Recently, Haggerty and Wright suggested that HR could be reconceptualised as signals sent to employees rather than practices. We examine this novel approach and consider how it fits in the practice. In hospitals, ward managers are intermediaries in relation to signals that are passed between upper managers and their staff. We discuss to what extent ward managers have the analytical and functional skills required to interpret and convey complex signals to the staff under their jurisdiction. We draw conclusions about the role of ward managers in the HR function of hospitals. There are theoretical and practical implications for the role of line managers more generally, beyond the hospital context.

To what extent have hospitals developed their skilled clinicians to perform the administrative and human resources (HR) manager role of the ward manager? We consider this research question through an analysis of an acute hospital called 'The Hospital' where the executive team is aiming to adopt a form of high-performance work system (HPWS). We focus primarily on explanations in terms of conditions, rather than the personalities of individual managers, which are most powerful in shaping their behaviour. There has long been a failure of hospitals (and other employing organisations) to develop fully the skills required by employees before they become line managers. Line managers are a critical link in the high-performance chain and this study illustrates that, despite their rhetoric, hospitals may still have much potential for implementing schemes to develop nurses further to prepare them for linemanager positions and to support them after they move into such roles. We infer from this study that such hospitals may not yet have completed the journey to having HPWS. Hence, there is still much scope for such hospitals to progress and enjoy the benefits that proponents claim for HPWS.

The growth of non-standard or atypical forms of employment, such as part-time, casual work and so on, represents one of the most dramatic changes in the structure of employment in Australia and other countries since the late 1970s. Management employment strategies have been identified as a major causal factor in the expansion of non-standard employment. Employers are increasingly using these atypical forms of employment as a means of lowering direct labour costs. Argues, however, that there are a number of hidden costs involved in using non-standard employment that are not commonly taken into consideration. Highlights the negative effects atypical employment can have on work relations, and the motivation of employees, based on a detailed hospital case study and other evidence. Argues that atypical labour may serve to undermine quality standards and the attainment of business strategies.

Work/non-work conflict is important because it tells us about the well-being of individuals and more generally of a particular workplace or organization. Important progress has been made in research literature on the importance of structural policies designed to assist workers to meet competing demands to be at work and at home. More information is needed into organizational influences on the emotional aspects of work/non-work conflict. Based on a survey of over 900 employees, we use factor, correlation and multiple regression analyses to find that exacerbation in work/non-work conflict is a result of high workload pressure, long working hours, unsupportive management and weak employee control, especially control over workload and when employees can take time off.

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PurposeMcJobs in the fast‐food sector are a major area of youth employment. This paper explores young people's perceptions of work in this industry.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses the results of a survey of students' experiences of McJobs in Australia.FindingsFast‐food workers were generally dissatisfied with the industrial relations and work organisation aspects of their jobs. Nonetheless, they were generally much more satisfied with the human resource management and social relations aspects of their jobs.Research limitations/implicationsOur research has implications for understanding the human capital development practices adopted by employers in the fast‐food industry and in other sectors, especially those that employ young people. Much of the context for work and employment relations in Australia is comparable with those in most English‐speaking countries. Therefore, our findings have implications for work in similar sectors in other countries, in particular, other English‐speaking countries.Practical implicationsThis paper has implications for people who devise recruitment policies and design of jobs. It is a useful reminder that it is no longer appropriate for people to talk in simple terms of satisfaction at work per se; it is vital to differentiate between various aspects and contexts of job satisfaction, or the of the lack of it.Originality/valueEarlier studies of fast‐food work have tended to be polemical and polarized: either apologias or very critical. This paper adopts a more balanced approach and it puts the findings into context.

In many industrialised countries, there have been major changes in the pattern of labour utilisation in the 1980s and 1990s. The paper argues that in Australia labour utilisation has been changing in three key dimensions: job broadening, employ ment insecurity and work intensification. These changes are affecting both standard 'core' workers and non-standard 'peripheral' workers. Reviewing case study evidence and survey data from a federal Australian government study of workplace change, we analyse employee perceptions of these fomrs of labour utilisation. Employees are being affected by differing combinations of these changes and are experiencing higher stress levels, greater job insecurity and lower levels of satisfaction with the work/family balance.

In the post-World War II period, working and social life has been organised around the concept of a standard day and week with premium payments for work undertaken during unsocial hours. In recent years, this standard model for organising working-time has been placed under pressure from a range of supplyand demand-side factors. This paper reports on the findings of 1995 survey into the extent and nature of non-standard working-time arrangements in Australia and New Zealand. This paper seeks to assess whether employers in the more deregulated New Zealand system have instigated a vastly different non-standard working-time regime from their Australian counterparts. The article concludes that there are only minor differences in the distribution of non-standard working hours in Australia and New Zealand. It appears that production and operational demands are the central imperative in the structuring of working-time within firms, not the system of labour regulation.