Full Description
The book, written as a doctoral thesis, examines the development of the personnel function in labour organisations. Starting from a history of personnel management in the Netherlands during the second half of the 20th century, it analyses the structural transformation in the societal-economic environment from which originate far-reaching changes in employee relations.
The transformation from the post-war model of guided capitalism towards its neo-liberal variety has serious consequences for intra-organisational power relations which result in a one-sided articulation of interests. This erodes the moral fabric of the labour organisation as a social institution. In this context special attention is paid to the wide-spread erosion of corporate ethics in the 21st century.
The intensification of the labour process - a consistent phenomenon in industrial capitalism - has got a new impulse, due to the lack of countervailing power within an eroding system of labour relations as well as to superior production techniques and technologies.
These tendencies have a deteriorating effect on the substance of the personnel discipline, ending up in a loss of function.
Contents
THE MAINTENANCE CREW FOR THE HUMAN MACHINERY - 4 Contents - 6 Introduction - 7 PART I. THE SUBJECT AND HOW TO DORESEARCH ON IT - 28 1. How Personnel Management Changed in theNetherlands - 28 2. Research philosophy:The case for qualitative research - 82 PART II. THE HEART OF THE MATTERAN ESSAY ON THE DIVISION OF LABOURAND MANAGERIAL POWER - 97 3. The Origins of Managerial Control - 97 4. The division of labour and social cohesion - 114 PART III. STRUCTURE AND IDEAS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT IDEOLOGY IN THE 20TH CENTURY - 151 5. Guided Capitalism and Beyond - 151 6. The Inside and Outside of Work - 180 7. The ideology of management - 258 PART IV. PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - 279 8. A radical theory on personnel management - 279 9. The End of HRM: Two Scenarios - 287
