New Forms of Ownership

The pattern of ownership in British industry has changed dramatically in recent years. The contributors to this volume investigate why such changes have occurred and explore their impact on management and work relations. The recession in the late 1980s caused major changes in the British economy, including restructuring and privatization, a rise in profit-sharing and share-ownership schemes, management and employee buyouts, and the resurgence of the producer co-operative. These developments have major implications for human resource management techniques and managerial authority structures. The effects of the changes taking place are fully explored here, and the search for alternative forms of organization away from the hierarchical bureaucratic model are critically examined. Stressing the diversity and vigour of the new forms of ownership, the contributors to this volume explore the prospects for this trend to continue into the 1990s and beyond, and argue that these changes will have far-reaching consequences for both Western and Eastern political economies in the 21st century.