Updating Employment Institutions and Governance (CBR project)

Centre for Business Research
Centre for Business Research

Overview

Aims and objectives

The proposition underlying this CMI-funded project, which was completed in the course of 2003, was that while the nature of work and the workforce have changed dramatically over the past decade, the institutions governing work and employment are based on models of the past: an industrial model of the economy, a male breadwinner model of the labour force and family structure, and a norm of shareholder primacy in corporate governance. The result of this mismatch has created and is sustaining an unacceptable gap between the winners and losers in today’s labour markets and holding back the innovative capacity of many firms and organisations.

Results and dissemination

The project has focused on emerging forms of partnership at work, family-friendly employment policies and inclusive corporate governance practices which are addressing the need for a new architecture of employment institutions in America and Britain. It has directly addressed the link between institutions, competitiveness and productivity which is a central concern of CMI through collaborative research and widespread dissemination of findings, and has provided for the adaptation to the needs of British users of a teaching module developed initially at MIT. It has also supported the production of a video film on the subject of Partnership and Profit by Brian Ashbee, Peter Cook and Monika Koeck of the Cambridge Moving Image Studio (CUMIS), University of Cambridge.

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