Flexibility and stability in working life / edited by Bengt Furåker, Kristina Håkannson and Jan Ch. Karlsson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Furåker, Bengt, 1943-

Håkannson, Kristina, 1959-

Karlsson, Jan, 1948-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor market--Great Britain--Congresses.

Labor market.

Industrial relations--Great Britain--Congresses.

Industrial relations.

Labor market--Sweden--Congresses.

Industrial relations--Sweden--Congresses.

Sweden.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xiv, 239 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Basingstoke [England] ; New York : Palgrave Macmillian, 2007.

Summary:

Flexibility Is an ambiguous concept and lacks theoretical clarity. Large parts of the literature on the subject are prescriptive and ideological rather than empirical and analytical. This book contributes both theoretically and empirically to expounding the importance of clearer concepts in the international and national debates on economic systems, labour markets, work organization and experiences of work. The authors place 'flexibility' in a new theoretical context as juxtaposed to 'stability'. By relating these concepts to each other it is possible to open up a perspective in which both flexibility and stability are desirable. Moreover, flexibility may mean instability for one, but inflexibility for another. Much terminological confusion and ambiguity are cleared up by this suggestion.

Contents:

1 Reclaiming the Concept of Flexibility / Bengt Furaker, Kristina Hakansson, Jan Ch. Karlsson 1

2 For Whom Is Flexibility Good and Bad? An Overview / Jan Ch. Karlsson 18

3 Flexibility, Stability and Related Concepts / Dan Jonsson 30

4 Britain's Flexible Labour Force: New Barriers to Individual Employment Rights / Anna Pollert 42

5 Flexibility's New Clothes: A Historical Perspective on the Public Discussion in Sweden / Asa-Karin Engstrand 63

6 Large Corporations and the Emergence of a Flexible Economic System: Some Recent Developments in the UK / Stephen Ackroyd 83

7 Temporary Agency Work in the European Union - Economic Rationale and Equal Treatment / Donald Storrie 103

8 Flexibility, Stability and Agency Work: A Comparison of the Use of Agency Work in Sweden and the UK / Kristina Hakansson, Tommy Isidorsson 123

9 Flexible Work Situations and Employees' Thoughts of Leaving the Organization / Tomas Berglund 148

10 Types of Employment Contract and Attitudes to-Flexibility: An Analysis of Data from Three Swedish Surveys / Bengt Furaker 173

11 Time-related Flexibility and Stability for Employees / Dan Jonsson 197.

Notes:

Papers discussed and revised at serveral workshops and seminars, the most important was the conference, "Labour market flexibility and stability," held in Göteborg in November 2005, and sponsored by the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research and the Faculty of Social Sciences at Göteborg University.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 218-235) and index.

ISBN:

0230013643

9780230013643

OCLC:

71800741

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description