Static and dynamic views of conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship. A new kind of time-based theory with implications for non-standard work forms
| Published date | 29 July 2014 |
| Pages | 780-797 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-07-2012-0109 |
| Date | 29 July 2014 |
| Author | Anthony M. Gould,Guillaume Desjardins |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Static and dynamic views of
conflict and cooperation in the
employment relationship
A new kind of time-based theory with
implications for non-standard work forms
Anthony M. Gould and Guillaume Desjardins
Department of Industrial Relations, Laval University, Que
´bec, Canada
Abstract
Purpose – The employment relationship is beset by an incongruous mix of bases for cooperation and
conflict. Scholars have attempted to reconcile the simultaneous presence of convergent and divergent
interests between capital and labour in several ways and distinctive bodies of theory addressing this
matter have emerged. However,to date , attempts to incorporate the role that the passage of time plays
in changing the ratio of conflict to cooperation in the employment relationship have mostly been
inadequate. This essay presents a theory about this issue based on six tenets. The paper aims to
discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach – A critical review of existing genres of literature addressing
conflict and cooperation in the employment relationship and a conceptual contribution to a perceived
generic limitation of these bodies of literature.
Findings – A new conceptualization of the elements causing conflict and cooperation between
employers and their employees.The theo ry presented is modular and mostly compatible with the work
of earlier scholars. It has theoretical and practical application and aids in understanding the strategic
management consequences of new employment forms when other pertinent variables are held
constant.
Practical implications – The paper offersa fresh perspective on new employmentforms in particular
Originality/value – A new conceptualization of the elements causing conflict and cooperation
between employers and their employees. The new view is not necessarily incompatible with earlier
perspectives but does have potential to create genuinely new research paradigms and reframe certain
contemporary debates about non-standard work in particular.
Keywords Critical, Conflict/cooperation, Non-standard work, Pluralsim, Unitarism
Paper type Conceptual p aper
Introduction
Those who have worked for a living will probably have at least an implicit awareness
that their relationship with a boss is inc lined to be mar red by misaligned interests.
This point has been made more formally by scholars who note that in liberal market
economies, and the private sector in par ticular, employers and employees have certain
patently incompatible objectives (e.g. Edwards, 1986). Notable amongst these are the
way work is carried out and pay-rates. However there are, at least in theory, aspects
of the employment relationship where each par ty’s ambitions are well-matched and
it mostly seems that employees and employers can maintain a relationship which
embraces civility and even mutual respect. This kind of – apparently natural – institutional
robustness provides ongoing advantage for employers in particular. Such benefits are
often sold to a workforce by HR managers who point out tha t if an employing entity
ceases to exist, workers are likely to be deprived of their livelihood (e.g. Williams
and Adam-Smith, 2010). Hence, since the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
Received 9 July 2012
Revised 28 October 2013
8 January 2014
Accepted 25 April 2014
Personnel Review
Vol. 43 No. 5, 2014
pp. 780-797
rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-07-2012-0109
780
PR
43,5
the Nation State, the paradox of the simultaneous existence of conflict and cooperation
in the employment relationship has intrigued interested observers as well as
labour-relations scholars. This paper revisits this issue, hencefor th referred to as the
coexistence problem, reviews some well-known theory and adds a new dimension
to the debate.
Perspectives of conflict and cooperation between capital and labour typically say
little about how an employment relationship changes through time. In this sense,
theory is mostly cross-sectional and assumes or implies that the nature of a boss’s
interaction with their workforce is fixed at a single point. Where theories do introduce a
temporal dimension, they typically do so implicitly and/o r via discussion of masking
variables. In defense of the work of previous theorists, it is noteworthy that there are
compelling reasons to treat employment dynamism as being creat ed from the interplay
of social and economic variables rather than the mere passage of time. Inde ed, it
sometimes seems fruitless to attempt to decontextualize an institution which seems so
embedded. For example scholars such as Ramsay (1977), in reflecting on worker
participation arrangements, argue that the nature and characte r of the employment
relationship is influenced by elements such as economic fluctuation and the boom-bust
cycle. This perspective views the passage of time as inconsequential and/or as merely a
covariant with the real drivers of change in the ratio of cooperation to conflict betwe en
capital and labour. However, in spite of the employment relationship being best viewed
as more organic than mechanistic, it will be shown that it is important to determine
how the mere passage of time may affect conflict and cooperation when other relevant
variables are held constant.
Despite diverse ideas – and distinct genres of literature – about how the
employment relationship exists in perpetuity, a cursory reading of relevant literature
often leaves the impression that the relative mix of conflict and cooperation between
capital and labour will be the same on the day a worker is engaged as it will be on their
ten-year anniversary in the same job. The current paper, through its review of key
theory, sheds light on this assumption and presents an argument about the role time
plays in mediating conflict and cooperation. It is concluded that sc holars have either
largely overlooked this issue or, as with Ramsay’s (1977) work, unduly downplayed
the unique contribution played by elapsed time in shaping employment relations.
The paper also provides a testable theory about how notions of a short and long
term may influence conflict and cooperation between capital an d labour. This
conception – based on six tenets – creates a series of predictions which have particular
relevance to new employment forms. Such implications will be briefly explored.
By way of preamble, some definitions are presented. First, time is defined as
chronological time; that is elapsed days, weeks or months and should be distinguished
from other conceptions including glacial time (Ur ry, 2000). This view gives rise
to notions of the short and long term. Economists routinely create this dichotomy to
differentiate circumstances where, respectively, one vs several factors of production is
free to vary (Branton and Livingstone, 1989). However here, the distinction refers to
qualitatively different psychological states; a matter which is taken up. Cooperation is
viewed as employee behaviour which aids an employer and which is not contractually
obliged (e.g. Fox, 1974).
This paper has a three-part structu re. First there is a literature review focusing on
exposing different perspectives of the simultaneous existence of conflict and
cooperation in the employment relationship. It is noted that the conception of elapsed
time is either overlooked an d/or addressed merely obliquely (via the notion of change)
781
Static and
dynamic views
of conflict and
cooperation
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