Jill Rubery - Böcker

The rapid pace of industrial restructuring and the emergence of new employment policies have focused attention on the role of employers in determining the quantity and quality of employment. This book draws on important new data from the ESRC's Social Change and Economic Life Initiative to test, modify, and challenge much of the current academic literature on the determinants of employer policy and how these influence employment structures and individual employment opportunities. The book begins with an authoritative synthesis of the influential debates on labour market segmentation, flexibility, post-Fordism, deskilling, the gendering of work, and the `new' industrial relations. Ten substantive chapters then extend these debates in several directions. The contributors make significant progress on three fronts:BL They suggest that the determinants of employer policy are both complex and strongly related to product market conditions.BL They find that employee attitudes and perceptions are critical to the implementation and effectiveness of employer policy.BL They explore the interdependency between internal employment policies and external labour market conditions and begin to develop an integrated approach to internal and external labour markets. Contributors: Brendan Burchell, Jane Elliott, Duncan Gallie, Anne Gasteen, Bob Morris, Roger Penn, Michael Rose, Jill Rubery, John Sewell, Jim Smyth, Michael White, Frank Wilkinson

The rapid pace of industrial restructuring and the emergence of new employment policies have focused attention on the role of employers in determining the quantity and quality of employment. This book draws on important new data from the ESRC's Social Change and Economic Life Initiative to test, modify, and challenge much of the current academic literature on the determinants of employer policy and how these influence employment structures and individual employment opportunities. The book begins with an authoritative synthesis of the influential debates on labour market segmentation, flexibility, post-Fordism, deskilling, the gendering of work, and the `new' industrial relations. Ten substantive chapters then extend these debates in several directions. The contributors make significant progress on three fronts:BL They suggest that the determinants of employer policy are both complex and strongly related to product market conditions.BL They find that employee attitudes and perceptions are critical to the implementation and effectiveness of employer policy.BL They explore the interdependency between internal employment policies and external labour market conditions and begin to develop an integrated approach to internal and external labour markets. Contributors: Brendan Burchell, Jane Elliott, Duncan Gallie, Anne Gasteen, Bob Morris, Roger Penn, Michael Rose, Jill Rubery, John Sewell, Jim Smyth, Michael White, Frank Wilkinson

This book looks at how large organizations have managed and adapted to changing conditions of employment shaped by the recent economic and political environment. Additional data are presented based on evidence from other significant actors such as agency employment firms and trade unions. The book also engages with important North American debates on the changing nature of work, careers, and employment.

Deregulation and decentralization have placed organizations in the driving seat of employment change. Drawing on seven case studies of large organizations, this book examines how organizations as the architects of the employment system are restructuring their employment practices. Rich data on the experience of work collected from all seven organizations provide clear evidence of a general transformation of the wage-effort relationship based on cost cutting and increased work intensity. This increased work intensity is shown to be a consequence - intended and unintended - of changes to a variety of employment policies and practices, including changes to staffing policies (for example the trend towards 'lean staffing', and the use of new contracts), changes to the skills-mix and training provision associated with policies of 'delayering' and multi-skilling, and changes in working time arrangements towards more flexible and extended working hours. Such trends in employment practices have been interpreted as a return to the market as the institutionalized employment system, characteristic of bureaucratic organizations and strong trade unions, visibly crumbles. The analysis presented here rejects the notion of simple market determination and instead develops an integrated and interdisciplinary framework for understanding the processes shaping employment change. Managers are seeking solutions to increasing market or performance pressures through changes to employment policies. However, these responses to budget cuts and market pressures are shown to be mediated by the institutional, political, and social environment inside and outside the organization. Moreover managers are found in practice not to be able to control their environment or implement their desired policies with the expected outcomes. Despite the increased scope for managerial initiative and the greater opportunities for shifting the risk and responsibility of adapting to new conditions on to labour, the attempts of managers to develop a strategic approach to employment change are proving to be largely unsuccessful. The book ends by calling for a renewal and rebuilding of labour market institutions to kick-start the process of reversing this fragmentation of the employment system.

This major new book examines the way in which employment is managed across organizational boundaries. It analyses how public-private partnerships, franchises, agencies and other forms of inter-firm contractual relations impact on work and employment and the experiences of those working in these increasingly significant forms of organization. it draws upon research undertaken in eight separate networks comprising over 50 organizations to explore the fragmentating effects of contemporary changes in the organization of work and employment relationships. It considers the consequences of increased eliance upon inter-organizational mechanisms for producing goods and especially for delivering services. It argues that established analyses continue to rely too heavily upon a mocel of the single employing organization whereas today the situation is often more complex and confused. Public-private 'partnerships' are one high profile example of this phenomenon but private enterprises arealso developing new relations with their clients and customers that impinge upon the nature of the employment relationship. Established hierarchical forms are becoming disordered, with consequences for career patterns, training and skills, pay structures, disciplinary practice, worker voice, and the gendered division of labor. The findings of the study raise questions about the governance of such complex organizational forms, the appropriateness of current institutions for addressing this complexity, and the challenge of harnessing of employee commitment in circumstances where human resource practices are shaped by organizations other than the legal employer. Using an analytical schema of three dimensions (institutional, organizational, employment) and four themes (power, risk, identity, trust), the authors adopt an inter-disciplinary perspective to address these complex and critically important practical, policy and theoretical concerns. Fragmenting Work will be vital reading for allthose wishing to understand the contemporary realities of work and employment.

This major new book examines the way in which employment is managed across organizational boundaries. It analyses how public-private partnerships, franchises, agencies, and other forms of inter-firm contractual relations impact on work and employment and the experiences of those working in these increasingly significant forms of organization. It draws upon research undertaken in eight separate networks comprising over 50 organizations to explore the fragmenting effects of contemporary changes in the organization of work and employment relationships. It considers the consequences of increased reliance upon inter-organizational mechanisms for producing goods and especially for delivering services. It argues that established analyses continue to rely too heavily upon a model of the single employing organization whereas today the situation is often more complex and confused. Public-private `partnerships' are one high profile example of this phenomenon but private enterprises are also developing new relations with their clients and customers that impinge upon the nature of the employment relationship. Established hierarchical forms are becoming disordered, with consequences for career patterns, training and skills, pay structures, disciplinary practice, worker voice, and the gendered division of labour. The findings of the study raise questions about the governance of such complex organizational forms, the appropriateness of current institutions for addressing this complexity, and the challenge of harnessing employee commitment in circumstances where human resource practices are shaped by organizations other than the legal employer. Using an analytical schema of three dimensions (institutional, organizational, employment) and four themes (power, risk, identity, trust), the authors adopt an inter-disciplinary perspective to address these complex and critically important practical, policy, and theoretical concerns.Fragmenting Work will be vital reading for all those wishing to understand the contemporary realities of work and employment.

The Organisation of Employment explores the diversity in the organisation of employment among advanced industrial societies. It focuses on the implications of distinctive employment systems for international competitiveness, organisational performance and social divisions and considers the impact of globalisation on the sustainability of such diversity.Ideal for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students of international business and human resource management, The Organisation of Employment provides a stimulating and wide ranging examination of this dynamic subject.

This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date study of the contribution of women and men to changing European economic activity patterns covering all fifteen member states. Based on the work of the European Commission's network of experts on women's employment, it draws on both national and European data sources. The book links trends in the structures of employment with new comparative data on the role of systems of welfare provision in order to explore economic activity patterns by gender. Participation patterns of women still vary widely within Europe, so much attention is paid to the institutions - both in the labour market and welfare - which help to explain these variations.

Based on extensive original research, this volume examines contemporary patterns of womens employment in Europe in the context of the profound economic, social and cultural changes that have taken place in recent years. It considers the progress made towards equal treatment in the labour market in the light of European Union action programmes, and examines the prospects for womens employment under the fourth action programme. The authors conclude that progress towards equal treatment will only occur when gender issues are fully integrated into the European Commissions employment and labour market policies.

Based on extensive original research, this volume examines contemporary patterns of womens employment in Europe in the context of the profound economic, social and cultural changes that have taken place in recent years. It considers the progress made towards equal treatment in the labour market in the light of European Union action programmes, and examines the prospects for womens employment under the fourth action programme. The authors conclude that progress towards equal treatment will only occur when gender issues are fully integrated into the European Commissions employment and labour market policies.

In recent years we have seen the predictions of our forebears that leisure time would increase as the years pass utterly confounded. It is a fact of life that in major cities across the world, transport systems are full to bursting with people on their way to and from work. As people have come to accept longer working hours as a way of life, a number of new issues have come into play.These include labour market regulation, contract work and outsourcing, wages and increased attempts at better organisation. The impressive array of expert contributors, including Mark Harvey, Jane Humphries and Frank Wilkinson, have compiled a comprehensive and interesting book.

Originally published in 1988, this book compiles a collection of works investigating the impact of recession on women's employment. The authors argue that the most important explanation of differences in women's experience between the countries is the form of labour market regulation and organisation. They point out that current changes in these forms of regulation, and not displacement of female labour, pose the main threat to any gains that women have made in the labour market in the post- World War II period.

Originally published in 1988, this book compiles a collection of works investigating the impact of recession on women's employment. The authors argue that the most important explanation of differences in women's experience between the countries is the form of labour market regulation and organisation. They point out that current changes in these forms of regulation, and not displacement of female labour, pose the main threat to any gains that women have made in the labour market in the post- World War II period.

Austerity has become the new principle for public policy in Europe and the US as the financial crisis of 2008 has been converted into a public debt crisis. However, current austerity measures risk losing past progress towards gender equality by undermining important employment and social welfare protections and putting gender equality policy onto the back burner. This volume constitutes the first attempt to identify how the economic crisis and the subsequent austerity policies are affecting women in Europe and the US, tracing the consequences for gender equality in employment and welfare systems in nine case studies from countries facing the most severe adjustment problems.The contributions adopt a common framework to analyse women in recession, which takes into account changes in women’s position and current austerity conditions. The findings demonstrate that in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, employment gaps between women and men declined — but due only to a deterioration in men’s employment position rather than any improvements for women. Tables are set to be turned by the austerity policies which are already having a more negative impact on demand for female labour and on access to services which support working mothers. Women are nevertheless reinforcing their commitment to paid work, even at this time of increasing demands on their unpaid domestic labour.Future prospects are bleak. Current policy is reinforcing the same failed mechanisms that caused the crisis in the first place and is stalling or even reversing the long term growth in social investment in support for care. This book makes the case for gender equality to be placed at the centre of any progressive plan for a route out of the crisis.

Austerity has become the new principle for public policy in Europe and the US as the financial crisis of 2008 has been converted into a public debt crisis. However, current austerity measures risk losing past progress towards gender equality by undermining important employment and social welfare protections and putting gender equality policy onto the back burner. This volume constitutes the first attempt to identify how the economic crisis and the subsequent austerity policies are affecting women in Europe and the US, tracing the consequences for gender equality in employment and welfare systems in nine case studies from countries facing the most severe adjustment problems.The contributions adopt a common framework to analyse women in recession, which takes into account changes in women’s position and current austerity conditions. The findings demonstrate that in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, employment gaps between women and men declined — but due only to a deterioration in men’s employment position rather than any improvements for women. Tables are set to be turned by the austerity policies which are already having a more negative impact on demand for female labour and on access to services which support working mothers. Women are nevertheless reinforcing their commitment to paid work, even at this time of increasing demands on their unpaid domestic labour.Future prospects are bleak. Current policy is reinforcing the same failed mechanisms that caused the crisis in the first place and is stalling or even reversing the long term growth in social investment in support for care. This book makes the case for gender equality to be placed at the centre of any progressive plan for a route out of the crisis.

First published in 1984, Industrial Relations in the Future highlights probable developments in Britain’s system of industrial relations into the 1990s. It also provides a basis for further and detailed analysis and debate of issues central to the nation’s future. Written by distinguished scholars in their respective fields, the three main sections give reviews from three contrasting traditions- mainstream industrial relations, industrial sociology and management, and labour economics. These accounts are highly complementary in the ways in which, in each and every case, issues of collective bargaining, managerial strategy and union response, and the behaviour of governments are all set against a broad backcloth of economic, political, and social changes. The authors see the ultimate outcome as depending greatly on the policies and types of action of organised labour, managements and governments, and possibly of wider social movements as well. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of labour economics, industrial sociology, economics, and public policy.

First published in 1984, Industrial Relations in the Future highlights probable developments in Britain’s system of industrial relations into the 1990s. It also provides a basis for further and detailed analysis and debate of issues central to the nation’s future. Written by distinguished scholars in their respective fields, the three main sections give reviews from three contrasting traditions- mainstream industrial relations, industrial sociology and management, and labour economics. These accounts are highly complementary in the ways in which, in each and every case, issues of collective bargaining, managerial strategy and union response, and the behaviour of governments are all set against a broad backcloth of economic, political, and social changes. The authors see the ultimate outcome as depending greatly on the policies and types of action of organised labour, managements and governments, and possibly of wider social movements as well. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of labour economics, industrial sociology, economics, and public policy.

The last two decades have been marked by economic and social turmoil — from the global financial crash and the austerity turn to the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by cost-of-living crises, geopolitical conflicts and heightened political divisions. This succession of crises has destabilised economic and political systems and risks undermining the hard-won, albeit slow, progress towards gender equality in contemporary societies. At the same time, the way we live and work is being challenged by rapidly developing AI and digital technologies, the imperative to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions, and unresolved pressures to transform care systems to support women’s sustained participation in waged work. Against this backdrop, this volume offers a long-term perspective on turbulence, grounded on comparative and country evidence from Europe, the USA, Australia, and the Global South. The chapters trace how acute shocks, chronic crises and systemic transformations reverberate through labour markets, households and state policies, reshaping gender inequalities and vulnerabilities and their intersections. The concluding discussion argues that turmoil is evolving into a polycrisis —an entanglement of economic, social, and ecological disruptions— while exposing a critical but neglected dimension of turbulence: the crisis of social reproduction and women’s pivotal role in managing the tensions between production and the social reproduction spheres. By introducing a gender perspective into the polycrisis debate, this volume speaks to scholars in socioeconomics and gender studies; policy experts and advisors on gender equality; and activists, educators and the general public seeking to understand and address the challenges to gender equality in turbulent times.

The last two decades have been marked by economic and social turmoil — from the global financial crash and the austerity turn to the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by cost-of-living crises, geopolitical conflicts and heightened political divisions. This succession of crises has destabilised economic and political systems and risks undermining the hard-won, albeit slow, progress towards gender equality in contemporary societies. At the same time, the way we live and work is being challenged by rapidly developing AI and digital technologies, the imperative to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions, and unresolved pressures to transform care systems to support women’s sustained participation in waged work. Against this backdrop, this volume offers a long-term perspective on turbulence, grounded on comparative and country evidence from Europe, the USA, Australia, and the Global South. The chapters trace how acute shocks, chronic crises and systemic transformations reverberate through labour markets, households and state policies, reshaping gender inequalities and vulnerabilities and their intersections. The concluding discussion argues that turmoil is evolving into a polycrisis —an entanglement of economic, social, and ecological disruptions— while exposing a critical but neglected dimension of turbulence: the crisis of social reproduction and women’s pivotal role in managing the tensions between production and the social reproduction spheres. By introducing a gender perspective into the polycrisis debate, this volume speaks to scholars in socioeconomics and gender studies; policy experts and advisors on gender equality; and activists, educators and the general public seeking to understand and address the challenges to gender equality in turbulent times.

The Welfare State and Life Transitions uses the lens of key life stages to highlight changes in these transitions and in available resources for citizen support within nine European welfare states.This timely book reveals that new life courses are found to require more, and not less welfare support, but only Sweden has developed an active life course approach and only three more could be considered supportive, in at least some life stages. For the remainder, policies were at best limited or, in Italy’s case, passive. The contributors reveal that the neglect of changing needs is leading to greater reliance on the family and the labour market, just as these support structures are becoming more unpredictable and more unequal. They argue that alongside these new class inequalities, new forms of inter-generational inequality are also emerging, particularly in pension provision.This topical book will strongly appeal to academics and students interested in social policy, gender equality policy, pensions, industrial relations, labour economics, political science, and comparative welfare systems.