This article examines contemporary management strategy in the area of effective utilisation of human resources in the retail industry. The focus of the industrial relations system has shifted from the national level to the enterprise level, and like many other industries, retail employers are...

Australian trade unions prospered for much of the last century but have suffered membership decline since the late 1970s. The growth of unions in the earlier part of the twentieth century has frequently been attributed to the establishment of a centralised conciliation and arbitration system....

According to the Howard government and some 'small business' organisations, the changes made to Australian industrial relations arrangements by the 2005 'Work Choices' Act will be of particular importance to small and medium sized establishments (SMEs). Specifically, the dilution of the...