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In 1985 workers for the Norsk Hydro Fertilizers signed new contracts under the company's New Personnel Package, effectively — through pressure on individual workers and the promise of future investment and continued employment on the site — introducing a single union deal for the TGWU derecognising the other four unions on site. This established an Advisory Council, consisting of management and elected members of the workforce, and a three year inflation linked pay deal. The result seemed to give even the remaining union only a token presence on site. While single union deals has been associated with Japanese transplants, and increasingly with other green field sites, this was promoted by their management as the first such deal within an established site with long standing traditions of trade unionism and collective bargaining. This paper examines the developments at Norsk Hydro subsequent to the implementation of the package, which while seeing the establishment of what is characterised — following Parker & Slaughter — as a ‘management‐by‐stress’ regime, it identifies the resurgence of workplace organisation on the site.

In war it would sometimes happen that a fierce artillery attack seemed to have destroyed the enemy's entire defensive system, whereas in fact it had only destroyed the outer perimeter; and at the moment of their advance and attack the assailants would find themselves confronted by a line of defence which was still effective. (Gramsci)

This paper examines the changes currently occurring at a BAe plant. Recently they have seen a shift of emphasis on the production of military aircraft, away from their main customer — the British Ministry of Defence — towards export markets with greater emphasis also being put on subcontract work carried out for other BAe Divisions. Especially within the context of industrial recession, severely aggravated by international decline in military spending with the end of the cold war, and a perceived threat from Asian producers — some of whom are currently key customers — they have moved into introducing a range of new organisational and management strategies which could amount to an attempt at ‘Japanization’. Employees, especially at management level, talk of ‘initiative shock’ while attempting to cope with the current introduction of Activity Based Costing (ABC), Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), JIT, the replacement of existing standards with ISO 9000, new computer systems and attempts at standardising procedures across the Division, Management and Supervisors being forced into applying for restructured jobs after taking psychometric tests, as well as recent redundancies which will mean a loss of about ten percent of staff.

The Government White Paper, Fairness at Work, offers the opportunity for a statutory procedure for the introduction of collective bargaining when a majority of trade union members within a workplace require it. Within this proposal assumptions are made concerning the nature of individual contracts and the wishes of employees covered by them. The article indicates that the extent of derecognition in the 1980s and 1990s has underestimated the number of employees denied collective bargaining through transfer to personal contracts. Based on research covering trade unionists who have remained in membership despite transfer to personal contracts, their motives for membership and attitudes to representation and recognition are explored. While increasingly accommodated to determination of their pay and conditions on an individual basis, the trade union members in this sample remain concerned about the opacity of procedures and the lack of voice. Recognizing that this does not infer a return to the collective bargaining of the past, an alternative structure which recognizes individual contracts within collective relations is recommended.

In the debate leading up to the publication of the proposed Government White Paper Fairness at Work, companies which have de‐recognised unions have been portrayed by the unions as looking backwards to “Victorian” employment practices. This paper traces the development of “single status” ‐ effecively the de‐recognition of trade unions ‐ at BP Chemicals. It indicates that, after an initial phase of “macho” tactics at its Baglan Bay site, management adopted an apparently more consensual approach at its two other main sites utilising ballots of workers for the “single status” package. Further, the package introduced Employee Forums on each site which formed the basis of the establishment of a European Works Council. As such it leads to a questioning of the effectiveness of measures in the White Paper to bring about a return to trade union recognition.

A key strategic objective behind the introduction of TQM centres on ensuring employee commitment and participation in continuous process innovation for the purpose of improving operational efficiencies and developing a competitive edge within the expanding and dynamic marketplace. Uses the experience of Pirelli Cables to describe employee responses to the process of establishing a “quality culture” and to illustrate how Japanese TQM programmes may not be well suited to building employee commitment within an Australian workforce which is culturally very diverse.

Considerable attention is being paid to career guidance and counselling for young people about to enter work for the first time, but the needs of those in mid‐career have been comparatively overlooked. Current social and economic changes have created a less secure context for the pursuit of careers and have created a need for new tools for mid‐career management. This paper describes one such tool—the career graph—and its use with middle level industrial managers during a short course on career management.

A comprehensive introductory workshop aimed at building student readiness for participation in project based group work is outlined. This article develops a rationale for teaching such a workshop and outlines a step‐by‐step approach complete with all necessary materials. The core of the workshop is a case developed by the authors, which draws upon the real life experience of a group of graduate students. Debrief questions are provided for the case from the student and faculty perspective. The workshop also contains an exercise aimed at surfacing students’ experiences of group work and a set of recommendations aimed at reducing problems in student project groups. This paper concludes that, along with other benefits, the workshop develops a strong normative framework for legitimising appropriate behaviour in student project groups.