1
The management of human resources and the governance of employment:
the ‘space’ between?
Leonard Holmes
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
2
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
3
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’
4
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).
5
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’
6
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
7
Industrial training
a.k.a.:
• (Continuing) vocational education and training
• Workforce development
• National HRD
• Skills agenda
• etc
8
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
9
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
10
National bodies established by government in UK
• 1958 Industrial Training Council
• 1964 Central Training Council
• 1973 Manpower Services Commission (MSC)
• 1986 MSC + NCVQ
• 1988 Training Agency +NCVQ
• 1997 QCA +Department for Education and Skills
• 2001 Learning and Skills Council + QCA
• 2007 LSC + Commission for Employment & Skills + QCA
Sectoral agencies initiated and/or sponsored by government
• 1964 Industrial Training Boards (ITBs) (+ non statutory bodies)
• 1981 some ITBs + Non-Statutory Training Organisations (NSTOs)
• 1986 onward: ‘lead bodies’ for development of NVQs
• 1997 National Training Organisations (NTOs)
• 2001 onward Sector Skills Councils
11
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
12
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’