Strategy, Organization and the Changing Nature of Workedited by Jordi Gual and Joan E. Ricart, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2001, 250 pp., ISBN 1-8406-4713-2.

In contrast to the sustained economic growth that took place from the 1950s to the early 1970s, the subsequent period has been marked by endemic instability, characterized by technological and cultural change, increased mobility of investor capital, and heightened global competition. Whilst this may have, in certain cases, encouraged the development of more innovative functionally-flexible forms of work organization, it has also led to an increased emphasis on numerical flexibility, above all on the ability of organizations to readily upsize or downsize their staffing. This edited volume represents the outcome of a conference on employment, organized by the University of Navarre’s IESE Business School, focusing on the changes taking place in modern business as a result of new technology and heightened competition. The opening chapter provides a brief introduction to the following eight contributions. However, it never really goes beyond summary; the reader is left uncertain as to the contribution of the volume as a whole, and the underlying coherence of the remaining set of eight chapters. The second chapter, by Joan Ricart and Carlos Portales, looks at the role of new forms of strategic HRM in underwriting the competitiveness of firms. The authors highlight the mutuality of exchanges underlying the employment contract. They underscore the dangers posed by short-term contracting and high staff turnover rates; whilst the latter may make for an immediate competitive advantage, it is likely to reduce organizational commitment over the medium and long terms, and instill a culture of fear in the workplace. As a possible alternative, they suggest a movement towards an “organizational employability model,” whereby individual contracts allow for high levels of job rotation, involvement, and associated benefits. In effect, an internal labour market is used as a source of skills; individuals forgo security in return for the possibility of competing for more interesting tasks and greater decision-making power. Again, the engendering of non-workplace based forms of social support, such as professional associations, may make job security less important to individual employees. Whilst there is little doubt that this chapter does highlight certain basic truths, it is marred by a tendency towards rather simplistic and flashy solutions, and an over-reliance on some of the more vulgar popular managerial literature. In the following chapter, Carlos Sanchez-Rudde provides an overview of existing work, and a possible future agenda for research on new employment relationships from a strategic HRM perspective. This most authoritative overview is of great value both in highlighting existing themes and schools of thought and in its strong emphasis on the need to develop more critical approaches transcending the mainstream, U.S.-centric research agenda. Key issues for future research include the embeddedness of HR practice in both institutional and cultural terms, and the specific mechanisms linking HR practice with performance. Chapter four, by Sumantra Goshal, Peter Moran and Christopher Bartlett, looks at the relationship between job security, employability and competitive advantage. They note that whilst there is a growing trend for companies to abandon long-standing policies regarding job security, there have been few new alternatives to replace it (p. 79). In response, the authors suggest a new approach, founded on the recognition that, whilst employees will tend to have skills that are marketable outside the firm, much managerial knowledge is specialized to the enterprise. This represents a reversal of usual conceptions of management as generalists, understanding all aspects of organizational processes, and employees as only commanding limited, specialized skills. This reversal will necessitate firms reviewing their internal labour markets, and a reassessment of the manner in which external labour markets are structured. The rather brief chapter 5, by Peter Capelli, argues that the consequences …