ABSTRACT
This chapter looks in detail at why the ‘human relations’ approach surfaced in 1947, and then examines how it shaped government policy over the ensuing years. The turn to ‘human relations’ as a key to the productivity question occurred for a number of reasons. One general factor that encouraged the change was the fact that many people were increasingly inclined to talk of productivity in general as if labour productivity were its only component. More specifically, the growing popularity of a ‘human relations’ perspective was also linked to a particular perception of what was going on in the workplace. Support for voluntarism meant that unions and employers together continually sought to limit the role of government in the productivity drive, because of the recognition that such activity would always be likely to impinge on the sphere of voluntary union-employer agreement.
