The Evolution of the Modern Workplace

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 has become more pressured. The Evolution of the Modern Workplace provides an authoritative account and analysis of these changes and their consequences. Its main source is the five Workplace Employment Relations Surveys that were conducted at roughly five-year intervals between 1980 and 2004. Drawing on this unique source of data, a team of internationally renowned scholars show how the world of the workplace has changed, and why it has changed, for both workers and employers.

List of figures; List of tables; List of abbreviations; List of contributors; Preface; 1. Researching the changing workplace William Brown and Paul Edwards; 2. Competition and the retreat from collective bargaining William Brown, Alex Bryson and John Forth; 3. Trade union decline and the economics of the workplace David G. Blanchflower and Alex Bryson; 4. Employee representation Andy Charlwood and John Forth; 5. Voice at the workplace: where do we find it, why is it there and where is it going? Paul Willman, Rafael Gomez and Alex Bryson; 6. From industrial relations to human resource management: the changing role of the personnel function David Guest and Alex Bryson; 7. High involvement management Stephen Wood and Alex Bryson; 8. Conflict at work: the changing pattern of disputes Gill Dix, Keith Sisson and John Forth; 9. Employees' experience of work Francis Green and Keith Whitfield; 10. Equality and diversity at work Andrew Pendleton, Keith Whitfield and Alex Bryson; 11. The changing use of contingent pay at the modern British workplace Shirley Dex and John Forth; 12. Foreign ownership and industrial relations Tony Edwards and Janet Walsh; 13. The public sector in transition Stephen Bach, Rebecca Kolins Givan and John Forth; 14. Legal regulation and the changing workplace Linda Dickens and Mark Hall; 15. Conclusion: the evolutionary process William Brown, Alex Bryson, John Forth and Keith Whitfield; Technical appendix John Forth and Alex Bryson; Bibliography; Index.