Approaches and attitudes of managers to collective bargaining in North East Scotland.

Buchan, James McDonald

Abstract

The two main themes of this thesis are: firstly, the development of a typology of management style in the context of British industrial relations; and, secondly, the utilisation of this typology in the examination of management and industrial relations in the North East of Scotland. The typology of management style that was developed in the early part of the thesis threw into relief the basic variations in approach of management to industrial relations, with specific reference being made to the centrality of collective bargaining to establishment industrial relations. Six categories of management style were determined, and the indicators of each category were identified. The examination of management and industrial relations in the North East of Scotland was based on a survey of establishments in six non-oil related "traditional" manufacturing industries - food processing, fish processing, textiles, papermaking, manufacturing engineering and fabrication engineering - and four oil-related industries - offshore drilling, offshore catering, oil exploration and production, and oil-related service/engineering. The nature of management-workforce relations in each establishment was examined and the management style in each establishment was identified in terms of one of the six predetermined categories, in order that inter-establishment and inter-industry comparisons could be undertaken. The survey revealed that the nature of industrial relations in the "traditional" manufactucing sector of the North East economy did not differ, in general, from that portrayed in comparable national studies - collective bargaining was the norm, irrespective of the level or levels of negotiation, the scope of bargaining and the formality with which industrial relations were conducted. In contrast, the results of the survey demonstrated that the operational nature of the oil-related industries was such that industrial relations were predominarttly non-negotiatory; however, where collective bargaining was utilised, it was distinguished by the formality with which it was conducted.

Citation

BUCHAN, J.M. 1984. Approaches and attitudes of managers to collective bargaining in North East Scotland. Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, PhD thesis. Hosted on OpenAIR [online]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-1993298

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jun 22, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 22, 2023
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.48526/rgu-wt-1993298
• Keywords: Management styles; Leadership styles; Industrial relations; Trade unions; North-East Scotland
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1993298
• Award Date: May 31, 1984