The Naked Industrial Officer

About the Book

This is not a text book. It is what one person has learnt over more than half a century in a range of industries, locations and positions. It is designed to be read easily by anyone interested in a career in industrial relations or human resources or who is just curious as to what this vaguely understood activity is all about. I’ve tried to write in the conversational style I would use if I were sitting with you in an office or a tutorial room. Each page contains only one or two thoughts, so some pages are quite short. That’s to help you think about what I have to say. I’ve tried to cover the full ambit of the industrial officer role so, naturally, it has not been possible in a book of this size to address every aspect in full detail. Where I think it might be useful, I’ve referred to the works of other authors that deal with some subjects in much greater detail than I do here. Why ‘The Naked Industrial Officer title’? I use the name ‘industrial officer’, even though it is somewhat outdated in many organisations. I use it to cover all positions that fall within the ranks of the industrial relations profession. I have used the word ‘naked’ in the title as I will be attempting to strip away much of the mystery that surrounds industrial relations in the eyes of other branches of management. And for those who are new to the profession.

About the Author

Stephen Rooke has a degree in industrial relations from the University of New South Wales and has partially completed a bachelor of laws degree at Murdoch University in Western Australia. He has worked for more than fifty years in industrial relations in a range of industries and businesses. Stephen has lectured in industrial relations and related subjects at Curtin University and has presented papers at conferences in Australia and Malaysia. He has published papers in Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Resources (for example ‘The Role of the Industrial Relations Practitioner at the Plant Level’ Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Resources 1989; 27; 94).