Call for papers

Researchers are invited to submit papers which examine both the content of what is disseminated and the process of diffusion, addressing issues within the broad area of employment relations and the management of labour. Papers should be both empirically based and theoretically grounded. Contributors are encouraged to engage critically with existing theoretical approaches such as the North American neo-institutionalist school, national business system theory, the resource-based view of the firm, as well as sociological and political debates on convergence and ongoing divergences within the global economy.
 
The organizers are especially interested in papers which examine:

• The complex process and organizational mechanisms whereby practices are identified and diffused to different international sites within the MNC.
•  The process whereby transferred practices are adapted and hybridized in the host environment, and the factors that explain such adaptations.    
• The dynamic interplay of central control and subsidiary autonomy as it affects the diffusion process.
•  The role of sector as a factor of diversity in patterns of diffusion.
•  The relationship between diffusion of practices and the interplay of organizational interests, power and negotiation at different levels within multinationals.
• The impact of multinational firms’ structure, strategy and organization on the international diffusion of employment practices.
•  The 'reverse diffusion' of practices from operating units to the corporate centre within multinationals, and the factors that promote such reverse diffusion.

Among the substantive areas of labour management and employee relations practice to be covered are the following:

• The management of different occupational groups (managers, professionals, shopfloor employees) within the workforce, including international careers.
• The management of collective employment relations in different institutional contexts.
• Forms of employee participation and involvement.
• The control and management of employee performance and remuneration.
• Employee learning and development.
• Workforce ‘diversity’, especially in terms of gender and ethnicity.
• The management of the workplace, including issues of work organization, teamworking, etc.

Abstract of up to 500 words in length should be submitted by Friday, 7th November 2003. Individuals will be informed of the organizers' decision by Friday, 19th December 2003. The deadline for completed papers, of up to 8000 words in length, will be Monday, 31st May 2004.

Copies of the abstract should be emailed to the conference organizers.

The working language of the conference will be English.

A selection of the best papers submitted will be included following revision in an edited book.