1st Edition
British Labour Management & Industrial Welfare 1846-1939
Originally published in 1988, this book examines company provision of welfare in the century preceding the Second World War, a period of enormous change in the structure and organisation of British industry and management. The creation of large-scale, corporate companies increased the need for settled, experienced company workforces and for adequate levels of industrial welfare. The paternalistic, frequently ad hoc methods associated with smaller firms were replaced with systematic schemes. This process is illustrated and discussed in 5 detailed case studies with supportive evidence from many other industries. Moreover, the political aspects of industrial welfare are not ignored. The role of employers in influencing the final form of social legislation for the benefit of their own company schemes is crucial to understanding the development of industrial welfare.
1. English Local Government Before 1832 2. The Making of the New Structure, 1832-1888 3. The Development of Central Control, 1832-1888
Biography
Robert Fitzgerald is Professor of Business History and International Management at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has researched and written on the historical, international and comparative analysis of business; labour history and management; marketing; multinational enterprise; and the Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and British economies. He is the author of The Rise of the Global Company: Multinationals and the Making of the Modern World, and he is currently researching the historical role of labour management in the formation of business organization, and Japanese small business.
Original review of British Labour Management and Industrial Welfare:
‘The book is packed with detailed information. It is well worth reading by those of us with teaching or research interests in the multi-faceted history of social welfare.’ A. Russell, Urban History Yearbook, Vol 16 (1989).
