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Non‐standard career paths — in which workers jump from one employment arrangement to another according to the projects they work on — have become more frequent in modern labour markets. The traditional solutions for organizing and managing work relationships and job transitions have become less effective for such workers regarding the risks of precariousness and economic dependence they may experience. Envisioning ways forward requires an appreciation of what was achieved over the past century and an understanding of what is needed to replace and adapt these achievements. Emerging solutions for managing work relationships are provided by a growing range of third‐party labour market actors, but the evaluation of their contributions in the literature remains limited. In this article, we build an original theoretical framework to evaluate such contributions according to the kind of services they provide and their respective engagement in institutional innovation. We give examples of solutions developed for skilled workers in two institutional contexts: the Netherlands and Belgium and show how our framework can help distinguish at least three groups of actors that contribute to labour market development in different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical perspective on the debate surrounding autonomy at work for a specific category of non‐standard workers: independent professionals. The increasing numbers now working this way as well as their spread into all sectors, industries and occupations, mean that their work arrangements can no longer be dismissed as non‐standard or atypical. Defining them by what they are not is quite simply no longer an option. Our paper examines the various components intertwined behind the taken‐for‐granted concept of autonomy. Drawing on debates from the legal through to the sociological and HR literatures, we identify three underlying dimensions to autonomy. When combined, they provide the basis for an analytical matrix that may assist policy makers, practitioners and individual workers to understand the challenges and opportunities linked to new ways of working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: How can new players seeking to serve nonstandard worker categories (such as project‐based workers) establish themselves into labour markets that are highly institutionalized? This paper explores the case of SMart, a Belgian community‐based labour market intermediary that successfully developed solutions to better represent the interests of project‐based workers and secure their discontinuous careers. Using an organizational legitimacy approach, we find that labour market entry and growth involve different types of boundary‐crossing when addressing the needs of workers that do not fit into established categories. However, to justify boundary‐crossing, the new player must complement its pragmatic work on delivering new services and tools with conceptual (cognitive) and structural (moral) legitimation work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many attempts at modernisation have been launched in public organisations during the last decade, focused on a renewal of HR policies and devices. Via an in-depth exploration of three case studies in Belgium, this paper develops an analytical framework likely to explain their contrasting performances. Our main hypothesis is that a lack of coherence (a) within the content itself of HRM-based reforms, (b) between this content and the context in which it is introduced, or (c) the process by which it is implemented, could explain a large part of the problems encountered. The paper also suggests some key recommendations for the management of HRM-based reforms in the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cet article explore les interactions entre politiques de GRH et facteurs de contexte dans un processus de changement organisationnel. Nous présentons d’abord une typologie de modèles de GRH, dans la lignée des écrits de Mintzberg sur les configurations organisationnelles. Nous développons ensuite une vision contingente des questions de GRH—mettant en évidence l’influence de certains facteurs de contexte, suivie d’une vision plus politique qui reflète les jeux de pouvoir entre les différents protagonistes, mobilisant chacun des éléments spéciflques du contexte. Enfln, nous offrons une appréhension plus concrète du cadre d’analyse contextualiste en en discutant l’application à une étude de cas dans le secteur agro–alimentaire. This paper explores the interactions between HRM practices and contextual factors in a process of organisational change. We first present a typology of HRM models, in line with Mintzberg’s organisational configurations. We then develop a contingent view on HRM issues—highlighting the influence of some contextual factors—followed by a more political view which reveals the power games between the different stakeholders, each of them enacting specific contextual factors. Finally, we give a more concrete understanding of the contextualist framework discussing its application to a case study in the alimentary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]