Partnership and the High Performance Workplace: Work and Employment Relations in the Aerospace Industry(Future of Work)

The promotion of social partnership and management techniques of the high performance workplace has become central to the political agenda of 'modernization' at work. Policies aimed at 'democratizing' the workplace by way of new forms of employee participation and co-operative industrial relations can, it is argued, offer firms a 'high road' to market competitiveness and business success. This book questions such assumptions. It provides an alternative perspective that penetrates the realities (rather than the rhetoric) of the modernization project. The authors adopt critical analysis of concrete processes of change and place at the centre of their enquiry the interests of workers - those who are often the objects of managerial initiatives rather than democratic participants. The book provides rich case study data of the attitudes and work experiences of skilled manual and non-manual workers in the UK's aerospace industry, a location of high skill 'knowledge work' that has been under-researched compared to other employment sectors. A fascinating picture emerges of conflicting interests and deep contradictions in the regulation of the employment relationship.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations PART 1: MODERNIZATION AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS The High Performance Workplace From Japanization to Learn to HPWS Partnership at Work Research Design PART 2: THE LEGACY OF TRADE UNION POWER The 1957 Engineering Dispute Piecework to Measured Day Work Other Patterns of Conflict in the 1970s The Thatcher Years Industrial Democracy PART 3: ORGANIZATIONAL RESTRUCTURING AND THE NEW INSECURITY Organizational Restructuring in the Aerospace Sector High Performance Management and Organizational Change The New Insecurity: Worker Attitudes to High Performance Management Conclusion PART 4: HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS AND THE PRODUCTION WORKER High Performance Work Organization on the Shop-Floor The Quality of Working Life on the Shop-Floor Labour Control and Resistance Conclusion PART 5: HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS AND THE TECHNICAL WORKER High Performance Work Organization and Social Relations in Technical Work The Quality of Working Life in the Technical Office Technical Labour, Collectivism and Resistance Conclusion PART 6: WORKPLACE PARTNERSHIP: MANAGEMENT AND UNION STRATEGY The Business Case for Partnership Partnership and Union Strategy Partnership and Union Strategy: The Case of Airframes Partnership and Union Strategy: The Case of JetCo Conclusion PART 7: PARTNERSHIP AND WORKER PARTICIPATION: VOICES FROM THE FLOOR Direct Worker Participation Direct Worker Participation (1): The Joint Consultative Committee Direct Worker Participation (2): Union Representation and Partnership Conclusion PART 8: TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE: SUPPORTING PARTNERSHIP OR ELITES? Skills Training Employee Appraisals and Control Gender, Contract and Employee Development Conclusion PART 9: WORKPLACE PARTNERSHIP: A QUESTION OF INTERESTS The Reality of Partnership: Conditions for Mutuality or Discord? Conclusion References

About the Author :
ANDY DANFORD is Professor of Employment Relations at the University of the West of England, UK. He has published widely in the areas of trade union renewal and critical studies of lean production in the aerospace and automotive sectors. He is the author of Japanese Management Techniques and British Workers and co-author of New Unions, New Workplaces. MIKE RICHARDSON is a Senior Lecturer in Industrial Relations at the University of the West of England, UK. His research interests include labour history. Recent published articles include Leadership and Mobilization: SOGAT in the 1986-87 News International Dispute. PAUL STEWART is Professor of the Sociology of Work and Employment at the University of the West of England, UK. He has published widely in the areas of employment relations and labour processes in the automotive industry and the new lean politics of partnership at work. He is editor of Employment, Trade Union Renewal and Future of Work in the ESRC Future of Work series. STEPHANIE TAILBY is Reader in Employment Relations at the Bristol Business School, UK. Her recent research focuses on 'partnership at work' in the UK, and contingent employment in European healthcare and financial services. MARTIN UPCHURCH is Professor of International Employment Relations at Middlesex University Business School, UK. His research interests include trade union strategies and comparative industrial relations. He is the co-author of New Unions, New Workplaces.