TOWARDS USEFUL THEORISING ABOUT INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

To be useful in practice, industrial relations theory must: 1. not be banal, 2. go futher than merely codifying practice, and 3. cope with the multi-faceted character of industrial relations. Industrial relations theory might be useful to practitioners. It could help them to: 1. understand the prese...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of industrial relations 1977-11, Vol.15 (3), p.307-316
Main Author: Walker, Kenneth F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Labor relations
Roles
Theory
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Summary:To be useful in practice, industrial relations theory must: 1. not be banal, 2. go futher than merely codifying practice, and 3. cope with the multi-faceted character of industrial relations. Industrial relations theory might be useful to practitioners. It could help them to: 1. understand the present industrial relations situation, 2. forecast trends, 3. bring about desired changes in the present or the future, and 4. avoid undesired events. Thee uses require a more developed level of theorizing carried to the point at which functional relationships between key variables are stated, at least in hypothetical form. The role of an industrial relations system is to explain given operational industrial relations situations. To do so, the concept must incorporate the processes whereby the inputs into the system are converted into outputs, as well as adding some provision for the goals of the actors.
ISSN:0007-1080
1467-8543
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8543.1977.tb01136.x