Technological change and industrial relations in Singapore

Abstract

This paper concerns the Singapore government's strategy to transform the character of industrial relations from traditional authoritarianism to one reflecting the precepts of good human relations. Having extended control over industrial relations during the successful first stage of industrialisation based on low-level technology, the government, anticipating unfavourable world economic trends, is inducing changes in workforce orientations suitable for meeting the challenges of the higher-level technology of Singapore's second industrial revolution. The authors examine the strategy and discuss the industrial relations issues arising from it.