Industrial Relations Research Research Articles

The value of industrial relations research(ers): Activism inside and outside the UK Academy

AbstractBased on an in‐depth study of the lived experiences of industrial relations (IR) researchers in the United Kingdom, we demonstrate that IR has survived and thrived as a result of activism both inside and outside the academy. By adapting teaching and research to reflect the contemporary problems for labor, appropriating the study of human resource management, and creating synergies between service, teaching and learning, and both pure and applied research, the field of IR has experienced renewed intellectual vitality. The activism of IR academics in the United Kingdom signifies a promising future and an experience that IR research(ers) elsewhere can draw on.

Employment in a post-colonial society – The case of Greenland

In the fields of labour market research and industrial relations research, there is increasing interest in post-colonial societies and the labour market outcomes of indigenous peoples. However, existing research has generally underexplored the Greenlandic labour market. This is particularly true for factors associated with the Greenlandic Inuit population's employment outcomes. In this article, we investigate barriers and potentials for labour market participation in Greenland, focusing on individual-level factors that promote or inhibit the likelihood of being employed. We use a unique, nationally representative survey of the working-age population and explore these factors through a series of logistic regression analyses. We find that educational attainment, positive self-assessed health, and the number of people in the household were positively related to employment. Our most important findings and contributions are that respondents who answered the survey in Greenlandic were less likely to be employed compared to those who answered it in Danish. Furthermore, if a respondent was born in Greenland, compared to being born in Denmark, it lowers the likelihood of being employed. We interpret this disparity as evidence of an ethnically segregated labour market with indications of discrimination.

British trade unionism in the 1980s reassessed. are recurring assumptions about union membership and strikes flawed?

ABSTRACT This article questions the hypothesis, put forward by several historians and IR academics, that the 1980s decline in British union membership and strike frequency, was driven by major industrial defeats, a cultural shift away from collectivism, and the adverse effects of the Conservative Government’s anti-union legislation. In contrast, this paper argues that international economic developments, most notably the globalisation of manufacturing production, along with the British Conservative Government’s economic policies, which resulted in mass unemployment in heavily unionised areas of the economy, were the principal reasons for the declines in union membership and strike frequency during the 1980s. In support of this theory, my article draws upon extensive contemporaneous research, which I conducted when I worked in the Industrial Relations Research Unit at the University of Warwick in the late 1980s. This research illustrates how strike frequency and union membership fell in the early and mid-1980s, before membership stabilized, and the frequency of strikes relative to the number of unionised workplaces increased, during the short-lived economic upturn of the late 1980s.

Power and bias in industrial relations research

AbstractWe survey 20,439 estimates from 64 distinct research areas to assess power, bias and statistical significance in industrial relations research. The average estimate published in industrial relations research lacks adequate power; average power is 33 per cent, and median power is only 14 per cent, much lower than the conventional 80 per cent standard. Low power means that industrial relations researchers will find it more difficult to detect important associations pertaining to workplace relations. Low power also leads to exaggerated research findings. We find substantial publication bias in industrial relations research, though nearly half of the research areas have little or no bias.

Trade union strategies to tackle labour market insecurity: Geography and the role of Sheffield TUC

AbstractThis paper analyses the role of trades councils and trade unions in organising within local and regional contexts around the challenges facing and potential union strategies for addressing the needs of insecure and precarious workers. We deploy a case study on the Sheffield Trade Union Council and the Sheffield Needs A Pay Rise campaign as a way of exploring innovations and challenges for the trade union movement for organising the unorganised. We explore the potentials as well as limitations of local organising and campaigning around insecurity and marginalisation by trade unions to demonstrate theoretically and empirically within industrial relations research the role of strategic spaces for action by workers and trade unions and the set of institutional, economic, social and cultural resources that workers can draw on in developing their respective strategies.

The potential of archival methods in industrial relations, sociology of work, management and HRM research: a case study of the relationship between temporary employment agencies and the state in the UK during the 1980s

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the contribution of archival data and historical methods to impactful research in industrial relations, the sociology of work, management studies and Human Resource Management. Whilst archival methods are widely used in some of these fields of research, there has also been considerable debate in these fields over the challenges of conducting impactful research using archival data. The paper draws on archival records from the National Archives in the UK to explore the evolving relationship between private temporary employment agencies and the state over the 1980s. The paper highlights how the actions of specific labour market actors, particularly lobbying activities by private agencies, and the changing economic and political climate over the 1980s, impacted on perceptions and attitudes within government towards temporary employment agencies. In doing so, the paper sheds new light on the early evolution of what are now recognised as important dynamics shaping the contemporary employment agency industry.

A Game of Two-Halves: World War II and the Institutionalization of Human Relations in the U.S.

Much has been made about the enduring legacy of the human relations movement, especially how it shed new light on tensions between labor and management in industry. Histories of human relations have played a game of ‘two halves.’ On the on hand, scholars have furnished our understanding of the Hawthorne Studies and their numerous implications on management and organization. However, on the other, this plethora of research has not yet fully considered the impact of World War II and its contribution to the institutionalization of early human relations. What we set out to address in this paper is how the War formed a specific historic context from which leading voices such as Elton Mayo and Chester Barnard helped institutionalize the nascent human relations movement as a focal of management and industrial relations research. We reassemble archival material from four archives that help trace the influence and impact of the War on human relations theorizing in the United States during the early 1940s. We conclude by suggesting the war brought about new thinking on the importance (and attention) of social relations at work.

Collaborating for policy impact: Academic-practitioner collaboration in industrial relations research

Knowledge co-production between academics and practitioners is increasingly a focus for university workplace contexts. While there is emerging interest in how social science academics can engage with industry to generate impact, little attention has been paid to how one form of practitioner organisation, trade unions, engages with academics to influence policy and member outcomes. In this article, we examine a case of research collaboration with an education trade union based in New South Wales, Australia, to explore the process of knowledge co-production with this partnership and its impact on education policy. In examining this decade-long partnership, we contribute to the literature on union strategy by depicting collaboration with researchers as a unique strategy for influencing policy outcomes (in this case, addressing teacher workload), while also contributing to emerging scholarship on knowledge co-production as a means to generate impact beyond the academy. As such, this article contributes a rare example of ‘cross-over’ between the worlds of academia and industry, which may inform future engagement and impact processes.

Introduction: Frames and framing in human relations and industrial relations research

Introduction: Frames and framing in human relations and industrial relations research

Addressing problems for labour not problems of labour: the need for a paradigm shift in work and industrial relations policy

ABSTRACT This article argues that the policy framework governing work and industrial relations in Australia and other liberal market economies is stuck in an outdated paradigm fixated on solving problems of labour that have diminished or no longer exist, such as excessive union power and overt forms of industrial conflict. This policy framework is poorly equipped for addressing increasingly urgent problems for labour, such as growing inequality and workforce insecurity. Drawing upon neo-pluralist ideas and the findings emerging from industrial relations research, the article presents recommendations for what a new industrial relations policy framework would look like. It advocates for the adoption of a neo-pluralist policy paradigm focused on the creation of quality employment, worker wellbeing, redistribution in bargaining and wage determination, fairer labour immigration policies, stronger protections against gender-based inequalities, and increased job security.

Managerial Motivation to Promote Prosocial and Protective Voice: An Integration and Path Forward

Building on disparate voice research traditions from organizational behavior (OB), industrial relations (IR) and strategic human resource management (SHRM), we develop a series of propositions that explain managerial motivations for promoting two key forms of employee voice - prosocial and protective. Whereas prosocial voice is a voluntary and discretionary action by employees aimed at helping the organization succeed, protective voice refers to actions or behaviors by employees meant to safeguard their workplace rights and interests. Our arguments are rooted in the fundamental importance of both forms of voice for a sustainable, balanced employment relationship and we draw upon a theory of decision making - regulatory focus theory - to understand how management of an organization may emphasize one, both or neither form of voice. In addition to advancing the study of voice itself, the value of our broader conceptualization of this topic is shown through linkages to employment research in OB, IR and SHRM more generally.

The Construct and Dimensions of the Coupling of Enterprise HRMPs and Labor Union Practices

With the reform of labor unions at the grassroots level in China, labor unions are exerting an increasingly positive influence on enterprises. In particular, under the current situation of increasing work pressure of employees and more labor disputes in enterprises, the roles of labor unions in improving employees’ emotions and behaviors and enterprises’ labor relations have attracted more and more attention. Unlike the tripartite industrial relationship model of “government-enterprise-employee （union）” in Western countries represented by the United States in which labor unions directly represent employees’ interests, the industrial relationship in China is characterized by a four-party model of “government-enterprise-employee-union” in which enterprise labor unions try to coordinate the interests of enterprises and employees. Under this circumstance, human resource management practices （HRMPs） and labor union practices restrict one another and cooperate with each other, forming a coupling relationship of mutual influence and interdependence, and achieve results that are difficult to be achieved by a single subject. However, theoretical research on this phenomenon lags behind management practices.Following the procedure of construct domain specification, this study first explores the importance of the phenomenon and the conceptual definition of the construct of the coupling relationship, and then uses the qualitative research method of the grounded theory to identify the three components of the coupling relationship: mutual recognition, coordination and supervision. Specifically, the coupling relationship has the foundation of mutual recognition with the institutional guarantee of government laws and regulations, as well as the interdependence of HRMPs and labor union practices. The coupling relationship also has a wide range of agendas for coordination, integrating resources in many aspects such as managing labor relations, developing employee care, promoting corporate culture, improving employee participation, enhancing employee capabilities, and facilitating corporate innovation. Besides, the coupling relationship has the unique value of correcting each other and achieving sustainability through mutual supervision between the two, such as the participation of labor unions in the formulation of human resource management policies, the supervision of labor unions on human resource management to protect employees’ legal rights and fulfill contract obligations, and joint participation in collective negotiation.This study makes several main contributions: First, it explores the construct of the coupling of HRMPs and labor union practices in Chinese enterprises, promoting indigenous studies on the relationship between the two types of practices. Second, it initially reveals the contents of the coupling relationship including mutual recognition, coordination and supervision, thus providing new insights for enterprises to improve HRMPs with the help of labor union practices, and offering guidance to improve operational efficiency for grassroots labor unions. Third, it promotes the integration of knowledge in the field of human resource management and industrial relations research, which is conducive to understanding and resolving labor conflicts. This provides practical implications for Chinese enterprises to build harmonious labor relations, thereby to safeguard employees’ interests and promote enterprises’ development simultaneously.

Confronting Race and Other Social Identity Erasures: The Case for Critical Industrial Relations Theory

Despite the salience of racism and other “isms” woven into the fabric of US society, there is a dearth of industrial relations (IR) scholarship that engages critical race and intersectional theory (CRT/I) to deeply understand how structural racism and other social identity-based systems of oppression govern labor and employment systems. The authors call for the incorporation of CRT/I into IR to address the erasure of vital counter-narratives and to expand our empirical cases for labor and employment research. Focusing on leading scholarship on worker organizing, the authors confront white dominance in our research questions, methodologies, and analyses to illustrate how traditional “color-blind” and meritocracy-based IR theories lead to the exclusion of relevant knowledge. In an era of heightened public discourse and worker uprisings in response to deep-rooted systemic inequities, critical industrial relations research is vital to the field’s relevance and its expertise in explaining the nature and consequences of contemporary labor contestations and their impact on the future of the labor movement.

From industrial relations research to Global Labour Studies: moving labour research beyond Eurocentrism

ABSTRACT The traditional industrial relations approach – focused on the state, employers and unions as main actors – faces severe limits in its capacity to analyse labour conflict in the face of the specific forms of labour regulation in the Global South. This contribution argues that a solid theoretical framework for Global Labour Studies requires a critique of its forerunner, the industrial relations approach. A globally relevant understanding of labour conflict in the twenty-first century requires to abandon the main assumptions of this forerunner. A new theoretical framework for the analysis of labour conflict can build on the debates around social movement unionism and the research agenda of labour geography that include other places and spaces of labour mobilization than the workplace and the trade union into their epistemological perspective. Such a conception allows to analyse labour conflict at the level of the social formation, and not just as something relegated to or emanating from the economic sphere.

Consumer ‘app-etite’ for workers' rights in the Australian ‘gig’ economy

The emergence of the ‘gig’ economy is disrupting industries, reshaping the organisation of work and the terms and conditions under which work is carried out. In effect, the terms and conditions of ‘gig’ work mean that minimum standards, for example minimum wages, that are attached to work in advanced capitalist economies like Australia, regularly do not apply to ‘gig’ work. This study explores the attitudes and understandings of Australian consumers towards work conditions and entitlements in app-based food-delivery services. The study explores whether consumers are willing to pay to ensure ‘gig’ workers receive equivalent minimum entitlements and whether an awareness-raising treatment influences their moral consumption behaviours. This is achieved by employing a survey and a choice experiment to assess moral decision-making of consumers. To date, a moral dimension in discrete choice models has been dominated by sustainability in transport, discussed from the perspective of personal lifestyle or adherence to social norm. The study's focus on consumers and their concern for worker entitlements, therefore, makes a unique contribution. Our findings demonstrate that consumers have a very low awareness of worker entitlements in the ‘gig’ economy. While the choice experiment highlights that a significant proportion of the treatment group was willing to pay more to increase the earnings and conditions of food-delivery workers, at the same time it found that their willingness to pay would unlikely result in a sustained improvement in working conditions and lead to ‘decent work’ standards. The study further highlights that bridging the boundary between choice modelling methodologies and industrial relations research offers potential insights into the moral motivations behind decisions made by industrial relations actors.

Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law, edited by Janice R.Bellace and Beryl terHaar. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2019, 528 pp., ISBN: 978‐1‐78642‐310‐7, £195.00 (US$290.00)

Research Handbook on Labour, Business and Human Rights Law, edited by Janice R.Bellace and Beryl terHaar. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2019, 528 pp., ISBN: 978‐1‐78642‐310‐7, £195.00 (US$290.00)

SOME CHALLENGES IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARATIVE RESEARCH

The paper examines the application of qualitative methods in comparative research in a recent international project Industrial Relations in Multilingual Environments at Work (IR MultiLing) which explored how the use of languages other than a dominant language may affect labour relations in various work situations in Europe. The novelty of the current research covered in this paper lies in the fact that it investigates some challenges in developing the best ways of creating an analytical framework when conducting cross-cultural research involving multinational teams of researchers from France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. It also analyses approaches in completing an effective comparison of the contexts and findings across various cultures. Although, there are many examples of qualitative research in literature, this paper aims at exploring some credible approaches in conducting cross-cultural research by international teams of scholars at several key stages: desk research and contextualisation, identifying clear parameters for fieldwork, systematising and comparing findings of the research. The purpose of this research is to provide guidance and some tools to researchers engaged in cross-cultural comparative research using qualitative methods.

Regulation, migration and the implications for industrial relations

The debate on migration has extended the scope of industrial relations research and brought questions of regulation to the centre. We suggest that there is a mutuality to the relationship between the debates around migration and regulation within the industrial relations literature: the study of migration has stimulated a new set of debates within industrial relations that allow us to reconsider issues of regulation; in turn, the study of regulation offers a useful perspective on issues relating to migration. The article applies an analytical framework based on the interplay of regulatory spaces and actors to the study of international migration. The framework offers a dynamic approach to mapping the wide range of actors involved in the regulation of migration and the boundaries between regulatory spaces, which may be fluid and contested. Through applying this framework, industrial relations issues relating to migration are located within a wider view of both regulation and the international movement of people.

A manifesto for ‘slow’ comparative research on work and employment

We offer a defence of, and framework for, comparative research in industrial and employment relations, based on a long-term engagement with the social contexts under study. We locate ‘slow’ research strategies in relation to predominant approaches and establish a number of basic precepts of slow comparativism as a practical methodological approach. We aim to provoke a discussion among those conducting comparative research on work and employment about how truth claims are generated. We also seek a basis by which those conducting slower forms of comparativism, through what we term ‘implicit ethnographies’, can find better ways of developing and defending their modes of research within an often hostile academic political economy.

How ‘skill’ definition affects the diversity of skilled immigration policies

ABSTRACT Increasingly, governments focus on skilled immigration not only to fill labour market gaps but also due to a perceived political preference for such migration. Across debates in major immigrant-receiving nations, we observe an assumption that the ‘skill’ in ‘skilled immigration’ is clearly definable and easily differentiated from ‘unskilled’ or ‘semi-skilled’ migrant labour. Academic research in industrial relations and economics provides a more complex reading of the concept of ‘skill’ by interrogating the ways in which skill is accumulated. This article reviews concepts of ‘skill’ embedded in skilled immigration policies in five major Western democratic jurisdictions. It demonstrates the plurality of approaches to defining ‘skill’ within political and policy debates in these countries, and links these back to the prevailing theoretical perspectives. The article argues that greater attention by policy-makers and scholars of skilled immigration to the theoretical assumptions underpinning their preferred models of skilled immigration would better reveal the gendered and racialised biases of existing approaches to skills definition.