Shopfloor Matters: Labor - Management Relations in 20th Century American Manufacturing

The success of Japanese manufacturing has frequently been explained by its innovations in work organization and industrial relations at the plant level. Conversely, it is widely argued that Western countries struggle to introduce more flexible ways of working because of a prior history of industrial conflict. This book argues for a more nuanced view of US labor history. Two views of employment relations dominate: a liberal one, emphasizing mutually-advantageous institutions reforms, and a Marxist one, emphasizing conflict. Despite the differences between these two, both are necessary to understand the evolution of shopfloor relations.