chapter two the study of employment relations

Copyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Employment Relations: Theory and Practice by Bray, Waring and CooperCopyright 2009 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PowerPoint Slides t/a Employment Relations: Theory and Practice by Bray, Waring and CooperSlides prepared by Chris Martin, University of South Australia

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CHAPTER TWOTHE STUDY OF EMPLOYMENT

RELATIONS


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Overview ER is highly practical and compelling in study and practice General definition – systematic theoretical concepts Descriptive analysis Taxonomies as descriptive devices Rules Patterns of employment relations Models in employment relations Beyond Dunlop


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Introduction Highly practical:

‘Everyone who derives an income through work or who becomes involved in the organisation and management of employees at work is immersed in the practice of employment relations’

Employment relations = organisational performance and employee well-being

How should ER be managed on the macro- and micro-levels?

ER is all about compromise between competing ideas Compelling as a field of academic study and has practical

applications


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Patterns of employment relations

We need to systematically analyse employment relations

First we have to examine the term descriptive analysis– ‘To describe’ is to ‘give an account of’ or ‘state the

characteristics of’ a specific event or instance – but we’re all different

– It’s all about what facts we accept, and therefore interpret– Description can be very subjective


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‘Descriptive’ analysis

While description can be regarded as the first step towards explanation, it must be accompanied by theory

Description does not lead to explanation

Theory = a set of assumptions that can be tested

Describing patterns of employment relations leads to an ability to generalise – to understand other events


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Lewins’ five levels of explanation1. Description – An account of an event or phenomenon from

a particular standpoint, whether it is adopted consciously or unconsciously

2. Taxonomy – A classification scheme designed for a particular purpose that groups together events or phenomena on the basis of similar characteristics

3. Model – A simplification or representation of relationships between events or phenomena that is designed to provide a clearer picture of the world


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Lewins’ five levels of explanation (cont.)4. Law – A statement of a relationship between two or more

variables that inevitably produces the same outcome, in terms of events or phenomena

5. Causal theory – A complete answer to the ‘why’ question, which not only identifies the inevitable relationships between variables but also provides an account of the process by which one determines the other (Lewins 1992, pp.19–27)


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Taxonomies are classification systems designed to identify similar properties or characteristics in diverse events, situations or objects, e.g.– clothes: ‘whites’ and ‘coloured’– cancer: ‘malignant’ and ‘benign’– rules: ‘formal’ and ‘informal’, ‘substantive’ and ‘procedural’

Taxonomies attempt to move analysis from the specific to the general

They also attempt to identify commonalities

Taxonomies as descriptive devices


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Taxonomies – creating order from chaos

While taxonomies help bring order from chaos, they are still largely descriptive – they do not explain much about why events or situations occur


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The parties to employment relations We need to identify and describe the parties involved in ER

– Individuals– Unions– Employers– Employer associations– Government– The Commission

Describing the many features of these organisations (membership, internal governance and structures, goals and philosophies) is essential to gaining an understanding of ER


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Rules Who makes the rules?

– All of the parties can do so, either individually or in combination


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Rules (cont.) There are three main ways that rules may be made

(Flanders 1970):– Unilateral rule making

creation and enforcement of rules by one, single, party (e.g. managerial prerogative)

– Bilateral rule-makingjoint creation and enforcement of rules by two parties (e.g. collective bargaining)

– Multilateral rule-makingwhen three or more parties jointly make and enforce rules (e.g. the Commission with employers and unions)


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Rules (cont.) Authorship of rule-making is vital

– indicates where relative power lies in the employment relationship (e.g. high employer power = low employee power)

– can have important consequences for the effectiveness of rules in influencing the behaviour of the parties to the employment relationship (e.g. more input = greater chance of acceptance)


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Explaining patterns of employment relations

Why do patterns of employment relations vary in different empirical situations?– such as across countries, industries,

enterprises And why do they change over time?


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Description and explanation Explain = ‘make clear’

ER accused of being ‘excessively descriptive’ and ‘atheoretical’

The study of ER is said to fail to ‘make clear the cause or reason for’ observed phenomena or, where explanation occurs, it remains at the level of the specific phenomenon rather than being generalised in order to advance theory

Taxonomies identify commonalities across different situations or events, helping provide an explanation as to their causes and consequences


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Beyond description: explanatory factors and models

Description leads to taxonomies This in turn leads to the

development of– models– laws– causal explanations


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Development of explanatory modelsThe first step: Identify the reasons why events occur or the factors that are

thought to explain particular empirical situations This produces a long list of potential factors, none of which

are specific To move beyond this, link potential factors to form a model.

Models are: ‘representations of something that exists in the world.

They do not exist by themselves but, by their simplified nature, provide a clear picture of the world’

(Lewins 1992, p. 21)


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Models and taxonomies

Models go beyond taxonomies because they attempt to link social phenomena together, thereby indicating relationships and potential lines of causality

Models attempt to show, at a highly simplified level, how various factors affect each other


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Models in employment relationsDunlop (1958) All ‘industrial relations systems’ are comprised of three main

‘actors’ who interact with each other and produce rules to regulate behaviour:– The State– Employees– Employers

Dunlop suggested that industrial relations systems operate within a larger ‘environment’ or ‘context’, which influences the rule-making behaviour of the actors

His work is regarded as being only a model


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Context and agency

Context – ‘the surroundings associated with phenomena which help

to illuminate those phenomena’ (Cappelli and Shearer, cited in Johns 2006, p. 386)

or– ‘stimuli and phenomena that surround and thus exist in

the environment external to the individual’ (Mowbray, cited in Johns 2006, p. 386)


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Context and agency (cont.)

Agency:– The capacity of social actors (like individuals and

organisations) to take action as a result of the choices they make

– Just ‘being’ does not denote acting

Effective causal explanation can only come about through a combination of ‘context’ and ‘agency’


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Context and agency cont Kochan et al (1986, pp. 13-14):

‘A key premise of our framework is that choice and discretion of the part of labour, management and government affect the course and structure of industrial relations systems … Although environmental pressures are important and serve as a starting point for discussion of the determinants of an industrial relations system. These pressures do not strictly determine industrial relations outcomes. Thus an understanding of the choices the parties make in any given period much be informed by an analysis of the structures and history that constrain those choices’


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More on agency We must pay attention to the parties in rule-making in

employment relations– People

All have different values, motives and past experiences Because they are all different, would probably make

different choices in the same situation– Organisations

Are also all different from each other Different purpose, history, governance, goals All these factors impact on what response to a given

situation will be chosen To explain patterns of employment relations, we must

therefore understand people and their organisations


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More on context The most enduring account of the contexts that influence

employment relations was written by Dunlop (1958, p. 9):

‘The actors in an industrial relations system interact in a setting that includes three sets of givens. These features of the environment of an industrial relations system are determined by the larger society and its other sub-systems and are not explained within the industrial relations system. These contexts, however, are decisive in shaping the rules established by the actors in an industrial relations system’


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Dunlop’s ‘interrelated contexts’ Dunlop identified three ‘interrelated contexts:

1. Technology2. Market or budgetary constraints3. Power relations and statutes of the actors

While widely criticised, these three ‘contexts’ have emerged and re-emerged many times as being important explanatory factors in the quest to understand patterns of employment relations in different nations, industries and enterprises


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Technology, markets and power The nature of the technology and the production

process more generally impacts on employment relations, e.g.– fixed or variable workplace– relation of workplace to residence– stability of workforce and operations– size of workgroup– job content– relation of machines to customers– schedules and shifts of the workplace


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Technology, markets and power (cont.) The nature and dynamics of product markets help

to explain the prevailing pattern of employment relations, e.g.– number of competitors– freedom of entry– standardisation of product– availability of substitute products– sources of supply– consumer demand

The nature and distribution of power, e.g. role of the State determines the relative power and status of the actors


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Beyond Dunlop Dunlop added a lot – but his work has flaws:

1. The number of contexts: Only three? There are many others

2. Neglect of values and culture3. The link between external contexts and the internal

operation of industrial relations systems4. The arbitrary separation between the industrial relations

system and other societal ‘sub-systems’5. Levels of analysis6. The definition and impact of ‘context’ implies factors

which are beyond the control of the actors in employment relations


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Beyond Dunlop (cont.)

Explanations of employment relations must acknowledge that the parties to employment relations can have the capacity to influence, as well as be influenced by, the contexts in which they operate

History is a vital context


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An explanatory model of employment relationsBringing it all together1. The neo-institutionalist explanations of employment relations

rest on a pluralist analysis of the employment relationship2. Employment relations operate at various levels

– individual employee– work group– enterprise– industry– national– international

3. Within each level there are a number of parties who interact and compete


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An explanatory model of employment relations (cont.)4. Any explanation of the resultant rules must take into account

the ‘agency’ of the concerned parties5. The explanation must also take into account the ‘context’ in

order to achieve a true and reflective answer6. Each level of ER operates within a number of ‘contexts’7. There is a hierarchy in levels of analysis8. The ‘same-level’ contexts include other factors ‘external’ to

employment relations, but at the same level of analysis9. History is vital


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Summary This chapter has been all about theory Presented ideas and concepts used in the study of

ER Marked difference between ‘description’ and

‘explanation’ Description is important but must be informed by

theory Explanation is a complex exercise and mostly

comes in the form of ‘models’; must combine ‘agency’ and ‘context’

The study of ER is cross-disciplinary

chapter two the study of employment relations

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