This article assesses the extent to which `new' industrial relations regimes have developed in advanced economies over the past two decades and considers the prospects of new industrial relations. A review of evidence on current diffusion of new industrial relations practices and arrangements, combined with an assessment of change scenarios, suggests that new industrial relations regimes are unlikely to become generalized in advanced economies. Instead, new industrial relations will remain one of a series of coexisting regimes shaping relations between employers and unions, its occurrence being highly contingent on a series of local factors. We may thus be witnessing the end of new industrial relations as a generalizable regime for unionized enterprises and sectors in advanced economies and as a major explanatory paradigm for comprehending the dynamics of industrial relations systems.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Applebaum, E.
and Batt, R. (1994) The New American Workplace. Ithaca: ILR Press.
2.
Bach, S.
(1994/95) `Restructuring the Personnel Function: The Case of NHS Trusts', Human Resource Management Journal5: 99-115.
3.
Berggren, C.
(1992) Alternatives to Lean Production: Work Organization in the Swedish Auto Industry. Ithaca: ILR Press.
4.
Boston, J.
, Martin, J., Pallot, J. and Walsh, P. (1996) Public Management: The New Zealand Model. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
5.
Boyer, R.
(1988) The Search for Labour Market Flexibility. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
6.
Brewster, C.
and Hegewisch, A., eds (1994) Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. London: Routledge.
7.
Cappelli, P.
(1995) `Rethinking Employment', British Journal of Industrial Relations31: 1-24.
8.
Cappelli, P.
, Bassi, L., Katz, H., Knoke, D., Osterman, P. and Useem, M. (1997) Change at Work. New York: Oxford University Press.
9.
Clarke, J.
and Newman, J. (1997) The Managerial State: Power, Politics and Ideology in the Remaking of Social Welfare. London: Sage.
10.
Cooke, WN.
(1990) Labor-Management Cooperation. Kalamazoo: Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
11.
Cully, M.
, O'Reilly, A., Millward, N.Forth, J., Woodland, S., Dix, G. and Bryson, A. (1998) The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey: First Findings. London: DTI.
12.
Cully, M.
, Woodland, S., O'Reilly, A. and Dix, G. (1999) Britain at Work: As Depicted in the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey. London: Routledge.
13.
Dany, F
and Torchy, V. (1994) `Recruitment and Selection in Europe: Policies, Practices and Methods', in C. Brewster and A. Hegewisch (eds) Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey, pp. 68-88. London: Routledge.
14.
Erickson, C.L.
and Kuruvilla, S. (1999) `Industrial Relations System Transformation', Industrial and Labor Relations Review52(l): 3-21.
15.
European Commission
(1997) Partnership for a New Organization of Work. Luxembourg: OOPEC.
16.
Ferner, A.
(1988) Governments, Managers and Industrial Relations: Public Enterprises and their Political Environments. Oxford: Blackwell.
17.
Ferner, A.
(1994) `The State as Employer', in R. Hyman and A. Ferner (eds) New Frontiers in European Industrial Relations, pp. 52-79. Oxford: Blackwell.
18.
Filella, J.
and Hegewisch, A. (1994) `European Experiments With Pay and Benefits Policies', in C. Brewster and A. Hegewisch (eds) Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey, pp. 89-106. London: Routledge.
19.
Fine, B.
(1995) `From Political Economy to Consumption', in D. Miller (ed.) Acknowledging Consumption: A Review of New Studies, pp. 127-163. London: Routledge.
20.
Gallie, D.
, White, M., Cheng, Yuan and Tomlinson, M. (1998) Restructuring the Employment Relationship. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
21.
Gittleman, M.
, Horrigan, M. and Joyce, M. (1999) `"Flexible" Workplace Practices: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Survey', Industrial and Labor Relations Review52(1): 99-115.
22.
Guest, D.E.
(1995) `Human Resource Management, Trade Unions and Industrial Relations', in J. Storey (ed.) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, pp. 110-142. London: Routledge.
23.
Guest, D.E.
and Peccei, R. (1997) The Partnership Company: Benchmarks for the Future. London: IPA.
24.
Harrow, J.
and Shaw, M. (1992) `The Manager Faces the Consumer', in L. Willcocks and J. Harrow (eds) Rediscovering Public Services Management, pp. 113-140. London: McGraw Hill.
25.
Heller, F.
, Pusic, E., Strauss, G. and Wilpert, B. (1998) Organizational Participation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
26.
Hyman, J.
and Mason, B. (1995) Managing Employee Involvement and Participation. London: Sage.
27.
Hyman, R.
(1994) `Industrial Relations in Western Europe: An Era of Ambiguity?', Industrial Relations33: 1-24.
28.
Ichniowski, C.
, Kochan, T., Levine, D., Olson, C. and Strauss, G. (1996) `What Works at Work?', Industrial Relations35: 299-333.
29.
Jackson, M.P.
, Leopold, J.W. and Tuck, K. (1993) Decentralization of Collective Bargaining: An Analysis of Recent Experience in the UK. London: Macmillan.
30.
Katz, H.
(1993) `Decentralization of Collective Bargaining', Industrial and Labor Relations Review47: 3-22.
31.
Katz, H.
and Darbishire, O. (2000) Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes in Employment Systems. Ithaca: ILR Press.
32.
Kelly, J.
(1996) `Union Militancy and Social Partnership', in P. Ackers, C. Smith and P. Smith (eds) The New Workplace and Trade Unionism, pp. 77-109. London: Routledge.
33.
Kelly, J.
(1998) Rethinking Industrial Relations: Mobilization, Collectivism and Long Waves. London: Routledge.
34.
Kern, H.
and Schumann, M. (1984) Das Ende der Arbeitsteilung?Munich: Beck.
35.
Kessler, I.
(1995) `Reward Systems', in J. Storey (ed.) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, pp. 254-279. London: Routledge.
36.
Knudsen, H.
(1995) Employee Participation in Europe. London: Sage.
37.
Kochan, T.
, Katz, H. and McKersie, R. (1986) The Transformation of American Industrial Relations. New York: Basic Books.
38.
Kochan, T.
and Osterman, P. (1994) The Mutual Gains Enterprise: Forging a Winning Partnership Among Labor, Management and Government. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
39.
Lane, C.
(1995) Industry and Society in Europe: Stability and Change in Britain, Germany and France. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
40.
Lane, L.M.
and Wolf, J.E. (1990) The Human Resource Crisis in the Public Sector: Rebuilding the Capacity to Govern. New York: Quorum.
41.
Locke, R.
(1992) `The Demise of the National Union in Italy: Lessons for Comparative Industrial Relations Theory', Industrial and Labor Relations Review45: 229-249.
42.
Locke, R.
, Kochan, T. and Piore, M., eds (1995) Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy. Cambridge: MIT Press.
43.
Marsden, D.
and French, S. (1998) What a Performance: Performance-Related Pay in the Public Services. London: Anglo-German Foundation.
44.
Martlnez Lucio, M.
and Mackenzie, R. (1999) `Quality Management: A New Form of Control', in S. Corby and G. White (eds) Employee Relations in the Public Services, pp. 156-176. London: Routledge.
45.
Millward, N.
(1994) The New Industrial Relations?London: PSI.
46.
Nolan, P.
and Walsh, J. (1995) `The Structure of the Economy and Labour Market', in P. Edwards (ed.) Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in Britain, pp. 50-88. Oxford: Blackwell.
47.
OECD
(1990) Flexible Personnel Management in the Public Service. Paris: OECD.
48.
OECD
(1993a) Private Pay for Public Work: Performance-Related Pay for Public Sector Managers. Paris: OECD.
49.
OECD
(1993b) Pay Flexibility in the Public Sector. Paris: OECD.
50.
OECD
(1995) Governance in Transition: Public Management Reforms in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD.
51.
OECD
(1996) Integrating People into Public Service Reform. Paris: OECD.
52.
OECD
(1997) Performance Pay for Public Sector Managers: An Evaluation of the Impacts. Occasional Paper 15, Paris: OECD.
53.
Osborne, D.
and Gaebler, T. (1993) Reinventing Government. New York: Plume.
54.
Osterman, P.
(1995) `Skills, Training and Work Organization in American Establishments', Industrial Relations34: 125-146.
55.
Penn, R.
, Rose, M. and Rubery, J. (1993) Skill and Occupational Change. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
56.
Piore, M.
and Sabel, C. (1984) The Second Industrial Divide. New York: Basic Books.
57.
Regini, M.
(1995) Uncertain Boundaries: The Social and Political Construction of European Economies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
58.
Regini, M.
(1997) `Social Institutions and Production Structure: The Italian Variety of Capitalism in the 1980s', in C. Crouch and W. Streeck (eds) Political Economy of Modern Capitalism: Mapping Convergence and Diversity, pp. 102-116. London: Sage.
59.
Roche, W.K.
(1998) `Between Regime Fragmentation and Realignment: Irish Industrial Relations in the 1990s', Industrial Relations Journal29: 112-125.
60.
Rogers, J.
(1995) `United States: Lessons from Abroad and Home', in J. Rogers and W. Streeck (eds) Works Councils: Consultation, Representation and Cooperation in Industrial Relations, pp. 375-410. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
61.
Rogers, J.
and Streeck, W. (1995) `The Study of Works Councils: Concepts and Problems', in J. Rogers and W. Streeck (eds) Works Councils: Consultation, Representation and Cooperation in Industrial Relations, pp. 3-26. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
62.
Scott, A.
(1994) Willing Slaves: British Workers Under Human Resource Management. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
63.
Sisson, K.
, ed. (1997) Towards New Forms of Work Organisation: Can Europe Realise Its Innovative Potential? An Interim Report of the EPOC Questionnaire Survey of Direct Employee Participation in Europe. Luxembourg: OOPEC.
64.
Storey, J.
(1992) Developments in the Management of Human Resources. Oxford: Blackwell.
65.
Streeck, W.
(1992) `National Diversity, Regime Competition and Institutional Deadlock: Problems in Forming a European Industrial Relations System', Journal of Public Policy12: 301-330.
66.
Streeck, W.
(1994) `European Social Policy after Maastricht: The "Social Dialogue" and "Subsidiarity"', Economic and Industrial Democracy15: 151-177.
67.
Streeck, W.
(1995) `Works Councils in Western Europe: From Consultation to Participation', in J. Rogers and W. Streeck (eds) Works Councils: Consultation, Representation and Cooperation in Industrial Relations, pp. 313-350. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
68.
Streeck, W.
(1997) `German Capitalism: Does it Exist? Can it Survive?', in C. Crouch and W. Streeck (eds) Political Economy of Modern Capitalism: Mapping Convergence and Diversity, pp. 33-54. London: Sage.
69.
Streeck, W.
(1999) `Competitive Solidarity: Rethinking the "European Social Model"', Presidential Address to the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), Madison, Wisconsin, June.
70.
Thelen, K.
(1991) Union of Parts: Labor Politics in Postwar Germany. Ithaca: ILR Press.
71.
Treu, T.
, ed. (1987) Public Service Labour Relations: A Comparative Study of Seven Industrialised Market Economies. Geneva: ILO.
72.
US Department of Labor
(1996) Working Together for Public Service. Washington, DC: Department of Labor.
73.
Verma, A.
and Chaykowski, R. (1999a) `Employment Relations at the Crossroads', in A. Verma and R.P. Chaykowski (eds) Contract and Commitment: Employment Relations in the New Economy, pp. 1-20. Kingston: IRC Press, Queen's University.
74.
Verma, A.
and Chaykowski, R. (1999b) `Business Strategies and Employment Relations', in A. Verma and R.P. Chaykowski (eds) Contract and Commitment: Employment Relations in the New Economy, pp. 338-354.Kingston: IRC Press, Queen's University.
75.
Walsh, K.
(1994) `Citizens, Charters and Contracts', in R. Keat, N. Whiteley, and N. Amercrombie (eds) The Authority of the Consumer, pp. 189-206. London: Routledge.
76.
Windolf, P.
and Wood, S. with Hohn, H.W. and Manwaring, T. (1988) Recruitment and Selection in the Labour Market. Aldershot: Gower.
77.
Womack, J.P.
, Jones, D.T. and Roos, D. (1990) The Machine That Changed the World. New York: Rawson Associates.
78.
Wood, S.
and de Menezes, L. (1998) `High Commitment Management in the UK: Evidence from the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey and Employers' Manpower and Skills Practices Survey', Human Relations51: 485-515.
