ESRC Society Today

This Programme ended in October 2004

Contact: Professor Peter Nolan

Institution: University of Leeds

Projects: see below

Email: P.J.Nolan@leeds.ac.uk 
Telephone: 0113 343 4460
Website: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/esrcfutureofwork
ESRC Contact: Paul.Rouse@esrc.ac.uk 

Summary:

Few subjects could be judged more vital for the well-being of the nation than that of the prospects for work and employment. But what does the future hold for the world of work? Mounting speculation surrounds the future prospects for employment, work organisation, job security and economic prosperity. This programme aimed to address this uncertainty by exploring work and employment - past, present and future - with a view to improving the quality of the nation's social and economic life.

The projects fall within six central topic areas:

• concepts, meanings and changing forms of work
• work trajectories and the centrality of work
• welfare, work and inequality
• employment restructuring and the household
• employment regulation and security at work
• organisational change and performance.  

Projects:

• The Future of Work: an Historical Perspective
  Dr K Schurer, University of Essex
• Employment and Working Life Beyond the Year 2000: Two Emerging Employment Sectors
  Mr PM Bain, University of Strathclyde
• The Future of Work: Flexible Employment, Part-time Work and Career Development in Britain
  Prof AL Booth, University of Essex
• Work Centrality, Work Careers, and Household: Let's Ask for Numbers
  Prof M Rose, University of Bath
• The Gender Dimensions of Job Insecurity: an Ethnographic Study
  Dr N Charles, University College of Wales, Swansea
• The Determinants of Caring Behaviour
  Ms SF Himmelweitt, Open University
• Employment Choices for Mothers of Pre-school Children: a Psychological Perspective
  Dr DM Houston, University of Kent at Canterbury
• Gender Restructing and the Future of Work: Uncovering the Limits to the Feminisation of Paid Work
  Dr I Bruegel, South Bank University
• Working at Home: New Perspectives
  Dr AR Felstead, University of Leicester
• Trade Unions and the Representation of Non-standard Workers
  Prof EJ Heery, Cardiff University
• An Inter-generational Family Study of Employment and Care: Looking Forward and Looking Back
  Prof PG Moss, Institute of Education, University of London
• Labour Market Prospects for Pakistani and Bangladeshi Women
  Prof AM Dale, University of Manchester
• The Future of Collectivism in the Regulation of the Employment Relationship and Pay in Britain
  Prof WA Brown, University of Cambridge
• Pay, Working Time and Performance in Small Enterprises
  Prof PK Edwards, University of Warwick
• Changing Employment Relationships, Employment Contracts and the Future of Work
  Dr M White, University of Westminster
• Changing Organisational Forms and the Re-shaping of Work
  Prof MP Marchington, University of Manchester: Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST)
• Workplace Reorganisation, HRM and Corporate Performance
  Prof J Michie, Birkbeck College, University of London
• Basis and Characteristics of Mutually Beneficial Employer/Trade Union Relations
  Prof W Brown, University of Cambridge
• Transforming Places of Work
  Dr A Felstead, University of Leicester
• Handling Double Disadvantage: Minority Ethnic Women and Trade Unions
  Dr H Bradley, University of Bristol
• Employers' Workplace Policies in an Environment of Change
  Prof SR Hill, School of Economics and Political Science, University of London
• International Sector Comparison of Management Strategy and Employee Relations 
  Prof WAT Nichols, Cardiff University
• Paid and Unpaid Work in Early Parenthood: Psychological Causes and Consequences
  Dr D Houston, University of Kent at Canterbury
• Shifting Boundaries of Paid and Unpaid Work: Cross National Perspectives
  Prof C Ungerson, University of Southampton
• Patterns and Prospects for Partnership at Work in the UK
  Dr MR Upchurch, University of the West of England at Bristol