Growths in the number and complexity of new technologies have led some observers to suggest that companies and unions are entering a new era of bargaining. This thesis addresses the emerging issue of new technology and industrial relations with some evidences found from the selected Korean firms through case study. While some advanced foreign labour unions such as Scandinavian or German labour unions have been trying to influence the introduction of new technologies in the work processes, Korean labour unions are much less concerned with the introduction and implementation of new technologies, as far as the cases investigated. Among others, this study investigated those subjects of skills, employment effects(in micro level) and the role of the first-line supervisors in relations with new technologies, and the research findings indicate that
① impacts of new technologies on the skill level of workers are closely related to the management's objective of new technologies,
② there are some redundancies on workers after the introduction of new technologies, extreme labour shortages, however, shaded the possible phenomena of layoffs or job displacements,
③ most evidently, need for the first-line supervisors was decreased and their role was changed toward more technology oriented specialists.
Following these observations, we suggested five hypotheses which could be tested through empirical(statistical) analysis. However, the problem of measurement should be solved a priori. Finally, we propose another fruitful area of researches, including the game theoretic perspectives of the very nature of new technology and industrial relations.
