Uncertainty,Confifict,and Labor Relations in the Modern Firm II: The War on Labor

Abstract

In Part I of this article, it was suggested that American business faces a new and difficult set of organizational uncertainties. Among these are an escalating cost of energy, increased governmental regulation, and an international economy posing new dilemmas. Employers have pointed to the so-called productivity crisis as an additional source of concern. This is, in part, a rhetorical issue: although the annual rate of productivity growth has fallen, productivity itself has not declined. However, there is growing evidence that managers are worried, perhaps because questions of productivity and of labor itself are ones about which management feels it ought to exercise some control.

According to business trade journals (the major source of data for this research), employers currently choose between two strategies in dealing with their workers. First is 'capitalism with a human face'. In ascending order of complexity, its specific tactics include (1) traditional human relations techniques; (2) revamped incentive programs; (3) job enrichment; and (4) workplace democratization. Each one represents a newer model of techniques used over the past three generations. While all four have shown themselves to be effective in some cases, even successes appear to raise new uncertainties and contradictions. For these, and other reasons, many employers have chosen to pursue a second strategy, the war on labor.