Gall, G (2012) Industrial conflict in the engineering construction industry in Britain. Construction Management and Economics, 30(7), pp. 535-544. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
The militant and unofficial grassroots-led engineering construction strikes of 2009 starkly indicated that the industrial relations of the engineering construction industry in Britain can be characterized and termed as old-fashioned, adversarial and robust. This article takes these strikes as its point of departure to provide an overview of the nature and contours of the contemporary industrial relations of the engineering construction industry (ECI). This demonstrates that not only is this characterization broadly correct but it is surprising in as much as it forms a break with the previous decades of industrial relations in the ECI. The article provides a synopsis of the strikes in 2009 and a contextualized analysis of the social dynamics underpinning them. This is followed by an examination of the nature of the labour market, cycles of engineering construction activity, and processes of industrial relations in the ECI, where the 2009 strikes are used as a prism by which to view them. Thereafter, the issue of assessing the nature and extent of industrial conflict is returned to.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | conflict management; conflict resolution |
| Index terms: | industrial relation, construction activity, conflict resolution, labour market, dynamics, construction industry, conflict management |
| Subjects: | psychology, construction operations, conflict resolution, industry analysis, systems engineering, economics |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Site Management, Organizational Design, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here