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36569 results in Cambridge Textbooks

Page 1508 of 1829

  • 9 - Monitoring and surveillance in the employment relationship: the new frontier

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 155-173

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • concept of workplace monitoring and surveillance and its growth and development

  • ways in which monitoring and surveillance are challenging traditional conceptions of the employment relationship

  • important policy and workplace regulation issues associated with monitoring surveillance

  • invasive nature of monitoring and surveillance in the workplace

  • paradox associated with monitoring and surveillance in the workplace, particularly in relation to the role of human resources managers.

    • Introduction

    The impact of the neo-liberal agenda, the shift in distribution of employment to the service sector, the growth in casual, temporary and contract employment and a decline in union membership have combined to create a context in which employees’ ability to resist managerial control has been reduced. In this situation of weakened resistance, the availability of new information technologies for the monitoring and surveillance of employee performance has enhanced the type, depth and intensity of management supervision. However, like any new technology, the impact of information technology is mediated by the social context and power relationships within which it is introduced.

  • 12 - From reactive flexibility to strategic flexibility in retail and hospitality

  • from Part III - Workplace Relations in Action
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 211-224

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • nature and causes of labour market flexibility in two industries that are high users of precariously employed workers

  • attraction of many employers in retail and hospitality towards a minimalist approach to workplace flexibility, despite policy settings that facilitate employee-oriented flexibility

  • international literature demonstrating that the strategic implementation of flexible working practices can be beneficial to both employers and employees

  • potential for implementing flexible working arrangements in a way that reduces the adverse impacts of events such as the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

    • Introduction

    As illustrated elsewhere in this book (see especially Chapters 2, 10 and 11), there has been a widespread shift in recent decades from full-time, ‘standard’ employment towards part-time, ‘non-standard’ employment, both in Australia and internationally. This trend has brought with it a proliferation of less secure, peripheral labour market participation. Focusing on retail and hospitality, two closely related industries that are characterised by high levels of ‘non-standard’ or precarious employment, this chapter examines how the strategic implementation of flexible working arrangements can enable people to achieve more secure and less peripheral labour market participation. The policy impetus for this discussion is provided primarily by the provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 in relation to flexible working arrangements, set within the context of Australia’s experience during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The chapter indicates ways in which the use of flexible working arrangements can be implemented to expand equitable labour market participation and to reduce the impact of macro-economic fluctuations.

  • 8 - Changing patterns of workplace conflict and dispute resolution

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 137-154

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • marginalisation of the national industrial tribunal as an attempt to privatise the process of settling workplace disputes

  • reinvigoration of the dispute-settlement role of the national industrial tribunal

  • decline in the number of strikes and the consequential changes in the patterns of industrial conflict

  • evolution and nature of the unfair dismissal jurisdiction and the growth of unfair-dismissal disputes in Australia.

    • Introduction

    Workplace conflict is an inevitable part of the pluralistic nature of organisational life. In Australia, the management of workplace conflict has been at the heart of the political agenda for workplace relations for the major parties. This chapter briefly traces the history of the regulation of workplace conflict since the beginning of the twentieth century and looks at the importance of tribunal conciliation to the settlement of workplace disputes over this time. It then describes the major changes to the system of dispute settlement since the late 1980s, particularly in relation to the differing agendas of the various political parties, employers and unions, which have acted to decentralise dispute resolution to the workplace. In doing so, the chapter describes the national tribunal, the Fair Work Commission (formerly Fair Work Australia), examining its relationship with the functioning of dispute-settlement clauses in enterprise agreements required by legislation and the resolution of unfair dismissal disputes, which make up the bulk of the Commission’s workload. It then examines the collective and individual manifestations of workplace conflict. The chapter ends with an examination of the decline in strike numbers and concludes that overt conflict is not disappearing in Australia but it is changing to more individualised manifestations.

  • 5 - Australian employment regulation

  • from Part I - Foundations of Australian Workplace Relations
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 81-100

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the

  • development of Australian employment regulation from the inception of the system of conciliation and arbitration

  • system of bargaining and agreements implemented under the Fair Work Act 2009 and the role of the Fair Work Commission

  • nature of the National Employment Standards and Modern Awards in providing a safety net

  • protections for employees from unfair dismissal, unlawful dismissal and discrimination under the Fair Work Act

  • protections under the Act for casual and temporary employees and contractors, and the shortcomings of those protections.

    • Introduction

    Legal regulation of Australian employment has undergone massive changes since the mid-2000s. The legislative regime introduced under the Work Choices policy by the Howard Liberal-National Coalition government in 2005 was revolutionary – it dismantled arbitrated awards, ensured that individual agreements prevailed over collective agreements, removed unfair dismissal protection from most Australian employees, introduced secret strike ballots and greatly diminished the independent industrial tribunal’s role. In a dramatic policy contrast enshrined in the Fair Work Act 2009, operative from 1 January 2010, the federal Labor government significantly reversed most of these changes, emphasising enterprise-based collective bargaining underpinned by a safety net of modernised awards and legislated conditions, eliminating individual bargaining and reintroducing job security through unfair dismissal laws. The common law employee–contractor distinction importantly underpins the new national system, together with employment anti-discrimination and occupational health and safety legislation. This chapter analyses these features, critiquing the new national system, which largely has moved away from reliance on market forces to a system of collective bargaining supported by protections for weaker groups and a new good-faith bargaining concept.

  • 14 - Global supply chains and workforce flexibility in automotive components

  • from Part III - Workplace Relations in Action
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 238-251

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand:

  • how global supply chains influence local production arrangements in the automotive components sector

  • the importance of a broad systemic understanding of the factors influencing production and work arrangements

  • interactions between production practice, work organisation and human resources management (HRM) practices

  • how external economic and regulatory factors influence the organisation of work and production

  • the ways in which employee voice operates in relation to production strategies and the pressures that shape work and work organisation.

    • Introduction

    In this chapter, we examine the role of workplace relations practices and policies at Futuris, Australia’s largest domestic automotive components company. We will show the ways in which competitive pressures, government policy and industrial negotiations have shaped and changed the experience of work and workplace relationships in the company. The components industry is one in which the globalisation of markets has shaped production scale and strategy; it is an industry in which labour negotiations and the content of enterprise agreements provide the framework for productive efficiency and the experience of work, and also an industry in which communications and employee involvement have to serve sometimes conflicting management and employee needs. Many of the issues raised in this case study have salience in other locations, because the industry is inherently global in its orientation through its part of global value chains in the automotive sector.

  • 7 - The dynamics of employee voice in Australia

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 118-136

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • concept and varieties of employee voice and of voice channels

  • development of employee voice in an Australian context

  • importance of employee voice for organisations and their employees

  • comparative efficacy of different employee voice channels

  • importance of power and influence when analysing employee voice.

    • Introduction

    The contemporary Australian workplace relations landscape, as in many other Anglo-American advanced market economies, is strongly influenced by neo-liberal ideologies. Related to this has been a series of important developments, including declining trade union membership and density, the emergence of sophisticated human resources management (HRM) strategies focusing on the individual and the rise of enterprise bargaining. These changes have had a significant effect on the structure and practice of workplace relations, not least on the ways in which management variously communicates, interacts with and involves the workforce or its representatives in the organisation and its processes (which we refer to here as ‘employee voice’). The shift in the locus of decision-making power to the workplace level, and a focus on direct communications between employers and employees, increasingly is becoming the norm so that forms of voice involving unions are generally in decline in the English-speaking world. As unions and union voice channels in the workplace have become more marginalised, this has acted as both a cause and a catalyst for the development of alternative voice channels in many – usually larger – organisations. These fundamental changes in workplace relations have stimulated increased interest in new patterns of employee voice and employee participation in Australia, specifically in terms of establishing and utilising effective mechanisms to engage employees and manage the employment relationship.

  • Introduction: workplace relations in Australia

  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 1-8

  • Summary

    Our field of study was for a long time referred as industrial relations or labour relations, and in Australia these designations remained unchallenged until the early 1980s, when employer organisations – particularly the then newly formed Business Council of Australia (BCA) and later right-wing think tanks, such as the HR Nicholls Society – challenged what they regarded as the anachronistic and obstructionist collectivist/class conflict paradigm of the ‘industrial relations club’ (Stone 2006). In Australia, possibly the most influential and coherent critique was that provided under the auspices of the Business Council of Australia (BCA) (1989). The BCA posited a model of employee relations that looked very much like an Australian version of strategic human resources management (SHRM) (Beer et al. 1984), and this led the BCA to advance two key propositions: first, that the key to enterprise success is in finding competitive advantage; and second, that in the relationship between employer and employees, there is no room for third parties. In other words, in employment regulation unions, industrial tribunals – and even employer associations – were a distraction, or at worst an interference. While the term ‘employee relations’ continues to have currency in the Australian academic literature, its usage does not imply endorsement of a particular reform agenda; rather, it emphasises the shift in focus to the employment relationship. In Australia more recently, the term ‘workplace relations’ has emerged to describe the changing field of study to which this book is devoted – for example, issues associated with monitoring and surveillance and employee voice are very much workplace relations issues rather than institutional aspects of the workplace in the twenty-first century. Significantly, the term ‘workplace relations’ has also found favour with both of the major political parties.

  • 10 - Diversity and disadvantaged workers

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 174-190

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • nature of labour market disadvantage and its various categories

  • intersecting nature and changeability of labour market disadvantage

  • connections between disadvantage, industry restructuring and the dismantling of labour market protections

  • implications of labour market disadvantage for workplace relations.

    • Introduction

    In the second decade of the twenty-first century, the Australian workforce presents an unusual degree of diversity. Race and culture, gender, disability, age, lifestyles and changing family responsibilities are among the key diversity characteristics of an expanding population and labour force. This diversity has been fuelled by sustained mass immigration, the increasing workforce participation of women, the need to retain older and skilled workers and demands for equitable employment participation by traditionally marginalised groups, such as people with disabilities and Indigenous people. In this chapter, the nature and extent of each of these forms of diversity will be addressed, and the implications of this diversity for workplace relations examined. This analysis will also look at the interaction between diversity and disadvantage, and industry restructuring and economic change.

  • 16 - Conclusion

  • from Part III - Workplace Relations in Action
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 267-275

  • Summary

    Introduction

    In this book, we have applied the label ‘workplace relations’ to our study in order to enable us to focus on those features of the regulation of work and employment that are distinctive, and reflect Australia’s history, economy and society. At the same time, we have attempted to place the study in its international context and to emphasise those things in the Australian experience that are shared by other nations. This attempt to draw out what is shared as well as that which is distinctive is at the heart of our emphasis on the impact of globalisation and neo-liberalism (Chapter 1) and the Australian employment model (Chapter 2), which draws out what is distinctive and shared with other developed nations.

    The major features of the Australian system of bargaining – the labour market and the interrelated welfare system and economic context – have been considered, both in the thematic chapters and the analytical case study chapters. These features form what can be called the interacting elements of the Australian employment model. They conform to aspects of the liberal or Anglo-American model of capitalism, but also are the result of the unique historical development of the Australian workplace relations, economic and welfare system. Structural changes to the economy and the labour market – such as the shift from manufacturing to knowledge and services, and the growth of female employment – are common to the social democratic and conservative model of capitalism, as well as the liberal one (see Chapter 2 for further discussion of these models). However, the ways in which these changes are played out in these three models show significant differences due to the trajectories of political history, including the interactions between the state, employers and unions. The evolution of these trajectories continues in each of the three models, and is influenced by underlying economic and technological forces.

  • 1 - Globalisation, economic policy and the labour market

  • from Part I - Foundations of Australian Workplace Relations
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 11-25

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • development of neo-liberal policies in Australia and the implications for workplace relations and the employment model

  • internationalisation of the Australian economy, the floating of the Australian dollar, and the growth in international trade and foreign capital investments

  • impact of neo-liberalism on the opening up of Australian industry to global competition, and the privatisation and outsourcing of major elements of the public sector

  • way in which the neo-liberal reforms, combined with the relaxation of controls on finance, led to heightened risks for employees and those who depend on them.

    • Introduction

    In this chapter, we discuss the development since 1980 of ‘neo-liberalism’, ‘globalisation’ and the expanding role of the financial sector in economic activity – often referred to as ‘financialisation’ – as well as the implications of these changes for the workplace (Kotz 2008). As we will see, these are not three discrete developments, but their evolution and interaction are important, for they reveal the sorts of pressures that are faced by employers, and that are experienced in workplaces and working lives.

  • 15 - The Australian Public Service: the challenges ahead

  • from Part III - Workplace Relations in Action
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 252-266

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • ways in which the Australian Public Service (APS) has changed both procedurally and structurally in an era in which market principles are pervasive

  • impact of adopting a private enterprise approach to management, both at the level of service delivery and in managing its workforce

  • challenges of workforce planning in light of demographic changes in the sector

  • effect of decentralisation policies on the ability to operate as one APS

  • internal and external environmental factors that most impact on effective public service delivery – especially the impact of changes of government on workplace relations arrangements and management.

    • Introduction

    The Australian Public Service (APS) comprises a suite of agencies and departments charged with providing a diverse range of services to a growing and changing Australian population. From schoolteachers, nurses, armed-forces personnel and other direct service providers, to those who work in the administration of policy and program development, the operations of the APS span the public, private and not-for-profit sectors as each has become involved in the delivery of government services. The delivery of these services does not exist in a vacuum. Governments in Australia and most developed nations are influenced in their decision-making by the prevailing views and ideologies – not the least of which is neo-liberalism. As we explained in Chapter 1, these ideologies are driven by beliefs regarding how best to use public taxes and income to deliver government services. This chapter examines the APS by providing an overview of the service and an account of the challenges it faces in providing government programs, payments and services, while seeking to implement private sector management practices. It also highlights the issues that are facing the APS with regard to attracting and retaining a suitably skilled workforce in an environment of increased pressure to cut costs and reduce its size.

  • 11 - The challenge to workplace health and safety and the changing nature of work and the working environment

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 191-208

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • links between employment insecurity and occupational health and safety (OHS)

  • relationship between employment insecurity and poor health outcomes

  • connection between the design and management of work and psychological or physical harm

  • importance of employee voice in bringing about improved psycho-social well-being at work

  • growing challenges to worker involvement in OHS despite its efficacy in reducing occupational illness and injury.

    • Introduction

    Changes in the work environment present significant challenges to workers’ health and safety. The pursuit of labour flexibility, intense competitive pressures and the shift towards decollectivism and deregulated labour markets have produced new workplace risks to occupational health and safety (OHS), while eroding the capacity of workers to respond to such risks. Foremost is the challenge posed by the changing nature of employment, specifically the growth of precarious forms of employment, as well as greater job insecurity experienced by permanent employees. The second risk is the surge in psycho-social distress associated with increasingly demanding employment conditions, and third is the decline in occupational health and safety worker representation and consultation, contributing to a void in mechanisms for identifying, monitoring and controlling risks at work. These risks are not inevitable, but reflect choices made by organisations and governments about the priority given to worker health and safety vis-à-vis other economic and political objectives.

  • 3 - Australian trade unions and international labour movements

  • from Part I - Foundations of Australian Workplace Relations
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 46-62

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • role of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

  • reasons for trade union decline in Australia

  • different strategies for trade union renewal, including the organising model

  • ways in which globalisation has led to the development of international union structures

  • prospects for unions to operate effectively at an international level.

    • Introduction

    Trade unions are ‘collective organisations of workers in the workplace that focus on improving the terms of the wage–effort bargain through creating collective leverage’ (Gall 2009: 177); that is, they act as collective agents to protect and improve their members’ wages and conditions through bargaining and other means. Some trade unions also have a legal, political, ethical and broadly social agenda, which means that unions are also interested in their members’ welfare and rights away from work. These interests also affect wider society and include activities that fall under the label of ‘community unionism’.

  • 6 - The changing role of human resources management in the employment relationship

  • from Part II - The Evolving Workplace
  • Edited by Julian Teicher, Monash University, Victoria, Peter Holland, Monash University, Victoria, Richard Gough, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne
  • Book:
    Australian Workplace Relations
    Published online:
    06 August 2018
    Print publication:
    04 June 2013, pp 103-117

  • Summary

    Chapter objectives

    This chapter will enable readers to understand the:

  • different perspectives of the relationship between management and employees put forward within human resources management (HRM)

  • impact of workplace relations change on human resources responsibilities

  • role tensions in the developing field of HRM

  • directions for HRM in the twenty-first-century workplace.

    • Introduction

    Over the last two decades, human resources management (HRM) increasingly has been seen as a strategic partner to management, and in these volatile times this can cause tension with its traditional role of employee champion. In Australia and elsewhere, the strategic promise of HRM has supported the elevation of human resources (HR) professionals to strategic, senior management positions (see Fisher, Dowling & Garnham 1999; Sheehan, Holland & De Cieri 2006). At the same time, significant changes to Australian workplace relations legislation (examined in Chapters 5 and 8) have brought additional responsibilities to the HR role that require more direct involvement in the employer–employee relationship. The progressive decentralisation of the employment relationship through enterprise bargaining, non-union agreements and individual contracts that promote direct dealings between employers and employees at the workplace level have intensified the focus on the HR professional as a key stakeholder in the successful management of the employment relationship. Consequently, those working within the HR function are expected to fulfil the role of strategic partner, as well as to attend to the traditional employee advocacy roles and remain a steward of the social contract (Buyens & De Vos 2001; Lansbury 2004).

Page 1508 of 1829