This volume contains a selection of the most notable contributions delivered at the research conference "Industrial Relations and Conflict Management: Different Ways of Managing Conflict," which was hosted by the Nether lands School of Business in July 1980. Held at Nijenrode Castle, the confer ence brought together an international gathering of thirty-five of the most distinguished scholars in these fields to present research papers and to en gage in round-table discussions. One of the principal aims of the conference was to explore cross-links and differences between the areas of conflict management and industrial relations in an international context. The book opens with a chapter by George Strauss, who provides an in troduction to and an overall view of the subject matter covered. The chap ters that follow in Part I deal with differing conflict conditions and defini tions and their implications for managing conflict. The manifestations of conflict and different modes of conflict management are the subject of the chapters in Part II. In Part III, three empirical studies of conflict are dis cussed. Part IV is concerned with comparative industrial relations, while value issues and conflict are the focus of Part V. Finally, in the Epilogue the participant feedback regarding the conference is reviewed.

Excerpt from Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society Generalizing theoretical formulation and its empirical test are balanced in the present investigation. With R. K. Merton I regard theories of the middle range as the immediate task of sociological research: generalizations that are inspired by or oriented towards concrete observations. However, the exposition of the theory of social classes and class conflict stands in the center of this investiga tion. The resume of Marx's theory of class, the largely descriptive account of some historical changes of the past century, and the eriti cal examination of some earlier theories of class, including that of Marx, lead up to the central theoretical chapters; with the analysis of post-capitalist society in terms of class theory a first empirical test of my theoretical position is intended. The whole investigation re mains in the middle range also in that it is, as its title indicates, confined to industrial society. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

First Published in 1977. This volume is an attempt to bring together in convenient form some of the most important studies of work stoppages in post-war Britain. For reason of convenience the selections have been grouped under three headings, namely British Experience, the Causes of Strikes and International Comparisons. The moral seems to be that the collection should be treated as a whole, in order to obtain a general view of the subject.

First Published in 1979, Industrial Conflict in Modern Britain examines the unique rhythm of British strikes since the 1880’s and suggests that the explosive pattern of recurring strike waves provides the key to understanding both the evolution of British industrial relations and the major changes that have taken place in working class culture and behaviour. Two major themes emerge from this analysis: to explain how and why strikes themselves occur, and the association between industrial conflict and social relations. This thorough critique of prevailing research and concept within labour history, provides insight into the cause of strike waves, the varying propensity of workers in different industries to engage in strike action, and into the general history of British trade unionism. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of British labour history, British trade unionism and Industrial sociology.

The Dynamics of Industrial Conflict (1980) focuses on the workings of industrial relations in the British motor industry, presenting the first joint retrospective analysis of industrial relations in a major multinational. The book includes a closely documented account of the Ford Sewing Machinists’ strike for equal pay and tells the inside story of that dispute, analysing its impact on the coming of equal pay and Britain’s new sex discrimination legislation. It assesses the consequences of the dispute for workers, management and unions at Ford, and then traces its repercussions on Britain’s industrial relations in the 1970s, down to the fall of the Labour Government in May 1979. A detailed explanation is given of the concealed ‘learning process’ which goes on below the surface of every system of industrial relations, whether at factory, company, industrial or national level.

This book offers a new perspective on the relationship between trade unions and the state in the period 1910-21. Using a range of primary sources it explores the constraints placed by industrial conflict on both state and trade union action. It aims to contribute to and clarify some of the main issues raised by the Rank and Filist debate through an analysis of the sources from which state industrial relations policy derived for the whole of this period.

First Published in 1998. This volume first appeared in Japanese as Sengo Nihon no Sõgi to Ningen (1986). Published by Nihon Hyõronsha in Tokyo it included the reflections of nine union leaders who had taken their unions through some of Japan's most important post-war industrial disputes. In 1983 each of the leaders came to a student seminar at Chiba University near Tokyo. The talks were recorded and then transcribed with two aims in mind. One was to provide information on the events which led to the formation of Japan's industrial relations as we know them today. During the 1950s and early 1960s a number of Japan's key labour unions lost a succession of campaigns to establish and to defend what they saw as the natural rights of their members. Many of the unions experienced schisms, and the end result was a fundamental shift in the balance of power between labour and management.