Reading Guide -
IRL 101 |
Introduction to
Industrial Relations |
Spring 2002 |
You need to do all of
the required reading on the reading list and you need to read all of the
items carefully. I strongly recommend that you take notes. You might try
highlighting and then taking notes on the most important of the material
that you have highlighted. You will be tested on the readings, both those
we have covered in class and those we have not, so make sure you study your
reading notes carefully before each exam.
The following list suggests
the most important aspects of each required reading. You are responsible for
the entire reading but this guide should be useful in terms of your note
taking. In some cases the advice will be obvious but in others it will not.
I recommend that you look at this list before reading each item, and again
when studying for exams.
II. A.- Nature of Work
- Terkel, WORKING:
Don't take notes on this. Just notice what people seem to like and dislike
about their work and their jobs
- Kaufman, "Models
of Man in Industrial Relations Research," INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS
REVIEW, October 1989: Focus on the differences between behavioral and nonbehavioral
research and on the comparisons between economic and behavioral man.
- Piore, "Identity
and Social Movements," PoW, V.1,n. 3: Focus on the key to the revival of
labor and on the two sources of error of Marx and other social scientists
in their predictions about the evolution of industrial society.
- Hackman, "What
is Happening to Professional Work?" PoW, V.2,n.1: Note the similarities between
the occupations of airline pilot and symphony orchestra musicians.
Also note the trends in autonomy for both "rank and file" workers and professional
workers.
II. B.- Quality of
Worklife
- Milkman, "Beyond
the Factory: Workers in the 'Post-Industrial' Age," PoW, V.1,n.1: Focus
on the degree to which workers who are now insecure want restore the old
industrial system and whether or not workers are resistant to more participatory
forms of factory organization.
- Comps and Savoie,
"The Basic Workplace Promise: Respect and Recognition," PoW, V.1,n.2: Pay
special attention to the two interventions that can help improve the practice
of respect and recognition. Focus also on the two different ways in
which interpersonal recognition can be achieved.
- Strauss, "Is Money
Enough? The Early Contributions of the Behavioral Sciences," PoW,
V.1,n.3: What were the two related questions of interest to behavioral scientist
from the beginning? Also be familiar with the findings of David McClellan
and Douglas McGregor as well as with the "Hawthorne research."
- Laabs, "Overload,"
Maidment: Focus on the impact of the "dejobbing" of the economy and on the
principal causes of overwork.
- Aeppel, "Factory
Lifts Productivity but Staff Finds It's No Picnic," Wall Street Journal
, 1999: Don't take notes on this but come to class prepared to discuss
the different perspectives of the workers and managers about work reorganization
at Western Electric.
II. C.- Industrial
Relations Systems
- Dunlop, "A Systems
Model," KS: Are industrial-relations problems unique to modern society?
What are the reasons for the answer? What are the components of the industrial-relations
system?
III. A.- Employment
Law
- "Employment Law
Packet" (handout): Look at each of the laws and focus on what it is designed
to do and how it is designed to do it.
- Anderson, "Preserving
the Social Contract: Workplace Protection in the New Economy," PoW, V.1,n.2:
Are workforce protection policies more or less important now than they were
two generations ago? Focus on four vital goals of workplace protection
policy.
- Quinn and Mitchell,
"A New Look at Social Security Reform," PoW, V.1,n.1: Focus on how social
security is designed to be different from any private insurance or pension
plan, on whether, at least until recently, most recipients received more
or less in benefits than they paid in contributions, and on the similarities
among the three reform proposals that came from the Advisory Committee.
III. B.- Discrimination
Law
- Grossman, "Race in the Workplace," Maidment: Do African-Americans
perceive much progress in the workplace over the last twenty years and do
the data support their conclusions? Also focus on what has happened
to most African-Americans who have achieved management jobs and whether workers
believe that African-Americans have to out-perform whites to get ahead.
- Bland, "ADA: The Law
Meets Medicine," Maidment: Focus on the implications of whether disability
is defined in the medicated or unmedicated state. Which of these approaches
have the courts taken? Look for definitions of "major life activity"
and "substantial impairment."
- Cole, "Sexual Harassment:
New Rules, New Behavior," Maidment: You should know if an employee can sue
if that employee suffered no adverse consequences or if the employer did
not know about the harassment. Focus on the defenses available to the
employer.
- Toobin, "The Trouble
with Sex," New Yorker, February 9, 1998: What are the two basic types
of sexual harassment and how do they differ? What confusion in the law of
Sexual Harassment does the Paula Jones case illustrate? What was decided
in the 1982 Rhode Island case and what change does Vicki Schultz argue in
her article should be made in the law regarding sexual harassment?
- Knight and Blue,
"The Supreme Court's New Approach to Analyzing Sexual Harassment Cases,"
PoW, V.2,n.2: Be familiar with the difference between the court's traditional
approach and its new approach.
III. C.- Labor Relations
Law
- Deeds and Gould,
"50 Years of U.S. Labor Law and Industrial Relations Developments," PoW,
V.1,n.2: Focus on the impact of permanent striker replacement on the collective
bargaining process. Also note the authors' reform proposals.
- Gross, "A Human
Rights Perspective on US Labor Relations Law," Proceedings V.2, Industrial
Relations Research Association Annual Meeting, January 1999, Does the U.S.
government see any inconsistencies between U.S. labor relations law and the
right of freedom of association? Note which aspects of the law the
author finds to "violate the freedom of association in fundamental ways."
IV. A- Recruitment
and Staffing
- Markels, "Is Anybody
Out There?" Maidment: What action have employers been unwilling to take
to fill empty jobs?
- Grossman, "Is Diversity Working?" Maidment: Focus on
the differences between diversity and affirmative action as concepts, on the
impact of the diversity movement on efforts to promote racial equality and
on why some employers do diversity training but fail to evaluate its effectiveness.
- Perry, "Use the Web
to Check Out Those Job Applications," Maidment: Focus on the risks of using
employment screening services improperly and on the laws you are most likely
to violate. Also note the reason many employers are reluctant to disclose
anything except the dates of employment.
- Grensing-Pophal, "Hiring to Fit Your Corporate Culture,"
Maidment: Be able to identify the risks of focusing too keenly on cultural
fit and the risk of groupthink.
IV. B- Performance
Appraisal
- Mavis, "Painless
Performance Evaluations," photocopy: Focus on the three key principles and
the four key elements by which the principles are implemented.
IV. C- Compensation
- Hays, "Pros and Cons
of Pay for Performance," Maidment: What is one of the "most thoroughly replicated"
findings in social psychology and what are its implications for performance
related pay? What are the reasons rewards may damage quality and productivity
and cause employees to lose interest in their work?
- Raff, "Looking Back on the Five-Dollar Day," photocopy:
Why was the $5 day introduced and what results did it produce?
IV. D- Improving Quality
of Work Life
- Bailyn, "Transforming
Work: How Do We Live with It?" PoW, V.1,n.1: In what way does the use of
the Family and Medical Leave Act actually reinforce existing inequities?
What should we do instead of assisting employees with family responsibilities
to tailor their lives to meet traditional work structures? Focus on
the need to change the traditional meaning of "work and family," and on
the "recurrent themes."
- Bennett, "Constructing
the Employment Relationship with Total Organizational Quality," PoW, V.1,n.2:
Focus on the partnership principles at Saturn. Pay particular attention
to the role of the union in the management of Saturn.
- Laabs, "Show Them Where You Are Headed," Maidment:
Focus on the critical questions that affect commitment.
V. A- Development of
Unions
- Gitelman, "Adolph
Strasser and the Origins of Pure and Simple Trade Unionism," Leab, THE LABOR
HISTORY READER: Focus on the two crucial problems of U.S. unions in the
Nineteenth Century, the definition of "pure and simple unionism" and on
the reforms Strasser made in the Cigar Makers Union.
- Higgins, "Organized
Labor and Collective Bargaining at the Cross Roads," PoW, V.1,n.2: What
is economic citizenship and how must it be protected? What has been
happening to economic citizenship?
- Overman, "Unions:
New Activisim or Old Adversarial Approach?" Maidment: Focus on how management
can best develop a strategy to combat unions.
- Williams, "Facing
Tomorrow: A Union Perspective," PoW, V.1,n.1: Focus on the two broad strategies
that have emerged in industrial relations. What is among "the most
egregious" crises facing working people today?
- Lerner, "It is
an Exciting Time to be a Union Organizer," PoW, V.1,n.2: Focus on the things
that campaigns to build union power must do.
V. B.- Union Structure
and Operations
- Freeman and Medoff,
WHAT DO UNIONS DO, Chap. 1: Pay careful attention to the two faces of unionism
and also to the overall impact of unionism on society.
- Horowitz, "A New
Labor Structure for a Transient and Mobil Workforce," PoW, V.1,n.1: Note
carefully the nature of the two-tiered workforce, the central problem for
those in the second tier who are not doing well, and the model suggested
by professional associations.
- Taylor, "New Unionism
in an Age of Globalization," PoW, V.1,n.3: Focus on the reasons for union
decline and on the ways some successful unions in a variety of countries
are changing.
V. C.- The Bargaining
Process
- Stepp and Schneider,
"A Model for Union-Management Partnerships," PoW, V.1,n.2: Note the minimum
conditions for union-management partnerships and the two "quid pro quos"
necessary for unions to enter such partnerships.
- "Lessons from a
Current Affair: The UPS/Teamsters Strike," PoW, V.1,n.3: Focus on the different
lessons emphasized by the different authors who hold different positions.
- Mosle, "Letter
from Las Vegas: How the Maids Fought Back," The New Yorker, February
26, 1996: Don't take notes on this. Read it and come to class prepared to
discuss it.
- Overman, "Unions
Demand a Voice," HRMagazine, July 1997: Focus on the issue which
is particularly agitating unions and given them something to negotiate.
Also look at the mechanisms other than collective bargaining unions are
attempting to use to exert influence, and focus on the two management goals
which almost inevitably lead to conflict.
V. D.- Dispute Resolution
- Jacobsen, "Mediation,
the Process and the People," PoW, V.1,n.3: Focus on the essential beliefs
and personal characteristics of mediators as well as on differences in mediation
under different statutes.
- Dunlop, "The Joint
Labor-Management Committee Approach to Dispute Resolution," PoW, V.1,n.3:
Focus on the process, principles and philosophy of the JLMC.
VI. A.- Industrial
Relations in Japan
- Taira, "Japan,"
Rothman et al., Industrial Relations Around the World: Be able to
explain whether the constitution and labor laws of Japan are pro-labor or
pro-management and how? What is "a major advantage" of the Japanese
system of enterprise unions? Focus on the two major developments in
Japanese industrial relations which require careful evaluation.
VI. B.- Industrial
Relations in Britain
- Hollinshead, "Great
Britain, " Rothman et al., Industrial Relations Around the World:
What are the three main ways in which British statute law impinges on the
employment relationship? Be able to identify and explain the principal
current trends in British industrial relations.
VI. C.- Industrial
Relations in Germany
- Streek, "Federal
Republic of Germany," Rothman et al., Industrial Relations Around the
World : Focus on the institutional settings of industrial self-government
in Germany. Be able to explain what has been the pattern of strikes
in Germany. What has been the principal problem faced by German trade
unions since 1974?
VII. Summary and Conclusions
- The Editors, "Celebrating
Our Past and Future: Work and Employment Relations for the 21st Century,"
PoW, V.1,n.1: In what very old form of work were the boundaries between work
and personal space and time blurred as they are becoming today? What
was the "social contract" at work for much of the period from 1947 to the
present? What are the "obvious" critical issues confronting people
at work today?