In this thesis an integrated approach to analysing small In this thesis an integrated approach to analysing small firm employment relations is proposed and used to investigate the image of industrial harmony in small firms. This approach accommodates small firm heterogeneity, provides an analytical framework for ordering the effect of a range of factors (not simply size) on employment relations, and incorporates a dialectical relationship between structure and agency. In Chapters 2 and 3 some of the key theoretical and methodological gaps in small firm research, particularly their employment relations, are highlighted. At the conclusion of Chapter 2, it is suggested that an analysis of small firm employment relations must start with the totality of economic and social relations in a particular sector, and its contradictory constituents, rather than the small firm per se. Rainnie’s (1989) heuristic device, drawing upon Marxist theory of combined and uneven development, is adopted to accommodate small firm heterogeneity. After reviewing studies of small firm industrial relations and human resource management, it is argued, in Chapter 3, that by incorporating the dialectical relationship between structure and agency with a labour process analysis, an explanation for why ‘industrial harmony’ appears to typify small firm employment relations can be sought. (For complete abstract open document)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245503 |
| Creators | Barrett, Rowena Joy |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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