The modular corporation: Implications for work, occupations, and employment relations
The editors of Human Relations intend to publish a special issue of the journal on the subject of the modular corporation: Implications for work, occupations, and employment relations
Co-editors: Mari Sako (SaϊdBusinessSchool, University of Oxford) and Rosemary Batt (CornellUniversity).
Recent research in the fields of management and organizations has paid considerable attention to the rise of networked forms of organization, including analyses of the role of information technologies in facilitating change, the performance advantages of outsourcing and off-shoring, the mechanics of supply chain management, and the factors that influence make or buy decisions. Scholars have paid much less attention, however, to the implications of the hollowing out of the corporation for work and employment relations.
In this special issue of Human Relations, we examine the rise of the modular corporation and its implications for work, occupations, and employment relations. The fundamental restructuring of corporations includes not only the growth of global supply chains in manufacturing, but also the externalization of service activities from accounting and legal work to human resource departments and sales and marketing. The concept of the modular corporation captures the idea that corporations are not necessarily integrated organizational structures, but rather a set of building blocks that may be reconfigured in response to strategic initiatives or external pressures.
The purpose of this special issue of Human Relations is to advance our understanding of how the rise of the modular corporation is affecting the nature of work and employment relations across a wide range of occupational groups and industries in both advanced and developing economies. We seek empirical studies of the nature of change in manufacturing as well as service activities, among non-managerial, technical, professional, and managerial employees, and across different national contexts. We are interested in how and why corporations adopt alternative restructuring strategies, and how these differences shape employment and welfare outcomes for employees.
Research questions might include:
- What are the implications of modularization for the changing nature of work organization, skills, and employment relations?
- How does modularization differentially affect distinct occupational groups – from blue collar and clerical workers to technical, professional, and managerial groups?
- How does the rise of modular corporations affect the dynamics of careers, learning and development, and career management among different occupational groups?
- To what extent do outsourcing, offshoring, and the use of non-standard work arrangements represent alternative approaches to corporate restructuring and labor flexibility? Are outsourcing, offshoring, and the use of non-standard work substitutes or complements of each other? What factors influence corporate decisions to pursue one or more of these strategies?
- What are the implications of these business choices for education and training systems, employment trends, and the society at large?
- How do national and regional institutions shape corporate restructuring and the use of outsourcing, offshoring, and non-standard work arrangements?
- How and why do work and human resource practices vary across employers located along different parts of the supply chain?
- How do clients influence the nature of work, demand for skills, and employment conditions among subcontractors, suppliers, and home-based workers?
- How and why does distance or proximity among clients and subcontractors matter for the organization of work and employment relations?
Submission Guidelines:
- All methodological approaches, including ethnographies, case studies and quantitative analyses, are equally welcome.
- This call is open and competitive, and the submitted papers will be blind reviewed in the normal way.
- Submitted papers must be based on original material not under consideration by any other journal or outlet..
The Editors will select five papers to be included in the special issue, but other papers submitted in this process may be published in other issues of the journal.
The deadline for submissions is 15 October 2007. The special issue is intended for publication in the second half of 2008.
Papers to be considered for this special issue should be submitted online. Please direct questions about the submission process, or any administrative matter, to Alice Gilbertson: editorial@humanrelationsjournal.org.
The editors of the special issue are very happy to discuss initial ideas for papers, and can be contacted directly:
Mari Sako mari.sako@said-business-school.oxford.ac.uk
Rosemary Batt rb41@cornell.edu
