Recent literature on management strategy is drawn upon to analyse managemnt initiatives in New South Wales road transport during the 1960s. In this industry, t strong competition of the time, combined with union action that raised labour cos led to managers both increasing direct control over wage labour within the labo process and switching to indirect control methods through the use of contract labo Three main points emerge from the case-study. The first is the importance of analysi management's choice of industrial relations strategy in the wider context of prodi market and technological contingencies. Second, the growth of contract labour provic a reminder that management does not inevitably respond to competition by assumi greater direct control within the labour process. The third is the valuable insights in industrial relations that can be gained by forusing on management and strategic chol
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