Much of the literature on inter-organizational relations assumes that firms operate as relatively autonomous and cohesive units that are (1) unimpeded by wider institutional norms governing the industry as a whole, and (2) allow little or no role for the boundary spanning agents who oversee and...

The notion of complementarity to analyse the relation between paid work and housework has had a limiting, and possibly misleading, influence upon understanding the persistence of inequality in the home. Through our interviews with a group of male shift working process workers, from three...

This study focuses on the employment dimensions of inter-organizational relations, taking as an example a large regional airport. The dense and complex relationships that emerge in a multi-agency setting are highlighted to illustrate the tensions and contradictions that characterize the...

In this article, the author takes to task those who use the indicator of "strike activity" to measure the state of industrial relations. The case study is specifically that of the United Kingdom, but it has applications elsewhere as well. When this is done, and when it is pointed out that such a...

The level of interest in workplace union--management partnership (WUMP) in Britain in recent years contrasts markedly with New Zealand experience. The characteristics of contemporary notions of WUMP are discussed before considering how it has developed in the UK and examining the historical New...

This major new book examines the way in which employment is managed across organizational boundaries. It analyses how public-private partnerships, franchises, agencies, and other forms of inter-firm contractual relations impact on work and employment and the experiences of those working in these...

This article explores the future of collaboration in an era of austerity. Boundary object theory provides a framework to assess the significance and role of four key discourses in collaboration—efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness and cultural performance. Crisis provides a way of...

A major element of the transforming work debate is the spread of complex organizational forms. Hierarchical and strictly bounded employing organizations are said to be being replaced by fluid networks of organizations, working in partnership to achieve shared goals. Case studies of four...