The Management of Craft Work: A Case Study of an Oil Refinery
| Published date | 01 November 1986 |
| Author | Kelvin Young |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1986.tb00691.x |
| Date | 01 November 1986 |
British Journal
of
Industrial Relations
24:3
November
1986
0007-1080
$3.00
The Management
of
Craft Work:
A
Case Study
of
an
Oil
Refinery
Kelvin
Young
*
INTRODUCTION
At Mobil Oil’s Coryton Refinery craft demarcations have been abolished by
an agreement reached in May
1984,
and a fully flexible ‘Refinery Craftsman’
has been introduced. This change attracted considerable media attention:
the Financial Times, for example, in its
2
July,
1984
edition stated: ‘The eyes
of much of British industry will be watching the progress of the radical new
agreement between Mobil Oil and its unions to abolish craft demarcations
amongst maintenance workers at Coryton Refinery.’ The report went on to
comment that the agreement was significant in that it has been achieved on a
site where demarcation had existed for some thirty years, rather than on a
‘green-field’ site where the scope is obvious for establishing new, ‘modern’,
non-restrictive working practices from the outset.
Cross
(1985)
in his recent book ‘Towards the Flexible Craftsman’
states:
The Maintenance Agreement between the Craft Unions at Coryton Refinery and
Mobil Oil stands out. The implementation in particular of the substantive and
procedural elements
of
the agreement are drawing upon resources which may take
productivity bargaining into a new era. Both direct changes in working practices
and indirect ones
of
organisational change are beginning to occur
. . .
If it meets
the goals
of
Mobil management and the craftsmen, it will surely set the goal for
others to aim.
This article is an historical and empirical study which describes and
analyses developments at Coryton Refinery. Two preliminary points must
be made. Firstly, as Cross
(1985)
implies, the developments at Coryton do
not simply revolve around modifications to working practices
-
they go
much deeper than this. Other complementary changes have been initiated
*
Kelvin
Young,
Industrial Relations Adviser at Coryton Refinery,
1982-1985.
364
British
Journal
of
tndustrial Relations
or are being developed. The organisational structure has been changed,
the role of supervision has been redefined and the management style is
being transformed with the emphasis on workforce participation and
involvement
-
to
a strategy broadly in line with what Friedman
(1977)
has
described as ‘responsible autonomy’. In short, what is happening at
Coryton amounts to a total restructuring of the management of craft work,
encompassing the overall culture of the workplace. Secondly, the new
agreement did not simply happen overnight.
It
was the end-result of a
series of events which involved a mixture of planning and opportunism on
the part of management and included lengthy negotiations with trade
unions. The agreement can be seen as the most recent development in a
series of changes.
The article will begin
by
describing the
key
features of industrial
relations and craft work at Coryton prior to the
1984
agreement. It will
then look at developments in the management of craft work from
1965
to
1984,
covering the areas highlighted in figure
1. 1965
has been taken as the
starting point as
it
was the date
of
the last major productivity agreement
affecting craft work at the refinery. The period immediately preceding the
1984
agreement, the agreement itself and associated changes are explored
in detail.
FIGURE
1
The Management
of
Craft
Work
1965-1984
and
IWIIIL,II Cui,text
1‘165
Reintroduction Re-mergence
IW
->
of
paid
4
olcrnfl
-.+
Virihlc inclficiencies prndurlivily
overtime dcmarcaliunr Agreemen,
in
working
practices
+
I
T
.L
I
cnnlractor clficiency
allcrnalive
Mnnagemenl
use
Conlraclor
19Plk: Economic
and
Polificnl Context
The article will focus on management strategies and initiatives, an area
of study which, following Braverman’s ‘Labour and Monopoly Capital’
(1974),
has received increasing attention in recent years (see, for example,
Edwards
(1979),
Friedman
(1977),
Storey
(1983),
Thurley and Wood
(1983),
Wood and Kelly
(1982)
).
Specifically, it will examine strategies
and initiatives taken by management to achieve its prime objective in
relation to craft work
-
improving the productivity level of the craft
workforce. These strategies and initiatives will be linked
to
the prevailing
economic and political context. The context will be seen as a prime
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