Companies surviving the 1980s world recession have needed regularly to manage change in order to compete effectively in turbulent and often global markets. Frequently, such change has challenged the existing organization and the system of industrial relations. Today, there is considerable evidence to suggest that the more successful companies operate with more contingent forms of organization. Such forms of organization have few layers, encourage empowerment, multiskilling and job enrichment and incorporate a wide range of Japanese manufacturing techniques and personnel systems. The impact of these changes on working practices, together with continuing high unemployment and a marked decline in union membership and influence, have influenced a move from industrial relations towards human resource management approaches. This transformation has been accelerated as businesses have both realised gains and experienced further recession in the early 1990s. This case study examines how a steel company managed a complex cultural and structural change programme. Change commenced in the 1980s recession when benchmarking activities suggested that more successful steel companies invested in both capital and people. Since then, the company has invested in people through numerous programmes including continuous training, vocational education qualifications, job flexibility and mobility, delayering, standard and target setting, appraisal, performance pay to recognise individual behaviour and contribution, and management training to improve leadership and the company's ability to manage change. By 1988, the company had adopted an HRM approach. In 1992, the senior management introduced a 'harder' form of HRM by establishing a fully single status company and derecognizing the four trade unions. The company has become an exemplar of HRM. This case study adds to the HRM debate by demonstrating through a wide range of measures that HRM has given the company scope for high performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:674468 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Billot, Hugh |
| Publisher | University of Leicester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/2381/34518 |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds