Strategy, Organization and the Changing Nature of Work

New technologies, global markets and increased competitive pressures mean that companies are having to reinvent themselves, reappraise their competitive strategies and rethink the ways in which they organize business activities. This timely book illustrates how changes in strategy can translate into organizational changes within the firm itself and can influence the relationship between the firm and their employees and collaborators. The authors provide a broad theoretical and empirical assessment of these complex changes, their effect on the nature of employment, and the consequences for both employers and employees. They develop a framework that encompasses the interaction between the strategic reactions of businesses to a changing environment and the restrictions imposed by social institutions. A key theme of the book is that we are now living in an age of transition where concepts such as job security, which have played a crucial role in society, are no longer valid. Indeed, the importance of the research presented in the book is underlined by the social and political implications such changes will undoubtedly bring. Significantly, the authors view the subject matter from an interdisciplinary perspective applying tools from the fields of organizational behaviour, sociology and psychology. Social economists, employment analysts, business managers and scholars of strategic management and organizational studies should value this integrated assessment of the challenges and changes facing modern films.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Preface by Carlos Cavallé 1. Introduction: Strategy, Organization and the Changing Nature of Work 2. Employment Contracts, New Organizational Forms and Competitive Advantage for Continuous Innovation 3. Strategic Human Resource Management and the New Employment Relationships: A Research Review and Agenda 4. Employment Security, Employability and Sustainable Competitive Advantage 5. The New Deal with Employees and its Implications for Business Strategy 6. Business Strategy and Employment Systems in Spain: An Empirical Analysis 7. The Adoption of Innovative Forms of Organizing in Europe and Japan in the 1990s 8. Impacts on Employment of New Forms of Organizing: An Evaluation from a Knowledge Requirement Perspective 9. The New Employment Relationships: The Dilemmas of a Post-Downsized, Socially Excluded, and Low Trust Future Index

About the Author :
Edited by Jordi Gual, Deputy Director General, Head of Research, Caja de Ahorros y Pensiones de Barcelona - ‘la Caixa’, Spain and Joan E. Ricart, Professor of General Management, Chairman, General Management Department and Director of the Ph.D. Program, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain

Review :
'. . . many of the contributions provide important insights into key questions surrounding the possible convergence of practices and the implications for this within and between firms. . . this volume is likely to be of considerable interest not only to students of HRM, but all concerned with the consequences of a global trend towards diminished security of tenure.' 'The book offers a full and wide-ranging analysis of the nature and extent of the organisational changes, and of the role played by employability in the new production contexts. Its strengths lie basically in its multidisciplinary approach, which enables the phenomenon of organisational change to be observed from different angles, and in its commitment to a balance between the pursuit of theory and its empirical underpinnings . . . In summary, this is a well-grounded and argued work, both theoretically and empirically, and will be of interest to anyone wishing to understand the complex nature of organisational change, and especially to those who, even though organisational change may not be their central object of study or concern, nonetheless seek to understand the rich and complex debate concerning processes of organisational transformation as a necessary starting point for the analysis of the broader process of transformation of a model of society.' 'I do not mean to propose any prescriptions for the problem of employment in our time. I leave that to the many fine specialists in the field who have contributed to this book. . . . I find this an excellent and thought-provoking volume that I hope will shed light on a theme of vital significance for people everywhere. For it is in work that people find happiness and fulfilment and meaning.'