Irena Grugulis

The skills that matter

The Skills That Matter is an edited collection written by leading academics from the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia in the area of skills acquisition, formation and development. It combines academic evidence and policy debates with a critical analysis, making it an asset to students of HRM, industrial relations, sociology of work and business and management at both undergraduate and postgraduate level as well as being a useful resource to researchers and policy makers working in the field of skill formation.

Customer service : empowerment and entrapment

Customer service is at the centre of many recent changes in work and organisations and is often celebrated as being of benefit to all. This book explores the real nature of customer service from different critical perspectives drawing on a wide range of sectors internationally. A provocative and insightful work aimed at students of organisations and management as well as thoughtful practitioners.

Whose skill is it anyway? ‘soft’ skills and polarization

The skills that employers require are changing, with soft skills replacing technical ones. This article draws on two detailed case studies of outsourced public sector work, where these changes were particularly marked. Here, the new skills polarized the workforces. Highly skilled IT professionals were advantaged as soft skills gave them an additional dimension to their work, while benefit caseworkers with intermediate skills were disadvantaged since soft skills were presented as an alternative to technical competences. Women caseworkers suffered a double penalty, as not only were their technical skills devalued but many were confined to traditionally ‘feminine’ and unskilled work at the reception desk. Soft skills certainly aided the acknowledgement of women’s skills but they did nothing to increase their value.

Social Capital and Networks in Film and TV: Jobs for the Boys?

Social capital has been hailed as a means of virtuous, effective and enjoyable productivity through which firms can flourish. But it also confines advantage to network members and discriminates against non-members. This paper, drawing on detailed qualitative research into work in the UK film and TV industry, reveals the advantages and the disadvantages of social capital. Social capital aided recruitment, policed quality standards and ensured behavioural norms with the sort of speed and flexibility it would be hard to identify in other forms of organizing. However, it also advantaged white, middle-class men and ensured that middle-class signals came to be proxies for the most sought-after jobs. Professionals who were women, members of ethnic minorities or working class were less likely to secure jobs and were often restricted in the type of jobs they held. Significantly, the members of disadvantaged groups who succeeded did so after long periods employed by the terrestrial broadcasters or after extended apprenticeships. This is worrying, given the increasing insecurity of the labour market in this sector.

Information but not consultation: exploring employee involvement in SMEs

Most research on employee involvement (EI) has focused on large or ‘mainstream’ organizations. By adopting those schemes which ‘appear’ to work well in larger organizations, smaller firms assume there will be enhanced employee commitment beyond formal contractual requirements. The main question in this paper is whether EI schemes designed by management will suffice under the 2004 Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations. The paper focuses on SMEs which tend to favour informal and direct EI, and it remains unclear how these methods will be played out under the new regulatory environment. Evidence from four case studies is presented here and it suggests that the ICE Regulations impose new challenges for smaller firms given their tendency to provide information rather than consult with employees. It also appears organizational factors, workplace relations history and the way processes are implemented at enterprise level may be far more important than size itself.

Looking out of the black-hole Non-union relations in an SME

Using a single case study approach this paper provides empirical evidence about managerial practices in a small, non‐unionised firm which represents many of the features characteristic of the black‐hole of “no unions and no HRM”. The efficacy of recent union organising strategies is explored against the “context” of pleasant and unpleasant employee experiences, paternalistic management and labour and product markets. It is argued that the ideology of a “family culture” is a significant barrier to a new organising model of unionism. Consequently, the evidence supports the case that small family‐run firms can be exploitative and state support may be necessary to extend voice and collective representation.

The consequences of competence: a critical assessment of the Management NVQ

Presents a critical account of the implementation of the Management NVQ in three case study companies. Deals with two main themes: first, the way in which the candidates reacted to the management standards, reinterpreting their own roles and adopting the concept of a “real” manager, and second, the way working towards the NVQ changed the candidates’ work practices. The “paradox of consequences” inherent in the qualification is highlighted as the apparently rational and “relevant” competences result in distinctly irrelevant activities and it is argued that, rather than representing a model of best practice the “management competences” are, at best, irrelevant and at worst, actively harmful.

The missing middle: communities of practice in a freelance labour market

Learning at, and through, work is a key part of the skills literature. However, the idea and ideal of the ‘community of practice’ assumes that workplaces are coherent communities where the skilful are available for novices to consult and observe. This is not always the case. This research note, drawing on three months of detailed ethnographic research in a TV production company, explores the way communities of practice function in a labour market dominated by small firms and freelancers. It argues that the experienced workers who would normally be central to skills development are simply not available to consult or observe, since they are employed on freelance contracts. The novices’ community is one with a ‘missing middle’.

Understanding construction employment: the need for a fresh research agenda

Purpose – As a backdrop to the empirical contributions contained within this special section, this Guest Editorial aims to review the context of construction employment. It summarises the challenges inherent in construction work which have impeded the development of human resource management within the sector and discusses the mutually supporting contributions of the papers in furthering our understanding of how to improve the performance of the industry.Design/methodology/approach – The operational context of the sector is reviewed briefly, before the efficacy of the industrys employment practices are examined through a review of the contributions contained within the special section.Findings – The papers reveal the interplay of structural and cultural factors which have led to the skills shortages currently impeding the industrys development. There is a need for the sector to modernise and formalise its working and employment practices if performance and productivity improvements are to be achieved.Or...

New Technology and Changing Organisational Forms: Implications for Managerial Control and Skills

Changes in organisational forms are central to the way new technologies impact on the future of work and employment. Drawing on case–study evidence of a call centre and its client relations and a multinational IT firm and its partnership with a government department, this paper explores the implications for skill and managerial control.