Industrial relations

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Under industrial relations (also: labor relations ) is the relationship between the management of a company and its employees as well as the relations between employers' organizations and trade unions . As a “third party”, the state acts as a legislator that determines the framework and as an employer in the public sector.

To the subject

The term is a loan translation of the English term industrial relations . The term is criticized for the fact that industry is understood more comprehensively in English (in the sense of "trade") than the German term "industry". As a synonym also the term working relationships (ger .: labor relations ) needed.

Ralf Dahrendorf introduced the term in 1956 with his publication Industrial and Business Sociology in the German-speaking world. He saw it as a "mediating intermediate level between entrepreneurs and workers". Walther Müller-Jentsch later described the term as an interdisciplinary field of research after he had published the first German textbook for this subject area in 1986 with the title Sociology of Industrial Relations .

From a systems- theoretical perspective, industrial relations form a subsystem of modern capitalist society (see Dunlop, Wood et al., Rogowski).

Details

Industrial relations are a research area in business administration , industrial and business sociology, and economic sociology . As a starting point, this is based on the following facts: The economic exchange of wages for work performance contractually agreed on the labor market leads to social cooperation and conflict relationships between management and employees / works council or between employers' association and trade union in a company or branch (branch of the economy) in a state or a transnational economic area such as B. the EU (relations between the umbrella organizations of employers and employees).

In the historical course of industrialization , industrial relations were initially characterized by unregulated social conflicts (up to the " machine storm ") and radical political repression. It was not until the 20th century that arenas of negotiation emerged at different levels - companies, branches of industry, nation-states, and the European Economic Area. In these, the respective “collective actors ” (such as management and works councils, employers 'and workers' organizations and state institutions) conclude contracts and agreements on the conditions of the employment and employment relationships of employees. The organizations involved can also use social pressure such as strikes and lockouts .

Pioneers in the study of industrial relations were Sidney and Beatrice Webb in Great Britain , Lujo Brentano in Germany and John R. Commons in the USA .

In the scientific discussion, the German system of industrial relations is also referred to as the "dual system" of interest representation because the workers' interests are represented on the one hand by the works council and on the other hand by the union through the collective agreement . In a broader sense, the relationships between employer and employee organizations with the government bodies that are important to them (e.g. in labor, social and economic policy) both in the national and European context are part of this research area. In addition, the state assumes regulatory functions by setting a legal framework for industrial relations (e.g. with the Works Constitution Act, Collective Bargaining Act, Codetermination Act). With the EU Directive on European Works Councils (1994), a legal framework for a transnational institution of industrial relations was created for the first time.

Theories

The interdisciplinary research field knows a variety of theoretical approaches for the analysis and explanation of complex systems, thematic complexes or even just individual phenomena of national and transnational industrial relations. In detail these are:

  • Systems theory (Dunlop, Luhmann)
  • Marxism (political economy / regulation theory / labor process analysis)
  • Institutionalism (historical and evolutionary, control theory, new sociological, actor-centered)
  • Action Theory (Micropolitics / Labor Policy / Negotiation of Order / Strategic Choice)
  • Structuring Theory (Giddens)
  • Economic approaches (rational choice / transaction cost approach)

literature

Lexicon article

  • Klaus Armingeon: Labor Relations , in: Dieter Nohlen , Florian Grotz : (Ed.): Small Lexicon of Politics. (= Beck series. 1418). 6th, revised and expanded edition. CH Beck, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-406-68106-6 , pp. 12-16.
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Labor Relations . In: Günter Endruweit, Gisela Trommsdorff, Nicole Burzan (eds.): Dictionary of Sociology , 3rd edition. UVK, Konstanz 2014, pp. 25–26.
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Industrial Relations . In: Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, Heiner Minssen (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the work and industrial sociology . Baden-Baden 2017: Nomos, edition sigma, pp. 178–183.
  • Klaus Schubert , Martina Klein: Industrial Relations . In: The Political Dictionary . 7th edition. Dietz, Bonn 2018.

Monographs

  • Joachim Bergmann / Rudi Schmidt (ed.): Industrial relations. Institutionalization and practice under crisis conditions . Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1996, ISBN 3-8100-1722-1
  • Paul Blyton / Nicolas Bacon / Jack Fiorito / Edmund Heery (eds.): The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations. Sage, London 2008.
  • Ralf Dahrendorf : Industrial and business sociology . Collection Göschen Volume 103. 1st edition 1956, 2nd edition 1962, there sub-chapter: Industrial Relations , pp. 101-107.
  • John T. Dunlop : Industrial Relations Systems (1958). Revised Edition. Harvard Business School Press, Boston 1993, ISBN 0-87584-334-4
  • Friedrich Fürstenberg : Industrial labor relations. Investigations into interests and representation of interests in the modern working world . Manz, Vienna 1975
  • Berndt Keller : Introduction to Labor Policy. Labor relations and the labor market from a social science perspective . 7th edition. Oldenbourg, Munich 2008
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch : Sociology of industrial relations . 2nd Edition. Campus, Frankfurt am Main ²1997, ISBN 3-593-35705-4 .
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch / Peter Ittermann: Industrial Relations. Data, time series, trends 1950-1999 . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-593-36587-1 .

Magazines

Magazine articles

  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Theories of industrial relations . In: Industrial Relations . 3rd Jg./1996, H. 1, pp. 36-64
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: Theoretical Approaches to Industrial Relations . In: Bruce E. Kaufman (Ed.): Theoretical Perspectives on Work and the Employment Relationship . Champaign / Illinois 2004 (Industrial Relations Research Association), pp. 1-41
  • Ralf Rogowski, R. (2000): Industrial Relations as a Social System . In: Industrial Relations . 7. Jg./2000, H. 1, pp. 97-126
  • SJ Wood / A. Wagner / EGA Armstrong / JFB Goodman / E. Davis: The 'Industrial Relations System' Concept as a Basis for Theory in Industrial Relations In: British Journal of Industrial Relations . Jg./1975, pp. 291-308

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walther Müller-Jentsch: Industrial Relations . In: Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, Heiner Minssen (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the work and industrial sociology . Baden-Baden 2017. Nomos, edition sigma, p. 178.
  2. ↑ Ralf Dahrendorf: Industrial and Business Sociology, Göschen Collection, Volume 103, Berlin 1956, p. 88.
  3. ↑ Walther Müller-Jentsch: Industrial Relations . In: Hartmut Hirsch-Kreinsen, Heiner Minssen (Hrsg.): Lexicon of the work and industrial sociology . Baden-Baden 2017. Nomos, edition sigma, p. 180.
  4. ↑ Walther Müller-Jentsch: Sociology of Industrial Relations . 2nd Edition. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1997, p. 194 ff.
  5. ^ After Walther Müller-Jentsch: Theories of industrial relations, in: Ders .: Work and Citizen Status. Studies on social and industrial democracy, VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 239–283, ISBN 978-3-531-16051-1
  6. ^ Industrial Relations. Journal for work, organization and management. In: budrich-journals.de. Retrieved March 31, 2017 .

See also