Research Paper on:
The Changing Power of British Employers 1870 - 1914

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of motivation, however during the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century the issue was one of power and control. The attraction of scientific management was  the way it fragmented the production process and placed management in control, transferring the power of discretion to employers away from employees (Huczyniski and Buchanan, 1996). However, despite these changes  revisionist labour historiography stresses a loss of power to the employers as a result of lacking solidarity in the employers class and a rise of solidarity in the workers class,  creating a disproportionate influence for the first time favouring workers. The argument does not indicate the employers were powerless and victims of the unions, but the balance of power  was shifting. In examining the period between 1870 and 1914 there are major changes in the employment relationship. The change is the  increase in workers power, not only directly, but also through influence. At the beginning of this period the Master and Servant Act 1867 was in place (Lockton, 1999). The Gas  stokers sought changes in this law, possibly spurred on by being found guilty of breaching their employment contract, which at the time was a criminal offence (Laybourn, 1997). Therefore at  this stage, whatever the degree of solidarity between employers, they are in the most powerful position. Scotland had started the change, when in 1867, as a result of Scottish Unions  activity, the power of arrest was taken away, and an arrest warrant was needed, but in England the workers could simply be summonsed (Laybourn, 1997). The inequality and as such  a reflection of the contemporary power paradigm was the absence of criminal proceeding where there was a breach by the employer (Laybourn, 1997).