Emergent modes of labour regulation in management-by-project processes and theoretical issues for industrial relations

Abstract

As the global economy undergoes a major transformation, the inadequacy of labour relations theories dating back to Fordism, especially the systemic analysis model (Dunlop, 1958) and the strategic model (Kochan, Katz, & McKersie, 1986), in which only three actors—union, employer and State—share the stage is becoming increasingly obvious. \ud A good example is provided by companies offering information technology services to businesses (B2B IT services), where new means of regulation emerge and illustrate the need to incorporate new actors and new issues if we are to account for its contemporary complexity. \ud A survey of 88 B2B IT professionals has revealed regulation practices that call into question the traditional boundaries of the industrial relations system from two points of view: that of the three main actors, by bringing the customer and work teams onto the stage, and that of the distinction between the contexts and the system itself.\u