Big Blue and the Unions: IBM, Individualism and Trade Union Strategy

Abstract

The system of industrial relations operated by IBM at its main British manufacturing plant in the west of Scotland is designed to individualise workplace relationships whilst, at the same time, generating employee loyalty to a well-defined corporate culture. The major characteristics of the IBM system are examined, together with the attitudes of a sample of employees towards the company and a number of more general social issues. It is argued that, although most employees have a very positive attachment to the highly individualistic non-union ethos at IBM, this is not reflected either in a generalised hostility to trade unionism per se or by a sympathy toward individualsitic solutions to social problems similar to those espoused by the Thatcher administration of recent years. Although their current work environment seems to indicate little need for trade unions, and the perceptions of most IBM employees of trade union practice are negative, these workers should not be regarded as permanently lost to the trade union movement.