ABSTRACT
Specialists in industrial relations working within the managements of employing organisations are usually seen as part of the personnel management function. The industrial relations tasks of managers have been defined by Watson as covering 'the range of consultations, communications and negotiations which occur with organised labour over whatever conditions or details of employment have become subject to group bargaining' (1986: 178). Although they are on the 'opposite side of the fence' from the full-time trade union officer and although they typically are employed by a quite different kind of organisation from their union counterparts, they can be seen as similarly employed to deal with problems and tensions arising from the employment of labour. Both operate in an 'indirect' relationship with the system of production and are at significant stress points within the industrial relations structure.
