Abstract
This superb book is by one of the most outstanding industrial relations scholars of his generation, whose work has extended over more than half a century. Robert (Bob) McKersie’s contributions have been significant not only in relation to academic research and teaching but also to many other fields, including dispute resolution, public policy, and university administration. In his splendid foreword, Thomas Kochan notes that this book is not only about historical events, which McKersie and others helped to shape, but also about the challenges that face the future of work and employment relations. Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, a longtime collaborator of McKersie, describes him as “an integrative scholar.” This remark borrows from one of the central concepts of the classic work by Richard Walton and Bob McKersie: A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations, first published in 1965 and still read widely today.
A Field in Flux begins with a quote from Pope Francis: “Journeying is an art. . . . If we stop, we don’t go forward and we also miss the goal.” This neatly sums up McKersie’s approach to his “Industrial Relations Journey”: from his “Apprenticeship” as a doctoral and postdoctoral student at the Harvard Business School in the 1950s, to “Becoming a Journeyman” professor at the University of Chicago Business School in the 1960s, “Managing a Shop” at Cornell’s New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations as a Professor and Dean during the 1970s, and “Returning to the Bench” at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from the 1980s to the present day. Each of these chapters are rich with insights into academic life and industrial relations, and they deal with major political, economic, and social issues faced by the United States and other countries from the 1950s to today. The book is an exemplar of clear, interesting, and concise writing about these important developments in the field.
Though it is not a memoir, the book offers some fascinating insights into the author’s personal history, including his father’s participation in the general strike called by the IWW in 1914, his own early training as an electrical engineer, and his three year’s active service in the US Navy during the early 1950s. McKersie’s involvement in the civil rights movement in Chicago in the 1960s brought him into direct contact with Jessie Jackson and Operation Breadbasket, which is outlined in his book A Decisive Decade (Cornell University Press/ILR Press, 2013). These early experiences doubtless influenced his lifelong commitment to fairness in the workplace, anti-discrimination, and his conviction that unions and worker representation are vital to a democratic society. Understanding the author as an individual enables him to be a role model for current and future generations.
A strong feature of A Field in Flux is the appreciation and recognition that McKersie gives to his mentors, colleagues, and students. One example is George Shultz, who was Dean at the University of Chicago Business School when McKersie joined as an Assistant Professor and whom he describes as “the extraordinary leader of an exceptional team.” He credits Shultz with having created “a vibrant, multi-disciplinary faculty” that placed emphasis on field research, delivering value to practitioners as well as contributing to sound public policy. Schultz, who later served Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in high office, introduced McKersie to new policy perspectives and was instrumental in developing his conceptual and practical skills.
One of the most interesting passages of the book deals with the transformation project at MIT, from the early to mid-1980s, which culminated in the seminal book The Transformation of American Industrial Relations, jointly authored by Tom Kochan, Harry Katz, and Bob McKersie (Cornell University Press/ILR Press, 1986). I was fortunate to have been a visiting scholar at MIT during 1984 when the book was being written, and I attended several “brown bag” meetings at which draft chapters were vigorously discussed by faculty members, graduate students, and others. I was impressed by the way in which McKersie and his co-authors were willing to share their ideas and to accept critical comments as they developed the ideas for the book.
The Transformation book was controversial because it argued that new strategies adopted by management were undermining trade unions and spelled the end of the New Deal model of industrial relations that had prevailed since the end of World War II. Some scholars did not agree with their analysis. John T. Dunlop, for example, argued against the notion that fundamental changes were occurring and insisted that the status quo would be re-established once the economic recession of the early 1980s ended. The views presented in the book proved to be correct, however, and led to subsequent studies at an international level that examined how transformation was occurring in many other countries. In Australia, a number of scholars have built on the transformation argument and expanded on what was termed the “strategic” level of the system to take into account larger geopolitical developments.
Two issues raised briefly at the end of A Field in Flux provide challenges for current and future scholars. First, how do we overcome the fragile nature of joint labor–management initiatives so that they become permanent? Second, what is the future for work and employment relations? Early pioneering examples of partnership arrangements, in which McKersie participated as a researcher and adviser, include the Armour Automation Fund and the New York State Continuity of Employment Commission. These were generally successful in terms of providing training and employment for workers who were displaced by technological change during previous decades.
Similar problems are re-appearing today as new forms of technology, such as robotization and artificial intelligence, threaten job security. With the decline of union membership, employers are under little pressure to consult with workers or to provide training for alternative employment. Nevertheless, a positive example of partnership between an employer and its unions is Kaiser Permanente, which has been the subject of long-running research by McKersie and others (Kochan et al., Healing Together: The Labor-Management Partnership at Kaiser Permanente, Cornell University Press/ILR Press, 2009). Yet it has proved difficult to sustain and replicate these kinds of joint labor–management partnerships. A challenge for current practitioners and researchers is how to maintain and renew robust partnerships.
Despite the decline of unions and collective bargaining, which were core features of traditional industrial relations, the author sees opportunities for scholars to address the future of work and its implications for workers, employers, and government: “Those trained in the field of work and employment relations can play prominent roles in the unfolding debates . . . by bringing their grounded understanding of work design, training systems, and employee engagement and negotiations into the processes for managing technological change” (p. 204).
In tracing the history of the field, McKersie notes the decline of traditional industrial relations departments and centers in universities. He ascribes this decline to their failure to adapt to changes and to address the new issues confronting organizations and society. In summary, he argues that the future of the field depends on our ability to solve problems and foster innovation to “help opposing parties find integrative outcomes” (p. 205). This is a fitting summary of the philosophy that has enabled Bob McKersie to make such a sustained and valuable contribution to the world and is an important challenge to all of us. Indeed, it is a broader challenge for the role of higher education in society. Consistent with his generosity of spirit, the author concludes A Field in Flux with tributes to union leaders, his mentors, and colleagues.