The contention in this article is that an integrated approach can be used to analyse industrial relations in small firms and to investigate the image of industrial harmony. This integrated approach, incorporating the dialectical relationship between structural forces and human agency, is underpinned by Marxist labour process theory, and can be used to explain the variety of small firm industrial relations and the conditions under which they are produced. The integrated approach points to a way forward from the old stereotype of `small is beautiful'.
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