New Directions in Employment Relations

Keith Townsend and Adrian Wilkinson
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Keith Townsend: Griffith University
Adrian Wilkinson: Griffith University

Chapter 1 in The Future of Employment Relations, 2011, pp 1-7 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract It is difficult to argue with the notion that the world of work is changing. The change can be slow, for instance the manner in which some industrial sectors adopt new ‘people management’ practices, or rapid, like how technology is altering the way work is performed throughout the industrialized world. We have witnessed a fundamental sectoral shift in employment away from manufacturing and the public sector – sectors that are characterized by formalized employment relations (ER) and human resources (HR) systems, high levels of trade union membership, and larger employment units – towards the more informal, relatively union-free, and smaller employment units of the service sector. We have also seen other trends – such as moving call centre work overseas. The changing nature of employment has major implications for the management of people and for the systems of HR utilized. Working patterns have also changed during the past 30 years, so that the classic or ‘old’ image of work as principally male, full-time, and permanent is no longer a useful guide.

Keywords: Human Resource Management; Industrial Rela; Organizational Citizenship Behaviour; Employment Relation; Employment Relationship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-34942-1_1

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230349421_1

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