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Decentralisation of pay bargaining in the UK is well known. Other countries in Europe have not gone so far but a clear trend towards decentralisation is perceptible, although national or industry‐wide bargaining is still widely used. There is an accompanying increase in the devolvement of responsibility for pay issues from personnel specialists to line management. These trends have been accompanied by a steady rise in variable pay across Europe. Proportionate growth varies between the public and private sectors.

Decentralization of pay bargaining in the UK is well known. Other countries in Europe have not gone so far but a clear trend towards decentralization is perceptible, although national or industry‐wide bargaining is still widely used. There is an accompanying increase in the devolvement of responsibility for pay issues from personnel specialists to line management. These trends have been accompanied by a steady rise in variable pay across Europe. Proportionate growth varies between the public and private sectors.

Outlines methodology for the Price Waterhouse Cranfield Project – an important new source of data on human resource management (HRM) in Europe. Places project in context of comparable sources and in relation to European framework. National data are collected by an annual survey of employing organisations to monitor over time the impact of the Single European Market (SEM) and to establish how far there is a shift towards “Strategic HRM”. Uses a functional definition of HRM. A postal questionnaire covers: HR departments and strategy; recruitment policies; pay and benefits policies; training policies and evaluation; contract and working hours flexibility; industrial relations; response to the SEM. Deals with problems of compatability of data across countries and languages, translation, industrial classification, sample size and distribution responses.

Equal opportunities policies in Europe are finding themselves in the middle of a paradox. On the one hand, after years of campaigning, the European Community and the Treaty of Rome have insured a legal framework for equality of opportunity for men and women which far exceeds what would have been likely to happen in most national states. Regarding individual employers, the number of organisations proclaiming to be equal opportunities employers and introducing measures to positively counter discrimination has never been higher. In Britain this is best exemplified by Opportunity 2000 and Britain is not alone in Europe with a concern for the underutilisation of women's labour. Initiatives in the field of race discrimination are less widespread and suffer from the absence of any EC remit in this area. However, at least in some European countries such as Britain and the Netherlands, the debates on equality of opportunities increasingly have left their narrow focus on gender issues and are beginning to include race discrimination. Without wanting to overstate the effectiveness of these initiatives in practice, particularly in improving working conditions for women and black people in lower paid or skilled jobs, there appears to be then, at the beginning of the 1990s, a relatively favourable institutional base from which to fight discrimination in employment.

Effective human resource policies are now seen as central to business decision making. In particular, European and global diversification, whether by merger, acquisition, alliance or joint partnership, is likely to have a direct impact on the sources of labour which organisations choose to tap, and on the way in which they recruit pay, train and develop their staff.

Drawing on Price Waterhouse Cranfield survey data, examines whether the common challenges to local authorities in Europe have resulted in similar national trends in human resource management. Compares public and private sector developments in line management responsibility, remuneration, appraisal and management development in six countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK. While line mangement responsibility has expanded rapidly in all countries apart from Germany, local authorities generally lag behind the private sector in relation to performance management. Analyses the implications of the observed changes in human resource management policies for managerial roles and concludes by looking at the management development consequences for local authorities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of university staff and students in implementing flexible working arrangements (FWA) to increase space efficiency, lower overheads and improve productivity at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.

Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews and document searches. A total of 253 university staff (academic and support) and students were surveyed to solicit their perceptions on the extent to which FWA could be implemented to ensure space optimisation, minimise property related costs and improve employee productivity.

The study confirms that the successful implementation of FWA needs coordinated institutional policy to effectively support and cater to university staff’s different needs while meeting those of the university. Implementing FWA may reduce demand on utilities resulting in lower overheads for the institution. Based on the findings, the study is inconclusive on whether FWA improves or reduces staff productivity.

In the era of austerity measures in institutions of higher education (IHE), with rapid advances in communication information technologies, FWA are not only a possibility but inevitable to ensure optimal use of space, lower operating costs and improved work productivity. This study provides a cursory understanding of the possibility to implementing FWA in higher education.

This study contributes to the FWA body of knowledge from the perspective of both academic, non-academic staff and students in IHE.

Using the Irish data from the Price Waterhouse Cranfield Project on International Strategic Human Resource Management, examines developments in flexible working practices in the Republic of Ireland. Reviews relevant literature and presents an overview of the Irish labour market context. The organizational level evidence presented on both non‐standard employment and functional flexibility indicates a trend towards greater flexibilization, but the emergence of the flexible firm scenario is not supported.