HRM 603 – COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN

INDUSTRIAL & EMPLOYMENT

RELATIONS

Topic 1:
INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Learning Outcomes
1.1 Diagnose industrial and employment relations concepts
1.2.Analyze various IR/ER theories
1.3 Evaluate importance of studying international comparative
employment relations
1.4 Compare and contrast ER/IR institutions, models, features and
processes, etc.
Lecture Outline
1. Introduction
2. Key elements and Rules of ER
3. What is International and comparative ER
4. Objectives and Challenges in comparative ER
5. Convergence / Divergence patterns of ER
6. Globalisation and ER
7. Changing Nature of Work and Employment
8. Systems Model
9. Conclusion
INTRODUCTION

Comparative employment relation is important because of the

significant differences in employment relations (ER) between
countries
Changes in the international economy have raised questions about
whether national differences are continuing or changing.
•What is Employment Relations?

• study of all aspects of people at work.

• relationship between employers and employees and their

interaction at the workplace.
INTRODUCTION

• Employers’ and employees’ representative bodies, such as trade

unions and employer associations, and with how they interact at
the workplace, industry, national and international levels.

Industrial relations (IR) traditionally focuses on formal and informal

institutions of job regulation.

Human resources management (HRM) focuses on the level of the

individual organisation and is concerned with issues such as recruitment,
selection, pay, performance and human resource development.

We adopt the term employment relations(ER) to encompass both IR and

HRM.
Key Elements of Employment Relations

•The Parties include:

– Employers, Employees, Unions and professional associations, Government and state
agencies

•The Processes include:

– Collective bargaining between unions and employers or employer associations
– Industrial disputes and dispute resolution mechanisms
– Employee participation at the workplace

•The Outcomes include:

– A collective agreement between employees and their unions and employers and their
associations
– A decision by a Mediation committee and tribunal that resolves a dispute
– An agreement between employees and an employer on an issue at the workplace, e.g.
wages, working time, leave, skills, family friendly arrangements
Rules and the Employment Relationship
‘Every IR system creates a complex of rules to govern the workplace
and work community, i.e., to define the status of the actors and to
govern the conduct of the actors at the workplace & work
community’ (Dunlop)

The “broad” approach to regulate rules & regulation which have

called ‘neo – institutionalist’ mean rules that regulate the ER on
more diverse than ‘common-sense’ often suggests

There are number of formal & informal rules that regulate the
employment relationship
Rules and the Employment Relationship

Formal rules – are usually written and the result of a deliberate social
process. e.g. a Collective agreement negotiated between union & an
employer & lodged under the workplace relations Act, company
policy manuals and union rule book.

Informal rules – are sometimes consciously negotiated, but unwritten

agreements between parties or even accepted social practices at
work e.g. shared understanding between employers & managers over
appropriate behaviours, “custom & practice’
Rules and the Employment Relationship
Substantive rules - forces on the real terms under which employees
are rewarded for selling their labour & the condition under which
they work e.g. wage rate, working hours, holiday entitlements and
sick leave.

Procedural rules - govern the processes by which substantive rules

are made & enforced e.g. grievance procedures, company practice
recruitment or dismissal of employee and the procedures followed by
mediation and tribunals.
What is International and Comparative ER?

•International ER
– institutions and phenomena which cross national boundaries,
– studying employment relations systems in other countries

•Comparative ER
– A systematic method of investigating ER in two or more countries
which is analytic rather than descriptive

An internationally comparative approach combines international and

comparative approaches to ER
Objectives of International and Comparative
ER as a Field of Study

To learn about ER in different countries

To provide insights into our own system of ER
To develop theories and explanations for different patterns
of ER
To guide policy-making by learning from successful ER
systems
Challenges in Comparative ER Research
•There are important international differences in ER
– meanings and significance of key ER terms differ across countries
– Information is collected in different ways
– Therefore, effective comparisons require detailed understanding of
each national context
•Researchers choose a comparative research design:
– Most similar cases: two or more countries that are similar in as
many respects as possible except for phenomenon under study
– Most different cases: two or more countries that differ in almost
every respect except the phenomenon under examination
Convergence and Divergence in National Patterns of
ER

•One of the most enduring debates in international

comparative ER is:
–whether national patterns of ER are converging
(becoming more similar)
–whether they are diverging (becoming more different)
–whether a more complex pattern of convergence and
divergence is taking place
Divergence or Partial Convergence Theories

Comparative ER research has found that:

– Some country differences persist and some even increase
– But overall there may be convergence towards two or more
patterns of ER
– Some aspects of ER are converging while others are diverging
– Common trends don’t necessarily result in common outcomes
– There is increasing variation in ER practices within countries
Globalisation
•Globalisation is used to characterise changes in the international
economy
•It normally refers to growing interconnectedness of the
international economy
•It is associated with growth in:
– Cross-national trade, Foreign direct investment (FDI), Multinational
enterprises (MNEs) and global supply chains (GSCs) and Growth in
international financial transactions
•It is argued that globalisation has created a common set of
economic pressures across all markets (products and factors)
which may impact on ER
Globalisation and ER

Two views on how globalisation impacts on employment relations:

1. Simple globalisation approach
– economic pressures associated with globalisation will result in a
convergence of employment relations policies and practices
• ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of wages and labour standards as mobile capital
seeks lowest labour costs
• governments lose autonomy in policy making and can no longer guarantee
labour rights
• Instead, legislation to accelerate decentralisation and deregulation of the
labour market and to attract capital investment

2. Institutionalist approach
– Despite common economic pressures associated with globalisation,
diversity in national patterns of ER will persist
• existing ER institutions mediate and filter those pressures, and will do so
differently in different countries
The Changing Nature of Work and Employment

Employment relations in Pacific, Australia and Western European

countries is changing: -

1.Decline of union membership, power & the emergence of non

union forms of employee representation e.g. Worker participation,
consultation, team work has led to decentralization of collective
rule – making process.

2.Decline in employment in the manufacturing industry - There has

been a major shifts in employment over the last decades with a
shift from manufacturing industry to service sector e.g. Banking,
finance, retail, property, hotel, entertainment, travel, insurance,
stock exchange market, insurance, etc.
The Changing Nature of Work and Employment

Employment relations in Pacific, Australia and Western European

countries is changing: -

3.Growth of part time job – increase in part time worker especially

the females. The tendency of employers to convert full-time jobs
into part-time job is a typical trend in almost all countries including
Fiji e.g. shift work for cashier/ sales assistants.

4.The casualization of the labour force - vast majority of these

casual employees work on a part-time basis. Casual workers tend to
work in lower skilled occupation e.g. clerical, sales and service
work.
The Changing Nature of Work and Employment

Employment relations in Pacific, Australia and Western European

countries is changing: -

5.Downsizing and Delayering - Downsizing is a term used to describe

the ‘planned elimination of position or jobs which may occur by
reducing work or eliminating functions, hierarchical levels or units
e.g. removal of white collar jobs- managerial positions.
Delayering – involves the removal of one or more layers of
managerial or supervisory staff from an organisation. Downsizing &
delayering are intended to improve organisational effectiveness,
productivity, competitiveness.
The Changing Nature of Work and Employment
Impact of Covid – 19 pandemic on employment
Decline in the number of employed people at work as workers
were
◦ laid off,
◦ put on temporary leave of absence
◦ or did not have their contracts renewed.
The COVID-19 outbreak is rapidly changing the workplace.
Such as :
flexible work arrangements
Work from home or teleworking.
Systems Model

This is based on the analysis of system in an attempt to identify the

fundamental factors that influence the system. Theorist, Dunlop, J.
T. identified the factors as:-

1.Actors – people and the organizations involved and include

employee, trade unions, mangers, employers, employer’s
organization and government agency

2.Context – these actors create rules within which the system

operates the procedures to be used and the substance of the
agreements.
Systems Model

The rules are made within an environment which is made up of

three parts:

◦ Technological–determine the location of plant, number and

type of employees, skills required etc.

◦ Market and Budget Constraints–type of market (local,

national/international), economic factors and the supply of
money to the organization

◦ Outside Power Relationships-the way in which power is

distributed in society among various groups.
Systems Model

3. Ideology – Ideas that bind the actors together in the system.

 While the actors hold different ideas and views, their views must
coincide at many points for the system to work - understanding
and acceptance by each other
Conclusion
The central challenge facing comparative IR theory is to explain
the cross national variety of IR institutions and to explain why this
pattern has changed insomuch as it has changed over time
Globalisation is having a profound influence on the way that work
is regulated
Studying internationally comparative employment relations allows
us to develop an understanding of our own and other
employment relations systems
Reference
Bamber, G., Lansbury, R., Wailes, N & Wright C (2015).
International and Comparative Employment Relations: National
Regulation, Global Changes (6th ed.). UK, London: Sage
Publications Ltd.