Professor Paul Blyton - Associate Member of BRASS

Career Experience and Qualifications

Paul Blyton is a Professor of Industrial Relations and Industrial Sociology at Cardiff Business School. He has acted as an Expert Advisor to the OECD, Paris and the International Labour Organisation, Geneva on aspects of working time, and on the future of the iron and steel industry. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Victoria and Lethbridge in Canada, and at Melbourne and Deakin universities in Australia.

Research Areas of Interest

The nature of change in work organisations, how this has impacted on employees, and how industrial relations processes shape the nature of outcomes of restructuring; Changes in working time patterns, employees’ experience of different work time schedules, and the implications of working time patterns for non-work life.

Research Projects

CSR Managers: Their Background and Role
The purpose of this preliminary research project, being jointly undertaken  with Dr Jean Jenkins  in Cardiff Business School, is to gain insight into the background and role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers, to investigate the tensions inherent in the duality of their roles as being at once corporate employees and also gatekeepers of corporate ethics, and to begin a critical evaluation of how far the nature of the CSR function varies according to the individual approaches and characteristics of key personnel.  The study initially involves an interview programme with a sample of CSR managers, together with representatives from other organisations who deal with CSR managers on a day-to-day basis.

Working Time and Work-Life Balance
An ongoing enquiry examining developments in policy and practice relating to working time patterns and work-life balance.  Currently, this includes a comparative assessment of work-life balance provisions within EU member countries. An additional research focus is on the sources of persistent inequality in access to work-life balance provision, and the issues raised for low-paid workers in seeking to achieve a better work-life balance.

Links to BRASS research

• Work-life Research

Recent Publications

• 2011  Researching Sustainability, co-edited with A Franklin, London: Earthscan, in press.
  2011 ‘Life after Burberry: shifting experiences of work and non-work life following redundancy’, with J. Jenkins, Work, Employment and Society, in press.
  2011 Reassessing the Employment Relationship, co-edited with E. Heery and P. Turnbull, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 464.
  2010 ‘The impact of organisational change on steel workers in craft and production occupational groups’ with N Bacon and A Dastmalchian, Human Relations, 63 (8): 1223-48. 
  2010 ‘Accessing a sustainable work life’, International Journal of Economic, Social and Cultural Sustainability, 6 (4): 263-8.
  2010 Ways of Living: Community, Work Community and Lifestyle Choice, co-edited with B. Blunsdon, K. Reed and A. Dastmalchian, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 324.
  2008 The Handbook of Industrial Relations, co-edited with N. Bacon, J. Fiorito, and E. Heery, London and California: Sage, pp. 670.
  2007 The Realities of Work, co-authored with M. Noon, 3rd edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,.
  2007  Key Concepts in Work, co-authored with J. Jenkins, London and California: Sage, pp. 246.
  2006 Work-Life Integration: International Perspectives on the Balancing of Multiple Roles, co-edited with B. Blunsdon, K. Reed and A. Dastmalchian, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Teaching Commitments

Employment Relations: BSc (Econ) Year 2, - Course Lecturer and Tutor. Work & Employment: BSc (Econ) Year 3 Course Lecturer and Tutor. PhD Research Methods Course.