To What Extent Do the Devices, Techniques, and Procedures of Industrial Relations Apply to Higher Education?

• Main Author: Howe, Ray A
• Format: Publication
• Language: English
• Published: 02.03.1970
• Subjects: Collective Bargaining; College Faculty; Community Colleges; Faculty; Higher Education; Teacher Administrator Relationship

It is likely that the number of colleges and universities at which collective bargaining techniques are used will grow. Collective bargaining has at least three positive aspects. (1) It is the most effective means yet to emerge from within a democratic society to effect the resolution of differences of opinion between employer and employee concerning matters of common interest. (2) It is the procedure most likely to produce mutually satisfactory agreements when employed in good faith. (3) It creates at least the potential for a balance of power situation in which differences can be more equitably resolved. The agenda and scope of collective bargaining tends to determine itself while the experience is in process, but there is great need for understanding the possibilities and limitations of the process. The emergence of a hierarchy within the administration, with a concomitant development of varying levels of status, and the resulting bureaucracy is probably the principal cause behind the rise of collective bargaining. (AF)