Bélanger, Jacques (1985) Job control and the institutionalisation of labour relations in the workplace : a study of two engineering firms in England. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis is based on observation and interviews carried out in
two engineering firms in the West Midlands between October 1978 and May
1980. Besides presenting and analysing a core of empirical material, it
seeks to develop a general argument concerning the material and social
bases of control over labour in the workplace. In doing so, this research
points out some of the ways to link two major trends in the literature:
the institutional approach to the study of labour relations and the more
recent studies of the labour process.
During the 1970s, the two companies studied implemented a reform
of labour relations which appears to be typical of developments which took
place in engineering and, more generally, in the manufacturing sector of
British industry over the decade following the publication of the Donovan
Report. The problem under study is the impact of this institutionalisation
of workplace labour relations on the control workers have over the utilisation
of their labour power in the work process.
The fieldwork showed that, behind similar organisational and institutional
features, sharply different work relations had developed. The degree
of control imposed by manual workers over issues such as assignment
of labour, labour mobility, manning levels, job demarcations, immediate intensity
and distribution of effort, was significantly higher in one of the
two case studies. At Firm A, the institutional reform helped management
to confine job control within narrow limits while, at Firm B, similar changes
did not help management to reduce worker control over effort but rather
contributed to stabilise it.
In seeking to explain this social process, attention is given to
management strategies and to the strength of workers' organisations. It
is also argued that the nature and contours of the work process sets the
material basis for control over labour utilisation, the pattern of control
also being shaped by social relations in the workplace. The main implications
of the research for theory and policy are discussed in the final chapter.
It is suggested that although job control resisted changes in the
structure of labour relations, in a context of economic recession, it might
be more vulnerable to market pressures.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Industrial relations, Industrial management, Engineering firms -- Great Britain -- West Midlands -- Case studies
Official Date:	March 1985
Dates:	Date Event March 1985 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	School of Industrial and Business Studies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Clegg, Hugh Armstrong ; Bain, George Sayers
Sponsors:	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ; Québec (Province). Ministère de l'éducation
Extent:	v, 320 p.
Language:	eng

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