The purpose of this paper is to argue that: in a context of global labour market competition and in the absence of new strategic repertoires, class trade unions are progressively…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue that: in a context of global labour market competition and in the absence of new strategic repertoires, class trade unions are progressively becoming “managers of precariousness”. Thus, the paper challenges the compromise logic as the unique solution to corporate threats to relocation, since it undermines trade union power resources, mainly discursively and organisationally, and hinders trade union capacity to transform the balance of forces to their favour later, when the hegemonic discourse can more easily be challenged in periods of crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws upon the doctoral fieldwork the author undertook in the city and province of Barcelona during Spring–Summer 2015. More than 30 semi-structured interviews to various union delegates and regional metal officials have been accompanied by an exhaustive review of primary and secondary documentation. In so doing, this paper gives a rich and nuanced account on the different “world-views” and strategies that union delegates pursue when bargaining against transnational corporations.
Findings
This paper shows how the conservative position that Spanish trade unions adopted to the 2008 financial crisis in the automotive industry is path-dependent to dynamics established during the 1990s when lean production techniques were implemented in exchange for higher salaries. It draws upon the collective bargaining history of the Nissan–Zona–Franca assembly factory in the outskirts of Barcelona to, crucially, explain how signing micro-corporatist pacts and portraying them as the unique solution to corporate threats to relocation undermines trade union power resources, and has two important drawbacks: that micro-corporatist pacts only postpone the recurring threat to relocation to the future by eroding, not improving, the conditions of the workforce, accepting corporate discourse erodes the solidarity among workers, and it also allows yellow unions to displace class unions.
Originality/value
This paper enriches and updates the literature on micro-corporatism, collective bargaining in transnational corporations, and the erosion of trade union power resources which dates back to the 1990s and early 2000s. Whilst the negative aspects that competitiveness pacts have on workers’ salaries and conditions have been widely reported, this paper provides a rich and updated explanation of how such pacts have negative repercussions on the discursive and organisational power resources that unions have at the workplace level. In that sense, the originality of this paper rests on engaging into a substantiated historical analysis on how trade unions change throughout time as a result, at least partially, of their own strategic choices. Moreover, this paper clearly shows that concessionary positions towards collective bargaining are self-undermining.
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Alessandro Lo Presti, Beatrice van der Heijden, Jon P. Briscoe and Assunta De Rosa
As the notions of protean career and job crafting share a common emphasis on self-management, proactivity and customization, this study aimed to examine if the associations…
Abstract
Purpose
As the notions of protean career and job crafting share a common emphasis on self-management, proactivity and customization, this study aimed to examine if the associations between protean career, subjective and objective career success were mediated by job crafting, assessed via its three main dimensions (i.e. increasing structural job resources, increasing social job resources and increasing challenging job demands).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors sampled 594 Italian employees using a time-lagged research design: protean career was assessed at T1 and job crafting and career success at T2. Responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study’s results showed that increasing structural job resources mediated the association of protean career with subjective career success, while increasing challenging job demands mediated its association with objective career success.
Originality/value
In contrast to previous studies, in this contribution, the mediating role of job crafting is disentangled by taking into account its three respective dimensions. Additionally, the authors included both forms of career success as outcomes of protean career. Implications for future research and practical recommendations are presented and discussed.
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Colin McCaig, Jon Rainford and Ruth Squire
Widening participation (WP) has increasingly become part of the normal ‘business’ of English higher education (HE) providers during the last 25 years. WP entered the policy…
Abstract
Widening participation (WP) has increasingly become part of the normal ‘business’ of English higher education (HE) providers during the last 25 years. WP entered the policy mainstream for the entire HE sector following the Dearing Review (NCIHE, 1997) and the election of a new Labour government wedded to notions of social justice but also concerned with ‘lifelong learning’ in the name of human capital growth. This book employs a dual usage of the term ‘business’ in relation to WP policy, practice and culture in the context of the marketised English HE system. The first, figurative, usage explores the ways in which WP has been drawn into institutional positionality as HE providers are encouraged to differentiate themselves in the market. The second, literal, usage explores the ways in which the business of WP has become ‘business as normal’ for the sector and institutions, increasingly intertwined with other activities and which play out variously, often in response to regulatory demands of the state. This introductory chapter first contextualises these developments with a brief overview of the evolution of the HE sector in England before proposing a multilevel model – the HE policy enactment staircase – as a way of thinking about how policy is made, enacted and implemented within the sector. This chapter then draws upon this model to acts as a structure for this book. It does this by moving from a macro-level exploration of ideological levels of policymaking, through National/Sectoral level right down to the issues at an institutional and operational levels. In doing so, this chapter creates a framework from which to understand how the various elements and levels of the business of WP play out within the English HE sector.
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Jesús Robledano-Arillo, Diego Navarro-Bonilla and Julio Cerdá-Díaz
The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model for coding and dissemination of data associated with historical photographic archives. The model is based on Linked Open…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model for coding and dissemination of data associated with historical photographic archives. The model is based on Linked Open Data technology and seeks to exhaustively represent the most relevant characteristics for the tasks of contextualization of the documentary groupings and units, management, document retrieval, dissemination and sharing of data about the historical photographs.
Design/methodology/approach
An OWL ontology, called Ontophoto, was constructed following an adaptation of the methodology proposed by Uschold and Gruninger and Gruninger and Fox. The ontology was implemented using Protégé 5.5 software. Next a Graph DB® graph database application (Ontotext) was created to generate a query system based on the SPARQL language. To validate the consistency and effectiveness of the model and ontology, a competency questions methodology has been applied using a sample from the Skogler photographic archive.
Findings
The model facilitates the generation of systems for dissemination and retrieval of iconographic data for historical research, overcoming some of the limitations with respect to the design of methods of content and contextual information representation for heritage photographic archives.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on a sample. Future work should consider the implementation of the model on the totality of a photographic collection.
Originality/value
This paper presents a comprehensive ontological model that allows the creation of distributed systems of knowledge representation, which can be queried through SPARQL language.
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Guorong Zhu, Steve B. Wolff, Douglas T. (Tim) Hall, Mireia Las Heras, Betzaluz Gutierrez and Kathy Kram
In today's turbulent business environment leaders must be able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. For this research the authors aim to focus on the issue of adaptability…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's turbulent business environment leaders must be able to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances. For this research the authors aim to focus on the issue of adaptability defined as the ability to work effectively within a variety of changing situations, and with various individuals or groups. They also aimed to examine how variables of career complexity affect development of adaptability.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on a unique database containing the career histories of 52 senior executives in a major global corporation. They use the term career complexity to represent the degree of variety in these individuals' career experiences, and they test the degree to which career complexity contributes to the development of adaptability later in their careers.
Findings
Findings from this study shed light on the relationship between specific career experiences and executive adaptability. Executives who had the experience to serve in an executive assistant role developed higher levels of adaptability. For executives without the executive assistant opportunity, job rotations through different types of roles provided a boost to their adaptability. Three role type changes (e.g. line, staff, or matrix) is optimal; 100 months is an optimal time to spend in each role type.
Originality/value
While the field of leadership development has generated substantial insight into the competencies required by executives, there are few models and empirical studies that describe the process of how specific competencies are developed. The authors' study highlighted the utility of the career complexity construct for both prospective understanding of career actions and processes and retrospective understanding of paths, patterns, and outcomes. The authors demonstrated the predictive value of the career complexity construct by presenting results of the statistical analyses of the hypothesized relationships between career complexity and career outcomes.
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Iñaki Heras, Ernesto Cilleruelo and Jon Iradi
The purpose of this study is to assess the appropriateness of applying the ISO 9001 quality standard to the residential aged‐care sector.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess the appropriateness of applying the ISO 9001 quality standard to the residential aged‐care sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study undertakes a prospective qualitative survey using the Delphi methodology. A panel of 14 experts in the field constitutes the panel.
Findings
ISO 9001 has certain shortcomings in the context of the residential aged‐care sector. There is a need to fit generic quality‐management models to the specific characteristics of the sector, and to integrate those generic quality management models with specialised models.
Practical implications
Managers of residential aged‐care services should ensure: that they have sufficient resources to implement quality‐management models; that all personnel are involved in the implementation; and that generic models are appropriately adapted to the specific needs of the aged‐care sector.
Originality/value
The paper provides an original conceptual overview of the application of a generic quality‐management system to a specific services sector.
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Iñaki Heras, Ernesto Cilleruelo and Jon Iradi
The purpose of this paper is to study the appropriateness of applying “manufacturing sector” quality management strategies to residential care homes sector and to analyze its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the appropriateness of applying “manufacturing sector” quality management strategies to residential care homes sector and to analyze its influence on the quality of care.
Design/methodology/approach
Observation and in‐depth interviews were conducted with 41 Spanish care home top and middle managers, consultants and employees.
Findings
The quality management paradigm based on ISO 9001 has certain shortcomings in the elderly residential care home sector. There is a need to fit general quality management models to the sector's specific characteristics and to integrate generic quality management with specialized models.
Practical implications
Research findings should be noted by different agents involved in the process of improving services.
Originality/value
Useful, up‐to‐date conceptual overview for different agents interested in the sector (managers, consultants, academics, etc.) as well as interesting evidence for reflection.
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Mercedes Del Cura and José Martínez-Pérez
This paper analyses the strategies designed by Franco´s dictatorship to address the “problem” of children with physical disabilities, focusing on the relevance given to vocational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyses the strategies designed by Franco´s dictatorship to address the “problem” of children with physical disabilities, focusing on the relevance given to vocational training.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws mainly on official documents, reports from international organisations, and Spanish experts' papers.
Findings
Francoism turned labour into one of the key pillars of its national project and included vocational training in the different stages of school life. From the mid-1950s, vocational training also became a key factor for the dictatorship's strategy towards disability. Following the recommendations issued by international agencies, Francoism began to adopt different measures towards the rehabilitation of children with disabilities. One of them was the creation, in 1959, of a special unit for adolescents within the National Institute for the Rehabilitation of Invalids. In addition to medical treatment, this unit provided children with education and vocational training.
Originality/value
The value of this paper lies in the fact that the topic it analyses has been little studied. Until now no attention has been given to the special unit for adolescents, despite it being a very interesting example of the medical model of disability and its contradictions. During their stay at the unit children were promised greater autonomy and independence, but their lives also became medicalised and they were forced to collaborate with experts.
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Panagiotis Kapotas and Efpraxia Aithra Maria
The purpose of this paper is to present, from a critical point of view, the current legal framework of livestock grazing in public forests in Greece, to present the implementation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present, from a critical point of view, the current legal framework of livestock grazing in public forests in Greece, to present the implementation problems that have arisen and to suggest possible solutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors are trying to combine and implement some of the rangeland ecology results as a tool to explain the legal status and the reform proposals.
Findings
Livestock grazing is a misunderstood activity when it occurs in forests. In fact, when livestock grazing is controlled and based on the capacity of a forest area, it has been proven that it does not degrade an ecosystem; on the contrary, it contributes to biodiversity and to the prevention of forest fires. The prohibition of grazing for a long period of time, along with the establishment of a legal framework by which the forestry service is required to abide, which does not provide for alternatives or compensatory measures to farmers, has resulted in the creation of extremely unpleasant conditions for farmers.
Originality/value
There are hardly any relevant studies in Greek and international literature specifically focused on the Greek legal status of livestock grazing. The scarce contributions on this topic have been investigated and are incorporated in the justification of the study.