Ödül Bozkurt

Managing the duality of IHRM: unravelling the strategy and perceptions of key actors in South Korean MNCs

This research aims to extend our understanding of the duality between global integration and local responsiveness in multinational corporations (MNCs) by exploring the perceptions of corporate HR actors regarding the intra-organisational factors that alter the balance between these pressures. It examines the perceptions and actions of key actors in the context of two Korean MNCs. The study shows the importance attributed to a range of socio-procedural factors by corporate actors and which, therefore, inform the practical management of the dual forces, notably: HR expertise, social ties, trustworthy relationships and co-involvement in decision processes.

The determinants of retail productivity: a critical review of the evidence

This paper discusses the literature on the established determinants of productivity in the retail sector. It also draws attention to some neglected strands of research which provide useful insights into strategies that could allow productivity enhancements in this area of the economy. To date, very few attempts have been made to integrate different specialisms in order to explain what drives productivity in retail. Here this paper rectifies this omission by putting together studies from economics, geography, knowledge management and employment studies. It is the authors’ view that quantitative studies of retail productivity should focus on total factor productivity in retailing as the result of competition/composition effects, planning regulations, information and communications technology, the multinational operation element and workforce skills. Further, the fact that retail firms possess advantages that are transferable between locations suggests that investment in strategies enhancing the transfer of explicit and tacit knowledge between and within businesses are crucial to achieve productivity gains.

The punctuation of mundane jobs with extreme work: Christmas at the supermarket deli counter:

This article argues that the characterization of ‘extreme jobs’ as being defined by the constancy of ‘extreme work’ obscures the significance of temporary episodes of ‘extreme work’ for a wider range of jobs and notes that even ‘mundane jobs’ are punctuated by extreme work in a variety of cases. Drawing on a study at a supermarket deli counter during the Christmas trading season, it is proposed that work in this context becomes extreme, in relative terms, in three ways. First, the expansion of the scope of work entails an increase in working hours, an increase in demands for multi-tasking and product knowledge, and an expansion of discretion. Second, an increased mobilization of soft skills is necessitated by intensified work both front stage and backstage. Finally, the Christmas period also entails an extension of ‘inclusive’ management practices over a group of workers who are not typically the focus of such efforts. Four key insights are offered in conclusion: First, ‘extreme jobs’ and ‘extreme work’ are conceptually distinct, and the latter is a relative and relational term that varies with the normalized nature of different jobs; second, the temporality of ‘extreme work’ is variable, as it occurs in different rhythms on different jobs; third, the subjective experience of punctuations of mundane jobs with extreme work can be highly positive; and finally, Christmas deserves further attention in discussions of recurrent and temporary intensification of work, particularly in understanding retail employment.

Wired for work

Symposium: Mobility And Migration. Odul Bozkurt holds a joint position between Bradford and Leeds Universities as a research (postdoctoral researcher) for the project “Intra-Firm and Inter-Firm Knowledge Transfers and Productivity in the Retailing Sector,” headed by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Skills in the Green Economy: Recycling Promises in the UK E‐Waste Management Sector

In advanced economies the ‘greening’ of the economy is widely seen as promising extensive job creation and upskilling, alongside its other benefits. In popular and policy rhetoric, the growing importance of ‘green skills’ is asserted frequently. This paper critically examines these claims within the context of the electronic waste management sector in the UK. Drawing on the cases of a non profit organisation and a small private enterprise in North West England, we observe that despite government support for developing skills in e-waste, both the development and utilisation of skills remain minimal. Critically, the relatively more skill-intensive process of reuse is substantially less profitable than recycling and resource capture. The paper concludes by noting that the expectations from the green economy for high quality jobs need to be assessed within the context of similar, misplaced celebrations of previous transformations of work in order to avoid recycling the same promises.

Repair work as good work: craft and love in classic car restoration training

Repair work is essential if we are to develop environmentally-sustainable societies, but repair activity has largely disappeared in advanced economies. Where it survives, work in repair is typically ‘dirty’ and undesirable. This article asks how repair work can be experienced as ‘good work’, drawing on the accounts of 20 trainees on a classic car restoration course. We observe that two features made repair ‘good work’ in trainees’ eyes: craft and love. Craft skills enabled trainees to imagine improved employment futures, but also engendered emotional satisfactions. What the trainees emphasized even more was love, in four distinct ways. First, there was ‘object-love’ for the classic car. Second, love was evoked as repair reconnected them with ‘authentic’ younger selves. Third, love was claimed to be a prerequisite to do the work. Fourth, love mediated market relationships, connecting repairers and clients in a ‘community of enthusiasm’. Our discussion contributes to studies of workplace emotions, which typically focus on feminized work, by showing how love also matters in experiences of masculine work. Identifying the attractions of repair, we also consider the liminal context of training and highlight the key conditions for the survival and growth of repair as paid ‘good work’.

Book review: John Hassard, Leo McCann and Jonathan Morris, Managing in the Modern Corporation: The Intensification of Managerial Work in the USA

documents the effects of the crisis on gender and age inequalities in Great Britain, where crisis-related policy measures were scarce and austerity measures dominated. In general, I have some objections to the research design. With a few exceptions, the impact of the economic crisis has been identified by comparing the situation just before and during the crisis. However, this design neglects other important long-term macrostructural, institutional and behavioural changes. Related to this point, I often missed a longer time comparison that would allow comparing the recent crisis with previous ones. Moreover, while I fully appreciate the value of qualitative case studies, a clear rationale for selecting cases was missing: some authors chose the most affected sector, others selected firms that implemented the same policy, others focused on firms that adopted different adjustment strategies and others did not even look at firms, but instead looked at specific institutions or regions as cases. Nevertheless, this edited volume is an important contribution, which offers cuttingedge insights into the direct impact of the economic crisis on work inequalities, policy responses and firms’ reactions. Thus, I strongly recommend this book to scholars interested in the fields of labour, inequality, policy and international comparative research.