Business, Enterprise & Management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/5

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Buying into the 'good worker' rhetoric or being as good as they need to be? The effort bargaining process of new migrant workers
(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2016-07-27) Baxter-Reid, Hazel
A great deal of attention in the literature has focused upon employers' stereotypical perceptions of Central and Eastern European workers as 'good workers', and the impact such views have on hiring processes in low-skilled employment. Drawing on multiple case studies, this paper examines the good worker rhetoric through the lens of the effort bargaining process and hard HRM strategies that target marginalised workers in the labour market. In particular, the extent to which migrant workers buy into the rhetoric is explored. It is argued that migrant workers do not fully buy in to the good worker rhetoric because of issues such as high levels of education and personal aspirations and importantly, issues related to employers' strategies, bullying, discrimination, and the segmentation of migrant workers in each organisation. 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Skill requirements in retail work: The case of high-end fashion retailing
(SAGE Publications, 2016-12-20) Nickson, D.; Price, R.; Baxter-Reid, Hazel; Hurrell, S.
This article considers skill requirements in retail work, drawing on the example of high-end fashion retailing. It considers debates about the required 'soft' and 'hard' elements of skill for such work. Drawing on Cockburn's typology - skill residing in the worker; in what is required to perform a job; and as a socially constructed political concept - it seeks to offer a more nuanced discussion of the nature of skills in retail work beyond the usual characterization of such work as being inherently low skilled. Data are reported from 37 interviews with managers, supervisors and employees in a range of high-end fashion retailing outlets. The article recognizes how this work was seen as skilled by the interviewees, particularly with regard to the desired product knowledge and selling ability required for such work. Lastly, it seeks to refine Cockburn's typology in understanding skill requirements in retail work