INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS UPDATED SCRIPT
2026 PRACTICE SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
● Who are the main actors in Industrial Relations. Answer: Three Main
Actors: Employers, Workers, and the State (EWS)
- each with different interests, powers, and roles in shaping employment
relationships
● What does industrial relations examine. Answer: In employment, IR
examines
1. Work Organization
2.Power Distribution
3.Conflict
4.Cooperation
5.Social Relations
6.Political Influences
7.Moral Perspectives
8.Institutional Structures
● When did Industrial Relations emerge as a field. Answer: formally
developed around 1920, but its roots go back 150+ years,
arising/emerging from industrial capitalism and major social
transformations.
, ● Why Does Industrial Relations Exist. Answer: exists bc industrial
capitalism created social and economic problems that markets alone
could not solve, requiring regulation, reform and institutions to manage
work relations
● What is the "Labour Problem"?. Answer: a crisis created by
industrialization involving work poverty, inequality, exploitation,
unemployment, harsh conditions, and social unrest, seen as a threat to
social stability
● What Caused the Labour Problem?. Answer: emerged from industrial
capitalism, the rise of wage labour, power imbalances, class inequality,
and the lack of worker protection
● What three revolutions created industrial relations?. Answer: 1.
Industrial Revolution
2. Democratic/Political Revolution
3.Intellectual/Ideological (Capitalist) Revolution
● What was the Industrial Revolution. Answer: A period of
technological and organizational change marked by mechanization,
factories, capital-intensive production, division of labor, and industrial
production
2026 PRACTICE SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
● Who are the main actors in Industrial Relations. Answer: Three Main
Actors: Employers, Workers, and the State (EWS)
- each with different interests, powers, and roles in shaping employment
relationships
● What does industrial relations examine. Answer: In employment, IR
examines
1. Work Organization
2.Power Distribution
3.Conflict
4.Cooperation
5.Social Relations
6.Political Influences
7.Moral Perspectives
8.Institutional Structures
● When did Industrial Relations emerge as a field. Answer: formally
developed around 1920, but its roots go back 150+ years,
arising/emerging from industrial capitalism and major social
transformations.
, ● Why Does Industrial Relations Exist. Answer: exists bc industrial
capitalism created social and economic problems that markets alone
could not solve, requiring regulation, reform and institutions to manage
work relations
● What is the "Labour Problem"?. Answer: a crisis created by
industrialization involving work poverty, inequality, exploitation,
unemployment, harsh conditions, and social unrest, seen as a threat to
social stability
● What Caused the Labour Problem?. Answer: emerged from industrial
capitalism, the rise of wage labour, power imbalances, class inequality,
and the lack of worker protection
● What three revolutions created industrial relations?. Answer: 1.
Industrial Revolution
2. Democratic/Political Revolution
3.Intellectual/Ideological (Capitalist) Revolution
● What was the Industrial Revolution. Answer: A period of
technological and organizational change marked by mechanization,
factories, capital-intensive production, division of labor, and industrial
production
