The Origins and Evolution of the Field of Industrial Relations in the United States: 25 (Cornell Studies in Industrial and Labor Relations) - Softcover

Kaufman, Bruce E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0875461921 ISBN 13: 9780875461922

Publisher: ILR Press, 1992

Synopsis

Bruce Kaufman provides a detailed exploration of the historical development of the field of industrial relations. He identifies two distinct schools of thought evident since the field's origins in the 1920s, one centered in the study of personnel management and the other in the study of institutional labor economics. The two schools advocate contrasting approaches to the resolution of labor problems. Kaufman traces their development from a golden age in the 1950s through a period of gradual decline that accelerated in the 1980s. He contends that, in the process, the field narrowed from a broad-based consideration of the employment relationship to a more limited focus on collective bargaining. Following his analysis of the causes of decline, Kaufman develops a strategy to reverse the downward trend and reconceptualize the field of industrial relations.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce E. Kaufman is Professor of Economics and Senior Associate of the W.T. Beebe Institute of Personnel and Employment Relations at Georgia State University and Research Fellow at the Center for Work, Organization and Wellbeing at Griffith University. His most recent book, also published with Cornell, is Managing the Human Factor: The Early Years of Human Resource Management in American Industry; other books include The Global Evolution of Industrial Relations; What Do Unions Do: A Twenty Year Perspective; and Theoretical Perspectives on Work and the Employment Relationship (a LERA Research volume).

Edition details

• Publisher: ILR Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875461921
• ISBN 13: 9780875461922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304