A far-reaching transformation is taking place in the US in the relationship between employers and employees. The lessons learned from Japan and from "best practice" companies like IBM about how job security, training, and internal development can improve employee commitment and performance have given way to a new set of lessons about how companies can redue fixed costs, increase flexibility, and improve performance by eliminating the elaborate employment systems that prepared employees for long careers in the company.

Where the old arrangement protected employees from outside market...

This book explores the reasons for persistent differences in work practices both within and between industries. The authors found that the strategy that a firm chooses to follow often determines the kind of work practices it fosters. Therefore a firm may not adopt the approach now advocated by many management thinkers--in which decision-making is pushed down to the lowest level of the firm--because this choice may not be consistent with its competitive strategy. The authors discuss the ways that public policy can aid workers without subverting the strategic choices made by firms.

Executives everywhere acknowledge that finding, retaining, and growing talent counts among their toughest business challenges. Yet to address this concern, many are turning to talent management practices that no longer work--because the environment they were tailored to no longer exists.

In today's uncertain world, managers can't forecast their business needs accurately, never mind their talent needs. An open labor market means inevitable leaks in your talent pipeline. And intensifying competition demands a maniacal focus on costs. Traditional investments in talent management wind up...

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a quite dramatic shift in the nature of white collar employment, from lifetime tenure, often in a very hierarchical work structure, to a new model defined by flatter organizations, job insecurity, shorter tenures, declining attachment between employer and employee, and contingent work. Managing employment relations has become an issue of huge strategic importance as businesses struggle to respond to the pace of change in management systems and working practices. Employment Relationships: New Models of White-Collar Work traces developments in...

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a quite dramatic shift in the nature of white collar employment, from lifetime tenure, often in a very hierarchical work structure, to a new model defined by flatter organizations, job insecurity, shorter tenures, declining attachment between employer and employee, and contingent work. Managing employment relations has become an issue of huge strategic importance as businesses struggle to respond to the pace of change in management systems and working practices. Employment Relationships: New Models of White-Collar Work traces developments in...

Peter Cappelli confronts the myth of the skills gap and provides an actionable path forward to put people back to work.

Even in a time of perilously high unemployment, companies contend that they cannot find the employees they need. Pointing to a skills gap, employers argue applicants are simply not qualified; schools aren't preparing students for jobs; the government isn't letting in enough high-skill immigrants; and even when the match is right, prospective employees won't accept jobs at the wages offered.

In this powerful and fast-reading book, Peter Cappelli, Wharton...