This ebook examines a range of issue, challenges and responses relating to temporary workers and human resource management. Although the issues and challenges are significant - including regulatory compliance and safety management - there is a shortage of literature examining temporary work and HRM. Although an OECD (2002) report suggested that there was a growing share of temporary employment in many countries worldwide this special issues drew research mainly from the UK and Australia. The Guest Editor suggest that therefore considerable gaps exist in the international arena.
Temporary agency work has been a central topic of employment discourse in recent years, and the flexible working arrangements it can provide individuals and organisations has served to increase this attention in the current economic climate. Temporary employment agencies can provide organisations with fast access to potential staff and individuals with a variety of flexible working opportunities. However, negative worker experiences and the lack of contractual protection have been a source of criticism that resulted in the EU’s adoption of the Agency Workers Directive towards the end of 2011. This study is concerned with assessing the impact of the UK temporary employment industry in assisting agency workers since the year 2000, and incorporates four research questions: (1) To what extent have temporary employment agencies provided employment opportunities to vulnerable groups since the year 2000? (2) How are individuals psychologically affected by working as temporary agency workers, and what are the implications? (3) Individual agency workers often interact with several different groups including temporary employment agencies, third party employers, permanent workers and trade unions. Are there tensions that exist between these groups, and how do they manifest themselves? (4) Recent legislative development has occurred with the adoption of the Agency Workers Directive. What are the implications for individual agency workers and temporary employment agencies? The study incorporates semi-structured interviews with agency workers and their permanent colleagues, as well as recruitment consultants and their clients. Additional data from participants’ follow-up interviews and analysis of researcher diary extracts serve to build a picture of the temporary employment industry at an individual and organisational level. The findings of the study include the influence that motive can have upon how agency workers view their ensuing employment, the negative psychological impact that reduced contractual obligation can have upon the individual, and the detrimental outcomes that can result from the short-term and cyclical nature of agency employment. Further findings are also discussed, and the text concludes by outlining the study’s contribution to knowledge.
This new 3rd edition of the best-selling text People Management & Development: Human Resource Management at Work is the complete text for anyone studying Human Resource Management. Combining the latest academic research with practical approaches to managing HR in the workplace, the text is thoroughly revised with increased signposting to enhance accessibility, a revised structure designed to be more flexible for use on CIPD and non-CIPD courses, as well as the addition of more international cases. Ideal for students studying for the CIPD professional qualification as well as general human resource management modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level. A 'route map' at the front of the book will indicate how the text can be used on both CIPD and non-CIPD courses to assist lecture preparation. TARGETED AT - Students studying CIPD Professional Qualifications and undergraduate and post graduate students taking HRM modules on business and HRM courses
This book represents a unique study which reviews employment conditions in Asia and the Pacific in the context of globalization and increasing pressure towards flexibilization. It places a strong focus on the diverging experiences of individual workers in their employment conditions such as employment status, wages/incomes, working time, work organizations and health and safety. Along with thematic studies concerning the roles of workers voice and labour regulation in determining employment conditions, this book includes nine country studies which have been undertaken based on a common research framework for a more rigorous comparison in the region. - A systematic review of employment conditions in the countries which are carefully selected in the region - National-level analysis based on a common research framework - A highly analytical and timely analysis of workers voice and labour regulation with respect to employment conditions
This volume explores psychosocial problems amongst one of the most vulnerable social groups in our societies, immigrant workers, through a multidisciplinary approach. Migration has sometimes been oversimplified as a flow of workers from “poorer”, developing nations to “wealthier”, industrialised nations. The issue, however, is more complex and currently migration is a global phenomenon in which all countries are recipients of workers from third countries and send workers to third countries. The working conditions of immigrant workers at various levels are not always well known, though some studies have established that the negative impact on migrant workers is cumulative, and primarily stems from adverse living and working conditions in a new country and increased levels of vulnerability. The contributions to this volume cover discussions on migrant workers in the industrial, agricultural and service sectors across the world. They critically study the impact of work Hazards on the health and wellbeing of migrant workers in order to shed light on the social and health implications of migrant work, explore the relation between organizational, psychosocial and work factors, and analyse the migration process from a wider perspective and as a global phenomenon present in every country. The contributors provide multidisciplinary and multicultural contemporary perspectives, thereby providing readers with wide-ranging insights. This volume is of interest to researchers and students from the social and behavioural sciences, particularly those focusing on health studies and migration studies.
Over the past two decades the use of flexible employment relations has increased in most developed countries. The growth of temporary agency work constitutes a significant component of this development. Organizations are now facing the challenges of managing a ‘blended workforce’, i.e. a workforce consisting of both direct hires and contractors. At a time when Europe, as well as the rest of the world, is facing enhanced global competition and a severe labor market crisis, an understanding of temporary employment practices becomes all the more acute. With the evolution of the use of agency work in the Western world over the past decade, the chapters in this volume show how a focus on the management and organization of temporary agency work can be helpful to see possibilities and pitfalls for the use of temporary employment in the wake of changed employment practices and challenges to labor market stability and welfare structures. Together, the new case studies presented in this volume provide a wide scope of analysis of the organization and management of temporary agency work, offering a much-needed contribution to the discussion of issues and priorities that guide and shape organizational practices today. Its particular uniqueness lies in the empirical richness and variety of local case studies and the way in which these are related to wider policy aims, ideological shifts, and the dynamics of organizational practice, with a particular focus on the organization and management of ‘blended workforces’.
Manage managers based on competencies and informal networks – Set task-based output goals for professional specialists – Control temporary workers at the agency level – Ensure that contractors are managed effectively as part of boundary-crossing networks. This book provides a framework of analysis to capture and explain differences in employment systems. Taking account of the wealth of research in the field, it provides a sound basis for developing function-specific performance management systems, integrating aspects such as incentivization, multi-source appraisal, and accountability. From macro to micro approaches of HRM, the contents will be of value to researchers on employment systems, strategic HRM, and occupational psychology and to practitioners of HRM and organizational development. Achim Krausert has been a consultant in the performance management group of Accenture, U.K. He obtained his D.B.A. from the University of Mannheim, Germany, and an M.Sc. and a B.Sc. from the London School of Economics.
This book seeks to explain the global financial crisis and its wider economic, political, and social repercussions, arguing that the 2007-9 meltdown was in fact a systemic crisis of the capitalist system. The volume makes these points through the exploration of several key questions: What kind of institutional political economy is appropriate to explain crisis periods and failures of crisis-management? Are different varieties of capitalism more or less crisis-prone, and can the global financial crisis can be attributed to one variety more than others? What is the interaction between the labour market and the financialization process? The book argues that each variety of capitalism has its own specific crisis tendencies, and that the uneven global character of the crisis is related to the current forms of integration of the world market. More specifically, the 2007-09 economic crisis is rooted in the uneven income distribution and inequality caused by the current financial-led model of growth. The book explains how the introduction of more flexibility in the labour markets and financial deregulation affected everything from wages to job security to trade union influence. Uneven income distribution and inequality weakened aggregate demand and brought about structural deficiencies in aggregate demand and supply. It is argued that the process of financialization has profoundly changed how capitalist economies operate. The volume posits that financial globalization has given rise to growing international imbalances, which have allowed two growth models to emerge: a debt-led consumption growth model and an export-led growth model. Both should be understood as reactions to the lack of effective demand due to the polarization of income distribution.
New Regionalism, promoted as a new paradigm of development by the OECD, suggests that globalization is bringing together new technologies, management, employees and communities to form new patterns of local governance. However, despite the growing influence of New Regionalism in regional development policy in the West, and increasingly in Australia, there has been little debate about the relevance and application of these ideas in Australia. Bringing together contributions from academics, practitioners and policy makers, this book redresses this imbalance by examining the theoretical and empirical foundations of this powerful and growing school of thought, locating the debate firmly in the Australian context. With an opening chapter by Kevin Morgan (Cardiff University), who has been at the heart of the New Regionalism debate, the book provides important insights into the theory and practice of New Regionalism in this vibrant region.
