This article re-connects with structure-agency debates to explore the development of the social work assistant role. Drawing upon an analytical framework based on the tenets of critical realism, it seeks to explain the evolution of this role across three local authorities by looking at the...

This article examines role redesign in the National Health Service (NHS), which has been central to the Labour government's modernisation agenda, focusing on the role of health care assistants (HCAs). Drawing on data from two acute hospital trusts, this article focuses on variation in HCA roles...

This article considers whether and how shifts in the division of labour in the context of organizational change lead to the empowerment or degradation of workplace roles. It focuses on the emergence of assistants in the British public services and, in particular, whether this leads to the...

Purpose - Evaluates the role of teaching and social work assistants in the UK public services sector. Design/methodology/approach - Outlines how public service modernisation has resulted in the development of the assistant role (supplements the job of professionals). Focusing on teaching (TA)...

A prominent feature of the restructuring of work in the public services has been the growing importance of assistant roles. This article examines the regulation of teaching assistant (TA) roles in 10 primary schools. It examines entry into TA roles, the structure of TA roles and the consequences...

This article re-connects with structure-agency debates to explore the development of the social work assistant role. Drawing upon an analytical framework based on the tenets of critical realism, it seeks to explain the evolution of this role across three local authorities by looking at the...

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to evaluate employee perceptions of pay practice in civil service executive agencies in the wake of changes in the established institutions of pay determination. Design/methodology/approach – A survey design drawing original data from 1,057 civil...

Highlighting the ongoing significance of national models of employment relations, this paper examines whether variation in communication and consultation practices between countries is reflected in employee perceptions. Drawing upon a survey of around 3,500 employees in four European countries...