Markets, Firms and the Management of Labour in Modern Britain

This 1992 book examines the development of industrial relations policies in Britain in the twentieth century.

Howard Gospel (Author)

9780521415279, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 May 1992

272 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.515 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This is a compelling account. The breadth of research in primary and secondary sources is impressive. The analysis is intelligent and sound.' Business History

Originally published in 1992, this book examines the development of employers' human resource management and industrial relations policies in Britain. It adopts a broad historical perspective, beginning with the inheritance from the nineteenth century and ending with an analysis of human resource management policies. It focuses on how managers organise the employment relationship, how they control work relations, and how they deal with trade unions and industrial relations. The author examines these in the context of the market within which the firm operates, and the strategy, structure and hierarchy of industrial enterprise. The book shows that historically British employers tended to adopt market-based strategies rather than internal ones.

Preface
1. Introduction: the management of labour
Part I. The Inheritance: 2. Markets, firms, and the management of labour in the nineteenth century
Part II. Continuities and Change in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: 3. Markets, firms, and the organisation of production
4. The evolving employment relationship
5. Employers, unions, and collective bargaining
Part III: 6. Markets, firms, and the organisation of production
7. Industrial relations: challenges and responses
8. Employment relations in the post-war period
Part IV. Conclusions: 9. Markets, firms and the management of labour
End notes
Index.

Subject Areas: Labour economics [KCF]