Needless to say, there was no feeling on the part of the workforce
that they belonged to the same team as management, let alone that of
the shareholders. They knew they were on opposite sides and behaved
accordingly. A battleground atmosphere was the norm.
Interestingly, with the fiscal cutbacks and job reductions of the 1~90s,
many white-collar workers have begun to adopt the same position. Even
white-collar bureaucracies that used to be regarded as secure and privileged
middle-class institutions have become radicalized through strikes,
lockouts, and battles over job security. In the aftermath, relations often
remain strained and hostile, with people acting with minimum trust on
the premise that they are always in danger of being exploited in some way.
In the 1970s and 1980s when open conflicts between management and .
labor were at their height, representatives of senior management tended to adopt a unitary or pluralist ideology, emphasizing the need for "team
efforts" or a "stakeholder approach" to problem resolution, as a means
of reframing the "us and them" attitudes. But since the 1980s, the battleground
has shifted, and new tactics and strategies have emerged.