Engineering-Dienstleistungen in der Automobilindustrie: Verbreitung, Kooperationsformen und arbeitspolitische Konsequenzen

Abstract

"This contribution deals with the notion of wage labour in a fundamental perspective. Both the current theoretical debate as well as new empirical findings about the development of wage labour are summed up. The starting point of the reasoning is a short outline of the different forms as well as of the historical development of wage labour, which initially mainly was industrial work. The contribution then enters into the question how the fundamental coordination problems of work - the transformation and opportunism problem - are managed in the context of a power asymmetrical employment relation between labour and capital. And, how the achievement motivation of the employees can be secured under these circumstances. The thesis is proposed that the interaction of the company level - with its decision, negotiation and organisation processes - with the given labour market structures is of special significance for the regulation of the relations between wage labour and capital and the design of employment relations. To analyse these interrelationships, the author resort to newer concepts of 'company employment systems' for one thing and to considerations from the 'segmentation theory approach' to labour market research for another thing. In conclusion, the increased flexibility of hitherto standardised forms of regulating the employment relations and the decreasing importance of so-called normal employment relationships are identified as specific characteristics of new development trends of wage labour." (author's abstract)