The Flexibility Debate: Industrial Relations and New Management Production Practices

Abstract

There is increasing interest in Australia and overseas about the implications of the changing product market and technological environment for the skills and responsibilities of the shopfloor workforce in manufacturing industry. Broadly, there are two approaches. The first, based on Piore and Sabel's work (1984), suggests that the advent of niche-based product market strategies and small-batch production will herald a new era of enriched work roles and employee involvement practices. The second approach, based on a more pessimistic interpretation of changing management practices, stresses the possible intensified managerial control and employment losses associated with the new environment. Making use of a series of seven case studies of metal industry plants in Victoria and NSW, this study investigates these different approaches and concludes that the latter framework offers a more realistic interpretation.