Labour Relations

Definition and Origins

of Industrial Relations
2
Overview of Lecture
Historical origins of industrial relations
Linked to the changing nature of capitalism and
different forms of production
Definition of IR:
Various definitions
Understand the basic concepts
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Origins of Industrial Relations
Industrial relations is an important and
fascinating subject.
Its importance lay in the world of work and how
it shapes industrial structures and economic
processes.
This eventually shapes the type of people and
the kind of society we live in.
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Origins of Industrial Relations
Under Feudalism there was no industrial
relations, it is specific to capitalism.
To understand the origins of industrial
relations we need to understand the evolution
of work under capitalism.
Industrial relations arose as a direct
consequence of the way capitalism organised
work.
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Origins of IR
Under feudalism we had a master and serf
relationship
Serfs were bound to the service of the lord or
landowner and remained attached to them
If the ownership of the land changed the serfs
were transferred to the new owner
The serfs worked part of the week for the lord
and part of the week for themselves
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Origins of IR
In return they received the protection of the
land lord
The serfs were not slaves in that they were not
owned by the lord and they had freedom of
movement
However their economic freedoms were often
limited and they were bound to the land lord
economically
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Origins of IR
The change from feudalism to capitalism saw
the emergence of industrial relations as a
discipline.
To understand the emergence of industrial
relations we have to understand the evolution
of work under capitalism.
The change from feudalism to capitalism was
marked by the industrial revolution.

8
Origins of IR
This process began in the 14
th
& 15
th
century in Britain.
The full impact of this was felt in the middle of the 18
th

and the 19
th
century.
Craft work and agricultural work the major form of
production.
Relationship was between landowner and tenants and
between craftsman and apprentice.

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Origins of IR
Industrial revolution changed the nature of work, forms
of work organisation and nature of production.
The first stage of the reorganisation of production was
bringing together many craftsman under one roof.
This is referred to as the stage of cooperation.
The craftsman, for various reasons, were deprived of
their tools and brought together by the factory owner
under one roof.
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Origins of IR
The next stage was the stage of manufacture
This is when work tasks are broken down or
fragmentised and division of labour is introduced. (E.G.
Making a chair)
The factory owners attempt to increase productivity by
removing some of the skills of the craft work by
breaking down work into simpler steps
This process is called deskilling

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Origins of IR
The craftsman is still in charge of the work and has skill
but his skill is being eroded and simplified.
The artisan is now being transformed into a worker and
this changes the social relation between the factory
owner and the worker.
Two processes begin to take place at this stage:
The first is de-qualification where the skills of the
artisan is broken down.
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Origins of IR
This takes away control of the work from the
worker.
The second is hyper-qualification of a few
individuals who in turn are in charge of
systematically fragmentizing the work of the
masses.
They are also involved in adapting the tools of
the trade to a narrow focus so as to increase
efficiency.
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Origins of IR
Craft workers and their apprentice were placed
under a single roof.
This was the formation of the factory.
Skilled work was slowly broken down.
We enter the world of mass production.
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Origins of IR
This is the world of large factories.
Movement of people from villages and rural
areas to the cities in search of employment.
People uprooted from their traditional way of
life and traditional forms of work.
Creation of a new class of people: proletariat or
working class.
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Origins of IR
Society now becomes divided between the
working class on the one hand and owners and
managers on the other hand.
Human beings now have to sell their labour
power in order to survive wage labor.
We now enter the era of mass employment
and also soon mass unemployment.
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Origins of IR
In the area of work we find new patterns of
work organisations emerging.
Emergence of the assembly line and dull
repetitive work.
1914 Henry Ford introduced the assembly line
(via conveyer belts).




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Origins of IR
Ford fixed the worker at one place and made
the object of work (or product) flow.
This meant more control over the labour of a
worker.
This also allowed for control over the rate with
which work was produced (productivity).


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Origins of IR
We also see the emergence of Taylorism or
scientific management.
What Taylor did was measure the amount of
work done by a worker in a given period of
time.
His aim was to scientifically determine the best
way of performing a task.


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Origins of IR
Taylor attempted to do two things:
Increase the amount of work within a specific
period productivity.
Simplify work by breaking it down into simpler
part deskilling.
In order to achieve his tasks Taylor conducted
a series of time and motion studies.
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Origins of IR
The aim of Taylor was to fragment work down
to its most basic motion.
His experiments lasted over 26 years.
Taylors work need to be understood within the
context of the great depression, mass
unemployment, falling profitability and social
upheaval.

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Origins of IR
Reaction to Taylors work came in the form of
the Human Relations Movement.
Taylor was criticised for being over-rational and
dehumanising.
Between 1927 1932 a series of experiments
were conducted at the Hawthorne Works of the
Western Electric Company in Chicago.
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Origins of IR
What these experiments established was that
work conditions and monetary incentives did
not have a direct relation to output and
behaviour.
What it found instead was that informal work
organisation and work groups had an effect on
output and behaviour.
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Origins of IR
Elton Mayo who conducted the experiments
argued that the worker should be seen as a
human and social being.
This gave rise to the Human Relations school.
Mayo used the Hawthorn experiments to argue
that social disorder and conflict rose from the
breakdown of established society.
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Origins of IR
He promoted the idea of training managers and
administrators in social skills that would allow
for the maintenance of spontaneous co-
operation in industry.
This was the beginning of the Human Relations
School (HRS).
The HRS was criticised for misunderstanding
the causes and nature of industrial conflict.
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Origins of IR
The HRS was also criticised for ignoring trade
unions and industrial relations.
It was out of the criticism of Mayo and his HRS
that studies into industrial relations grew.
In 1948 the Institute of Industrial Relation
Research was founded in the USA.

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Definition
IR starts of with the employment relationship.
This starts as soon as a person is willing to
accept compensation for in exchange for work
employment contract.
This relationship has a legal dimension that is
governed by Labour Legislation.
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Definition
The legal nature of the employment
relationship means there are rights and
obligations on both sides
Management for example has to pay wages
and salaries, provide leave, safe working
conditions and other duties defined in the law
Not to unjustly discriminate against workers
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Definition
Employees are obligated to obey legitimate
work related instructions, to be honest and to
promote the business of the employer.
The employment relationship is embodied in
the contract of employment, and is an
individual relationship between employer and
employee.
It has legal protection.
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Definition
Industrial relations begins with the employment
relationship but moves beyond the employment
relationship.
Without the employment relationship there will
be no industrial relations.
Industrial relations usually involves employees
as a group and employers as a group.
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Definition
Important to remember that not all relations at
work affect industrial relations.
Horseplay & conversation between workers not
part of industrial relation.
The allocations of tasks by a supervisor to
members of his team.
The above is too trivial to be part of IR.
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Definition
On the other hand there are decisions taken by
employers and managers that affect industrial
relations.
For E.G. the opening or closing down of a
workplace.
Introducing new technology or work
organisation.
Allocating a specific distribution of profits.
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Definition
Accepted area of study with its own professors
and university departments.
Many definitions of industrial relations.
Definitions are not all clear and many disagree
on a general definition.
Earliest definition by Dunlop:
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Definition
The central task of a theory of industrial relations is to
explain why particular rules are established in
particular industrial-relations systems and how and
why they change in response to changes affecting the
systemthe rules of the workplace and work
community become the general focus of enquiry to be
explained by theoretical analysisthe study of
industrial relations may therefore be described as a
study of the institutions of job regulation.
34
Definition
Essentially, industrial relations is the process
through which employers and employees
interact, and through which they regulate
conflict at the workplace
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Definition
The world of work is pervaded with rules.
To define IR in terms of a set of rules and
regulations is to confine and restrict IR.
This implies that IR is about maintaining
stability and regulation in industry.
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Definitions
IR is about understanding the processes
through which disagreement and disputes are
generated.
In other words we need to look at the way
employers and employees interact that leads to
problems and conflict.
Within this context we need to look at relations
around the control of work.
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Definition
Control of work is central to a study of IR.
Further we need to understand the sources as
well as the consequence of industrial conflict.
Not only do we need to know where conflict
come from but we also need to know what are
the results of conflict. E.g. dissatisfaction wrt
wages leads to poor work performance.
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Definition
Another definition is one used by Richard
Hyman:
Industrial relations is the study of the
processes of control over work relations; and
among these processes, those involving
collective worker organisation and action are of
particular concern.
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Definition
Hymans definition makes reference to the
processes of work control. In other words we
are concerned with the way managers manage
and the consequences thereof.
Hyman also makes reference to collective
worker organisations in other words trade
unions.
40
Definition
Hyman also makes reference to collective
action by workers.
Worker action can be individualistic or
collective, it is the collective action of workers
that affects industrial relations.
The individual worker has very little power and
it is only through collective action that
management is forced to change.
41
Definition
Important is that the relationship arises from a
work situation
This relationship is between people
It can be individual or collective
A collective involves a trade union
The relationship involves rules, regulations,
processes, structures and institutions
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The Labour Relationship
Human relationship:
Between people at work
Governed by the way work is organised
It has all the dynamics of other human relations
It has its own unique characteristics and problems
Often employees work for the money and not
because they like the job cause problems
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The Labour Relationship
The employer is not interested in the
employee:
Except in the way this person can labour
How hard and fast the person can work
The skills and the abilities of the person
This creates the division between those who work
and those who own and manage