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The Dynamics of Strategic Militant Managerialism: Analysis of a "Strike"


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1 Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India
     

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The collectivisation efforts of employees evoke strong responses from managements seeking to survive in an uncertain and turbulent environment. The contours of these responses are explored through the analysis of a union mobilization initative of pilots of an Indian airline company. The pattern of response which emerges from this foray into contemporary industrial relations can best be characterized as "strategic militant managerialism". The company has its own threefold compulsions revolving around commercial pressures, customer service conisderations and competitor actions in responding the way it did in the face of union mobilization efforts of the pilots. The union forming efforts are resisted through a variety of means and interventions based on the "hard positional bargaining mode" with all the consequencs for industrial relations processes as well as outcomes.
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  • The Dynamics of Strategic Militant Managerialism: Analysis of a "Strike"

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Authors

Jerome Joseph
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India

Abstract


The collectivisation efforts of employees evoke strong responses from managements seeking to survive in an uncertain and turbulent environment. The contours of these responses are explored through the analysis of a union mobilization initative of pilots of an Indian airline company. The pattern of response which emerges from this foray into contemporary industrial relations can best be characterized as "strategic militant managerialism". The company has its own threefold compulsions revolving around commercial pressures, customer service conisderations and competitor actions in responding the way it did in the face of union mobilization efforts of the pilots. The union forming efforts are resisted through a variety of means and interventions based on the "hard positional bargaining mode" with all the consequencs for industrial relations processes as well as outcomes.

References