Few contemporary studies of change in industrial relations use Carter Goodrich’s classic concept of the ‘frontier of control’ (FoC), especially in cross-national comparative research. Our study maps FoC struggles in two public transport organizations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Qualitative methods generate significant insights into complex day-to-day workplace control patterns in these two cases. Despite changes in the frontier of control in both organizations over time, it is observed that employment relations in the Irish case are more cooperative than in the British. The frontier of control still matters, because workplace control regimes shape managerial ability to secure worker consent and are always potentially contestable terrains.

很少有当代劳资关系变化研究使用卡特·古德里奇（Carter Goodrich）的经典“控制边界”（FoC）概念，特别是在跨国比较研究中。我们的研究描绘了英国和爱尔兰共和国两个公共交通组织中的FoC斗争。定性方法在这两种情况下产生了对复杂的日常工作场所控制模式的重要见解。尽管随着时间的推移，两个组织的控制领域都发生了变化，但据观察，爱尔兰案件中的雇佣关系比英国案件中的雇佣关系更为合作。控制的前沿仍然很重要，因为工作场所的控制制度影响了获得工人同意的管理能力，并且总是潜在的竞争环境。