Employment relations in small service organizations. The case of general practice
| Date | 01 February 1997 |
| Pages | 67-80 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459710163598 |
| Published date | 01 February 1997 |
| Author | John Newton,Jo Hunt |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employment
relations in
small service
organizations
67
Employment relations in small
service organizations
The case of general practice
John Newton
Division of Employment Studies, University of Northumbria,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK and
Jo Hunt
University of Durham, Durham, UK
Introduction
The discipline of industrial relations has developed theories and concepts to
understand the structure and processes of employment relations in the settings
which have hitherto dominated the twentieth century world of work. Thus,
industrial relations in large scale manufacturing organizations, largely staffed
by male manual workers, have frequently, if not typically, been characterized by
institutionalized antagonism between employers and employees and with terms
and conditions being settled through formal and informal bargaining.
Explanatory models have ranged from Marxist to pluralist (Gospel and Palmer,
1993). Although this formalized, collectivized and now legalized system of
industrial relations is still the predominant mode of job regulation in many
sectors of the economy the rapid growth of service industries and service
employment (Naylor and Purdie, 1992) is creating different arrangements. Many
of the firms and organizations in the service sector are small; women form the
majority of their workforces (Department of Employment, 1992); and, according
to a recent report: “trade unions (have) made little impact on these firms” (Curran
et al., 1993, p. v). Such features may require a revision of the theories and models
used to describe and explain industrial relations in manufacturing industries.
Previous attempts to describe the character of employment relations in small
non-unionized organizations have often been criticized for over generalizing
(Curran, 1991). Early commentaries, for example, tended to concentrate on the
nature of interpersonal relations between managers/owners and employees and
smallness was seen as positively conducive to personal, informal and
harmonious relations (Bolton Report, 1971). More recent research has shown
this to be a “modern myth” (Rainnie, 1985) and has refined our understanding
of the market position of small firms by the development of typologies of their
dependency relationship with large firms (Rainnie, 1989). These relations have
subsequently been shown to influence a range of management styles from
“fraternalism” and “paternalism” to “autocrac y” and “sweating” (Goss, 1991).
These analyses, however, are based on studies of small firms. There have
been very few studies of employment relations in small non-profit making Employee Relations,
Vol. 19 No. 1, 1997, pp. 67-80.
© MCB University Press, 0142-5455
Received October 1995
Revised March 1996
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