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Existing theories and literature seeking to explain small business reticence to engage in enterprise bargaining, at times adopt a generalised approach which precludes or at least limits their relevance and ability to explain small business choice at the industry and even organisational level. Such explanations cannot be detached from the external contextual framework in which an organisation operates and its own, often unique, strategic corporate response to the environmental influences which are challenging it. Labour flexibility vehicles including bargaining, if chosen to facilitate broader corporate strategies, can thereby, be regarded as functionally dependent upon and interactive with the corporate orientations and objectives of the organisation which in turn are environmentally influenced and shaped. The research principally provides a focused description and analysis of the experiences of Clothingco, a small, up market, vertically integrated clothing manufacturer and retailer, which has undergone various strategic readjustments at the corporate and industrial relations level throughout the 1990s, in response to externally driven pressures. The research presents firm evidence to suggest that Clothingco has selected its labour flexibility mechanisms so that they are consistent with and able to accomodate prevailing corporate strategies and orientations. Its strategic corporate readjustments throughout the 90s, which can be perceived as falling along the continuum of cost minimisation to productivity enhancement, have in particular registered differing choices with respect to labour flexibility vehicle and strategies. In the light of the findings, the research as a preferred labour flexibility vehicle at Clothingco. These are identified as: an increasing corporate focus towards cost minimisation throughout the 1990s, coupled with an inability by management to countenance union intervention in enterprise bargaining procedures. The interaction of both these factors, rendered enterprise bargaining from the point of view of management, both a strategically and industrially inferior labour flexibility vehicle to the use of contract labour. The research's strength lies in these areas which have been highlighted and which can be monitored and tested more comprehensively in future research. / Master of Commerce (Hons)

There are modernizations or productive re-structuring processes in the Mexican industrial sector, with changes in labour relations and new profiles in labour force. The new industrial logic is underlined by the workers characteristics and labour market, that is, it appears linked to local specifications, some times important, such as the growing labour insertion of rural otomí women from the nearby municipios to the factories, mainly in the textile, food and export maquila sectors, that attend works with great flexibility. This condition forces us to reconsider the insertion of labour strategies of rural families in the State of Mexico. / En el sector industrial mexiquense se han instrumentado procesos de modernización o de reestructuración productiva con cambio en las relaciones laborales y nuevo perfil de la fuerza de trabajo. La nueva lógica industrial se ve matizada por características de los trabajadores y del mercado de trabajo, es decir, aparece vinculada a especificidades locales a veces importantes, como la creciente inserción laboral de la mano de obra femenina en la manufactura y la amplia flexibilización de las relaciones laborales. La presencia de mujeres en la industria se vincula al traslado al mundo productivo de mujeres de origen rural, otomí, de los municipios colindantes a las fábricas, principalmente a los sectores textil, alimentos y maquila de exportación, que deben hacer frente a trabajos con alto grado de flexibilidad, situación que obliga a reconsiderar las estrategias de inserción laboral de familias rurales del estado de México.

The mass decline in agricultural labour in Britain since the industrial revolution has, ultimately, led to it becoming a significant ‘blind spot’ in the agricultural research agenda. Data regarding those who actively work at the ‘frontline’ of agriculture, and how they interrelate with other agents in their network to achieve multiple national and global agendas, is minimal. This thesis contributes and develops a comprehensive body of knowledge concerning the composition of labour on farms in the South West of England, as well as identifying and exploring contemporary relationships between farm labour contributors, the community; and the land, through the examination of the lived experience of different contributors to agricultural labour. These changes are considered under the lens of agriculture’s ever-encroaching challenges of productivity, labour skills shortages and sustainable intensification. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, incorporating a postal survey of 1251 farms, as well as 45 semi-structured interviews with farm labour contributors via a case study approach. Quantitative data provides a useful picture of those contributing to labour on farms in the South West of England, and brings attention to associated labour issues experienced by farmers. Qualitative data fleshes out these results with the guidance of Actor Network Theory. The concept of the lifescape is utilised to achieve this most pictorially while principles from the Human Capability Framework are applied to weaknesses in network chains that were revealed during the research process. Results reveal how new worker profiles have arisen from the increasingly flexible labour market, with contractors exposed as playing a progressively more crucial role to the survival of the industry. Due to an impending labour crisis, rapid technological development, and disparities in knowledge between farmers and other labour contributors, relationships of independence and interdependence between the various cohorts were discovered. Multiple actors within the lifescape of the farm labour contributor mean that clear distinctions cannot be made between farm, land, nature and community, with no single element more important than the other in the playing out of behaviours. Similarly, that same array of actors is seen to contribute significantly to the capacities, opportunities and freedoms available to farm labour contributors, and where a match between the two fails, substantial issues can be seen to arise. The research makes a valuable contribution to rural sociology through understanding the lifescape of the farm worker from the ground up. Overall, it addresses the importance of incorporating farm workers and contributors into the agricultural and more specifically, the sustainable intensification research agenda, particularly emphasising the importance of agricultural research and policy-making parameters being inclusive of all individuals who actively contribute to the land, rather than exclusive.

Debates on flexible employment and labour persist in most Western market economies, while being largely absent regarding Saudi Arabia. Increasing unemployment among qualified Saudi citizens remains a major concern, particularly for females, despite a government policy of Saudisation. Notwithstanding incentives for prioritising Saudi citizens, foreign nationals dominate private sector employment. Few empirical studies consider the factors impacting employment of educated Saudi women: further, there are hardly any robust frameworks which offer policy makers, employers, and those championing the employment of this group a clear set of plausible guidelines bearing in mind the socioeconomic context of Saudi Arabia. The research aims, first and foremost, to examine how far "labour flexibility" in Saudi Arabia offers solutions to unemployment among educated Saudi females, exploring interalia the main institutions and regulatory framework of the Saudi labour market, and the effectiveness of these in managing the relationship between employers and employees. It also examines the major labour market and employment policy concerns of government, employers and employees, considering flexible employment forms in Saudi Arabia, and in what context employers and employees do or would consider flexible employment. Following on from this, the second aim is to develop a conceptual framework on key factors impacting the participation of educated Saudi females in the Saudi labour market. The framework that emerges from these analyses also provides some guidance for graduate women who seek labour market entry and participation. iii The study employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies, with targeted participants, returning 1347 usable questionnaires (41% response) augmented by 28 semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data underwent statistical examination by performing descriptive and inferential analysis on the SPSS software, and qualitative data were analysed using summative content analysis. A conceptual framework was developed and validated through interviews with ten representatives of the interviewed sample population, who held senior positions. To improve understanding of key influencing factors for educated women’s participation in the Saudi labour market for key stakeholders. The six factors identified were personal, socio-cultural, educational, legal/political, organisational and economic. The study identifies a relationship between increased flexible work patterns and increased employment of educated Saudi females and suggests a relationship between the challenges Saudi females face within employment practices and numbers employed in the labour market. Similarly, a relationship exists between educational level and employment chances for Saudi women. Recommendations are proffered to the Saudi Government, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Education, industrial sector, organisations, researchers and academia.

In this article, the author presents the theme of the historical evolution of Labour Law, analyzing the most important milestones in which it develops. Firstly, he addresses the regulation of work in the preindustrial era; then, the emergence of Labour Law as a result of historical and social factors; and finally, its evolution throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century, concluding that this development has come to be circular. / En el presente artículo, el autor abarca el tema de la evolución histórica del Derecho del Trabajo, analizando los hitos más importantes en los que se desarrolla. En primer lugar, aborda la regulación del trabajo en la época preindustrial; a continuación, el surgimiento del Derecho del Trabajo a consecuencia de factores histórico-sociales; y, finalmente, su evolución a lo largo del siglo XX y XXI, concluyendo que esta evolución ha terminado por ser circular.

The diploma thesis deals with flexible forms of work in the Czech Republic. After the short introduction of the history and theoretical frameworks, particular types of alternative work forms used in the Czech labour market are presented. Readers are faced with part-time jobs, flexible work hours, home office and other. Special part is dedicated to occupying of part-time workers who are employed in the mode of Contract of Services, which is specific for Czech labour market and is involved in flexible work forms in this text. The great part of this thesis occupies case study, which was held at headquarters of one Czech company and which provides view of function of flexible forms of work on the side of the employer and employees as well. Data analysis offers mainly information coming from perception of alternative working forms by their users, which means employees, but by provider as well. Emphasis is placed primarily on evaluation of motives which lead into implementing and demanding of flexible work forms and also their advantages and disadvantages. Readers can find in analytic part also profiling of group of employees working in alternative working modes. These profiles are built-up from the view of the character of employees positions and from their individual characteristics as well. It is also...