How have employment relations evolved over the last decade? And how did workplaces and employees fare in the face of the longest recession in living memory?Employment Relations in the Shadow of Recession examines the state of British employment relations in 2011, how this has changed since 2004, and the role the recession played in shaping employees' experiences of work. It draws on findings from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study, comparing these with the results of the...

Based on the primary analysis of the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004), this is the fifth book in the series which began in 1980, and which is considered to be one of the most authoritative sources of information on employment relations in Great Britain. Interviews were conducted with managers and employee representatives in over 3,000 workplaces, and over 20,000 employees returned a self-completion questionnaire. This survey links the views from these three p...

This comprehensive study provides a perceptive portrait of workplace employment relations in Britain and France using comparable data from two large-scale surveys: the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS) and the French Enquête Relations Professionnelles et Négociations d’Entreprise (REPONSE). These extensive linked employer-employee surveys provide nationally-representative data on private sector employment relations in all but the smallest workplaces, and offer a unique o...

This book is the latest publication reporting the results of a series of workplace surveys conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service and the Policy Studies Institute. It addresses such contemporary employee relations issues as:* Have new configurations of labour-management practices become embedded in the British economy?* Did the dramatic decline in trade union representatio...

With the financial crisis and Great Recession, some economists have begun to question the orthodox approach to production and capital/labor relations over the last two to three decades. This orthodoxy has been thrown into question due to concerns of poor corporate decision-making, corporate capture of regulators, perceived rewards for failure, and uneven productivity growth. But a new spirit of introspection and doubt about orthodox approaches has created some impetus leading to greater in...

The last thirty years have seen the world of work transformed in Britain. Manufacturing and nationalized industries contracted and private services expanded. Employment became more diverse. Trade union membership collapsed. Collective bargaining disappeared from much of the private sector, as did strikes. This was accompanied by the rise of human resource management and new employment practices. The law, once largely absent, increasingly became a dominant influence. The experience of work ...

How is policy made in higher education, particularly in the wake of recent economic turbulence? Has policy development converged internationally, and if so, what impact has this had on academic life and institutions? What role does policy-oriented research play in shaping the direction of higher education? Are universities grappling in common ways with issues of access and equity?Making Policy in Turbulent Times provides a historically informed and nuanced response to thes...

Public-Private partnerships are an increasing aspect of the delivery of public policies and services across the world. This book is the first to draw upon a range of disciplines to offer theoretical perspectives upon their analysis as well as a range of case-studies of their management from around the world. It also offers a number of frameworks fo

The neo-liberalism that dominated economic thinking since the advent of Thatcher and Reagan is now seen to have serious flaws. Progressive Capitalism seeks to replace it with a new Progressive political economy, based on an analysis of why the growth rates of countries differ, and what firms have to do to achieve competitive advantage in today's global economy. The cornerstone of the political economy of Progressive Capitalism is a belief in capitalism. But it also incorporates the three d...

In a time when multinational corporations have become truly globalised, demands for global standards on their behaviour are increasingly difficult to dismiss. Work conditions in sweatshops, widespread destruction of the environment, and pharmaceutical trials in third world countries are only the tip of the iceberg.This timely collection of essays addresses the interface between the calls for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the demands for an extension of international hum...

Introducing the key concepts in corporate social responsibility, the authors bring together the essential issues relevant to the responsible management of businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government.With detailed coverage and cross-referencing for each concept and over 50 concepts introduced, this guide to both the theory and implementation of CSR and sustainability, provides an indispensable reference for any student of the subject.Key concepts include: account...

This book explores Public Procurement novelties and challenges in an interdisciplinary way. The process whereby the public sector awards contracts to companies for the supply of works, goods or services is a powerful instrument to ensure the achievement of new public goals as well as an efficient use of public funds. This book brings together the papers that have been presented during the "First Symposium on Public Procurement", a conference held in Rome last summer and to be repeated agai...