THE UNION CHALLENGE TO MANAGEMENT CONTROL

How far should labor unions be permitted to encroach on management, what rights have they to go as far as they have, where is the line of demarcation to be drawn to make possible a peaceful and successful labor-management relationship? These questions are uppermost in industry today -- and Chamberlain, an associate of Yale University Labor and Management Center, has written an extremely detailed and methodical study of labor-management relations with particular attention to the phase of labor's forcing itself into the management sphere, delving into labor history for background. Management, concerned with its legal responsibility to stockholders and in its position of authority, is in conflict with the union basis of the institutional rather than the legal view. Objectively summarizing the reasons of management and those of labor, the conclusion reached is that no feasible line of demarcation has been found yet, but that a solution is based on functional integration which conceives of the enterprise as composed of its various interest groups, building around and encompassing them, taking into consideration the obligations of the bargaining partners to (1) their own constituencies, (2) to each other, (3) to the public. A thoroughly specialized report, comprehensible only to those with a sound knowledge of management principles. Intended for people intimately concerned in labor relations and management, for students of economic and sociological theory.