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MANAGING PROJECTS

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Projects represent nonroutine business activities that often have long-term strategic ramifications for a firm. In this chapter, we examined how projects differ from routine business activities and discussed the major phases of projects. We noted how environmental changes have resulted in increased attention being paid to projects and project management over the past decade. In the second half of the chapter, we introduced some basic tools that businesses can use when planning for and controlling projects. Both Gantt charts and network diagrams give managers a visual picture of how a project is going. Network diagrams have the added advantage of showing the precedence between activities, as well as the critical path(s). We wrapped up the chapter by showing how these concepts are embedded in inexpensive yet powerful software packages such as Microsoft Project. If you want to learn more about project management, we encourage you to take a look at the Web site for the Proj...
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HRM and The Labour Market

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Labour markets are often seen as arenas of competition in which forces of supply and demand determine wage and employment levels. In reality, however, there are limits to competition in labour markets.
Employers have some freedom to make a strategic choice between internalising or externalising the employment relationship. Their choices are influenced, although not entirely determined, by the nature of their labour requirements and by features of the labour market context in which they operate.
The aggregate supply of labour – the size of the workforce – is determined by demographic factors such as the size and age structure of the population and by social factors, policy direction and a range of political factors that influence the participation rate of different socioeconomic groups within the population. In the UK, differential participation rates can be observed between men and women of different age groups and different ethnic groups. The interplay of social factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, disability and class affects the employment rates of people in ways that are complex and difficult to unravel.
Aggregate labour demand consists of total employment plus unfilled vacancies. The demand for labour is derived from the demand for goods and services. In conditions of low unemployment – tight labour markets – employers have to compete more actively to attract and retain workers. When labour markets are ‘loose’, labour is in plentiful supply and the cost of labour is consequently driven down.
The demand for labour comprises jobs of varying quality. Unfair discrimination operating within labour markets often means that women and ethnic minorities are disadvantaged in terms of access to good jobs.
There has been a long-term change in labour demand away from manufacturing to services. This has been an important force driving the long-term growth of part-time employment and women’s employment. While this has boosted the employment rates of women, the quality of jobs on offer is invariably poor, offering poor pay and poor prospects for promotion.
Since the 1980s, there has been a shift in the occupational structure of labour demand mainly towards highly skilled occupations but also leading to the growth of some low-skilled occupations. There has been a relative decline in intermediate occupations. Some refer to this as the ‘hollowing’ out of the occupational structure to create an hourglass economy.
Contrary to what might have been predicted from the overall trend towards more highly skilled work, the quality of jobs has deteriorated in terms of work intensification and worker autonomy, although not (up until recently) in terms of job stability. The demand for better work–life balance is a recent response to growing work pressure and most employers appear now to be recognising the business case for offering work–life balance provisions.

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