Annual Review Article 1992

The article presents an overview of some of the significant developments in British industrial relations in 1992 from a managerial perspective. Against a background of deepening recession and redundancy, and some attempts to reorganize more flexibly, company approaches to equal opportunities, to training and development and to employee involvement (both individual and collective) are outlined. Interpretation reveals contradictory trends and a contrast between the rhetoric and the reality of innovation. Unless greater future emphasis is given to meeting employee as well as organizational needs, further problems seem likely to emerge.     

Annual Review Article 1989

This Annual Review Article 1989 considers the rising trend in inflation and earnings and indicates that in a wide variety of industries there was a marked upturn in union bargaining activity and industrial conflict. The Review considers some significant changes in employer preferences for particular unions in new or revised bargaining structures, and concludes with an examination of the debate concerning the 'juridification' of collective bargaining in the context of a possible return to 'adversarial' as opposed to 'new' industrial relations.     

Annual Review Article 1994

This review examines trends in the economy and industrial relations in 1994 and goes on to consider the implications for unions of the continuing restructuring of organizations in the public and private sectors. The background is one of cyclical improvement in economic performance, with low inflation and strong growth feeding through to higher profit margins. Firms are shown to have enjoyed the benefits of the upturn with little pressure from labour for a greater share of the surplus. Unsurprisingly, employers have not generated much demand for further reform of the industrial relations system. Unions, on the other hand, have remained largely on the defensive, from a combination of job insecurity among their members, organizational constraints and political marginalization. Initiatives from the TUC show evidence of the union movement trying to develop a new set of strategies to break out of the spiral of decline.     

Annual Review Article 1990

This personal annual review examines recent events, particularly in the trade unions but also among employers, in the context of the changed environment of the last decade. It finds that unions have emerged both strengthened and weakened from their experiences, but that they have some reasons for optimism. Employers' policies remain uncertain, mixing change and stability, but perhaps some new patterns towards union recognition are emerging. Neither unions nor employers have been able to match actions to their grander designs. The latest piece of labour legislation — the Employment Act 1990 — has the potential greatly to alter both the particular and the general.     

Annual Review Article 1995

This paper follows the pattern of most of its predecessors, first in serving as a record of events and developments in some areas germane to the employment relationship in Britain between October 1994 and October 1995, and second in offering some interpretative comment on elements of continuity and change. The decelerating economic recovery brought continuing but modest reductions in unemployment and some increase in price inflation. However, tax increases, perceived job insecurity, generally low earnings increases and other factors inhibited any widespread sense of economic well-being and restrained consumer demand. Among the key events were the TUC's strategic initiative on employee representation and union recognition, and the debates surrounding the Greenbury Report on executive remuneration packages and a national minimum wage. Industrial disputes reached record lows. Employment prospects, job insecurity and work-related stress were recurrent issues, with the different approaches of the main political parties to employment matters being clarified ahead of the coming general election.     

Annual Review Article 1993: British Public Sector Industrial Relations

Abstract : Developments in public-sector industrial relations during 1993 have raised questions about unions, pay determination and conflict resolution. This review explores some of the tensions in these areas created by new restrictions on pay increases, changes in reward structures and further market-testing across services. Where the different forms of pay determination buy industrial peace, the price may be too high in terms of the productivity and efficiency requirements gains now being demanded. But co-operation is needed too, and the dilution of the Whitley system of collective bargaining may be more likely to produce the very co-operation embodied in its philosophy, but not always present in its practice. The new 'superunion' UNISON will play a role here, as single-table bargaining and even single-union deals develop. These institutional developments will also be affected by pay flexibility measures which endeavour to improve individual performance at the front line of services, while in practice increasingly giving the rewards to management.     

Review Article

The CLass Structure of the Advanced Societies, by Anthony Giddens.
The Aristocracy of Labor, by Gavin Mackenzie.
The Coming of Post-Zndustrial Society, by Daniel Bell.     

Comments on Longmore's Article

In his recent paper [3], Dean R. Longmore develops a new concept of the Payback Period project evaluation criterion, the so-called Time-Adjusted Payback Period, which is supposed to be NPV-compatible and is, therefore, expected by the author to address the needs of practitioners. In this paper, it is indicated that the formulation of the proposed criterion is mathematically incomplete, and its complete version is presented. It is also shown, using numerical examples, that the criterion devised in [3] does not reflect the true content of its name and constitutes, instead, an artificial profitability index. Although this index, in its complete version, is indeed NPV-compatible, it does not, however, offer any advantages over the NPV.     

Summary of an Article on Reforming Land-Use Regulations

This article describes how excessive land use control adversely affects the cost of housing. Numerous studies showing the impact of over-regulation on housing costs are cited. The article provides both a historical and philosophical context for public land use regulation and describes key judicial decisions as well as competing public and private interests that shape the regulatory environment.
Specific attention is given to the work of the Committee on Government Regulation and the Cost of Housing of the President's Commission on Housing. The various recommendations of the Commission are set forth, the central one being the enactment of state and local legislation to restrict zoning regulation to that which is necessary to achieve what the Commission terms a "vital and pressing" governmental interest. A number of other specific Commission recommendations are also enumerated including density of development, restrictions on manufactured housing, size of dwelling units, growth controls, farmland preservation, development standards and fees, and local permit processing. The article concludes with a strong statement regarding the need for public education as a prerequisite for reform.     

浅议年终一次性奖金的发放——寻找税后收入的异常区间

随社会的进步和经济的发展,城镇居民的收入近年逐渐增加,年终一次性奖金作为公司对员工一年来工作的奖励是很多公司经常用的激励措施,这就需要对年终一次性奖金进行税务筹划。