Employee Relations: An International Journal

Fells, Ray

1986 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/eb055067

An earlier article in this journal outlined a model of the process of negotiation with particular reference to negotiation in the industrial relations context. The model suggests that negotiations go through five phases or patterns of negotiating activity as the negotiators move through to a settlement. On the basis of the model, it is possible to identify several implications for negotiators, and, in particular, to make the point that the two parties must jointly manage their progress through the negotiations. Within the negotiation process there are three potential deadlocks which could emerge to obstruct this progress if the negotiations were not properly and jointly managed. This article develops the concept of deadlocks in negotiation more fully, and attempts to identify the implications for negotiators by suggesting how deadlocks might be identified and overcome.

Goodman, John; Chattin, Joe

1986 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/eb055068

In its handling of public sector pay, the present British Government appears to have given higher priority to the minimisation of public expenditure than to the avoidance of disputes. It has on several occasions taken or not deterred other public sector employers from taking lengthy stoppages rather than agree to refer pay disputes to arbitration, largely on two grounds first, that additional money to finance any enhanced award was not available, and, secondly, that to do so would be to abdicate responsibility for a major element of public expenditure. Further, it has sought the removal from public sector disputes procedures of provisions allowing either party unilateral access to arbitral bodies, though by no means entirely successfully as the gas industry and other examples illustrate. On the other hand, its policy of tight cash limits, external borrowing limits, ratecapping and other measures have had a substantial effect on reducing the levels of public sector pay settlements. Paradoxically, however, the two public services widely regarded internationally as amongst the most essential, the police and fire services, have both benefited from now relatively wellentrenched formulae which have generated pay increases for these groups significantly above most other public sector groups. The new national agreement on ambulance staff appears to offer similar prospects for another group of essential workers.

Kirkbride, Paul

1986 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/eb055069

Power forms part of the everyday commonsense language and conceptual framework used by experts and laymen alike to describe industrial relations processes and phenomena. Yet, despite the obvious centrality and importance of power to the study of industrial relations, it may be argued that the concept represents a major lacuna in the theoretical development of the discipline. Thus, there is relatively little literature in industrial relations which focuses directly on the concept. From a study of this literature, and the much more voluminous and extensive work on power in other disciplines notably sociology, economics and political science, one can discern two almost exclusive central foci. Firstly, there is one school of thought which conceptualises power as an outcome or the result of some other process. From this perspective, the power of social actors can only be ascertained by an analysis of their effects on outcomes or observable events. The second school sees power as a material resource which can be possessed, stored and deployed to achieve the goals of the actor. Whilst both these approaches throw valuable light on some aspects of power, it may be suggested that the predominance of these constrained perspectives has resulted in the relative neglect of other important aspects of power.

Kinnie, Nicholas

1986 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/eb055070

Collective bargaining remains the principal institution used by employers for managing their industrial relations. About threequarters of all employees have their pay and conditions settled by agreements negotiated collectively with their employer. However, bargaining arrangements take a wide variety of forms some agreements are made at industry level, while others are made at group, division or plant level.

Marsh, Ray

1986 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/eb055071

A previous article has examined industrial relations on large construction sites indicating the ad hoc nature of construction labour policies. The high level of industrial conflict on British sites was attributed to the fragmented wage and bargaining structures together with poor managerial control at site level. see Table I. This, it was suggested, produced a high degree of insecurity amongst the workforce which tended to undermine the peaceful resolution of many disputes.