COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Abstract

In examining collective bargaining, industrial relations (IR) emphasizes a number of things of interest to HR scholars. First, IR adopts a different level of analysis from HR — that of the economy and the broader society — in contrast to HR's primary focus on the employing organization. Second, IR has an understanding of workplace conflict that emphasizes its collective and inherent nature, complementing HR's focus on managing individual conflict for the good of the organization. Finally, IR addresses the value of collective bargaining in promoting democracy and correcting “labor problems” arising from competitive markets, even in situations in which there is excellent personnel management.

Introduction4

Discussion and Analysis4

The fundamental reason for unions5

An orientation to the wider economy and society5

Conflict in the workplace is both inherent and collective6

Unions are not primarily remedies for bad management8

The American Airlines-US Airways Merger9

Steps10

The origins of the IR discussion of collective bargaining11

Differences of interest and power12

Market-wide organization13

Voice in the firm and in society14

Concluding thoughts16

References18

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Introduction

In recent years, human resource (HR) scholars have assessed the implications of unions and collective bargaining for HR strategy, considered how to integrate unions into high involvement organizations or workplace change efforts, and discussed how management can improve labor-management relations (Kaufman, 1997). To an industrial relations (IR) scholar, the HR discussion is of great interest, yet somehow surprisingly incomplete — a strangely unfamiliar look at a highly familiar terrain — presumably reflecting fundamental differences in orientation between the two fields. Pondering the HR discussion of collective bargaining has helped me understand my own field better. Similarly, HR scholars may find it worthwhile to consider the basic orienting assumptions and arguments of IR on the subject of unions and collective bargaining and ponder how these complement the insights of human resources itself (Kaufman, 1999) . This essay attempts to summarize the fundamental theoretical differences between the two fields with regard to collective bargaining, to explain the perspective of IR, and to explore the origin of the IR view.

Discussion and Analysis

In examining collective bargaining, IR has started from underlying premises that differ from those of HR in a number of respects. This paper will focus on three central matters:

The level of analysis

IR focuses on the economy and society; this complements HR's primary focus on the employing organization.

The understanding of workplace conflict

HR's primary focus on managing conflict between individuals and employing organizations is complemented by IR's recognition of the inherent and collective nature of workplace conflict.

The fundamental reason for unions

IR disputes the view that labor organizations are simply responses to bad management or failure of HR systems. The “bad management” view is widespread in our society, particularly among managers, and sometimes colors the HR discussion, even when sophisticated HR scholars know better. Following an overview of these three fundamental matters, I will discuss their development and elaborate their relationship to other important concepts in IR concerning collective bargaining.

An orientation to the wider economy and society

HR and IR differ most fundamentally in their basic orientation, that of the ...