Strategic choice and employment relations in an Asian context: the Singapore case

Abstract

This paper applies the 'strategic choice' model to a country other than the USA, viz. Singapore. It asks to what extent the model can be used to explain the three transformations and a progression to 'manpower planning' that have made up Singapore's employment relations since the Peoples' Action Party was elected to office in 1959. Transformation is defined as change in which elements of continuity are retained, but in new forms, and progression as a development of the pre-existing form. The data on Singapore are presented as an historical case study and subjected to analytical induction. In exploring the usefulness of the strategic choice model outside the USA, the following have to be considered: 'nation' as a distinguishing criterion; the determination of who initiates the transformations; the quality and intensity of the relationships between the parties; the scope of strategic choices. Allowing for these considerations, it is concluded that the strategic choice model has potential for facilitating comparative studies of such employment relations systems but raises questions about the nature of trade unionism in Asian employment system.