Author Description

This paper documents the responses of the parties to the pressures for change in the 1980s and 1990s. We begin by establishing a framework for understanding the process of change and adjustment in human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR) in Canada. Section 2 specifies a four-way typology of HRM systems commonly observed in Canada. A system may be traditional or 'new' (high commitment); and unionized or non-unionized. This typology is essential to understanding firm-level responses, and it is followed by a discussion of innovations in industrial relations and human resources, and their relationship to firm performance. In section 3 we present a theoretical model of the effect of competition on HRM policies....Section 4 is devoted to the process of change in the older unionized sites...This section also outline the developments in collective bargaining and provides a diagnostic analysis of the major impediments to innovation in this sector. Section 5 considers the role that public policy could play.