Flexibility, quality and competitiveness are all hallelujah words in current debate about national economic per formance. The achievement of more flexibility or higher quality or greater competitiveness, it is said, will help the UK become a more successful economy. At the same time increased...

This article examines the human resource management problems currently facing UK higher education institutions, particularly in relation to academic staffing. It outlines the structural characteristics of employment in HE which shape the demand for labor and influence personnel policies....