ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive background to the issue of changing employment relations. The starting point is a brief overview of the technical, economic and social changes both generally and in the world of work over the past 50 years. Organizational responses to these changes have taken many forms: management systems with a focus on flexibility in the number of employees are the primary focus here, together with theoretical ideas of their consequences for companies and workers. The psychological contract is introduced as a possible intervening factor affecting the outcomes of this relationship. Global trade and international companies make it increasingly important to deal with national and cultural differences and the values behind them in employment relations, and an international and comparative view of these issues has become ever more relevant. For the future of Europe and the policy makers in the European Union, this is an issue of critical importance.
