Teaching Labor Relations

• Author: W. David Patton
• Published date: 01 October 1994
• Date: 01 October 1994
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X9401400407
• Subject Matter: Articles

52

A Choice

Between

Paleontological

and

Contemporary

Approaches

TEACHING LABOR

RELATIONS

W. DAVID PATTON

In

a

broad

sense,

hu-

man

resource

manage-

ment

is

synonymous

with

labor

relations.

The

pur-

pose

of

human

resource

management

is

to

facili-

tate

and

enhance

the

re-

lationship

between

man-

ager

and

employee

to

promote

productivity

and

employee

develop-

ment.

One

text

provides

the

following

definition

of

the

field:

&dquo;Human

re-

source

management

in-

volves

all

management

decisions

and

practices

that

directly

affect

or

in-

fluence

the

people

who

work

for

the

organization&dquo;

(Fisher,

Schoenfeldt

and

Shaw,

1993:

5).

At

its

most

basic

eco-

nomic

level,

this

employment

relation-

ship

involves

an

exchange

of

wages

for

services

rendered.

However,

the

man-

agement-employee

relationship

is

usu-

ally

much

more

complex

than

the

mere

selling

of

one’s

services

to

an

employer.

Employees

and

managers

work

to-

gether

to

improve

productivity

in

a

variety

of

ways;

some

organizations

operate

in

a

traditional

command

and

control

environment,

while

others

develop

a

more

participative

and

cooperative

atmosphere.

In

a

practical

sense,

an

organization

does

not

exist

without

people,

and

it

is

the

relationship

be-

tween

and

among

people

(managers

and

employ-

ees)

which

forms

the

so-

cial

basis

from

which

an

organization

performs

its

goals.

Part

of

this

work

place

relationship,

which

we

refer

to

as

labor

rela-

tions,

has

been

separated

out

from

the

whole

and

viewed

as

distinct

from

other

aspects

of

human

resource

management

by

many

schol-

ars

and

practitioners

alike.

This

rela-

tionship

refers

to

such

specific

matters

as

collective

bargaining,

handling

griev-

ances,

labor

contract

management

and

all

activities

dealing

with

unions

or

organized

employees.

For

over

one

hundred

years

the

formal

labor/man-

agement

relationship

has

been

treated

as

distinct

from

all

other

services

and

technical

functions

performed

by