Employee Relations: An International Journal

Darlington, Ralph

1993 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459310048518

While remaining in the public sector, the British Post Office hasundergone massive changes in terms of its general orientation andstructure over the last decade, with major implications for workplacemanagementlabour relations and shopfloor trade union organization. Themost recent phase of restructuring within the core Royal Mail section ofthe Post Office has been accompanied by an assertive managerial strategyaimed at tackling the strong workplace union levels of control andautonomy that have developed in many citybased sorting offices.Provides evidence from empirical case study research into one of thelargest and most unionmilitant Royal Mail sorting offices in thecountry based in central Liverpool. After outlining the strengths andweaknesses of workplace unionism during the mid1980s to the late 1980s,focuses on how the Liverpool UCW leadership have attempted to respond toRoyal Mails 1992 restructuring initiative and HRM practices. Suggeststhat, notwithstanding new and complex dilemmas, workplace unionismwithin the Royal Mail remains relatively resilient.

Lane, Nikala

1993 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459310048527

Increases in female employment in postwar Britain arecharacterized by the concentration of women in lowpaid and low statusoccupations. Demographic change in the late 1980s and early 1990s couldhave improved the employment status of women, with employers devisingwomen friendly initiatives to deal with the accompanyingpredicted skill and labour shortages. Discusses research undertaken inthe late 1980s and early 1990s to examine the extent to which some ofthe major employers of women public and private sector were respondingto the threat of demographic change. It was found that only a smallnumber of employers provided women friendly initiatives.These initiatives, however, only eased access into the existing lowpaidoccupations in which women already predominated.

Torrington, Derek

1993 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459310048536

A reaction to an article in a previous issue of the journal aboutthe dangers of Human Resource Management HRM. HRM was described asamoral, antisocial, uneconomic and ecologically destructive. Whilstaccepting that HRM is flawed, argues that its acceptance is partlyattributable to the dependence of management researchers on the approvalof research councils and employers. Concludes with suggestions forpersonnel managers to consider less obsession with strategy at theexpense of operations less preoccupation with management at the expenseof other members of the business and much greater preoccupation withthe recreation of employment.

McGoldrick, Ann E.; Arrowsmith, James

1993 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459310048545

Examines the attitudes of employers with regard to agediscrimination and the use of media advertising to infer age preferencewithout actually stating an agebar. Analyses how, through discreteadvertising in selected newspapers and journals, some employers arestill youthoriented and not taking into consideration that the olderend of the age spectrum can still offer commitment, attitudinalmaturity, and mentoring roles. Also discloses how the use of recruitmentagencies as a means for age discriminationselection is the choice ofmany organizations, so avoiding the business of selection until theshortlist stage.