Showing papers on "Industrial relations published in 2012"

Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

Abstract: you have excellent communication skills, the ability to manage relationships with diverse stakeholders, a commitment to helping people and organisations improve performance? Do you also have the ability to handle details and see the big picture? If so a career in human resource management and industrial relations could be for you. The first port of call for many job applications is the human resources department of an organisation or a recruitment consultancy. Industrial relations experts are called in when employers and unions are in dispute about wages and conditions. But recruitment and bargaining are just two of many roles that human resource management and industrial relations (HRM & IR) professionals are involved in. Other roles include those of change management, strategic planning , training and development, and remuneration. Human resource management is about managing people so that businesses are competitive and successful. To do this in a fast-changing global economy, HRM & IR professionals keep up with issues and trends that affect employment relationships the labour market and economics, the product or service market, the political environment, environmental concerns, technological change, employment regulations, organisational psychology and social trends. The human resource management (HRM) function of an organisation manages the individual aspects of the employment relationship-from employee recruitment and selection to international employment relations, salaries and wages. HRM is a complex blend of science and art, creativity and common sense. At one level, HR practice draws on economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political studies, and strategic and systems thinking. At an operational level, success depends on interpersonal relationships. HR professionals are often the \" go to \" people in an organisation for advice and information. When things go wrong employees rely on the integrity and ability of HRM staff to manage and advise on issues without taking sides. They may also train and develop staff to ensure the business performs well, that it meets its goals and continually improves within legislative frameworks. HRM practitioners also keep up-to-date with legislation and analyse contemporary employment issues. Industrial relations is also a multidisciplinary field that studies the collective aspects of the employment relationship. It is increasingly being called employment relations (ER) because of the importance of non-industrial employment relationships. IR has a core concern with social justice through fair employment practices and decent work. People often think industrial relations is about labour relations and unionised employment situations, but it is more than that. Industrial relations …

Corporate Reputation: A Combination of Social Responsibility and Industry

Abstract: We use the technique of panel data in a sample of 320 American listed companies from 2003 to 2007 to estimate a model of corporate reputation, measured by the Fortune index. We propose that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a key driver of corporate reputation given its potential to foster hard-to-duplicate competitive advantage. Our model embodies the multidimensional concept of CSR, presenting a five dimensional construct – employee relations, diversity issues, product issues, community relations, and environmental issues – and interact those with industrial effects. Our results indicate that the five dimensions of CSR have a significant impact on corporate reputation and this impact is moderated by the industry of the firm. The most salient dimensions were diversity of the work force – was positively relevant to eight of the nine industries; and product issues with a positive impact in five industries and negative in three. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Sectors or countries? Typologies and levels of analysis in comparative industrial relations:

Abstract: This article presents a critique of the ‘methodological nationalism’ of traditional comparative industrial relations. It investigates nine different sectors across the 27 EU member states on the basis of seven empirical indicators. It is found that industrial relations vary across sectors as deeply as they do across countries, and that a cluster analysis of sectoral industrial relations produces very different results from one at national aggregate level. The concept of ‘national model’ of industrial relations, implying coherence and homogeneity within countries, and geographical typologies of industrial relations ‘types’, are therefore put in question. The article concludes by pointing at the theoretical and methodological implications of a focus on the sector as an important level of analysis.

Human Resource Development

Abstract: Human Resource Management is a management function that helps an organization select, recruit, train and develops. Scope of HRM without a doubt is vast. All the activities of employee, from the time of his entry into an organization until he leaves, come under the horizon of HRM. The divisions included in HRM are Recruitment, Payroll, Performance Management, Training and Development, Retention, Industrial Relation, etc. Out of all these divisions, one such important division is training and development. Training and Development is a subsystem of an organization. It ensures that randomness is reduced and learning or behavioral change takes place in structured format. It is seen that due to the drastic competitions from all over the world, the companies have to strive hard to become successful, and this can be done with the help of effective & efficient workforce. As we all know training is an art of learning a sequence of programmed behaviour. Majority of the companies all over the world has not realized the real importance of training and many global including fortune 500 companies are spending more than 10% to 30% for the training of their employees.

Strategic Human Resource Management Research in the United States: A Failing Grade After 30 Years?

Abstract: Executive Overview In this paper I look at the last three decades of predominantly American research literature on strategic human resource management from three dimensions: (1) development of theory with predictive accuracy and robust conclusions, (2) production of actionable and value-added managerial principles, and (3) accurate portrayal of the historical origins and development of this area of management scholarship and practice. After an extensive reading of the literature, I conclude that strategic human resource management researchers as a group deserve a D to F grade on all three dimensions. Among the problems are an overreliance on knowledge areas and perspectives pertaining to the internal dimension of organizations and management (e.g., strategy, psychology, and organizational behavior) and too little attention paid to those areas and perspectives dealing with the external dimension (e.g., economics, industrial/employment relations, and the macro side of sociology). I suggest an economics-base...

Human Resource Management: Ethics and Employment

Abstract: The book examines ethics and employment issues in contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM). Written by an international team of academics from universities in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand, it examines the problems and opportunities facing employers and employees. The book subdivides into three sections: Part I assesses the context of HRM; Part II analyses contemporary debates, continuity and change in HRM; and Part III proposes likely developments for the future seeking to identify a more proactive HRM approach towards ethical issues arising in employment. Distinctive features include: Comprehensive analysis of continuity and change in employment and HRM; In-depth assessment of the ethical contribution and potential of HRM; Timely evaluation of the ethical achievements to-date of HRM in individualized employment relations, HRM partnerships, HRM and employee performance, and strategic HRM; Detailed recommendations for HR managers and general managers encouraging more ethically aware practice; Guidance on ethical approaches to leadership, knowledge management and collective employment relations; Analysis of alternative futures for HRM as a profession and advice on how to create more rigorous and independent professional practice; A vision of a more innovative, cooperative and ethically sensitive set of HRM practices; Clear proposals for HRM on how to attain more ethical conduct.

Occupational Health and Safety Management in Organizations: A Review

Abstract: In examining the research literature on occupational health and safety (OHS), this paper argues that the growth in the number of specialists in OHS has resulted in an emphasis on policy and practice away from more scholastic concerns previously addressed by academics in the disciplines of psychology and sociology. A hiatus has occurred, and this is evidenced by the general absence of studies in management, even though OHS is increasingly seen as a key operational and strategic concern of business organizations. The authors call for OHS to be placed firmly on the research agenda of management scholars, and advocate the need for greater conceptual development, empirical study and theoretical reflection to complement existing pragmatic concerns of OHS specialists. In this review, the contributions of psychology, sociology, industrial relations and management studies are assessed, and five categories of specialist OHS literature are analysed, namely: prescriptive; systematic OHS management; success based; error and disaster based; and culture, climate and high-reliability studies. The conceptual and methodological limitations of this specialist focus are discussed, and future research opportunities are highlighted, for which the authors argue that management scholars embrace a range of methodological approaches. The authors advocate the value of extended case studies which examine OHS in context and over time in particular workplace settings. There remains considerable scope to develop this field further and, in conclusion, particular attention is drawn to the value of process-oriented contextual approaches for understanding OHS management in organizations.

Labor market institutions : a review of the literature

Abstract: This paper reviews the findings of more than 150 studies on the impacts of four types of labor market institutions: minimum wages, employment protection regulation, unions and collective bargaining, and mandated benefits. The review places particular emphasis on results from developing countries. Impacts studied are on living standards (employment and earnings effects), productivity, and social cohesion, to the extent that this has been analyzed. Strong and opposing views are held on the costs and benefits of labor market institutions. On balance, the results of this review suggest that, in most cases, the impacts of these institutions are smaller than the heat of the debates would suggest. Efficiency effects of labor market regulations and collective bargaining are sometimes found but not always, and the effects can be in either direction and are usually modest. Distributional impacts are clearer, with two effects predominating: an equalizing effect among covered workers but groups such as youth, women, and the less skilled disproportionately outside the coverage and its benefits. While the overall conclusion is one of modest effects in most cases, this does not mean that impacts cannot be more dramatic where regulations are set or institutions operate in ways that exacerbate the labor market imperfections that they were designed to address.

The Dynamics and Dilemma of Workplace Trade Union Reform in China: The Case of the Honda Workers’ Strike

Abstract: Based on the case study of the Honda workers’ strike and its impact on workplace industrial relations, this article explores the potential of and barriers to workplace trade union reform in China. A rise in workers’ collective actions has put political pressure on the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to promote effective trade unionism and create a vital foundation for exercising democratic union representation in the workplace. The main barrier to effective workplace unionism, however, is the lack of external support for workers’ unionisation efforts. On the one hand, the lower-level local trade unions fail to comply with their legal responsibility because of their bureaucratic nature and structural integration into the patron-client relationship between the local state and the global capital. On the other hand, support for workers from civil society is handicapped by the party state’s opposition to independent labour organising. This dilemma has forced the higher trade union federation to intervene directly in workplace trade union reform and promoted state-led wage bargaining.

Trust in management: The role of employee voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions

Abstract: This study examines the relationship between employee voice arrangements and employees' trust in management using data from the 2007 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey of 1,022 employees. Drawing on social exchange theory and employee relations literature, we test hypotheses concerning the relationships between direct and union voice arrangements, perceived managerial opposition to unions and employees' trust in management. Consistent with our predictions, after controlling for a range of personal, job and workplace characteristics, regression analyses indicated that direct voice arrangements were positively related to employees' trust in management. Union voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions were negatively related to trust in management. The article concludes by highlighting the study's implications for management practice and avenues for further research.

Varieties of Capitalism and Investments in Human Capital

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between national institutional archetypes and investments in training and development. A recent trend within the literature on comparative capitalism has been to explore the nature and extent of heterogeneity within the coordinated market economies (CMEs) of Europe. Based on a review of the existing comparative literature on training and development, and comparative firm-level survey evidence of differences in training and development practices, we both support and critique existing country clusters and argue for a more nuanced and flexible categorization.

Employee-driven innovation : a new approach

Abstract: Foreword T.Fenwick PART I: THE NATURE OF EMPLOYEE-DRIVEN INNOVATION Employee-driven Innovation: A New Phenomenon, Concept and Mode of Innovation S.Hoyrup Employee-driven Innovation: Operating in a Chiaroscuro A.Teglborg , R.Redien-Collot , C.Viala & M.Bonnafous-Boucher In Search of Best Practices for Employee-driven Innovation: Experiences from Norwegian Work Life T.M.Aasen , O.Amundsen , L.J.Gressgard & K.Hansen PART II: EMPLOYEE-DRIVEN INNOVATION IN THE WORKPLACE MEDIATED THROUGH EMPLOYEE'S LEARNING Creating Work: Employee-driven Innovation Through Work Practice Reconstruction O.M.Price , D.Boud & H.Scheeres Explaining Innovation at Work: A Sociopersonal Account S.Billett Innovation Competency - an Essential Organizational Asset L.Darso Employee-driven Innovation and Practice-based Learning in Organizational Cultures C.Hasse & U.Brandi Employee-driven Innovation Amongst 'Routine' Employees in the UK: The Role of Organizational 'Strategies' and Individual 'Tactics' E.Waite , K.Evans & N.Kersh PART III: EMPLOYEE-DRIVEN INNOVATION UNFOLDED IN GLOBAL NETWORKS AND COMPLEX SYSTEMS Moving Organizations toward Employee Driven Innovation (EDI) in Work Practices and on a Global Scale: Possibilities and Challenges M.Lotz & P.H.Kristensen Exploring the Employee-driven Innovation Concept by Comparing 'Innovation Capability Management' among German and Chinese Firms W.Fees & A.H.Taherizadeh Privileged yet Restricted?: Employee-driven Innovation and Learning in Three R&D Communities T.Lempiala & S.Yli-Kauhaluoma Employee Driven Innovation and Industrial Relations S.De Spiegelaere & G.Van Gyes

International Framework Agreements and Industrial Relations Governance: Global Rhetoric versus Local Realities

Abstract: The article discusses the local impact of international framework agreements (IFAs). It presents findings from empirical research carried out in two Spanish MNCs, and it examines how the commitments stipulated by the texts of the IFAs translate in local practice in different subsidiaries in Central and South America. The article follows the policy cycle of both agreements, and it further evaluates them as emerging private institutions of global industrial relations governance. The main findings reveal a paradox. The generic character of IFAs encourages corporate consent for their adoption, but, in practice, it gives precedence to local laws and hence renders the enforcement of compliance difficult, and, in some cases, unfeasible. And where local laws contravene or lack compatibility with International Labour Organization conventions, the central premise of IFAs as instruments of global governance is largely undermined.

Opening Pandora's Box: The Sovereign Debt Crisis and Labour Market Regulation in Greece

Abstract: As a result of the loan agreements that the Greek government has concluded in the past two years with the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, a policy of internal devaluation has been adopted in an effort to avoid a default of the economy and to allow Greece to remain within the Eurozone. The structural reforms undertaken in line with the loan agreements have been based on the premise that labour market regulation in Greece constituted a significant barrier to growth. To that end, essential features of the Greek labour law system have been amended, with significant implications for the role of the state and for the industrial relations actors. The reforms are not distributionally neutral, but aim to liberalise further and to deregulate key parts of the labour market and industrial relations system, and reduce the size and influence of the welfare state. There is growing evidence that the reforms have led to the deterioration of working and living conditions, while failing to deliver growth.

Union Voices: Tactics and Tensions in UK Organizing

Abstract: In Union Voices, the result of a thirteen-year research project, three industrial relations scholars evaluate how labor unions fared in the political and institutional context created by Great Britain's New Labour government, which was in power from 1997 to 2010 Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, Melanie Simms, Jane Holgate, and Edmund Heery present a multilevel analysis of what organizing means in the UK, how it emerged, and what its impact has been

Institutions Are What Actors Make of Them — The Changing Construction of Firm‐Level Employment Relations in Spain

Abstract: This article analyses the variation and change in firm-level employment relations in Spain between the transition to democracy and the global financial crisis. Using three auto companies as case studies, I address a crucial puzzle in the institutional literature on comparative employment relations: How do employment relations change and vary, even when national employment relations institutions do not? This article argues that differences in actor ideologies shape the construction of national institutions at the firm level, which explains change and variation of employment relations over time and across cases. The study identifies four drivers of ideological change — generational change, leadership change, identity work and diffusion — that impact the variation and change in employment relations at the firm level.

Varieties of Capitalism and Employment Relations: Informally Dominated Market Economies

Abstract: The varieties of capitalism and employment relations literature have largely focused on formally regulated market economies, with a general neglect of the informal economy and of emerging markets where this work arrangement is dominant In this article, however, the intention is to propose the Informally Dominated Market Economy as a form of capitalism that could be usefully incorporated into the industrial relations literature To start to unpack this variety of capitalism, this article explores institutions and employment relations practices in the African economy of Mozambique The outcome is a conceptual framework that includes both formal and informal institutions and considers the implications for work and employment relations

Avoidance Strategies and the German System of Co-Determination

Abstract: This paper is based on a comparative study of the UK and German operations of the McDonald’s Corporation. The main focus of the paper is the interaction between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the German system of co-determination. Commentators have suggested that industrial relations practices in host countries are particularly difficult for MNE’s to avoid because they are so deeply embedded in societal frameworks. However, there are also opposing global pressures for MNEs to impose their industrial relations practices across national borders in order to transmit ‘best practice’ to their subsidiaries. Ferner and Edwards (1995) suggest that Germany is something of a ‘test case’ for MNEs because of the strength of its legislative underpinning and institutional arrangements. Most analysis on the German system of co-determination has suggested that it is only small and medium-sized firms which avoid or undermine the German system (Lane, 1989). However, evidence brought together in this study suggests that along with other large companies and MNEs of different origins and across different industries, McDonald’s have been able to take advantage of weaknesses in regulation in the German system of co-determination. The paper puts forward a typology of possible ‘avoidance strategies’ within the German system.

Tracing the effects of employee involvement and participation on trust in managers: an analysis of covariance structures

Abstract: Using data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey of Employees, this article employs structural equation modelling in order to trace the effects of employee involvement and participation on the extent to which British workers trust reciprocally in management. The results point to a series of organizational benefits of participation, including increased job influence, a greater sense of job satisfaction and improved levels of commitment and trust in managers. However, increased job influence was paradoxically linked to lower levels of organizational commitment and trust. The findings generally confirm that employee voice is ‘good’ in principle for building trust, but that the effects of employee voice may work against trust development.

Shrinking the state or the Big Society? Public service employment relations in an era of austerity

Abstract: The Big Society is an integral part of the coalition's plans for public service retrenchment, but it is premature to dismiss it as exclusively concerned with expenditure cuts and privatisation. The Big Society signals the government's ambition to transform public services and it is the rubric that is being used to shrink the state and undermine long-standing systems of public service employment relations. This article considers the origins and meaning of the Big Society and then assesses its consequences for public service provision and the workforce. The Big Society is integrally connected to deficit reduction with the voluntary sector and an increased emphasis on volunteering promoted as a more user-centred and cost-effective way of delivering public services in tough times. For the workforce, more competition between diverse providers in conjunction with budget cuts is placing downward pressure on terms and conditions and encouraging employers to question the continuation of national pay determination in many parts of the public sector.

Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the cross‐cultural reasons underlying the extreme industrial unrest experienced during the first seven years of Toyota’s operations in India.Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a case study approach using data obtained from 30 personal interviews, field notes, observations, and internet media sources.Findings – The paper reports how Toyotism shares three common features with Brahminism – renunciation, performance, and perfection – and how antipathy towards the manner in which these features were implemented in India caused significant resistance amongst the production workforce.Research limitations/implications – The paper has implications for academics and practitioners in helping to understand how employee relations, unrest and antagonism towards lean manufacturing practices are closely related to cross‐cultural issues prevalent in host countries.Originality/value – The concept of Brahmanism in Indian employee relations is under‐researched in...

From Institutional Change to Experimentalist Institutions

Abstract: Institutionalist theory has shown how work and employment relations are shaped by national contexts. Recent developments in these theories have been increasingly concerned with the issue of institutional change. This reflects a shift in the nature of the competitive environment of firms from the stable and planned and predominantly national models of economic organization supported by the Keynesian state, which dominated in the 30 years after 1945, to the uncertain and high-risk environment of the current period in which globalization has opened up the possibility of new forms of firms and institutions. In this paper, we emphasize that in the current context of globalization, firms and actors within firms are continuously developing the way in which they organize work and employment to produce goods and services that are competitive in global markets. The paper argues that new market conditions lead firms to constant experimentation in work organization as they seek to position themselves within systems of production and innovation that are global in nature. This creates a pressure for institutional change to facilitate the process of firm-level experimentation; it also tends to create a pressure for new experimental forms of institutions that are themselves searching for ways to improve their relevance. This change calls for extending the study of industrial relations and employment systems in the current era to investigate how new dynamic complementarities among employees, managers, institutions, and markets are created (or not) and what the effects of these processes are on: employment growth, income inequalities, inequalities between groups, rights at work, and the distribution of skills and autonomy in the workplace. The paper therefore proposes a framework and conceptual language for identifying forms of institutional change in the current period. These developments are illustrated through an analysis of the way in which actors in the Danish context have responded to the challenges of the last few decades. It is the capacity of actors within firms to use and develop institutions in ways that enable them to restructure work and employment and gain a more effective position in the market that is crucial to institutional change. However, these micro-level processes may be unseen and unappreciated by actors at the macro level such as political parties, employers’ associations, and unions, who are generally perceived as being most influential in processes of redesigning institutions and complementarities at societal levels. This creates a tension between micro and macro changes that we examine in the Danish case, arguing that it is possible to reconcile this dilemma under certain circumstances. The final section suggests that while Denmark is distinctive in terms of how these processes of experimentalism relate to firms and institutions, similar issues can be seen at work in other national contexts where the results are very different. This suggests the need for a comparative study of institutions, work, and employment that places change and the dynamics of firms and markets at the center of the analysis and searches for how systemic change can itself be institutionalized. The current paper offers a framework for such analytical work.

Doing the right thing? HRM and the angry knowledge worker

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between human resource practices, commitment, work and employment relations. Drawing on an in-depth ethnography of knowledge workers within a global, high-technology, knowledge-intensive firm the paper offers a multi-dimensional understanding of structures of influence and of commitment that interact in distinctive ways to shape the employee experience. In examining the context and content of ‘best practice’ HR in a ‘celebrated’, leading-edge company, we have offered a more complex, grounded picture of the intent and outcome of commitment-seeking policies. The paper demonstrates that, contrary to mainstream and critical scholarship, skilled technical workers in knowledge-intensive firms can be uncommitted, angry and high performing at the same time.

East Asian Capitalism: Diversity, Continuity and Change

Abstract: PART ONE INTRODUCTION 1. Debating East Asian Capitalism: Issues and Themes PART TWO BUSINESS-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES 2. Government-industry Relations in China: A Review of the Art of the State 3. Not of a Piece: Developmental States, Industrial Policy and Evolving Patterns of Capitalism in Japan, Korea and Taiwan 4. State-business Linkages in Southeast Asia: The Developmental State, Neo-liberalism and Enterprises Development PART THREE LABOUR MARKETS AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS 5. Reform and Institutional Change in East Asian Labour Markets 6. Durable Subordination: Chinese Labour Regime through a South Korean Lens 7. Continuity and Change in the Japanese Economy: Evidence of Institutional Interactions between Financial and Labour Markets PART FOUR FINANCIAL MARKET STRUCTURES 8. Political Hierarchy and Finance: The Politics of China's Financial Development 9. The Political Economy of Financial Development in Southeast Asia 10. The Japanese Financial Sector's Transition from High Growth to the 'Lost Decades' 11. Dominant Coalitions and Capital Market Changes in Northeast Asia PART FIVE CONCLUSION 12. Understanding Variations and Changes in East Asian Capitalism

The Modernisation of the Public Services and Employee Relations

Abstract: The Modernisation of Public Services and Employee Relations provides an integrated and up-to-date account of changes in work and employment in the public services. The book examines a range of different sectors focusing on core public services, especially local government, the NHS and the civil service.

Identity Work: Sustaining Transnational Collective Action at General Motors Europe

Abstract: What are the conditions under which transnational collective action is initiated and sustained? This article presents a case study of General Motors Europe, where labor leaders have mobilized the workforce and bargained with management at the transnational level repeatedly over more than a decade as a response to management whipsawing and threats of plant closures. In contrast to structuralist interest-based theories of union behavior, we identify a process of "identity work" that was necessary to sustain transnational worker cooperation.

Japan: Coordinated Capitalism Between Institutional Change and Structural Inertia

Abstract: This chapter of the Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems provides an overview of the institutional structure of the business system of Japan. It explores the role of the state, the financial system, ownership and corporate governance, the internal structure of the firm (management), employment relations, education and skills formation, inter-company relations (networks), and social capital. The analysis suggests that recent institutional change in the Japanese business system has been less pronounced than many observers expected or claimed. Informality — deviance of actual practice from formal structures — in the Japanese business system lies at the heart of much of this divergence. This chapter contributes directly to the business systems and varieties of capitalism literature and identifies institutional contingencies for comparative and international social science research in general.

Chinese firms in Vietnam: investment motives, institutional environment and human resource challenges

Abstract: Extant studies of HRM and industrial relations in multinational corporations (MNCs) have focused primarily on MNCs from developed economies. Few studies have examined the investment strategy and labour management practices of MNCs from emerging economies, such as China, in developing countries like Vietnam. Adopting a combined theoretical framework for analysis, this study fills the research gap by examining the investment motives, business strategy and management practices of three case study firms in the construction and light manufacturing industries. It compares and contrasts the institutional supports for and barriers to these state-owned and privately owned firms from both home and host countries. The paper argues that the role of institutional actors differs across ownership forms and industrial sectors and that a multi-theoretical perspective, including in particular the political economy perspective, is needed to study Chinese MNCs’ HRM practices in order to more fully understand how the practices are shaped and perceived.

The Governance of Economic Uncertainty: Beyond the ‘New Social Risks’ Analysis

Abstract: Since the early 2000s, the ‘new social risks’ approach has shifted the focus in welfare analysis from so-called old social risks to the so-called new social risks related to recent changes in the labour market and family structures. This approach captures a number of important changes in contemporary societies. However, it fails to capture fully the fact that European economies confront a wide range of contradictory pressures to cope with increased levels of uncertainty, while also responding to their populations’ demands for security and social cohesion. Industrial relations, employment laws and policies and social policies are confronted with new challenges and brought into a new relationship to each other. In the present paper the authors present a new framework to examine these changing relationships. They argue that uncertainty is governed by the way in which public and private policy-makers redistribute uncertainty through various modes of governance across time, place and categories of person.