Faber and Faber, London.Google Scholar
Fox, Alan (1973), “Industrial Relations: A Social Critique of Pluralist Ideology” in Child, J. (ed), Man and Organisation, Allen and Unwin, London, 185–233.Google Scholar
Freeman, Richard, Medoff, J. L. (1984), What Do Unions Do?, Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Freeman, Richard, Pelletiert, Jeffrey , (1990), “The Impact of Industrial Legislation on British Union Density”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 28:2, 141–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frenkel, Stephen (1986), “Industrial Sociology and Workplace Relations in Advanced Capitalist Societies”, International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 27:1–2, 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedman, Andrew (1986), “Developing the Managerial Strategies Approach to the Labour Process”, Capital and Class, 30, 87–124.Google Scholar
Fulcher, J. (1988), “On the explanation of industrial relations diversity: Labour movements, employers and the state in Britain and Sweden”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 26:2, 246–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fulcher, J. (1987), “Labour movement theory versus corporatism: Social democracy in Sweden”, Sociology, 21:2, 231–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godard, John (1991), “The Progressive HRM Paradigm: A Theoretical and Empirical Re-Examination”, Relations Industrielles, 46:2, 378–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, John, et al (1975), “Rules in industrial relations theory”, Industrial Relations Journal, 6:1, 14–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, David, Edwards, Richard, Reich, Michael (1982), Segmented Work, Divided Workers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Gouldner, Alvin (1960), “The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement”, American Sociological Review, 25:2, 161–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granovetter, Mark (1985), “Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness”, American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenier, Guillermo, Hogler, Raymond (1991), “Labor Law and Managerial Ideology: Employee participation as a social control system”, Work and Occupations, 18:3, 313–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guille, Howard (1989), “A Tale of Two States: The Hanger and Niland Reports”, Labour and Industry, 2:3, 453–469.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harbridge, Raymond, Hince, Kevin (1992), Decollectivisation of Industrial Relations in New Zealand: Issues of Union Membership and Structure, Working Papers 1/92 Industrial Relations Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.Google Scholar
Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) (1991), National Wage Case Decision, Print No K0300, October.Google Scholar
Isaac, J. E. (1989), “The Arbitration Commission: Prime Mover of Facilitator?”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 31:3, 407–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, Harry, et al (1983), “Industrial relations performance, economic performance, and QWL programs: An interplant analysis”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 37:1, 3–17.Google Scholar
Keller, Berndt (1990), “The future of labour relations in the Federal Republic of Germany: Flexibility, deregulation and micro-corporatism within a stable system”, Labour and Society, 15:4, 379–399.Google Scholar
Kelly, Diana (1990), Defining the “Workplace” in Workplace Industrial Relations, ACIRRT Working Paper No 4, July, University of Sydney, Sydney.Google Scholar
Kitay, Jim (1991), “Analyzing Workplace Industrial Relations: The Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey Typology”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 33:4, 547–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kochan, Thomas (1980), “Collective Bargaining and Organizational Behaviour Research”, Research in Organizational Behavior, 2, 129–176.Google Scholar
Kochan, Thomas, McKersie, Robert, Cappelli, Peter (1984), “Strategic Choice and Industrial Relations Theory”, Industrial Relations, 23:1, 16–39.Google Scholar
Kochan, Thomas, Capelli, Peter (1984), “The transformation of industrial relations and personnel functions”, in Osterman, P. (ed.), Internal Labor Markets, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 133–162.Google Scholar
Kochan, Thomas, Verma, Anil (1983), “Negotiations in organizations: Blending Industrial Relations and Organizational Behaviour Approaches” in Bazerman, Max, Lewicki, Roy (eds), Negotiating in Organizations, Sage, Beverly Hills, 13–32.Google Scholar
Leibenstein, Harvey (1987), Inside the Firm: The Inefficiencies of Hierarchy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Littler, C., Quinlan, M., Kitay, J. (1989), “Australian Workplace Industrial Relations: Towards a Conceptual Framework”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 31:4, 500–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorenz, Edward H. (1992), “Trust and the Flexible Firm: International Comparisons”, Industrial Relations, 31:3, 455–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luhmann, Niklas (1979), Trust and Power, Wiley, Chichester.Google Scholar
Macintyre, Stuart, Mitchell, Richard (eds), Foundations of Arbitration, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
McDonald, Trish, Rimmer, Malcolm (1989), “Award Restructuring and Wages Policy” Growth 37, CEDA, 111–134.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R. (1989), “State Systems of Conciliation and Arbitration: The Legal Origins of the Australasian Model” in Macintyre, S., Mitchell, R. (eds), The Foundations of Arbitration, op. cit.Google Scholar
Morgan, David E. (1992), A Typology of Workplace Relations: Types of Social Relations and Social Action, IROB Working Paper, November, University of New South Wales.Google Scholar
Montgomery, David (1979), Workers' Control in America, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Niland, John (1978), Collective Bargaining and Compulsory Arbitration in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney.Google Scholar
Niland, John (1976), “The Case for More Collective Bargaining in Australia”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 18:4, 365–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, J. M. (1990), “Regulating Decentralised Industrial Relations: The Niland Prescription”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 32:4, 544–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plowman, David (1991), “Industrial Relations at Work: A Survey of the Survey”, The Industrial Relations Journal, 33:4, 437–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plowman, David (1988), “Employer Associations and Bargaining Structures: An Australian Perspective”, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 26:3, 371–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plowman, David (1985), “Industrial Legislation and the Rise of Employer Associations, 1890–1906”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 27:3, 283–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Richard (1980), Masters, Unions and Men, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pruitt, Dean (1983), “Achieving Integrative Agreements” in Bazerman, Max, Lewicki, Roy (eds), Negotiating in Organizations, Sage, Beverly Hills, 35–50.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall (1972), Stone Age Economics, Aldine-Atherton, New York.Google Scholar
Scherer, P. (1985), “State Syndicalism?”, in Hyde, J., Nurick, J. (eds), Wages Wasteland, Hale and Iremonger, Sydney.Google Scholar
Selznick, Philip (1969), Law, Society and Industrial Justice, Russell Sage, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Simon, Herbert A. (1991), “Organizations and Markets”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5:2, 25–44.Google Scholar
Terry, Michael (1977), “The Inevitable Growth of Informality”, British Journal of industrial Relations, 15:1, 76–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Voos, Paula (1989), “The Influence of Cooperative Programs on Union-Management Relations, Flexibility and Other Labour Relations Outcomes”, Journal of Labour Research, 10:1, 103–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walton, Richard E. (1985), “From Control to Commitment in the Workplace”, Harvard Business Review, 64:2 April, 77–84.Google Scholar
Walton, Richard E., McKersie, Robert (1965), Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations, McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Wardell, Mark, Weisenfeld, Leslie (1991), “Management accounting and the workplace in the United States and Great Britain”, Accounting, Organizations and Society, 16:7, 655–670.Google Scholar
Wedderburn, Lord (1989), “Freedom of Association and Philosophies of Labour Law”, The Industrial Law Journal, 18:1, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windolf, Paul (1989), “Productivity Coalitions and the Future of European Corporatism”, Industrial Relations, 28:1, 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yerbury, Di, Isaac, J. E. (1971), “Recent Trends in Collective Bargaining in Australia”, International Labour Review, 103:May, 421–452.Google Scholar
Zucker, Lynne (1986), “Production of Trust: Institutional sources of economic structure”, in Research in Organizational Behavior, 8, 53–111.Google Scholar