Understanding the frames before Fox: the development of unitary and pluralist views on organisations
Abstract
Purpose
This article examines the intellectual antecedents of Alan Fox’s frames of reference and contributes to academic work that seeks to unravel the pre-Donovan roots of British industrial relations. It examines the origins of the unitary and pluralist frames of reference with a particular focus on the work of Norman Ross.
Design/methodology/approach
This article draws on published academic materials to examine the origins of the unitary and pluralist frames of reference.
Findings
The article identifies usage of the term “frame of reference” in industrial relations literature from the 1940s and demonstrates the origins of the unitary and pluralist conceptions of the firm in the works of Ross in the 1950s and 1960s.
Originality/value
The article provides a “fresh look” at the origins of the frames of reference.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Tony Dobbins and Michael Gold for their helpful comments on a previous version of this paper. The author also wishes to thank the staff at the Cadbury Research Library and the Research Reserve at the Main Library of the University of Birmingham for their assistance in accessing some of the materials used in this paper.
Citation
Hodder, A. (2024), "Understanding the frames before Fox: the development of unitary and pluralist views on organisations", Employee Relations, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-03-2024-0188
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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