Internalising the market within organisations – towards an erosion ofnational employment models?Thematic paper for DYNAMO

Talking about distinctive national employment systems may imply the idea that these systemsreflect at the micro, i.e. workplace level. But do they really? Can we take it for granted thatthe ways workers assemble cars or sell goods in a supermarket differ across countries? Obviouslynot. The interplay of employment systems and the organisation of work is far frombeing self-evident, and in many, if not most analyses of employment systems the question ofwhat is happening on the shop floor is a black box. For any follower of the concept of “varietiesof capitalism” it may be hard to believe that, though there are distinctive employmentsystems, once people are at work things are basically similar wherever you go. However, in anutshell, this has been for decades the point in many notions of “convergence” of nationalsystems of work organisation and labour relations (Behrens 2004). It is only slightly oversimplifiedto say that the core idea has always been that, once a production technology is giventhere is a strong driver for a gradual convergence in the way work within organisations isorganised and labour is controlled. The whole concept of the ”one best way” is based on thisimplicit or explicit assumption...