Abstract
1996). That is in a context where competition is placed at the centre of relations between purchasers and providers of services, and contracts
between them are increasingly arms length, based on price and marked by a lack of promise of future business and the imposition
of highly detailed contractual specifications and related monitoring arrangements. It has been noted that the employment consequences
of such purchaser/provider relationships cannot be straightforwardly predicted as a result of the mediating role played by institutional
factors, the degree of resource dependency they encompass, and the activities and influence of boundary spanners (Marchington et
al, 2005). In line with this, while evidence suggests that the first two periods of New Labour rule saw a steady degeneration in pay and
conditions and rising work intensification in some voluntary organisations, it also indicates that in others this had not been the case (Cunningham,
2008). This paper utilises data from a longitudinal study of twenty four voluntary organisations to explore how far this picture of
variability in the employment consequences of voluntary sector - state relations remains valid, or whether even large mainstream voluntary
organisations are now being forced into a ‘race to the bottom’ over terms and conditions of employment.
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 2010 ISBE Conference Proceedings |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
| Event | Work, Employment and Society Conference - Brighton, United Kingdom Duration: 7 Sep 2010 → 9 Sep 2010 |
Conference
| Conference | Work, Employment and Society Conference |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| City | Brighton |
| Period | 7/09/10 → 9/09/10 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- working
- voluntary sector
- public sector austerity
Cite this
}
Working in the voluntary sector in an era of public sector austerity. / Cunningham, Ian; James, Phil.
2010 ISBE Conference Proceedings. London, 2010.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution book
TY - GEN
T1 - Working in the voluntary sector in an era of public sector austerity
AU - Cunningham, Ian
AU - James, Phil
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Increasingly the study of voluntary sector - state relations has adopted the notion of them operating within a ‘market bureaucracy’(Considine,1996). That is in a context where competition is placed at the centre of relations between purchasers and providers of services, and contractsbetween them are increasingly arms length, based on price and marked by a lack of promise of future business and the impositionof highly detailed contractual specifications and related monitoring arrangements. It has been noted that the employment consequencesof such purchaser/provider relationships cannot be straightforwardly predicted as a result of the mediating role played by institutionalfactors, the degree of resource dependency they encompass, and the activities and influence of boundary spanners (Marchington etal, 2005). In line with this, while evidence suggests that the first two periods of New Labour rule saw a steady degeneration in pay andconditions and rising work intensification in some voluntary organisations, it also indicates that in others this had not been the case (Cunningham,2008). This paper utilises data from a longitudinal study of twenty four voluntary organisations to explore how far this picture ofvariability in the employment consequences of voluntary sector - state relations remains valid, or whether even large mainstream voluntaryorganisations are now being forced into a ‘race to the bottom’ over terms and conditions of employment.
AB - Increasingly the study of voluntary sector - state relations has adopted the notion of them operating within a ‘market bureaucracy’(Considine,1996). That is in a context where competition is placed at the centre of relations between purchasers and providers of services, and contractsbetween them are increasingly arms length, based on price and marked by a lack of promise of future business and the impositionof highly detailed contractual specifications and related monitoring arrangements. It has been noted that the employment consequencesof such purchaser/provider relationships cannot be straightforwardly predicted as a result of the mediating role played by institutionalfactors, the degree of resource dependency they encompass, and the activities and influence of boundary spanners (Marchington etal, 2005). In line with this, while evidence suggests that the first two periods of New Labour rule saw a steady degeneration in pay andconditions and rising work intensification in some voluntary organisations, it also indicates that in others this had not been the case (Cunningham,2008). This paper utilises data from a longitudinal study of twenty four voluntary organisations to explore how far this picture ofvariability in the employment consequences of voluntary sector - state relations remains valid, or whether even large mainstream voluntaryorganisations are now being forced into a ‘race to the bottom’ over terms and conditions of employment.
KW - working
KW - voluntary sector
KW - public sector austerity
UR - http://www.isbe.org.uk/conferenceProceedings
UR - http://www.britsoc.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/ADF7459B-C56F-4875-8D5D-95385617AFCC/0/WES_Programme_FINAL_270810.pdf
M3 - Conference contribution book
SN - 9781900862219
BT - 2010 ISBE Conference Proceedings
CY - London
ER -