Markets, Firms and the Management of Labour in Modern Britain


Book Description

Originally published in 1992, this book examines the development of employers' human resource management and industrial relations policies in Britain. It adopts a broad historical perspective, beginning with the inheritance from the nineteenth century and ending with an analysis of human resource management policies. It focuses on how managers organise the employment relationship, how they control work relations, and how they deal with trade unions and industrial relations. The author examines these in the context of the market within which the firm operates, and the strategy, structure and hierarchy of industrial enterprise. The book shows that historically British employers tended to adopt market-based strategies rather than internal ones.




Trade Unions and the State


Book Description

The collapse of Britain's powerful labor movement in the last quarter century has been one of the most significant and astonishing stories in recent political history. How were the governments of Margaret Thatcher and her successors able to tame the unions? In analyzing how an entirely new industrial relations system was constructed after 1979, Howell offers a revisionist history of British trade unionism in the twentieth century. Most scholars regard Britain's industrial relations institutions as the product of a largely laissez faire system of labor relations, punctuated by occasional government interference. Howell, on the other hand, argues that the British state was the prime architect of three distinct systems of industrial relations established in the course of the twentieth century. The book contends that governments used a combination of administrative and judicial action, legislation, and a narrative of crisis to construct new forms of labor relations. Understanding the demise of the unions requires a reinterpretation of how these earlier systems were constructed, and the role of the British government in that process. Meticulously researched, Trade Unions and the State not only sheds new light on one of Thatcher's most significant achievements but also tells us a great deal about the role of the state in industrial relations.




The Development of Modern Business


Book Description

This text blends economic theory with empirical evidence to chart business development over the last two centuries in the UK, the United States, Japan and Australia. It addresses enduring concerns for entrepreneurs and managers and demonstrates the value of an historical perspective from which to judge present day issues. Each chapter considers an issue of current significance, introduces theories to illuminate the topic, and discusses historical evidence and debates. Also included are relevant case studies and original documents. Discussion questions, statistical tables, and further reading are appended to each chapter.







The British Working Class 1832-1940


Book Description

In this insightful new study, Andrew August examines the British working class in the period when Britain became a mature industrial power, working men and women dominated massive new urban populations, and the extension of suffrage brought them into the political nation for the first time. Framing his subject chronologically, but treating it thematically, August gives a vivid account of working class life between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, examining the issues and concerns central to working-class identity. Identifying shared patterns of experience in the lives of workers, he avoids the limitations of both traditional historiography dominated by economic determinism and party politics, and the revisionism which too readily dismisses the importance of class in British society.




The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management


Book Description

The SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management brings together contributions from leading international scholars in an influential collection that combines both global and interdisciplinary perspectives. An indispensable resource for advanced students and researchers in the field, the handbook focuses on familiarising the reader with the fundamentals of applied human resource management whilst contextualizing practice within wider theoretical considerations. Internationally minded chapters combine a critical overview with discussion of key debates and research, as well as comprehensively dealing with important emerging interests. The interdisciplinary and wide-ranging potential of the practising field is reflected through contributions from a diverse range of disciplines, including psychology, politics and sociology




Worker Voice


Book Description

A fascinating study that analyses comparative historical data relating to the inter-war period in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US to consider the debates surrounding worker participation in the workplace or worker voice. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.




Shifting Boundaries of the Firm


Book Description

All firms wrestle with restructuring, involving consolidation of mergers and acquisitions on the one hand, and fragmentation through outsourcing and spin-offs on the other. Through an in-depth investigation into the organizational strategies of Japanese corporate management and union leaders in Japan, Mari Sako explores the issue of 'organizational boundaries' that arises from such restructuring. Examining the strategy and structure of both businesses and trade unions, the book draws upon empirical evidence drawn from interviews conducted at Toyota and Matsushita and their respective unions. It examines their respective strategies in coping with organizational boundaries against the backdrop of changing labour markets, and, in the process, challenges widely held notions about Japanese corporate and union structures. Mari Sako goes on to explore the implications of these relationships in other advanced industrial countries for corporate restructuring, jobs, and labour market flexibility.




Unions and Employment in a Market Economy


Book Description

Due to the sharp declines in trade union density and collective bargaining coverage post-1979, the shift by trade unions towards political action has had significant implications for employment relations regulation in contemporary Britain. Yet, there remains insufficient discussion of the factors of influence affecting changes in the political action process from a historical and contemporary perspective. Unions and Employment in a Market Economy will evidence how trade unions were able to offset environmental constraints through a progressive focus on political action, despite diminished power in the Labour Party’s structures and the wider economy. The book presents four legislative events categorised as functional equivalents enacted in two different periods of Labour governance (1974-79 and 1997-2010). The selected events are the Social Contract (1974-79), National Minimum Wage (1998), Employment Relations Act (1999) and the Warwick Agreement (2004). The book’s findings lend credence to the proposition that in a liberal market economy there is a valuable dividend associated with trade union political exchange through the Labour Party.




Critical Issues in Human Resource Management


Book Description

Critical Issues in Human Resource Management will enable all HR students to take a critical approach to HR issues. Outlining the influences and shapers of HR strategy including ethics, managing in different national contexts, employment relations, politics, governance and finance, this book provides students with a full understanding of the complexities of HRM strategy and what the implications of these are. There is also crucial discussion of critical issues in the processes and practice of HRM including the dilemmas of onshoring and offshoring, gender equality, challenging institutional racism and disability discrimination in the modern workplace to enable readers to think deeply and critically about these issues. Critical Issues in Human Resource Management also includes discussion of the application of HRM in different sectors such as manufacturing, the public sector, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations. This will enable HR students to examine HR practices in specific industries and to think about how issues might be dealt with differently in different sectors, rather than assuming that best practice is universal. Online resources include a lecturer guide with additional seminar activities and discussion topics, powerpoint slides and annotated weblinks for students to enable them to develop an astute, nuanced and critical approach to human resource management