A cornerstone of industrial relations theory is the idea that the potential for conflict is inherent in the employment relationship. Across countries, forms of workplace conflict and methods of conflict resolution take a range of different forms. Yet aside from attempts to understand cross-national variation in strikes, little research has examined systemic differences in the manifestation and management of workplace conflict. The authors seek to fill this void by analyzing through a comparative lens practices for addressing employment-related conflict in four countries: Germany, the United States, Italy, and Australia. In contrast to the unidimensional varieties of capitalism approach, they analyze workplace conflict resolution systems across two dimensions: collective-individual and regulated-voluntarist. The analysis also emphasizes the importance of within-country variation and interactions between different conflict resolution subsystems.
BaccaroLucioHowellChris2017. Trajectories of Neoliberal Transformation: European Industrial Relations Since the 1970s. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
2.
BaccaroLucioPulignanoValeria. 2016. Employment relations in Italy. In BamberGregLansburyRussell D.WailesNicholasWrightChris F. (Eds.), International and Comparative Employment Relations: National Regulation, Global Change, pp. 126–51. London: SAGE.
3.
BamberGregLansburyRussell D.WailesNicholasWrightChris F.2016. International and Comparative Employment Relations: National Regulation, Global Change. London: SAGE.
4.
BehrensMartin. 2007. Conflict, arbitration, and dispute resolution in the German workplace. International Journal of Conflict Management18(2): 175–92.
5.
BehrensMartin. 2014. Conflict resolution in Germany. In RocheWilliam K.TeaguePaulColvinAlexander J. S. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations, pp. 363–84. New York: Oxford University Press.
6.
BehrensMartinHelfenMarkus O.2018. Small change, big impact? Organisational membership rules and the exit of employers’ associations from multiemployer bargaining in Germany. Human Resource Management Journal. Online publication.
7.
BordognaLorenzoCellaGian Primo. 2002. Decline or transformation? Change in industrial conflict and its challenges. Transfer8(4): 585–607.
ColomboSabrinaRegaliaIda. 2016. Changing joint regulation and labour market policy in Italy during the crisis: On the edge of a paradigm shift?European Journal of Industrial Relations22(3): 295–309.
10.
ColvinAlexander J. S.2003. Institutional pressures, human resource strategies and the rise of nonunion dispute resolution procedures. Industrial and Labor Relations Review56(3): 375–92.
11.
ColvinAlexander J. S.2011. An empirical study of employment arbitration: Case outcomes and processes. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies8(1): 1–23.
12.
ColvinAlexander J. S.2012. American workplace dispute resolution in the individual rights era. International Journal of Human Resource Management3(3–4): 459–75.
13.
ColvinAlexander J. S.2016. Conflict and employment relations in the individual rights era. Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations22: 1–30.
14.
ColvinAlexander J. S.2018. The metastasization of mandatory arbitration. Chicago-Kent Law Review94(1): Article 2.
15.
ColvinAlexander J. S.DarbishireOwen R.2013. Convergence in industrial relations institutions: The emerging Anglo-American model?ILR Review66(5): 1045–75.
16.
ComandéDaniela. 2014. Italy. In CorbySusanBurgessPete (Eds.), Adjudicating Employment Rights. A Cross-National Approach, pp. 114–28. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
17.
CrouchColin. 2005. Complementarity and fit in the study of capitalisms. In MorganGlennWhitleyRichardMoenEli (Eds.), Changing Capitalisms? Internationalization, Institutional Change, and Systems of Economic Organization. New York: Oxford University Press.
18.
DeegRichard E.2005. Complementarity and institutional change: How useful a concept? Discussion Paper SPII 2005-21. Berlin, Germany: WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
19.
EllguthPeterKohautSusanne. 2018. Tarifbindung und betriebliche Interessenvertretung: Ergebnisse aus dem IAB-Betriebspanel 2017. WSI-Mitteilungen71(4): 299–306.
20.
EricksonChristopherKuruvillaSarosh. 1998. What is industrial relations transformation?Industrial and Labor Relations Review52(1): 3–21.
21.
[FWC] Fair Work Commission.2017. Annual report. Canberra, Australia.
22.
ForsythAnthony. 2012. Workplace conflict resolution in Australia: The dominance of the public dispute resolution framework and the limited role of ADR. International Journal of Human Resource Management23(3): 476–94.
23.
FregeCarolaKellyJohn (Eds.). 2013. Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy. London: Routledge.
24.
GahanPeterPekarekAndreas. 2012. The rise and rise of enterprise bargaining in Australia, 1991–2011. Labour and Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work22(3): 195–222.
25.
GahanPeterPekarekAndreasNicholsonDaniel. 2018. Unions and collective bargaining in Australia in 2017. Journal of Industrial Relations60(3): 337–57.
26.
HallPeter A.SoskiceDavid. 2001. An introduction to varieties of capitalism. In HallPeter A.SoskiceDavid (Eds.), Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage, pp. 1–68. New York: Oxford University Press.
27.
HardyTess. 2014. “It’s oh so quiet?” Employee voice and the enforcement of employment standards in Australia. In BoggAlanNovitzTonia (Eds.), Voices at Work: Continuity and Change in the Common Law World, pp. 249–73. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
28.
HealyJoshua. 2016. The Australian labour market in 2015. Journal of Industrial Relations58(3): 308–23.
29.
Istat-CNEL. 2016. Progetto CNEL-ISTAT sul tema “Produttività, struttura e performance delle imprese esportatrici, mercato del lavoro e contrattazione integrativa.”Rome: Istat-CNEL.
30.
Istat datawarehouse. 2018. Giustizia e sicurezza. Procedimenti civili - lavoro, previdenza e assistenza obbligatorie. Accessed at http://dati.istat.it/.
31.
KatzHarry C.DarbishireOwen. 2000. Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes in Employment Systems. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press/ILR Press.
32.
KatzHarry C.KochanThomas A.ColvinAlexander J. S.2017. An Introduction to Collective Bargaining and Industrial Relations, 5th ed.Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press/ILR Press.
33.
KellerBerndt K.2008. Einführung in die Arbeitspolitik. München/Wein: R. Oldenbourg Verlag.
34.
KellerBerndt K.KirschAnja. 2016. Employment relations in Germany. In BamberGreg J.LansburyRussell D.WailesNickWrightChris F. (Eds.), International and Comparative Employment Relations, 6th ed., pp. 179–207. Sydney, AU: Allen and Unwin.
35.
KerrClarkHarbisonFrederick H.DunlopJohn T.MyersCharles A.1960. Industrialism and industrial man. International Labour Review71(3): 236–50.
36.
LipskyDavid B.SeeberRonald L.FincherRichard D.2003. Emerging Systems for Managing Workplace Conflict: Lessons from American Corporations for Managers and Dispute Resolution Professionals. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
37.
LockeRichard. 1995. Remaking the Italian Economy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
38.
MahoneyJamesThelenKathleen. 2015. Advances in Comparative-Historical Analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali. 2018. Rapporto Annuale dell’Attività di Vigilanza in Materia di Lavoro e Legislazione Sociale. Rome: Direzione centrale vigilanza, affari legali e contenzioso.
40.
PeetzDavidYu.Serena2017. Explaining recent trends in enterprise agreement making. Report for the Fair Work Commission. Canberra, Australia.
41.
PekarekAndreasLandauIngridGahanPeterForsythAnthonyHoweJohn. 2017. Old game, new rules? The dynamics of enterprise bargaining under the Fair Work Act. Journal of Industrial Relations59(1): 44–64.
42.
PioreMichaelSaffordSean. 2006. Changing regimes of workplace governance, shifting axes of social mobilization and the challenge to industrial relations theory. Industrial Relations45(3): 299–325.
43.
RegaliaIdaReginiMarino. 1998. Italy: The dual character of industrial relations. In FernerAnthonyHymanRichard (Eds.), Changing Industrial Relations in Europe, pp. 459–503. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
44.
RocheWilliam K.TeaguePaulColvinAlexander J. S. (Eds.). 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations. New York: Oxford University Press.
45.
StreeckWolfgangThelenKathleen. 2005. Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. New York: Oxford University Press.
46.
TraxlerFranz. 2003. Bargaining (de)centralization, macroeconomic performance, and control over the employment relationship. British Journal of Industrial Relations41(1): 1–27.
47.
TreuTiziano. 2007. Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Italy. Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.
48.
VandaeleKurt. 2016. Interpreting strike activity in Western Europe in the past 20 years: The labour repertoire under pressure. Transfer22(3): 277–94.
49.
Van GrambergBernadineBamberGreg J.TeicherJulianCooperBrian. 2014. Conflict management in Australia. In RocheWilliam K.TeaguePaulColvinAlexander J. S. (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Conflict Management in Organizations, pp. 425–48. New York: Oxford University Press.
50.
VisserJelle. 2016. ICTWSS Data base, version 5.1. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
51.
WaltonRichardMcKersieRobert. 1965. A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations. An Analysis of a Social Interaction System. New York: McGraw-Hill.
52.
WeissManfred. 2012. Dispute resolution in German employment and labor law. Comparative Labor Law and Policy Journal34(4): 793–811.
53.
WrightChris F.LansburyRussell D.2016. Employment relations in Australia. In BamberGreg J.LansburyRussell D.WailesNickWrightChris F. (Eds.), International and Comparative Employment Relations, 6th ed., pp. 103–25. Sydney, AU: Allen and Unwin.
