Lean and mean in the civil service: the case of processing in HMRC

The public sector has been importing private sector methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies and cost savings. However, the consequences of these changes on the working lives of civil servants are under-researched. This article uses detailed fieldwork to investigate the impact of Lean on labour processes in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). We argue that Lean has a detrimental effect on employees, their working lives, and the service that is provided to the public. The consequences of Lean on public sector work are highly problematic, which is of serious concern given its progressive impact on other civil service departments in the UK.     

Using the DEPTH model to facilitate learning in an integrated Science and Technology pre-service primary teacher course

The paper describes the development of an Integrated Curriculum Science and Technology subject offering as part of the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) degree for primary pre-service teachers at Massey University in New Zealand. The paper discusses some of the difficulties and concerns which arise when pursuing this type of endeavour. This paper also highlights differences from earlier studies carried out at the same institution using the DEPTH framework. The concept of teaching/learning via a project is not new. The innovation here is the integration of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and the DEPTH approach. The previous study (O’Sullivan, Proceedings of Second International Primary Design and Technology Conference—Quality in the Making, Birmingham, 2001) highlighted the usefulness of the DEPTH framework as an evaluation tool to focus students’ responses to critiquing school teaching practice experience and also informing their own personal constructs. This study again found the framework useful but as a diagnostic tool.     

WOMEN'S CENTRES: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VALUES AND ACTION

This article adopts an ‘organizing’ perspective to examine the relationship between values and action. Drawing on case studies of organizing activity which is undertaken with reference to the core values of the autonomous women's movement, the essentially negotiated nature of this relationship is argued and illustrated. Variation is shown to occur in the terms and arenas of negotiation and attention is drawn to the dimensions of the characteristic ‘texture of organizing’ in the settings described.     

Domestic Effects of Offshoring High‐skilled Jobs: Complementarities in Knowledge Production

We provide evidence on how changes in the use of high‐skilled workers (inventors) in a foreign location affect a firm's domestic use of the same type of worker. We exploit rich data that provide variation in the location of inventors within multinational firms across industries and countries to control for confounding firm–time and industry factors. We find that a 10% increase in the use of foreign inventors leads to a 1.9% increase in the use of domestic inventors. Our results suggest that foreign and domestic inventors are complementary in the production of knowledge.     

Employment Growth in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services in Great Britain during the 1990s - Variations at the Regional and Sub-Regional Level

This paper examines the changing geography of employment in Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS) in Britain. KIBS represent an important element of the so-called 'knowledge economy' and have been amongst the fastest growing employment sectors in advanced economies in recent years. However, during the 1990s in Britain, this employment growth was very unevenly distributed, both between regions and at the sub-regional level. The evidence presented in the paper suggests that KIBS growth in the 1990s was strongest in London and in a group of inter-linked local economies stretching in a broad arc to the north, west and south of the capital within the 'Greater South East' region. Examples of strong KIBS sector growth outside this region tend to be more isolated. There is little evidence of significant decentralisation of KIBS employment from the largest cities to smaller settlements.