This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (43) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Geary, J. F. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Employment Flexibility and Human Resource Management: The Case of Three American Electronics Plants

Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick

This paper critically examines management's recruitment of temporary labour at three U.S. electronics firms operating in the Republic of Ireland. Recent discussions around the flexible firm and human resource management models would suggest that the recruitment of a secondary labour force is a strategic and advantageous practice. This paper is critical of these assumptions. It was found that management's reliance on temporary employees gave rise to a number of contradictions and tensions, and in the end was considered to be disadvantageous. This paper is also critical of the flexibility literature's neglect of employees' response to these initiatives. This paper corrects this shortcoming. The counterposing of `flexibility' and `rigidity' as opposites is also criticised.

Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 6, No. 2, 251-270 (1992)
DOI: 10.1177/095001709262005


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C.-A. Chen and J. L. Brudney A Cross-Sector Comparison of Using Nonstandard Workers: Explaining Use and Impacts on the Employment Relationship Administration Society, May 1, 2009; 41(3): 313 - 339. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. P. Broschak, A. Davis-Blake, and E. S. Block Nonstandard, Not Substandard: The Relationship Among Work Arrangements, Work Attitudes, and Job Performance Work and Occupations, February 1, 2008; 35(1): 3 - 43. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. M. Olsen Unions' Dilemma When Firms Use Employment Intermediaries Eur. Sociol. Rev., July 1, 2005; 21(3): 289 - 300. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. E. Connelly and D. G. Gallagher Emerging Trends in Contingent Work Research Journal of Management, December 1, 2004; 30(6): 959 - 983. [Abstract] [PDF]

				L. Byoung-Hoon and S. J. Frenkel Divided Workers: Social relations between contract and regular workers in a Korean auto company Work Employment Society, September 1, 2004; 18(3): 507 - 530. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. C. Forde Temporary Arrangements: The Activities of Employment Agencies in the UK Work Employment Society, September 1, 2001; 15(3): 631 - 644. [PDF]

				X. Coller Managing Flexibility in the Food Industry: A Cross-National Comparative Case Study in European Multinational Companies European Journal of Industrial Relations, July 1, 1996; 2(2): 153 - 172. [Abstract]

				P. Prowse and R. Turner Flexibility and Coal: A Research Note on Workplace Relations Work Employment Society, March 1, 1996; 10(1): 151 - 160. [PDF]

				H. Hamblin Employees' Perspectives on One Dimension of Labour Flexibility: Working at a Distance Work Employment Society, September 1, 1995; 9(3): 473 - 498. [Abstract] [PDF]

				V. SMITH Institutionalizing Flexibility in a Service Firm: Multiple Contingencies and Hidden Hierarchies Work and Occupations, August 1, 1994; 21(3): 284 - 307. [Abstract]