Computers, Jobs, and Skills


Book Description

"Faith. Hope. and Charity and the greatest of these is Charity. " "Hardware. Software. and Lil'ell'are and the greatest of these is . . . " As information technology ceased to be the prerogative of computer scientists and electronics engineers, those of us from other disciplines had to contend with the jargon which was already in vogue. We learned to live with "hardware" and "software. " We were less enthusiastic about "Iiveware. " Polite and some impolite questioning revealed that "Iiveware" was a euphemism for "people. " We were not amused. As one spirited participant observed, "I refused to go home and tell my children that Almighty God had made liveware in His own image and likeness. " People are too important to be known as anything but people. Moreover, it is the importance of people that is the dominating and recurring theme of this book by Christopher Baldry. He deals with virtually every aspect of the problems concerning men and women and their recourse to the equipment. This could well become the definitive work in the field. In addition to the details of health hazards, industrial relations, new technology agreements and the like, Dr. Baldry grapples with two great underpinning issues.




Workers, Managers, and Technological Change


Book Description

Workers, Managers, and Technological Change: Emerging Patterns of Labor Relations contributes significantly to an important subject. Technological change is one of the most powerful forces transforming the American industrial relations In fact, the synergistic relationships between technology and indus system. trial relations are so complex that they are not well or completely understood. We know that the impact of technology, while not independent of social forces, already has been profound: it has transformed occupations, creating new skills and destroying others; altered the power relationships between workers and managers; and changed the way workers learn and work. Tech nology also has made it possible to decentralize some economic activities out of large metropolitan areas and into small towns, rural areas, and other coun tries. Most important, information technology makes it possible for interna tional corporations to operate on a global basis. Indeed, some international corporations, especially those based in the United States, are losing their national identities, detaching the welfare of corporations from that of particu lar workers and communities. Internationalization, facilitated by information technology, has trans formed industrial relations systems. A major objective of the traditional American industrial relations system was to take labor out of competition.




Technological Change, Collective Bargaining, and Industrial Efficiency


Book Description

Assessing the reaction of trade unions to innovation, this book examines the port, newspaper, and automobile industries in U.S. and Great Britain in a detailed analysis of industrial innovations and labor relations.




Technological Change, Rationalisation and Industrial Relations


Book Description

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION BETWEEN EROSION AND TRANSFORMATION: INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS SYSTEMS UNDER THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE -- Part One TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND LABOUR RELATIONS -- Chapter One TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, ORGANISATION OF WORK, AND UNIONS -- Chapter Two CHANGING SKILL REQUIREMENTS AND TRADE UNION BARGAINING -- Chapter Three TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, LABOUR MARKET, AND TRADE UNION POLICY -- Part Two THE POLITICS OF RATIONALISATION: THE CAR INDUSTRY -- Chapter Four RATIONALISATION AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF VOLKSWAGEN -- Chapter Five THE POLITICS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AT BRITISH LEYLAND -- Chapter Six CHANGES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AT FIAT -- Part Three CRISIS AND RATIONALISATION: IMPACT ON UNIONS -- Chapter Seven BUREAUCRACY, OLIGARCHY, AND INCORPORATION IN SHOP STEWARD ORGANISATIONS IN THE 1980s -- Chapter Eight SHOP STEWARDS AND MANAGEMENT: COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AS CO-OPERATION -- Chapter Nine SOME CURRENT STRATEGY PROBLEMS OF THE ITALIAN TRADE UNIONS* -- Chapter Ten CENTRALISATION OR DECENTRALISATION? AN ANALYSIS OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES IN THE ITALIAN TRADE UNION MOVEMENT AT A TIME OF CRISIS -- Chapter Eleven SOCIAL CHANGE AND TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE 1970s -- Chapter Twelve LABOUR CONFLICTS AND CLASS STRUGGLES -- Chapter Thirteen WORKERS' REACTIONS TO CRISIS -- NOTES ON EDITORS AND CONTRIBUTORS -- TRANSLATORS -- INDEX




New Technology (Routledge Revivals)


Book Description

First published in 1989, this book presents a unique comparative perspective on the relationship between technological change and human resource management. Following a detailed introduction, chapters deal with a variety of issues, including managing change, industrial democracy and employee involvement, gender and structural change. International and well-renowned authors provide an authoritative analysis, which will be of particular interest to students of Business and Management, organisational and technological change, Economics and Sociology.




Technological Change & Labour Relations


Book Description

A study which looks at the reciprocal influence of technological change and labour relations and includes case studies from six industrialized market economy countries, as well as a comparative chapter.; The book focuses on the introduction of microelectronic technology in machinery manufacturing, banking and printing to examine how workers participated in the changeover and how labour relations in the enterprises studied were affected by the new technology.







Industrial Relations and New Technology


Book Description

New technology arguably provided the greatest challenge to industrial relations since the formation of unions. The problems raised led to a whole range of responses - from rejection of the new technology to acceptance fo the change with management and workers making new (and sometimes unheard of) agreements. This book, originally published in 1986 and based on extensive original research, examines the changes in industrial relations which the new technology of the 1980s caused, analysing the implications for the workforce and the reactions of the management and trade unions to the challenges.




Technology and the Future of Work


Book Description

This book brings together a set of essays exploring the implications of new technologies in the workplace. The common premise of the contributions is that the effective implementation of automation in manufacturing and engineering operations will typically require a workforce with a higher skill profile. Examining the experience of countries in Europe, Australia, Asia, and the U.S., the book analyzes four themes: the new competencies required for effective implementation of new technologies; how firms can develop these new competencies; the implications of these changes for industrial relations; and how firms can weave together business strategy, technology strategy, and personnel strategy, to build competitive advantage. with greater rather than lesser skills. This argument contradicts the conventional assumption that automation will not only reduce the number of workers required to produce a given product but also require less skilled workers to do so.