Industrial Relations part 1

Development of Industrial Relations

Industrial Relations( The Background)

• The relations between the master craftsman & his co-workers

• The relations were personal, contacts were close, disputes were settled amicably

• Change in the relations between management & workers.

• As the years rolled by, this relationship turned into a complex problem.

• The introduction of limited liability system of investment – distinguished the owner of the company’s capital, its management & its workers.

Industrial Relations

• The personal relations came to a virtual end in modern industry as a result of dynamism in economic relationship.

• Consequently the old master –servant relationship gave place to an improved version of the same thing called employer-employee relations – commonly known as Industrial Relations.


Origins of Industrial Relations

• 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

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

Origins of IR• Under there also existed the master

craftsman, who worked independently and created useful items

• For example: furniture, ox wagons, boats, and this was sold on the market

• Two predominant forms of work under feudalism:– Agriculture/serfdom,

craftsman/independent labourer• Under feudalism there was no industrial

relations

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.

Origins of IR• This process began in the 14th & 15th

century in Britain.• The full impact of this was felt in the

middle of the 18th and the 19th century.• Craft work and agricultural work the major

form of production.• Relationship was between landowner and

tenants and between craftsman and apprentice.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 labour.

• We now enter the era of mass employment and also soon mass unemployment.

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).

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).

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.

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.

Origins of IR

• The aim of Taylor was to fragment work down to its most basic motion.

• His experiments lasted over 26 years.

• Taylor’s work need to be understood within the context of the great depression, mass unemployment, falling profitability and social upheaval.

Origins of IR

• Reaction to Taylor’s 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Definition

• Industrial Relations refers to all types of relations that exist in an industrial enterprise, and they are constituted by employer & employees.

• It denotes all types of intra-group relations within and inter-group relations between these constituent group.

By Edwin Flippo

• Industrial Relations, includes .. individual relations and joint

consultations between employers and work people

.. at the place of work, collective relations between employers and their organisations and the trade unions and the part played by the State in regulating these relations.

J H Richardson 1954

Definition

• Industrial Relations refer to the multilateral relations between employees,employers and government.

Jucius in “Personnel Management”

Definition

• These relations can be

• Formal • Informal and • mixed


• Formal Relations : - established among individual an

an industry by the rules & regulations of the enterprise.

- Formal relations are functional and are determined by the hierarchical order.

( supervisor & worker relationship)


• Informal relations: - The Personal & individualized

relations among the members of the management & employers are called informal relations.

( Between two workers)


• Mixed Relations - neither formal nor informal - established between two persons

in the course of the performance of their professional duties.

- partly personal, partly functional ( mutual adjustment for relieving

each pother for tea etc.) sense of belonging


Determinants of Industrial Relations

• Interpersonal Relations• Attitudes• Job satisfaction• Employee’s Opinion• Labour Turnover • Industrial Absenteeism • Strikes & Lockouts• Worker Participation • Grievances

Industrial Relations Machinery Comprises of

• Conciliation

• Arbitration

• Adjudication

Documents

Industrial Relations part 1