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The number of studies discussing the labour relationship under industrial capitalism is overwhelming, but the literature on labour and its concrete, day-today shop-floor practices is much less abundant. How and by whom workers were supervised is one of the neglected aspects in the history of labour relations. After an insightful introductory chapter discussing the different forms of supervision in the United States, Britain, France and Germany before the First World War, the case studies in this volume focus on foremen: vital, but largely unstudied figures in the history of factory life, labour relations and management. Illustrating the multiple faces of the foreman, the contributors examine the artisanal sector, textiles, mining, printing, engineering, heavy manufacturing and car industries in Western Europe and show that the foreman was a multifaceted character who possessed technical expertise in addition to educational and organizational qualities. This comprehensive volume is further enhanced by comparisons with practices of supervision in Russia, Japan, China and India.
Creative Labour provides an insight into the unique employment issues affecting workers in film, television, theatre, arts, music, radio and new media. In the UK alone, more than 1 million people work in the creative industries, generating billions of pounds in exports each year. These workers have to contend with elastic working hours, employment and promotion uncertainty and vigorous competition for each role. Creative Labour offers a contemporary perspective on a fascinating area of study and a rapidly growing area in developed economies. Key benefits: - Grasp the realities of work behind the industry façade - Evaluate real-life case-studies through a flexible, critical mindset - Tailor your management decisions to the needs of creative staff
This book traces how abstract managerial ideas about maximizing production flexibility and employee freedom were translated into concrete, day-to-day practices at the Motorola plant in East Kilbride, UK. Using eyewitness accounts, the book describes how employees dealt with the increased freedom Motorola promoted amongst its employees, how employees adapted to managerial changes, specifically the elimination of large-scale management, and where the ‘managerless’ system came under strain. This book will be of essential reading for researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates interested in the areas of management studies, human resource management, and organizational studies, among others.
The modern work ethic is in crisis. The numerous harms and injustices harboured by current labour markets and work organisations, combined with the threat of mass unemployment entailed in rampant automation, have inspired a strong “post-work” movement in the theoretical humanities and social sciences, echoed by many intellectuals, journalists, artists and progressives. Against this widespread temptation to declare work obsolete, The Case for Work shows that our paltry situation is critical precisely because work matters. It is a mistake to advocate a society beyond work on the basis of its current organisation. In the first part of the book, the arguments feeding into the “case against...
This collection of essays, all published for the first time in English, provide a fresh look at the critical years of 1917-1920 when revolutionary activity and working-class unrest was rife in Europe. Written by leading authorities in the field, the collection gives wide European coverage, examining developments in the rural provinces and key cities of both Western and Central Europe in the period after the Great War. In-depth studies analyse the causes and extent of protest, the factors which contributed to its initial success and failure and the influence of the propertied classes and re-establishment of the old order. The introduction and conclusion draw the essays together, giving a clear account of the principal themes and establishing the comparative structure of the book. The essays provide major coverage of a crucial period of modern history and should raise many new questions about the events of those years.
Described as "the best MP Scotland never had", Jimmy Reid was undoubtedly of the most important figures of late twentieth-century Britain. Often at the forefront of the major turning points in the history of industrial relations and politics in Britain, Jimmy's story is an epic one; from a poverty-stricken background in Govan, Glasgow, he became a communist at a young age, leading a national strike of engineering apprentices while only twenty, before being thrown into the national limelight as the leading spokesperson for the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Work-In in 1971-2. Disillusioned with communism he left the Party for Labour and the centre-left before leaving them disenchanted with New Labour to join the Scottish National Party. This enlightening book looks at Jimmy's political journey from Communism, to Labourism, and ultimately to Nationalism (a political life in three acts), which not only speaks of the complexities of left politics after 1945, but also illuminates our understanding of institutions and social change in post-war Britain by showing how they were understood and negotiated by one inspirational individual.
In the last two decades there has been an explosion of research inspired by Michel Foucault’s suggestion of a new concept, ‘governmentality’. The distinctive feature of modern governmentality is that across all sorts of fields, rule is predicated upon the active subject as the vehicle through which—and by which—power is exercised. The appeal of governmentality is that, whether we are considering the workplace, the school or welfare regimes, it opens up new ways of looking at familiar institutions. Foucault and Managerial Governmentality is about Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality. The novelty of this concept is that looks at the ways that populations and organisations a...
This volume brings together leading scholars in the field of organisation studies to reflect on the universal phenomena of hierarchy (vertical organisation of tasks) and bureaucracy (rule-bound execution of tasks), resulting in a colourful kaleidoscope of thought-provoking, critical and refreshingly non-mainstream analysis.
This book explores the limits of the idea of 'neo-colonialism' - the idea that in the period immediately after independence Malaya/Malaysia enjoyed only a 'pseudo-independence', largely because of the entrenched and dominant position of British business interests allied to indigenous elites. The author argues that, although British business did indeed have a strong position in Malaysia in this period, Malaysian politicians and administrators were able to utilise British business, which was relatively weak vis-a-vis the Malaysian state, for their own ends, at the same time as indigenous businesses and foreign, non-British competitors were gathering strength. In addition, despite the commitment of both Conservative and Labour governments in the UK to preserving British influence worldwide through the Commonwealth relationship, British firms in Malaysia received only limited support from the British post-imperial state.
This work examines the rise of postmodernism in management scholarship and argues that the prevalence of postmodernist thought reflects a lack of understanding by management researchers of the core principles upon which Western business endeavour is based. The author highlights postmodernism’s methodological and conceptual failings, such as disbelief in material progress and economic advancement, and its denial of generalizable laws to direct management research. In its place, the author proposes a return to traditional modernist principles in management research, based on scientific evidence. This ground breaking, timely work will spark debate and challenge previously accepted claims of postmodernism, a nice retort to the anti-business/anti-capitalist literature now prevalent in academia.