Employee Relations: An International Journal

Sonia Liff

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710163552

Should managing diversity be seen as an attack on, or a contribution to, attempts to achieve greater workplace equality? Reviews US practitioner literature and US and UK research on the operation of equal opportunities policies. Suggests that there are two distinct strands to managing diversity approaches: one focusing on individual differences, the other on social group characteristics. Assesses the consequences both of a policy focus on differences and an individual versus a group approach to identifying these. Argues that both managing diversity and equal opportunity approaches could provide useful lessons.

Hartmut Wächter

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710163561

Examines the pressures on the German co‐determination system in the context of the introduction of total quality management (TQM) in a German steel company. The case is a particularly interesting research site because the German steel industry is regulated by the most extensive co‐determination laws in Germany and the German company in question is French‐owned, enabling comparisons to be drawn with the introduction of new management methods in France. Outlines the positions of the works council and labour director towards TQM and the difficulties that they experienced when it was introduced. Concludes by portraying two possible scenarios of the effects of new management techniques on German co‐determination.

David Collins

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710163570

Analyses, critically, the interest in “knowledge work” and the “knowledge age”. Arguing that definitions of “knowledge work” and predictions regarding the future trajectories of knowledge organizations are characterized by confusion and ambiguity, calls for a quite different form of analysis. Argues that energy should be directed away from the study of “knowledge work” ‐ the privilege of a minority élite ‐ and redirected to acknowledge the extent of working knowledge across the workforce as a whole.

Rosemary Lucas; Lisa Ralston

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710163589

Increasing numbers of full‐time students at school, college and university are combining study with work in marginal, flexible, low‐ paid, part‐time service jobs. The employment relationship is highly informal and the contract may simply be the product of coincidence, because the idea that employers follow a particular strategy with regard to the employment of labour, simplifies the complexities and vagaries of the labour market. Although this phenomenon is bringing more young males into the part‐time labour force, young females remain disadvantaged in regard to the substantive terms of the effort/reward exchange. These factors necessitate a rethink and revision of the main theories of labour force analysis.

John Newton; Jo Hunt

1997 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425459710163598

The changes brought about by the new professional contract (1990) and the NHS reforms of 1991 are creating larger general practices which increasingly are seen as ‐ and see themselves as ‐ small businesses. As such the performance of practices will depend in part on their being able to manage employment relations effectively. Explores the nature of the employment relationship in general practice and reports the findings of a national survey of staff management procedures. While size is shown to have an important influence on structural arrangements, concludes that the future pattern of employment relations will crucially depend on the development of the management role in general practice and its articulation with established interests inside and outside the practices.