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Managing To Change?
British Workplaces and the Future of Work
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This book offers a fresh view of where British workplaces are heading during the first decade of the 21st century. Based on detailed evidence collected from managers at 2000 workplaces, it builds up a picture of the realities of change at work, which is by turns reassuring, alarming and disconcerting. The assessment begins with a review of the four major pressures for change upon organizations, then applies this framework to structure and explain the new trends emerging. These include, on the positive side, the growth of 'intelligent' flexibility, the renascence of corporate careers, and greater freedom from the office. But there is also a darker side, with Big Brother surveillance growing, family-friendly policies spluttering to a stop, and downsizing by no means dead. What then are the overall prospects for British employees? And is British business effectively managing to change? This book provides the authoritative answers.
'The first in a major new series on the future of work by Palgrave Macmillan, this book provides compelling evidence of the value of systematic research rather than the speculation and futurology that once dominated this vitally important subject. It is sure to have a major impact on the character of contemporary policy debate.' - Professor Peter Nolan, Director, ESRC Future of Work Programme
'[Managing To Change?], written by four leading employment experts, is an impressive and comprehensive analysis of the forces of workplace change in Britain.' - Richard Donkin, Financial Times
'One of the most vivid portraits of contemporary work that has been published in the past year or two.' - Stephen Overell, Personnel Today
Profiling Change at Work
Flexible Labour at its Limit?
Intelligent Flexibility
Resuscitating Careers
Shrinking the Work-Space
Extending Management Control
Lowering the Sexual Barriers
Developing Diversity
Which Strategies?
Management versus Regulation?
Interpreting the Trends
MICHAEL WHITE founded the Employment Studies Group at the Policy Studies Institute, University of Westminster, where he is now Emeritus Fellow. He is author of Against Unemployment (1991) and co-author of Restructuring the Employment Relationship (1998).
STEPHEN HILL has been Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London since 2002. Before that he was Deputy Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has published a number of books on social theory and the sociology of employment and is co-author of The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology (1984, 1988, 1994, 2000). He was editor of The British Journal of Sociology between 1996 and 2002. His current research interests include: Work, technology and organizations; quality management; human resource management; and the future of work.
COLIN MILLS is a Lecturer in sociology and a fellow of Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His research interests are in social stratification, the sociology of the workplace and measurement issues in the social sciences. He has recently edited a book on the sociology of the Swedish life-course.
DEBORAH SMEATON is a Research Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute. Her research experience and publications span a variety of areas including gender studies, self-employment, older workers and change in the workplace.
Description
This book offers a fresh view of where British workplaces are heading during the first decade of the 21st century. Based on detailed evidence collected from managers at 2000 workplaces, it builds up a picture of the realities of change at work, which is by turns reassuring, alarming and disconcerting. The assessment begins with a review of the four major pressures for change upon organizations, then applies this framework to structure and explain the new trends emerging. These include, on the positive side, the growth of 'intelligent' flexibility, the renascence of corporate careers, and greater freedom from the office. But there is also a darker side, with Big Brother surveillance growing, family-friendly policies spluttering to a stop, and downsizing by no means dead. What then are the overall prospects for British employees? And is British business effectively managing to change? This book provides the authoritative answers.
Reviews
'The first in a major new series on the future of work by Palgrave Macmillan, this book provides compelling evidence of the value of systematic research rather than the speculation and futurology that once dominated this vitally important subject. It is sure to have a major impact on the character of contemporary policy debate.' - Professor Peter Nolan, Director, ESRC Future of Work Programme
'[Managing To Change?], written by four leading employment experts, is an impressive and comprehensive analysis of the forces of workplace change in Britain.' - Richard Donkin, Financial Times
'One of the most vivid portraits of contemporary work that has been published in the past year or two.' - Stephen Overell, Personnel Today
Contents
Profiling Change at Work
Flexible Labour at its Limit?
Intelligent Flexibility
Resuscitating Careers
Shrinking the Work-Space
Extending Management Control
Lowering the Sexual Barriers
Developing Diversity
Which Strategies?
Management versus Regulation?
Interpreting the Trends
Authors
MICHAEL WHITE founded the Employment Studies Group at the Policy Studies Institute, University of Westminster, where he is now Emeritus Fellow. He is author of Against Unemployment (1991) and co-author of Restructuring the Employment Relationship (1998).
STEPHEN HILL has been Principal of Royal Holloway, University of London since 2002. Before that he was Deputy Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has published a number of books on social theory and the sociology of employment and is co-author of The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology (1984, 1988, 1994, 2000). He was editor of The British Journal of Sociology between 1996 and 2002. His current research interests include: Work, technology and organizations; quality management; human resource management; and the future of work.
COLIN MILLS is a Lecturer in sociology and a fellow of Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His research interests are in social stratification, the sociology of the workplace and measurement issues in the social sciences. He has recently edited a book on the sociology of the Swedish life-course.
DEBORAH SMEATON is a Research Fellow at the Policy Studies Institute. Her research experience and publications span a variety of areas including gender studies, self-employment, older workers and change in the workplace.
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