Search results

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

The author argues that we must stop and take a look at what our insistence on human labour as the basis of our society is doing to us, and begin to search for possible alternatives. We need the vision and the courage to aim for the highest level of technology attainable for the widest possible use in both industry and services. We need financial arrangements that will encourage people to invent themselves out of work. Our goal, the article argues, must be the reduction of human labour to the greatest extent possible, to free people for more enjoyable, creative, human activities.

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

An attempt is made to illustrate the multi‐faceted and multifarious nature of human resource development worldwide, following a definition of it and a description of how it operates in a number of countries throughout the world, including the US, the EEC countries, India, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The roles and functions of HRD practitioners are examined, and the competences required listed. A short history of the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations is offered and a list of conferences described.

As the 4th industrial revolution (4IR) unfolds, there is an increasing awareness that its implications for workforce transformation and shifts in workforce demand will profoundly impact the future of work. Specifically, the paper seeks to answer the following research questions: i) how does Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) equip young people for the real world of work, especially in the era of the third industrial revolution?; ii) does SIWES support the exposure of young people to the world of digitalization?; and iii) what are the effects of the SIWES exposure on the employability of young people? This paper aims to evaluate the University Internship system and preparation of young people for the world of work in the 4th industrial revolution.

This paper used a mixed method to unravel the objectives of this study, that is, quantitative and qualitative methods. For the former, structured questionnaires were used to elicit a response from 249 young people drawn from tertiary institutions across Lagos State, Nigeria. The latter used an in-depth interview method conducted among 45 respondents (25 employers of labor and 20 lecturers).

The findings reveal that: SIWES contributes meaningfully to the advancement of knowledge and capacity building among young people; SIWES exposes young people to the world of digitalization, depending on the organization where the internship takes place; and SIWES pays little attention to financial rewards and more attention to the acquisition of skills that are relevant to the world of work. The practical and policy implications of the findings are critically discussed.

This paper critically evaluates the SIWES policy amidst the growing threats of widening skills gap, greater inequality and broader polarization.

THE MANAGEMENT DIMENSION: I have made the point that the study of living and working in a technological society is multi‐dimensional and that great dangers follow if we think uni‐dimensionally — in terms, for example, which are exclusively economic. So far I have concentrated on the technology domain: the influence of new technology on work and the quality of life. I turn now to another dimension which is equally, if not more, powerful in determining the nature of tomorrow's world. This is the management dimension.

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of gender identity in the Canadian television series Bomb Girls (2012-2013), which depicted the lives of women working at a munitions factory during the Second World War.

This research is guided by a postmodern feminist and historiographic approach to organization studies. The study involved a qualitative content analysis of the series to explore the construction of gender identity among female factory workers, given traditional social constructions of gender prominent in wartime.

In its (re)construction and (re)negotiation of gender identity, Bomb Girls told a story about women’s working lives during the Second World War that reflected themes of independence, resilience and transformation.

This paper contends that Bomb Girls is a revisionist work of postmodern feminist history that subverts gender norms and retrospectively offers a nuanced and progressive narrative about the lives of Canadian women who entered the workforce during the Second World War.

This research contributes to historiographical approaches to management and organization studies by bringing a postmodern feminist historical lens to the study of women’s work in a popular culture representation. In doing so, this research responds to long-standing and widespread calls for an “historic turn” in the field as well as for research that addresses gender as a central analytical category.

To provide a background examination of the role of work and self‐employment, and their relationship with religious beliefs for the Yoruba people of Nigeria.

An in‐depth discussion regarding the Yoruba world view and the key components of the Yoruba peoples' religion is provided. In particular, these elements are discussed within the context of the Yoruba's historical attitudes regarding work, self‐employment, markets, investment, and social support.

For the Yoruba people, work always has a supernatural dimension to it, and the chosen profession is rarely left to chance. Hard work is valued and encouraged, from childhood to death. In order to obtain tangible rewards, an individual must match his ori with his chosen field of work. The Yoruba believe in a gentle rise to wealth, and that success is based upon consultation with deities, ancestors, and religious intermediaries. Under Yoruba tradition, successful individuals should sponsor, hard‐working, but less fortunate people, but reciprocity is highly valued. For the Yoruba, the highest form of employment is self‐employment. A combination of these factors has resulted in a well established and historically successful market‐based system.

Yoruba traditions have been important in framing modern culture in Nigeria, and parts of many other African nations. Yoruba immigrants are also well established in other countries through out the world, including Brazil, Cuba, and the USA. Although many modern Yoruba are now Christian or Moslem, the Yoruba culture and historical attitudes about work, markets, and self‐employment are still critically important in framing our understanding of the economic structure of these communities.

This paper is one of the few efforts that specifically examines economic forces within the broader context of religion for the Yoruba people.