Whether an organization adapts or
innovates will depend on the material and
relational structures existing at any given
time within the firm and its external
environment. Other actors heavily
influence these structures, most notably
rival firms, the state and (organized)
labour. This is where industrial relations
enters the picture, not simply as part of the
‘environmental structure’ (a set institutions
for regulating employment relationships)
but also as a set of agents who respond
both to external factors (the outer cycle)
and each other (the inner cycle). Thus,
confrontation between capital and labour is
instrumental in transforming, or
frustrating, the implementation of
managerially-defined