The management of human resources and the governance of employment: the ‘space’ between?
Leonard Holmes
leonard.holmes@roehampton.ac.uk
www.re-skill.org.uk
• “Human Resource Management (HRM) [is]
the management of work and people in
organizations” (Boxall et al, 2007)
• organisation-centric
• ‘people’ = paid employees
• employment as dominant institutionalised
mode of social organising of work
• other forms
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Societal organising of work
as
Employment
HRM:
the management of
work and
people in
organisations
Governance perspective
• a.k.a. ‘socio-political governance’
• Emerging as nature and role of government
being re-thought
• End of ‘big government’
• But increased role of markets did not deliver
• Neither government nor markets
• Other actors and networks in civil society
2
Governance
• increased use of term in recent policy studies
• contrasted with ‘government’
• covering “the whole range of institutions and
relationships involved in the process of
governing.” (Pierre and Peters, 2000)
• different from use in “corporate governance”
Governance approach
• ‘government failure’ and ‘market failure’
• nature of state, relationship with economy
and civil society
• capacities & limitation of governments under
conditions of complexity and uncertainty
• emphasis upon governing
• etymology: Latin for ‘steering’
3
Development in social theory
• From determinism to contingency
• From simplicity to complexity
• From stasis to dynamism
• Positivism no longer ‘only game in town’
• ‘Why?’ → ‘How?’
Governing
• “more or less continuous process of
interactions between social actors, groups
and forces and public or semi-public
organizations, institutions or authorities”
(Kooiman, 1993, p. 3).
4
Governance approach recognises
•
•
•
•
•
•
complexity
distributed
dynamism
processual
emergence
contingency
of arena of social, economic, political context
under study
Governance
• Process: governing
• Distributed between a multiplicity of actors,
acting in and through various modes
• Hierarchy, markets, networks, communities
• No single mode; different ‘mixes’
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Governance of employment
•
•
•
•
Labour market
Labour markets
Government regulation
‘Social partners’:
– employers and employer associations
– trades unions and associations of TUs
• Professional bodies and associations
• Providers of VET (and associations)
• Credentialising agencies
Labour markets
• Internal (firm-specific) vs external
• Geographical
– Local
– Regional
– National
– International
• Occupational
6
Industrial training
a.k.a.:
• (Continuing) vocational education and
training
• Workforce development
• National HRD
• Skills agenda
• etc
7
Governance of UK NHRD
• A matter of public concern and government
action for 50+ years
• Periodic reviews, enquiries, reports, policy
change, re-organisation etc
• Failure to achieve settled form of governance
Industrial training in UK: 50 years of reforms
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1958: Carr Report
1964: Industrial Training Act (ITBs)
1973: Employment & Training Act (reform of ITBs, MSC)
1981: New Training Initiative; abolition of most ITBs
1986: Review of Vocational Qualifications
1988: abolition of MSC; Training Agency
1989: TECs & LECs
1996: Beaumont Review of NVQs; National Training
Organisations
• 1999: ‘Learning to succeed’ White Paper
• 2001: Learning & Skills Council; Sector Skills Councils
• 2006: Leitch Review
8
Industrial training in Ireland
• 1959 Apprenticeship Act (An Cheard
Comhairle)
• 1967 Industrial Training Act (AnCo)
• 1987 Labour Services Act (FÁS)
• 1999 Qualifications (Education and Training
Act)
• 2011/12 SOLAS set up; FAS to be disbanded
Elements of policy
•
•
•
•
•
•
exhortation
regulation vs ‘voluntary’ arrangements
central agency?
sectoral agencies?
local agencies?
fiscal arrangements
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National bodies established by
government in UK
•
•
•
•
•
•
1958
1964
1973
1986
1988
1997
• 2001
• 2007
Industrial Training Council
Central Training Council
Manpower Services Commission (MSC)
MSC + NCVQ
Training Agency +NCVQ
QCA +Department for Education and
Skills
Learning and Skills Council + QCA
LSC + Commission for Employment &
Skills + QCA
Sectoral agencies initiated and/or
sponsored by government
• 1964
• 1981
• 1986
• 1997
• 2001
Industrial Training Boards (ITBs) (+ non
statutory bodies)
some ITBs + Non-Statutory Training
Organisations (NSTOs)
onward: ‘lead bodies’ for development of
NVQs
National Training Organisations (NTOs)
onward Sector Skills Councils
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Local agencies
• 1960s
Group Training Schemes (under ITBs)
• 1980s
Area Manpower Boards (plus local
authority alternatives, eg Greater London
Training Board)
• 1989
Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs)
(in Scotland, Local Enterprise Companies,
LECs)
• 2001
regional LSCs
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Factors promoting & inhibiting training in
organisations (Pettigrew et al, 1987)
‘Opening the space’
• Social science theorising capable of
examining the ‘space between’?
• Possible candidates?
–
–
–
–
–
Neo-institutionalism
Figurational sociology
Actor Network Theory
Assemblage Theory
‘Hybrid theory’
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