Preview

System and Change in Industrial Relations Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
990 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
System and Change in Industrial Relations Analysis
Critique: System and Change in Industrial Relations Analysis As a student of industrial relations, I am often bombarded with conflicting theories and reasons for the emergence and importance of this field. Edmond Heery outlines and analyses the justaposition of two different views of modeling this vast and often debated area of industrial relations. His article looks at two types of model building in IR. First, the traditional model of systems-thinking set forth by John Dunlop, one of the pioneers of IR theory. Introduced in 1958, Dunlop’s system theory of IR tries to provide tools to understand the widest possible range of IR activities and explains why particular rules are established in particular contexts. Dunlop argues that IR can be studied as an independent field in an industrial society (much like economics). The systems theory makes use of four related elements: Actors- workers and their institutions, management, government institutions; Contexts- technical characteristics of workplace, budgetary constraints, locus and distribution of power in society; Rules- procedural and substantive; Functional ideology- integration, ie., IR regulates conflict by playing by the rules.

The relationship between these elements is twofold- not only does the IR context influence the IR actors and the rules they creat, the actors’ shared acceptance of the common idealogy (the IR game played by the rules) helps bind the system as a whole.

Heery goes on to outline several criticisms of Dunlop’s rather classic and still widely studied systems theory. A starting criticism of the systems theory is that it views IR as an independent field with an inherent theory. Critics want to push back this boundary and argue that IR was and is deeply connected with and determined by economics, politics, social, domestic, and familial relationships of the time and place in history. Another criticism is that Dunlop has over simplified his description of actors. For example, critics

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Bsbhrm504A

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Industrial relations are the relationships between employees and employers within the organizational settings. The field of industrial relations looks at the relationship between management and workers, particularly groups of workers represented by a union. Industrial relations are basically the interactions between employers, employees and the government, and the institutions and associations through which such interactions are mediated…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Industrial relations exam notes

    • 27230 Words
    • 109 Pages

    Employment and Industrial Relations Law Notes Employment and Industrial Relations Law Notes – S1/2007 Table of Contents Topic 1 – Australian Labour Laws .................................................................................................. 6 What are labour laws? ......................................................................................................................…

    • 27230 Words
    • 109 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Zenith Medical Systems Incorporated is a relatively new firm that specializes in manufacturing and distributing information management systems for health care institutions. Zenith is a joint organization comprised of a major computer firm and a supplier of hospital products. Since the health care sector is continually growing and becoming more complex, the need for computer systems to accommodate for these changes increases. Zenith’s objective is to “develop an integrated system for patient records, staff and facilities scheduling, materials management, medication tracking, and financial management, in place of the separate systems that now exist in most cases” (p. 25). With that said, there are six departments in place: Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Systems Development, Systems Installations, and Systems Maintenance. In the beginning stages of operations, Zenith became the number one supplier of three firms that specialized in very different software systems.…

    • 9055 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Edwards, P.K. (1992) ‘Industrial Conflict: Themes and Issues in Recent Research’ British Journal of Industrial Relations [Internet] 30 (3), pp.361-404 Available from: <http://web.ebscohost.com.chain.kent.ac.uk/ehost/pdf?vid=3&hid=101&sid=87c7d954-43a2-4835-9296-11c273bd6cfb%40sessionmgr109> [Accessed February 25th, 2007]…

    • 2176 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Norma Rae Research Paper

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fossum, J. A. (2009). Labor relations: Development, structure, process (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The importance of industrial relations is the key to the progress and success of an organization. The important benefit of them is to ensure continuity of production. This means continuous employment for all from the managers to the workers. Disputes are the reflections of the failure of basic human urges or motivations to secure adequate satisfaction or expression that are fully cured by good industrial relations. Strikes, lockouts, unfair tactics, and grievances are a few of the reflections of industrial unrest and do not appear in an atmosphere of the industrial calm. In the end “good” industrial relations depends on which theory you find more persuasive: unitarism, radicalism, or pluralism.…

    • 1550 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Industrial relations policies are the regulations that describe how the organisation manages its operational processes in order to be able to achieve the organisations strategic and business objectives within a quality framework.…

    • 1656 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Fossum, J. A. (2011). Labor relations (11th ed., international ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education ;.…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    McCallum, R., (1996) The New Millennium and The Higgins Heritage: Industrial Relations in the 21st Century, Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 38, no. 2, pp.294-312.…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bray, M., Deery, S., Walsh, J., and Warning, P., 2005, Industrial Relations: A Contemporary Approach, 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Australia.…

    • 2524 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mhc 601

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Industrial Relation is a relation of employer and employees and also covers the relationship between employees and employees and employees and trade unions and the “process by which people and their organizations interact at the places of work to establish the terms and conditions of employment” – Industrial dispute Act 1947.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Changes in the Workplace

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I believe the work environments can be positive or negative on the psychology health and workplace. The work environment has many properties that can affect both psychological and physical well-being, which is important to understand those aspects of work environments as well as identifying psychosocial characteristics of the workplace, which can affect his or her health. The first step is to create a psychologically workplace, which takes commitment and time to develop a strategy to effect changes at the workplaces to improve the health of all employees. For example: the choices that each person makes and how the individual treats his or her bodies; not only affects the individual health but also the individual mental health, which can be carried over to the workplace causing unwanted stress. Also lack of sleep making it hard to concentrate, irritated with the employees, and unable to do his or her daily tasks that the job requires, which can make the workplace more difficult. Unhealthy diet can make the individual sick and unable to complete the job that’s needs to be done, as well as mental stress that can cause more health problems.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The system theory of John Dunlop is one of the traditional perspectives on the employment relationship. He trusts that if stakeholders bound together over a settled ‘web of rules’ can be seen as a distinct system in industrial relation. According to Dunlop (cited in Teicher, Holland & Gough 2006, p.34), he explains “The establishment and administration of these rules is the major concern or output of the industrial relation sub system of industrial society...”. His system theory provides the knowledge, process and practices to the employment relationship. The structure of Dunlop’s system theory which mainly contain four elements, 1) The Actors in a system, 2) The Contexts of a system, 3) The Establishment of rules, 4) The Ideology of an Industrial Relation System (Dunlop 1984, p.35). Three groups of actors to interact with each others are managers and their representatives, employee and spokesmen, and the other governmental agencies with an interest in industrial relations. Besides, the environmental factors can be affecting through the process. Dunlop (1984) identifies three aspects of the context and they are technological factors, the market or budgetary factors and the locus and distribution of power. The third part in Dunlop system theory is the establishments of rules which call web of rules as well. Procedural rules and Substantive rules are two types of rule in the system to use to govern the employment relationship. Abbott (2013) note that procedural rules are about process, to use established and administered rules to consider the means and it can help for settle down dispute caused by labour contracts. Besides, it is to make rules and can be applied to particular situation. He mentions the remuneration rates, rate of damages, responsibility and presentation of employees are the examples of substantive rules and its terms and conditions use to regulate the workplace relation between…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Industrial Relation

    • 3986 Words
    • 16 Pages

    TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................... 3 HOW TO USE THE FILO-TEXT? ............................................................................................................... 4 ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Individual Assignment................................................................................................................................. 5 Mid-term Examination................................................................................................................................. 5 Team Project ............................................................................................................................................... 5 FINAL E XAMINATION.................................................................................................................................... 6 ATTENDANCE.............................................................................................................................................. 6 FEES............................................................................................................................................................... 6 CONTACT TIME…

    • 3986 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Discuss the impact of the State (Government) on the conduct of industrial relations under the…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics