New style agreements are designed to foster co‐operative, conflict‐free industrial relations. Provides an account of what happened at two Japanese manufacturing transplants in the UK where such agreements were in operation. Management at these companies appeared to operate industrial...

In this study, scales were developed to measure the extent to which organisations exhibited “soft” or “hard” approaches to HRM, and the extent to which potential barriers to the effective operation of HRM were present. The sample comprised 549 employees, managers and HRM staff across a...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the contribution that discourse analysis can make to understanding organizational change. Design/methodology/approach – It identifies five key contributions. Discourse analytic approaches: reveal the important role of discourse in the social construction...

Purpose – This paper aims to review the discursive formation of organizational change and to consider the possible directions that change management initiatives may take in the future. Design/methodology/approach – This closing piece identifies a traditional change discourse and an emerging...

Purpose – The concept “flexibility” is ubiquitous as a rationale for organizational change. However, its broad application is accompanied by a general lack of definitional agreement or theoretical cohesion. The purpose of this paper is to propose the merits of an alternative approach –...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply theory and techniques from the services and marketing literature to a supply-chain context consisting of a shipper or seller, a customer or buyer and a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) to investigate corporate brand equity resulting...

The management of human resources in the UK public sector has been dramatically transformed in recent years. Discusses the major areas of change in relation to: generalist and specialist personnel roles; relationships between personnel professionals and line managers; and perceptions of...