Decision Making: A Case Study in Industrial Relations.

The case study reports on the influence of management's previous decisions and the institutional environment on companies' decision-making process in a New England community. Problems in the shoe industry around Brockton, Massachusetts are a concentration of manufacturing, a "grade system" that relates labor costs to product price, piece rates that affect productivity and wage structure, and the decision-making process in industrial relations. Topics include the independent union, Brotherhood of Shoe and Allied Craftsmen (BSAC), and the manufacturers' group, Associated Shoe Industries of Southeastern Massachusetts Inc.