Workplaces of the Future

Abstract

The 1980s and 1990s have been presented in business and social science literature alike as a period of unparalleled change in the economy and the workplcae. Leaner structures with more flexible work and empowered employees are at the centre of the new imagery. As the centruy draws to a close, extra attention is likely to be focused on the direction of change in workplace strucutres and relations. Yet existing work tends to accpet uncritically the accepted business wisdom on the characteristics of workplace transformations. the time is therefore ripe for a critical refelction on both the dominant images of change and the range of new practices introduced by management and contested by other workplace actors. International in scope and pluarlist in perspective, the book considers the question - what does the contemporary workplace look like? The focus is on work rather than workers - in other words, on some of the more traditional concerns of the labour proces research relating to the organisation and control of the workplcae and chaging uses of skill and knowledge. A wide range of issues and examples are included from factory and office, manual and non-manual work, publc and private sector that illustrate the nature of the future workplace.