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Ideas of 'jobs for life' have largely been overtaken by an expectation of rapid change in work patterns and prospects
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As in many other industrialised countries, the last couple of decades have seen a major restructuring of British industry away from the more traditional heavy engineering and primary sectors towards the service and high-tech fields. This process has also coincided with radical shifts in approach to management and company structure. Many of the hierarchy and class issues which were so much a feature of the British industrial landscape have been replaced by more modern business models - often heavily influenced by US thinking.
Ideas of 'jobs for life' have largely been overtaken by an expectation of rapid change in work patterns and prospects. Many current British managers no longer expect to spend most of their careers with one or two companies, but rather looks for progression through moving from employer to employer. One result of this could be the much talked of British short-termism associated by many continental European business people with UK companies.
Generalisation, rather than specialisation, tends to typify the British approach - with less merit being placed on pure technical ability than in some other countries. Some commentators have quoted this tendency as one of the reasons for the demise of manufacturing in the UK over the last three decades.
Ideas of 'jobs for life' have largely been overtaken by an expectation of rapid change in work patterns and prospects. Many current British managers no longer expect to spend most of their careers with one or two companies, but rather looks for progression through moving from employer to employer. One result of this could be the much talked of British short-termism associated by many continental European business people with UK companies.
Generalisation, rather than specialisation, tends to typify the British approach - with less merit being placed on pure technical ability than in some other countries. Some commentators have quoted this tendency as one of the reasons for the demise of manufacturing in the UK over the last three decades.