Facing ‘fairness at work’: union perception of employer opposition and response to union recognition

The introduction of statutory mechanisms by which unions can gain union recognition in Britain has stimulated employer activity to avoid and subvert union recognition campaigns. This article examines the nature and extent of such employer activities and how unions have responded.     

‘A Land of Milk and Honey’? Reengineering the ‘Past’ and ‘Present’ in a Call Centre*

ABSTRACT This article explores how managers, in the Call Centre of a Bank, (re)defined, and drew boundaries around ‘past’ cultural conditions, in relation to the introduction of a Business Process Reengineering (BPR) regime. Managers represented the ‘past’ negatively, in terms of conflict and coercion, whilst the ‘present’ was largely described as a Shangri‐La of teams and consensus. This eschewing of the ‘past’ and sublimation of the ‘present’ stood in opposition to the representations of the staff. Both the ‘staff’ and ‘managers’ seemed to reject or embrace discourses that challenged or coincided with their understanding of how things are or should be. In view of this, their understanding of the past/present is inseparable from a consideration of power and identity. The article examines the interplay between discourses and individuals, arguing that it is bound up with fear and anxiety, hope and aspiration, memory and nostalgia, among other, everyday life experiences.     

The ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of HRM in small firms

This paper looks at the ‘science’ and ‘practice’ of human resource management in small firms. While there is growing evidence that the practice of human resource management in small firms is characterized by informality, there is less evidence about the science, or explaining why this is the case. We look to writing on strategic human resource management, which has at its heart the resource based view of the firm, for possibilities offered to understanding the science of human resource management in small firms.     

‘Repeat commercializers,’ the ‘habitual entrepreneurs’ of university–industry technology transfer

Among academic faculty, is there a class of ‘repeat commercializers’ who account for a disproportionate share of commercialized technologies arising from university research? In a survey of 172 engineering, mathematics, and science faculty members from a major Canadian university, we found evidence that a class of repeat commercializers does exist. Further, we found that the 12% of the faculty who are repeat commercializers account for 80% of the commercialized innovations. Interviews with repeat commercializers in the same faculties at the same university suggest that repeat commercializers parallel habitual entrepreneurs in that they have the ability to commercialize (i.e. the ability to generate and identify commercializable inventions and the ability to acquire resources for the commercialization of their inventions) and the aspiration to do so (i.e. commercialization-friendly attitudes). Since repeat commercializers account for such a large percentage of commercialization activity, it is important that programs and policies associated with technology transfer address the needs of this subpopulation of the faculty.     

Combating environmental repercussions through ‘TQEM’ and ‘ISO 14000’

Business is totally dependent on society although we sometimes do not experience it that way. All business, even in their most limited form, confront environmental issues, some more than others. Business leaders will be actively addressing social and environmental issues. These companies will be going for certification to ISO 14001 (EMS) and progressive organizations have moved beyond EMS requirement, seizing control of environmental operations through Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM). Industry leaders are incorporating environmental thinking into every aspect of their operations. As a long‐range plan towards TQEM, an organization can have a road map and a clear model for achieving excellence in the area of Environmental Management. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

The British merger movement: the importance of the ‘aggressive’ unions

Union mergers in Britain are dominated numerically by transfers of engagements from minor unions to major unions. Just five major or acquiring unions were responsible for absorbing 79% of all transfers to TUC affiliated unions between 1978 and 1994. This study establishes the extent of this domination, examines the characteristics of the five unions’ aggressive merger policies and considers the consequences of the findings for theories of union mergers.     

Dubai in the ‘Middle’

In the early 2000s, Dubai seemed the apotheosis of the global city model. Lauded as an embodiment of globalist ideals, or harshly criticized as a representation of the dangers of contemporary urbanism, it was clearly under the spotlight. Then, like the concept of the ‘global city’ itself, it disappeared from the headlines, to be subject only to sporadic and cynical attention. Today some are heralding a ‘return’ of Dubai from the anonymity of the middle ground of global city hierarchies and rankings. What is often forgotten, however, is that urbanism in Dubai did not stop. On the contrary, Dubai's continuous ‘worlding’ offers a productive opportunity for the encounter of ‘global’ and ‘ordinary’ modes of urban analysis. By unpacking the construction of a global Dubai, this article advocates greater sensitivity to the multiscalar politics that shape its continuity. Stepping beyond rumours of crisis and decline, it aims to connect the global fortunes and everyday processes that jointly characterize the development of global cities. ‘Global’ and ‘ordinary’ urbanism, it argues, are but two registers of how we could, in Warren Magnusson's words, ‘see like a city’.     

‘Where ignorant armies clash by night’: the community action movement

Hain, P. , editor, 1975: Community politics Leonard, P. , editor, 1975: The sociology of community action. Wates, N. 1976: The battle for Tolmers Square.     

‘A cracking job for a woman’– a profile of women trade union officers

This article focuses on the women who constitute less than 10% of the total number of full-time trade union officers–it examines the distribution of women FTOs across the trade union movement, their experiences of working in a male-dominated occupation and the ways in which they adapt to the pressures and demands of their situation.     

The ‘Graying’ of ‘Green’ Zones: Spatial Governance and Irregular Settlement in Xochimilco,Mexico City

This article details the evolving social and spatial dynamics of a planning approach that is now being used to regulate irregular or informal settlements in the conservation zone of Xochimilco in the Federal District of Mexico City. As part of the elaboration of ‘normative’ planning policies and practices, this approach counts, maps and then classifies irregular settlements into different categories with distinct land‐use regularization possibilities. These spatial calculations establish a continuum of ‘gray’ spaces, placing many settlements in a kind of planning limbo on so‐called ‘green’ conservation land. The research suggests that these spatial calculations are now an important part of enacting land‐use planning and presenting a useful ‘technical’ veneer through which the state negotiates competing claims to space. Based on a case study of an irregular settlement, the article examines how the state is implicated in the production and regulation of irregularity as part of a larger strategy of spatial governance. The research explores how planning ‘knowledges’ and ‘techniques’ help to create fragmented but ‘governable’ spaces that force communities to compete for land‐use regularization. The analysis raises questions about the conception of informality as something that, among other things, simply takes place outside of the formal planning system.     

Technology vs ‘terrorism’: circuits of city surveillance since September 11th

Since September 11th 2001 ‘terrorism’ has understandably become the preoccupation of many, especially in urban areas, where the threat of ‘terrorism’ is greatest. High on the list of priorities is tightening up the technological means of ensuring security, by adopting in particular new surveillance measures. While these are mainly expansions of already existing systems — biometrics, ID cards, CCTV and communications interception — an interesting and perhaps disturbing new feature of these is the apparent willingness to create modes of integration between previously separate systems. Similar software and dependence on algorithmic techniques permit data‐sharing across several boundaries that were previously less porous. The dispersed data‐gathering of the surveillant assemblage, that includes relatively ‘innocent’ items such as consumer transaction trails —‘categorical seduction’— converges with the more centralized activities of policing and intelligence —‘categorical suspicion’— in the effort to make urban areas safe. The consequences of this are likely to be far‐reaching, reinforcing our reliance on technological solutions, and increasingly inserting them into the routines of everyday life in the city. Depuis le 11 septembre 2001, le ‘terrorisme’ est naturellement devenu la préoccupation de beaucoup, surtout dans les zones urbaines où la menace ‘terroriste’ est la plus forte. Aux premiers rangs des priorités, on trouve les moyens technologiques d'assurer la sécurité, notamment l'adoption de nouvelles mesures de surveillance. Si certaines consistent principalement àétendre les systèmes existants (biométrie, cartes d'identité, circuits de télévision et interception des communications), l'une des nouvelles méthodes, intéressante mais quelque peu troublante, est la volonté apparente de créer des modes d'intégration entre des systèmes jusqu'alors indépendants. Des logiciels similaires et une subordination à des techniques algorithmiques permettent le partage de données à travers plusieurs frontières auparavant moins perméables. La collecte de données éparses dans l'assemblage de surveillance, incluant des éléments relativement ‘innocents’ tels que le suivi des transactions de clients s'allie aux activités les plus centralisées de la police et du renseignement afin de sécuriser les zones urbaines. Les conséquences sont susceptibles d'aller plus loin, renforçant notre dépendance à l'égard de solutions technologiques et multipliant celles‐ci dans les routines de la vie quotidienne urbaine.