British Industrial Relations (Routledge Library Editions: Industrial Relations)

By: Gill Palmer

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Synopsis: British Industrial Relations (1983) provides a comprehensive and balanced approach to British industrial relations, an often controversial subject with a variety of academic interpretations which achieved a large significance in national politics. The author draws on political and social theory to explain both the state of British industrial relations in the 1980s and the conflicting prescriptions for change. Trade unions and collective bargaining are placed in the context of the inevitable development of group negotiation within complex organisations. The often neglected importance of management strategy in the design of work and in the development of the British system is emphasised and different interpretations on the state’s role in industrial relations are fully explored. This book has a broad ranging approach, using the latest developments in political, labour process, trade union and organisation theories relevant to the understanding of industrial relations. British institutions are the main focus of study but illustrations from Japan, the USA and Germany are also used and the importance of an historical perspective is underlined.