The controversies in French sociology of labour between 1945 and the early 60s sometimes overlook its place in the period of national reconstruction. As part of the social consensus marking reconstruction sociologists, encouraged by state fonctionnaires, sustained a research agenda perceived as...

The computerization of a machining line entails changes in work organization. The main innovations are the use of work teams, collective responsibility and the multiskilling of operatives. Yet these changes are not enough to ensure a satisfactory working of the line because of the way...

[eng] Can industrialisation through flexible specialisation as viewed by M. Piore and Ch. Sabel appear as the transcendance of Fordism ?. This article points out the historical, geographical and economic specificity of the emergeance of a « Third Italy » within the North-East and Central...

A range of literature has attempted to reconceptualize union agendas for firm-level restructuring by identifying variety in local union strategic responses. This article explores the conditions under which local unions respond strategically to company restructuring in the Netherlands, Italy and...

New management techniques (NMTs) associated with `lean production' - teamworking; just-in-time (JIT) systems; continuous improvement (kaizen); zero defects and so on - have become increasingly influential, particularly in the car industry. This paper reports on case studies and a questionnaire...

Researchers and policy makers increasingly recognize the need to adapt to future changes in climate, given that past emissions of greenhouse gases have already committed the world to some level of climate change. However, the current understanding of the costs and benefits of adaptation measures...

This paper examines warehouse workers' experiences of the labour process and employment relations in an ambient food distribution depot governed by a labour management system described as lean logistics. Lean logistics is seen by the sector as an aid to, and necessary development of, the...

Despite recent interest in the character of individual dissonance in the workplace less attention has been given to the nature of collectivism in the context of restricted trade union behaviour. While findings on conflicts associated with collective practices have been given reasonable space...

In this article we explore the question of how as sociologists of work we might research those who constitute the substance of our labour process. We approach this question through an examination of the new management practices debate, principally in the labour movement where a distinctive and...