Business and Management

Katya Atanasova talks about her experience of transitions: from a country where everything was planned to a world where nothing is certain.

In 2004 the UK opened its labour market to workers from the post-communist countries which had joined the European Union that year. Although it was estimated that a few thousand would come, by 2010 over half a million Polish workers had arrived to work in the UK. This lecture explores the dynamics and features of what is the biggest inward migration to the UK since the Second World War. However, as the UK has lurched from boom to crisis and then faltering recovery, the debate on migration has sharpened. In March this year Britain’s immigration minister urged companies to wean themselves off their “addiction” to hiring foreign workers. The role of migrant workers in the workplace and how the agendas of different sections of government and business have produced contradictory views and demands will be discussed. Polish migrant workers themselves will be seen as active agents in an environment of super mobility. It argues that both Polish trade unions, such as Solidarno´s, and those in the UK have used innovative strategies to play a positive role in promoting workplace cohesion and solidarity.

Keith Seeds talks to Professor Richard Fishback about the topic of leadership and management. The interview also delves into research and literature surrounding leadership and management.

Professor Richard Fishback goes through some of the material he went through with students in the Business School a few days earlier, including if leadership is genetic.