Labor Relations: Striking a Balance, 1st Edition, by John Budd presents labor relations as a system for striking a balance between the employment relationship goals of efficiency, equity, and voice, and between the rights of labor and management. Budd's Labor Relations broadens the narrow process focus of existing labor relations texts by placing the discussion of contemporary U.S. processes into the context of underlying themes - what are the goals of labor relations, are those goals being fulfilled, and are reforms needed. This textbook replaces the tired paradigm of "labor relations equals detailed work rules" with the dynamic paradigm of "labor relations equals balancing workplace goals and rights." Labor law, union organizing, bargaining, dispute resolution, and contract administration are central topics, but these processes are not presented as self-evidently good. These topics are placed in the broader context of the goals of the employment relationship, conflicting rights, and the environment of the 21st Century. This broader context serves to make labor relations more engaging and relevant to students. It also allows instructors to raise important "big picture" ideas while covering the applied business functions and strategies of the existing processes.

Labor Relations: Striking a Balance

Business & Money

Budd, John W.

Economics

McGraw/Hill/Irwin

John Budd continues to present the most dynamic, engaging approach to understanding labor relations in the 21st century with Labor Relations, 4/e. This textbook presents labor relations as a system for balancing employment relationship goals (efficiency, equity, and voice) and the rights of labor and management. By weaving these themes with the importance of alternative perspectives on the nature of the employment relationship throughout the text, students can learn not only how the traditional labor relations processes work, but also why these processes exist and how to evaluate whether they are working. In this way, students can develop a deeper understanding of labor relations that will help them successfully navigate a contemporary labor relations system that faces severe pressures requiring new strategies, policies, and practices.

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

McGraw–Hill Education

Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice

John W. Budd contends that the turbulence of the current workplace and the importance of work for individuals and society make it vitally important that employment be given "a human face." Contradicting the traditional view of the employment relationship as a purely economic transaction, with business wanting efficiency and workers wanting income, Budd argues that equity and voice are equally important objectives. The traditional narrow focus on efficiency must be balanced with employees' entitlement to fair treatment (equity) and the opportunity to have meaningful input into decisions (voice), he says. Only through a greater respect for these human concerns can broadly shared prosperity, respect for human dignity, and equal appreciation for the competing human rights of property and labor be achieved.
Budd proposes a fresh set of objectives for modern democracies―efficiency, equity, and voice―and supports this new triad with an intellectual framework for analyzing employment institutions and practices. In the process, he draws on scholarship from industrial relations, law, political science, moral philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, and economics, and advances debates over free markets, globalization, human rights, and ethics. He applies his framework to important employment-related topics, such as workplace governance, the New Deal industrial relations system, comparative industrial relations, labor union strategies, and globalization. These analyses create a foundation for reforming employment practices, social norms, and public policies. In the book's final chapter, Budd advocates the creation of the field of human resources and industrial relations and explores the wider implications of this renewed conceptualization of industrial relations.

Cornell University Press

What is work? Is it simply a burden to be tolerated or something more meaningful to one's sense of identity and self-worth? And why does it matter? In a uniquely thought-provoking book, John W. Budd presents ten historical and contemporary views of work from across the social sciences and humanities. By uncovering the diverse ways in which we conceptualize work―such as a way to serve or care for others, a source of freedom, a source of income, a method of psychological fulfillment, or a social relation shaped by class, gender, race, and power―The Thought of Work reveals the wide-ranging nature of work and establishes its fundamental importance for the human experience. When we work, we experience our biological, psychological, economic, and social selves. Work locates us in the world, helps us and others make sense of who we are, and determines our access to material and social resources. 
By integrating these distinct views, Budd replaces the usual fragmentary approaches to understanding the nature and meaning of work with a comprehensive approach that promotes a deep understanding of how work is understood, experienced, and analyzed. Concepts of work affect who and what is valued, perceptions of freedom and social integration, identity construction, evaluations of worker well-being, the legitimacy and design of human resource management practices, support for labor unions and labor standards, and relationships between religious faith and work ethics. By drawing explicit attention to diverse, implicit meanings of work, The Thought of Work allows us to better understand work, to value it, and to structure it in desirable ways that reflect its profound importance.

The Thought of Work

Business Culture

ILR PRESS

The Thought of Work (Cornell Paperbacks)

Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy Into Focus

The global financial crisis and recession have placed great strains on the free market ideology that has emphasized economic objectives and unregulated markets. The balance of economic and noneconomic goals is under the microscope in every sector of the economy. It is time to re-think the objectives of the employment relationship and the underlying assumptions of how that relationship operates. Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives develops a fresh, holistic framework to fundamentally reexamine U.S. workplace regulation. A new scorecard for workplace law and public policy that embraces equity and voice for employees and economic efficiency will reveals significant deficiencies in our current practices. To create one, the authors―a legal scholar and an economics and industrial relations scholar―blend their expertise to propose a comprehensive set of reforms, tackling such issues as regulatory enforcement, portable employee benefits, training programs, living wages, workplace safety and health, work-family balance, security and social safety nets, nondiscrimination, good-cause dismissal, balanced income distributions, free speech protections for employees, individual and collective workplace decision-making, and labor unions.Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives is not just another book that sketches a reform agenda. The book provides the much-needed rubric for how we think about employment policy specifically, but also economic policy more generally. It is a must-read in these most critical times.

Befort, Stephen F.

Administrative Law

Stanford Economics and Finance

Budd presents labor relations as a system for balancing employment relationship goals (efficiency, equity, and voice) and the rights of labor and management. By weaving these themes with the importance of alternative perspectives on the nature of employment relationship throughout the text, students can learn not only how the traditional labor relations processes work, but also why these processes exist and how to evaluate whether they are working. In this way, students can develop a deeper understanding of labor relations that will help them successfully navigate a contemporary labor relations system that faces severe pressures requiring new strategies, policies, and practices.

Loose-Leaf for Labor Relations

McGraw=Hill

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Budd, John W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Budd, John W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Budd, John W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Labor Relations: Striking a Balance

Labor Relations: Striking a Balance

Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice

The Thought of Work

Employment with a Human Face: Balancing Efficiency, Equity, and Voice

The Thought of Work (Cornell Paperbacks)

Invisible Hands, Invisible Objectives: Bringing Workplace Law and Public Policy Into Focus

Loose-Leaf for Labor Relations