Individualization of the Employment Relationship and the Implications for Trade Unions
| Published date | 01 January 1993 |
| Date | 01 January 1993 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425459310024893 |
| Pages | 5-17 |
| Author | Nicolas Bacon,John Storey |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Individualization
and Trade
Unions
5
Individualization of the
Employment Relationship and
the Implications for Trade
Unions
Nicolas Bacon and John Storey
Loughborough University Business
School,
Loughborough, UK
Introduction
Throughout the 1980s, new management initiatives have increasingly focused
on the individual. Across numerous aspects of the employment relationship
including contracts, appraisal, payment and communications, managers have
increasingly sought
to
bypass
union
officials and deal directly
with the
employee.
Collective
relations which
depended
upon
collective bargaining, joint consultation
and proceduralism have been
de-emphasized.
This has
challenged
the
traditional
post-war pattern of British industrial
relations.
Yet despite talk of
a new
industrial
relations[1]
based upon individualism, the tendency has not been for employers
to use
individualist strategies
to
completely
replace
collectivist
strategies:
rather
these competing approaches have run in parallel[2].
In
conjunction with new management strategies the framework of labour law
has shifted from supporting collectivism towards individualism. The state has
dismantled support for
collective
bargaining,
undermined union security
via
the
closed
shop,
prevented broader
collective
support by drawing in
the
boundaries
of legitimate industrial
action,
and empowered individual members
vis-à-vis
their
union[3].
As a result the influence of
the
unions has been reduced.
The purpose of this article is to explore the effects of these changes on trade
unions and to consider the various responses which unions have made to date
and might
make in the
future.
As a
first
step we
explain
the
workings of
the
new
management techniques in terms of individualism and collectivism. We then
explain
how
developments
in the areas
of industrial
relations,
work organization
and human resources can be viewed as a shift towards individualism. The next
section assesses what implications
the new
developments carry for trade unions
and the final selection considers their responses. Our argument is that unions
have
not,
so far,
done
very
much in
response,
but there are now
signs
of significant
changes built around the concept of
"positive
engagement". This is a "sighting
shot"
article
which tackles many of
the key
themes arising from
the
early stages
of a major new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research project
being conducted at Loughborough University. This present report is a scene-
setter which
analyses a wide range
of secondary
data.
Analysis
of
initial
fieldwork
findings can be expected by mid-1993. Employee Relations,
Vol.
15
No.
1,
1993,
pp. 5-17.
©
MCB
University
Press 0142-5455
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