Using the various schools of thought, describe how the U.S. has changed in its approach to labor relations since the early days of industrialization.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In the initial days of industrialization, the mainstream economics school of thought prevailed as illustrated by the drive systems used by management which treated employees like any other factor of production. When this proved problematic (e.g., increased numbers of strikes, etc.), there were some extreme attempts to curtail management practices using militant methods consistent with the predictions of the critical industrial relations school. However, this method proved to be expensive and precipitated a move to the human resource management school of thought as well as the industrial relations school. For a time, the IR approach seemed most successful at curtailing labor conflict and union strength grew accordingly. However, with increased competition from globalization, the restrictive union contracts became very problematic. A movement away from the industrial relations school and toward the human resource management school was brought about by an increase in government regulation over the employment relationship (e.g., EEO, OSHA laws) and a dramatic decline in unionization rates due to declines in traditionally unionized industries such as manufacturing. The human resource management school has dominated current practice with respect to workplace governance although some might argue that the Occupy movement signals a return to the principles of the critical industrial relations school.