The model of the `flexible firm' has gained a prominent role in shaping debate about labour market flexibility and employment restructuring in the 1980s. It argues that employers are increasingly segmenting their workers between a permanent `core' of full-time employees, and a `periphery' of part-time, temporary, subcontract and `outsourced' workers. The `core' provides `functional flexibility' through lowered job demarcations and multi-skilling, while the `periphery' provides `numerical flexibility'. This paper argues that these generalisations are based on very selective cases, and reviews evidence which shows that restructuring follows far more complex and uneven lines than this polarisation, which if anything is better reflected in the public sector, which the model omits. The `flexible firm' conflates employment developments due to sectoral restructuring, with `new' `manpower policies', masking the importance of continuities and qualitative changes within these. While registering the increasing vulnerability of many workers, the model fails to note that for many, this is not `new', nor that the dynamic of the eighties is attacking the strength of all workers, including the so-called `core'. Conceptually, the notion of `core' and `periphery' is confused, circular and value laden. The model is criticised for blurring description, prediction and prescription in an ambiguous futurology which slips between research reportage and `best practice' policy. Even here it is ambiguous, and dubious from management's own point of view. Finally, its concern with labour market flexibility is set within the current international climate of neo-classical revival, and the model's institutional interface between Government labour market polices and `leading edge' firms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Armstrong, P. (1982) `If it's Only Women It Doesn't Matter So Much' in West, J. (ed).
2.
Atkinson, J. (1984) `Manpower strategies for flexible organisations', Personnel Management, August.
3.
Atkinson, J. (1985a) IMS Report, No. 89, Falmer, Brighton: Institute of Manpower Studies, University of Sussex.
4.
Atkinson, J. (1985b) `Flexibility: Planning for an Uncertain Future', Manpower Policy and Practice, the IMS Review, 1, Summer 1985.
5.
Atkinson, J. (1986) `The Flexible Workforce: Ostriches or Opportunists?' , Manpower Policy and Practice, 1, 4, Summer 1986.
6.
Atkinson, J. and Gregory, D. (1986) `A Flexible Future: Britain's Dual Labour Force', Marxism Today, April.
7.
Atkinson, J. and Meager, N. (1986) `Is `flexibility' just a flash in the pan?'Personnel Management, September.
8.
Benn, C. and Fairley, J. (1986) Challenging the MSC, London: Pluto Press .
9.
Building Businesses not Barriers, Government White Paper, May 1986, Cmnd. 9794, London: HMSO .
10.
Cabinet Office (1987) Working Patterns, A Study Document by the Cabinet Office, September.
11.
CAITS (1986) Flexibility, Who Needs It?, London: CAITS, Polytechnic of North London .
12.
Casey, B. (1987) `The extent and nature of temporary employment in Great Britain' , Policy Studies, 8, 1, July.
13.
CBI (1985) Managing change: the organisation of work, London: Confederation of British Industry .
14.
CCCSU (1988) Response to the Working Patterns Study, London: Council of Civil Service Unions , March.
15.
Chandler, A.D., Jr. (1977) The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press .
16.
Clutterbuck, D. and Hill, R. (1981) The Re-making of Work. Changing Patterns of Work and How to Capitalise on them, London: Grant McIntyre, International Management .
17.
Clutterbuck, D. (1985) New Patterns of Work, Aldershot: Gower .
18.
Cockburn, C. (1985) Machinery of Dominance, London: Pluto Press .
19.
Coyle, A. (1982) `Sex and Skill in the Organisation of the Clothing Industry' in J. West (ed.).
20.
Coyle, A. (1986) Dirty Business: Women's Work and Trade Union Organisation in Contract Cleaning, Birmingham: West Midlands Low Pay Unit .
21.
Creigh, S. , Roberts, C. , Gorman, A. and Sawyer, P. (1986) `Self employment in Britain. Results from the Labour Force Surveys', Employment Gazette, June.
22.
Crompton, R. and Jones, G. (1984) White Collar Proletariat. Deskilling and Gender in Clerical Work, London: Macmillan .
23.
Cross, M. (1988) `Engineering Maintenance Organisation Performance - An Assessment of Evidence from over 200 Sites', Process Engineering.
24.
Crossley, J.R. (1968) `The Donovan Report: a Case Study in the Poverty of Historicism' , British Journal of Industrial Relations, 6, 296-302 .
25.
Deakin, S. (1986) `Labour Law and the developing employment relationship in the U.K.' , Cambridge Journal of Economics, 10, 225-246 .
26.
Dex, S. and Perry, S.M. (1984) `Women's Employment Changes in the 1970s', Employment Gazette, April.
27.
Dex, S. (1985) The Sexual Division of Work, Brighton: Wheatsheaf .
28.
Doeringer, P. and Piore, M. (1971) Internal Labour Markets and Manpower Analysis, Massachusetts: Heath .
Elson, D. (1986) `The new international division of labour in the textile and garment industry: how far does the `Babbage Principle' explain it?' , The International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 6, 2.
31.
Employment, the Challenge for the Nation, Government White Paper, March 1985, Cmnd. 9474, London: HMSO .
32.
Felstead, A. (1988) `Towards an Economic Explanation of the Franchise Phenomenon', mimeo, Franchising Project, Research Paper No. 1, Nuffield College, Oxford .
33.
Ferner, A. (1985) `Political Constraints and Management Strategies: The Case of Working Practices in British Rail' , British Journal of Industrial Relations, 23, 1, March.
34.
Ferner, A. and Terry, M. (1985) `The Crunch had Come': A Case Study of Changing Industrial Relations in the Post Office', Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations, No. 1, Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick .
35.
Fevre, R. (1986) `Contract work in the recession' in K. Purcell , S. Wood , A. Waton and S. Allen (eds.) The Changing Experience of Employment, Basingstoke: Macmillan .
36.
Fine, B. (1987) `Segmented Labour Market Theory: A Critical Assessment', mimeo, Department of Economics, Birkbeck College, London .
37.
Finn, D. (1987) Training Without Jobs, Basingstoke: Macmillan .
38.
Friedman, A.L. (1977) Industry and Labour, Basingstoke: Macmillan .
39.
Hakim, C. (1979) Occupational Segregation, Department of Employment Research Paper No. 9.
40.
Hakim, C. (1987a) `Homeworking In Britain', Employment Gazette, February.
41.
Hakim, C. (1987b) `Trends in the Flexible Workforce', Employment Gazette, November.
42.
Handy, C. (1980) `Through the organisational looking glass', Harvard Business Review, January-February.
43.
Handy, C. (1984a) The Future of Work, Oxford: Basil Blackwell .
44.
Handy, C. (1984b) `The organisation revolution and how to harness it', Personnel Management, July.
45.
Hepple, B. (1987) `The Crisis in EEC Labour Law' , Industrial Law Journal16, 2, June.
46.
Hyman, R. (1988) `The Fetishism of Flexibility' , paper to Conference on `Strategies of Flexibilisation in Western Europe', Roskilde Universitetescenter, April 1988.
47.
IDS (1986a) `Flexibility at Work', Study 360, April 1986, London: Income Data Services .
48.
IDS (1986b) `Part-Time Work: Evolution not Revolution', Study 374, November 1986, London: Income Data Services .
49.
IDS (1988a) `Temporary Workers', Study 406, March 1988, London: Income Data Services .
50.
IDS (1988b) `Flexible Working', Study 407, April 1988, London: Income Data Services .
51.
IMS (1985) IMS Manpower Commentary No. 30: New Forms Of Work Organisation, Falmer, Brighton: Institute of Manpower Studies .
52.
IMS (1972-84) IMS Annual Reports, Falmer, Brighton: Institute of Manpower Studies.
53.
IR-RR (1984) `Flexibility agreements - the end of who does what?' IR-RR 316, 20 March 1984, London: Industrial Relations Services .
54.
IR-RR (1986) `Babcock Power - long-term survival plan', IR-RR 367, 6 May 1986, London: Industrial Relations Services .
55.
IRS (1985, 1986) Flexibility, the Key Concept of the 1980s , Industrial Relations Services conferences, March and October 1985, October 1986, IRS, London.
56.
Jones, B. (1982) Sleepers, Wake!, Brighton: Wheatsheaf .
57.
Labour and Society (1987) `Labour Market Flexibility', 12, 1, January.
58.
Leighton, P. (1985) `The Subcontracting of Services - A Report to the International Labour Organisation', mimeo, Essex Institute of Higher Education, Chelmsford, Essex.
59.
Leighton, P. (1986) `Marginal Workers' in R. Lewis (ed.) Labour Law in Britain, Oxford: Blackwell .
60.
Lewis, J. (1987) `The changing structure of the workforce' , paper given to Northern College/T.G.W.U. Region 10 Conference, `Change at Work and Flexibility'March 1987, Northern College.
61.
Lewis, R. (1987) `Reforming Labour Law: Choices and Constraints' , Employee Relations, 9, 4.
62.
Lifting the Burden, Government White Paper, July 1985, Cmnd. 9571, London: HMSO .
63.
Lindley, R.M. (1983) `Active Manpower Policy' in G.S. Bain (ed.) Industrial Relations in Britain, Oxford: Blackwell .
64.
Littler, C.R. (1982) The Development of the Labour Process in Capitalist Societies, London: Heinemann .
65.
LRD (1986a) `Flexibility Examined', Bargaining Report, Labour Research Department, London.
66.
LRD (19186b) `Part-time workers', Labour Research Department, London .
67.
MacInnes, J. (1987) The Question of Flexibility, Research Paper No. 5, Department of Social and Economic Research, University of Glasgow .
68.
Marginson, P. (1985) `The Multidivisional Firm and Control over the work process' , International Journal of Industrial Organisation, 3March.
69.
Marginson, P. , Edwards, P. , Martin, R. , Sisson, K. and Purcell, J. (1988) Beyond the Workplace, Oxford: Blackwell .
70.
Marglin, S.A. (1978) `What do Bosses Do?' in A. Gorz (ed.) The Division of Labour, Brighton: Harvester .
71.
Meager, N. (1985) `Temporary Work in Britain', IMS Manpower Commentary No. 31, Falmer, Brighton: Institute of Manpower Services .
72.
Michon, F. (1981) `Dualism and the French labour market: business strategy, nonstandard job forms and secondary jobs' in F. Wilkinson (ed.).
73.
Millward, N. and Stevens, M. (1986) British Workplace Industrial Relations 1980-1984, the DE/ESRC/PSI/ACAS Surveys, Aldershot: Gower .
74.
Morton, L. (1987) A Part-time Predicament, West Midlands Low Pay Unit .
75.
Mitter, S. (1986) Common Fate, Common Bond, London: Pluto .
76.
MSC (1981) A New Training Initiative. A Consultative Document, London: Manpower Services Commission .
77.
NBPI (1969) Productivity Agreements, National Board for Prices and Incomes, Report No. 123, London: HMSO.
78.
NEDO and MSC (1984) Competence and Competition. Training and Education in the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States and Japan, Report prepared by the IMS for the NEDO and the MSC, National Economic Development Office.
79.
NEDO (1986) Changing Working Patterns, Report prepared by the IMS for the NEDO in association with the Department of Employment.
80.
Nichols, T. (1986) The British Worker Question, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul .
81.
Nightingale, M. (1980) `U.K. Productivity Dealing in the 1960s' in T. Nichols (ed.) Capital and Labour, London: Fontana .
82.
OECD (1986) Labour Market Flexibility: Report by a High Level Group of Experts to the Secretary General, Paris: OECD .
83.
Perrow, C. (1986) `Economic Theories of Organisation', Theory and Society, 15.
84.
Phillips, A. and Taylor, B. (1980) `Sex and Skill: notes towards a feminist economics', Feminist Review, No. 6.
85.
Pollert, A. (1987) `The Flexible Firm': A Model in Search of Reality (Or a Policy in Search of a Practice?), Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations, No. 19, University of Warwick .
86.
Pollert, A. (1988) `Dismantling Flexibility', Capital and Class, No. 34, May.
87.
Potter, T. (1986) Temporary Benefits. A Study of Temporary Workers in the DHSS, Birmingham: West Midlands Low Pay Unit .
88.
Potter, T. (1987) A Temporary Phenomenon: Flexible Labour, Temporary Workers and the Trade Union Response, Birmingham: West Midlands Low Pay Unit .
89.
Prais, S.J. (1981) Productivity and Industrial Structure: a Statistical Study of Manufacturing Industry in Britain, Germany and the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
90.
Rubery, J. (1978) `Structured labour markets, worker organisation and low pay' , Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2.
91.
Rubery, J. and Wilkinson, F. (1981) `Outwork and segmented labour markets' in F. Wilkinson (ed.).
92.
Rubery, J. , Tarling, R. and Wilkinson, F. (1987) `Flexibility, marketing and the organisation of production' in Labour Market Flexibility, Labour and Society, January 1987, Free University of Brussels .
93.
Seale, C. (1984) `Some trends in YTS curriculum theory' in A Critical Review of YTS Policy and Practice, Further Education Staff College, Coombe Lodge , March 1984.
94.
Sengenberger, W. (1981) `Labour market segmentation and the business cycle' in F. Wilkinson (ed.).
95.
Smith, C. , Child, J. and Rowlinson, M. (1989) Innovation in Work Organisation: The Cadbury Experience, forthcoming, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
96.
Southern, N.J. (1987) `Subcontracting Specialised Services in a Research Establishment', unpublished Gardner Merchant Award Competition winning paper, British Gas, Newcastle .
97.
Sproull, A. (1987) `Part-time employment and the flexible firm', mimeo, Department of Social and Economic Research, University of Glasgow .
98.
TUC (1986a) Flexibility: A Trade Union Response, London: TUC .
99.
TUC (1986b) `Labour Force Trends', unpublished paper, London: TUC .
100.
West, J. (ed.) (1983) Work, Women and the Labour Market, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul .
101.
Wilkinson, F. (ed.) (1981) The Dynamics of Labour Market Segmentation, London: Academic Press .
102.
Williamson, O.E. (1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis of Antitrust Implications, Glencoe: Free Press .
