A Business and Labour History of Britain: Case studies of Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Cover......Page 1
Half title......Page 2
Also by Mike Richardson......Page 3
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Notes on Contributors......Page 11
The case studies......Page 14
The labour process......Page 16
The British economy and the power relations between business and labour, pre-1914......Page 18
Introduction......Page 22
Joint stock companies, engineers and salaried managers......Page 23
The transfer of military experience into a commercial setting......Page 26
Controlling labour, hierarchy and grades......Page 29
Paternalism, sectionalism and discipline......Page 31
Sustaining an extensive surplus......Page 34
The slow emergence of trade unions......Page 36
Conclusion......Page 40
3 Women, Mechanization and Cost Savings in Twentieth Century British Banks and Other Financial Institutions......Page 45
The origins of office mechanization and antecedents of computers in the British financial sector......Page 49
Attitudes to women clerks by male staff in the British financial sector......Page 51
Female employment in twentieth century Britain and its financial institutions......Page 57
What changed in interwar British banks?......Page 62
Conclusion......Page 65
4 Bliss Tweed Mill Strike 1913–14: Causes, Conduct and Consequences......Page 73
The historical development of Bliss Mill......Page 76
Changes in management style and managerial control......Page 78
Demands for union recognition and the subsequent conflict......Page 80
Reflections and conclusion......Page 88
5 Rapprochement and Retribution: The Divergent Experiences of Workers in Two Large Paper and Print Companies in the 1926 General Strike......Page 96
Dickinson before the General Strike......Page 97
The General Strike and its aftermath at Dickinson......Page 100
Robinson before the General Strike......Page 105
The General Strike and after at Robinson......Page 108
Conclusion......Page 111
Appendix 5.1: Regulations of the Union of the House of Dickinson......Page 112
Historical development of the firm......Page 120
Economic performance......Page 122
Labour management......Page 124
Mechanization and the division of labour......Page 129
Compositors and collective action......Page 133
Conclusion......Page 138
7 Organization, Ideology and Control – Founding Principles: The Case of the BBC......Page 143
Personal capitalism and the impact of war: issues for management control......Page 146
Class and the corporation: the influence of Reith......Page 147
Uncertainty, hierarchy and paternalism......Page 152
Consensus, control and labour representation......Page 155
The cosy duopoly, work organization and the development of television......Page 157
The battleground......Page 160
Neo-liberal reforms?......Page 162
Conclusion......Page 165
8 Taylorism in the Mines? Technology, Work Organization and Management in British Coalmining before Nationalization......Page 168
Work organization and mine management before the onset of mechanization......Page 170
Coal-cutters, conveyors and the ‘unit system’......Page 176
Colliery mechanization in the interwar period......Page 182
Conclusions and postscript......Page 187
Introduction......Page 195
Informality and localism: regulation and control on the shop floor......Page 196
Aerospace industry: piecework to measured day work (MDW)......Page 200
Automobile industry: piecework to measured day work......Page 205
Conclusion......Page 210
Index......Page 216