The thesis examines the reactions of policy-making managements of large industrial firms to the challenges to their power and authority accompanying the organization of relatively strong unions in the later 1930s and 1940s. It describes and explains the transformation in its approach to labour relations forced upon, American management during this period, setting this against a background account of the indus- trial relations strategies large firms followed in the pre-union era. It relates in detail the problems of labour relations American business encountered in the war period and immediately after, and examines the ideology and world-view of management as revealed in its perceptions of its problems. The second half of the thesis describes a successful 'recovery of the initiative' in industrial relations policy and practice by American management. It examines the contributions of large corporations and their pressure-groups to the reorientation of public policy towards organized labour which culminated in the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. It goes on to discuss the collective bargaining strategies of large manufacturers (particularly in the automotive industry) in the late 1940s, arguing that they acted with realism and conscious purpose to stabilize in-plant labour relations on terms acceptable to themselves. Management accepted unions - but acted to restrict their power, and compelled them to behave 'responsibly'. The final chapters examine other means by which management aimed to outflank and undermine unions, and to restore its own power and prestige - methods which .have usually been neglected by business and labour historians alike. The objectives and rationales of personnel administration, 'welfare capitalism' , in-plant propaganda, and public relations are analysed. Throughout, the emphasis is on managerial motivation, and on the ideological bases of business policy, as much as on actual practice. This is partly because the sources of the study include the rhetoric of the business community as well as the records of its behaviour. The work is, however, more than a partial intellectual history of American business: it concent- rates on practical men's perceptions and analyses of problems which confronted them, and on the rationales they produced for the actions they took.

This study sets out to explore employer response to the EU social dimension, in answer to the question, "How are employers in the UK and Germany responding to the EU social dimension, and why?" Using case study evidence from nine large British and German engineering companies, as well as material from employers' associations at all levels, it is argued that there is little employer support for extending the social dimension. Focusing on micro-economic aspects of the debate, it is also argued that a common feature in both British and German employer opposition is a concern for the impact of EU industrial relations regulation on firm-level flexibility. This stands in direct contradiction of the EU Commission's own contentions about the flexibility-enhancing effects of its social policy measures, and appears paradoxical in light of earlier research findings of a German flexibility advantage over UK rivals on account of the country's well-structured regulatory framework for industrial relations. Evidence from participant companies, however, suggests that, in the global environment of the late 1990s, much of Germany's former flexibility advantage has been eroded, and the regulation-induced limitations on both the pace and scale of change are increasingly onerous to German companies. German managers perceive a need for targeted deregulatory reform of their industrial relations system; by strengthening (and often extending) existing industrial relations regulation, EU social policy measures meet with firm disapproval. In the UK, by contrast, the changed context has contributed to a significant increase in firm-level flexibility. British companies now operate to levels of flexibility often in advance of their German counterparts, at far lower 'cost' in terms of the time taken, and the extent to which change measures are compromised, to reach agreement. For British managers, EU social policy measures are perceived as a threat to these beneficial arrangements, and vigorously opposed. The thesis concludes by suggesting that such fixed opposition, in the face of Commission determination to extend the EU social dimension, points to an escalation of the controversy surrounding the social dimension.

The thesis investigates the factors determining the effort put forth by industrial workers in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth. Why was so much energy and of such kinds put into work, and neither more nor less? What was the contribution of culture and institutions? And in which ways, if any, did the conduct of labour change over time? Labour effort contributes significantly to productivity differentials, between factories and across nations, and its study thus sheds light on that slackening of Britain's economic performance which historians have detected in the late Victorian period. Yet it is, additionally, a subject of interest in its own right. Work was the preponderating element in a man's daily experience, and much of the wide range of factory life found reflection in the matter of how hard he laboured and in what way. Indeed it is the contention of this thesis that an explanation of the level and forms of effort in the late nineteenth century must make reference to the workshop environment and its associated customs and social relationships. These arguments are illustrated by detailed studies of the shoe and flint-glass trades. Despite obvious contrasts between these industries, important similarities are found to exist in the issues surrounding labour effort. In both industries operatives limited output; shoe and glass employers alike contributed to the failure to fully realise the productive potential of their establishments; the social equilibrium of both industries was subject to mounting competition from overseas - a challenge compounded in the shoe trade by rapid technical change; and in each case these disruptive tendencies eventuated in industrial confrontations which, however apparently successful for employers, left the fundamental characteristics of industrial organisation unchanged. These themes were common, not merely to glass and shoe manufacture, but to a range of major industries. The culture of output limitation was, we conclude, widespread in industry in this period, and emerged from similar reasons out of similar contexts.

The Kuwaiti government obliged firms to cover part of employee's risks through legislation in 1965 and 1977. Employers should cover risks as death or job injury due to or during work. This had affected the group life insurance (GLI) market. The thesis examines the economics of this market. Problem of choosing the right life table with respect to Kuwaiti mortality rates is tested. The efficiency of using English life tables to estimate mortality rates in Kuwait GLI market is examined. The effects of GLI underwriters on the market are investigated. The Social Security Services (SSS) are offered for Kuwaitis only, Non-Kuwaitis face more economical insecurity than Kuwaitis do. Therefore, the demand for employees' group investment plan to cover future security facing Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti workers, in particular, is also considered. The thesis suggests several methods to solve the problems facing the Kuwait GLI market. Kuwaiti Mortality rates are estimated using data from both the Social Security Association (SSA) and a sample of term group life insurees to be compared with English and American life tables. Methods of avoiding lack of information, adverse selection, and moral hazard in Kuwait GLI market are proposed. Finally, the advantages of introducing group investment plan are examined, and it was shown that these could alleviate SSS problems. Use of group investment plan should reduce the cost of the SSS for Kuwaitis, secure part of Non-Kuwaitis risks, and assist insurers to avoid or reduce their economic problems.

The existing British partnership literature is notoriously polarised. Two main streams of research have emerged. Early empirical work focused upon trade union representative capacity outcomes, in other words does partnership represent a threat or opportunity to the beleaguered trade union movement. Many of the conclusions have been negative, suggesting that partnership is a dangerous strategy for trade unions. More recent empirical work has focused upon the extent to which partnership offers mutual gains outcomes to employers, trade unions and employees. While much of the research has been pessimistic, various typologies of partnership have emerged, suggesting a variety of possible outcomes. However, despite the abundance of literature, three particular limitations are noteworthy. Firstly, few studies consider how partnership plays out in different contexts. Secondly, little attention has been given to understanding more about the process of partnership. Thirdly, there are limitations to the way outcomes have been assessed. Crude use of labour outcomes, such as job losses or pay levels may tell us nothing about the quality of employment relations. Accordingly, the study has five main objectives. Firstly, partnership is explored in a variety of organisational contexts. Secondly, particular attention is paid to what partnership means to organisational actors. Thirdly, the study focuses upon two indicators of partnership process: the nature of relationships between actors, and the way issues are handled and decisions are made. Indeed, it is argued that one cannot fully understand the outcomes without exploring both process and context. Fourthly, outcomes for management, unions and employees are explored, as well as wider societal goals. Finally, the study considers some of the main challenges to partnership in the UK. Given the nature of the research questions, qualitative methods were thought to be most appropriate. In particular, a case study research design was employed focusing on three organisations in the thriving financial service sector, thus offering a very different context to traditional IR - and partnership – research in manufacturing and public services. The study also offers insights into partnership in both union and non-union firms. The bulk of the data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with a range of managers, representatives and employees in each organisation, as well as interviews with trade union officials. This was supplemented by documentary analysis and non-participant observation. Thus, the thesis makes several important contributions. Firstly, it offers fresh empirical evidence into partnership working in the UK, drawn from a variety of contexts within the internationally important financial service sector. Since the outcomes of partnership are difficult to measure the study also considers issues of process which are overlooked in the existing research. Actor relationships and bargaining explored in relation to models of integrative and distributive bargaining as proposed by Walton and McKersie (1965). Decision making processes are also explored by developing the analytical framework proposed by Budd (2004), which has not been widely employed in British industrial relations research. The thesis therefore offers a different way of evaluating the outcomes of partnership for various stakeholders, and avoids conflating union attitudes with employee opinions. In this way, the research transcends the recent advocates/critics stalemate in the literature.

Recent theories of the social consequences of institutions point to aspects of class and ethnic relations that are not fully captured by conventional institutional perspectives. Using some of these recent theoretical contributions, this thesis analyzes the influence of institutional conditions on the mobilization of French and immigrant workers in late 19th-century northern France. Two main institutional structures are discussed: France's unique network of labour courts, and the socialist cooperatives created by Flemish workers in the 1880s. The empirical, chiefly archival evidence suggests two main conclusions: labour movements emerged and evolved strongly influenced by the judicial framing of labour relations, which they in turn sought to use and modify to their advantage; the institutional innovation of Flemish immigrant workers had a durable influence on the organization of labour politics in northern France, and contributed to their integration as active social and political participants.

Over recent years, the study of industrial districts, and inter-organizational relations has become a major theme of interest in network research. Theories characterized by an increased inter-relatedness between heterogeneous actors and knowledge fields point to a new form of inter-organizational relationship development. This is basicly based on the idea of creating trust between firms to increase their chances of success and to keep pace with the development of all relevant technologies. In this thesis, we present some data from a research project we have conducted in OSTIM industrial district, Ankara, Turkey. First, we present the theoretical perspectives which appear relevant to such investigation, and which aims at developing a better a network model of the inter-organizational relations of district firms, as well as trust, informal contracts and centrality issues, particularly as regards technological innovation and technology transfer of firms, respectively. Moreover, the evidence presented in this thesis is unequivocal in noting that long term inter-organizational relations and trust may be a necessary and a sufficent condition for a small and medium sized enterprise (SME) to take its place in the center of a complex web of inter-organizational relations as seen in an industrial district.

This thesis is a social history of workplace Australian football between the years 1860 and 1939, charting in detail the evolution of this form of the game as a popular phenomenon, as well as the beginning of its eventual demise with changes in the nature and composition of the workforce. Though it is presented in a largely chronological format, the thesis utilises an approach to history best epitomised in the work of the progenitors of social history, E.P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm, and their successors. It embraces and contributes to both labour and sport history-two sub-groups of social history that are not often considered together. A number of themes, such as social control and the links between class and culture, are employed to throw light on this form of football; in turn, the analysis of the game presented here illuminates patterns of development in the culture of working people in Victoria and beyond. The thesis also provides new insights into under-re searched fields such as industrial recreation and the role of sport in shaping employer-employee relations. In enhancing knowledge of the history of grass roots Australian football and demonstrating the workplace game's links with the growth of unionism and expansion of industry, the thesis therefore highlights the complexity and interconnectedness of economic development, class relations and popular culture in constructing social history.

This thesis examines and explains the development of the KEF between its formation in 1970 and 2003. Using a historical and case study approach, the thesis analyses the strategic behaviours of the KEF. The guiding questions shaping this thesis are drawn from the intersection of resource dependence theory and the literature on employer associations. In response to these questions, chronological narrative explains the development of Korea's political economy and industrial relations between 1970 and 2003 as it affected the KEF. It pays particular attention to the growth of the chaebols -- family-owned and controlled business conglomerates -- as political as well as economic forces, their changing relations with government and their labour management strategies. This thesis argues that when Korea's chaebol owners formed their association, the KEF, they did so in the absence of immediate clear or concrete challenges to their business interests. Instead, they evaluated the likelihood of some future external challenges and chose to act on these perceptions. In particular, they strategically chose to prepare for the possible re-emergence of an independent labour movement many years into the future rather than trust forever in governments? repressive systems of labour control. Resource dependence theory proved useful for examining the KEF's internal dynamics. The KEF and its chaebol members were linked through asymmetric inter-dependence. The chaebols dominated KEF membership, took financial responsibility for KEF operations and formally ruled through its governance structure. The KEF's high dependence on the chaebols inhibited any shift away from its chaebol-dominated profile. This also meant that the KEF leadership found it extremely difficult to exert control over member firms' behaviour. However, as the relationship between the chaebols and their external environment changed, internal power resources (industrial relations expertise) and external ones (a militant union movement, tripartite arrangements) helped the KEF Secretariat increase its authority. This allowed it to achieve greater discretionary power in its internal and external domains.

Some industrial relations researchers have considered the meat processing industry as one of the more strike-prone industries in Australia. Many researchers have analysed this industry from either a political economy perspective or a union industrial relations perspective. This thesis acknowledges this body of literature, but takes as its focus the ways that employers have shaped the industry?s industrial relations. Employers, far from being reactive or even passive actors in shaping the industry?s industrial relations, have taken a long-term active role in this area. This thesis, therefore, focuses on an historical analysis of the changing roles of employers and employer associations in the industry?s industrial relations. This thesis will identify and link the relevant theoretical literature to the historical narrative, and then link this to actual events through three case studies analysing three exemplar employers. The findings of this thesis are that employers have had and made strategic choices about the industry?s industrial relations, at the workplace, industry and national-levels. The rise of AMH, which forms much of the second half of the narrative and analysis, shaped the industry?s industrial relations in ways not seen before in the Australian meat processing industry. Thus, the strategic choices on by many medium and larger meat-industry employers at the time, proved ineffective in the face of AMH?s success in driving down the cost of the wage-effort bargain, rendering many uncompetitive on both the input and output sides of the product market.