Technical Change and Industrial Relations: Theoretical Reflections on Changes in the Automobile Industry

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of changing industrial relations using concepts mainly from the systems tradition in this field. It distinguishes between regimes of job regulation and the industrial relations system, which produces such regimes. The role of management in the industrial relations system is discussed in relation to questions of consensus, stability and change. Some conditions for structural change in the industrial relations system are identified. It is shown that technical change is a potential, but not a necessary, cause of structural change. The framework is then used for a brief discussion of the relations between technical change and changes in the industrial relations of the automobile industry in three countries.