How Personal Relations Work: Individual Market Adaptation and Collective Action in Flexible Labour Markets

Birgit Apitzsch

Industrielle Beziehungen - Zeitschrift fuer Arbeit, Organisation und Management - The German Journal of Industrial Relations, 2013, vol. 20, issue 2, 116-141

Abstract: In the context of a growing detachment of workers from organizations and from traditional forms of interest representation, social networks are considered as an important means of individual risk-coping and for union strategies to improve working conditions and organize workers’ interests. To contribute to a better understanding of industrial relations in flexible labour markets, this paper studies the forms and functions of personal networks in the German film and television industry. The findings of this qualitative study provide insights into the institutional and organizational conditions under which networks facilitate individual strategies, the collective organization or fragmentation of the workforce. Particularly important are here not only the strength of ties, but also vertical versus horizontal relations, and interactions between individual and collective strategies of using personal networks.

Keywords: networks; projects; flexible labour markets; individual risk-coping; union strategies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J51 J53 J63 J81 L14 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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