The Operation of Internal Labour Markets: Three Case Studies

Abstract

The employment policies and practices of firms could be expected to exert an influence on the career patterns of their labour forces. The literature suggests that many of these policies and practices would have developed in response to the technological, managerial, and information needs of individual firms and would be specific to the particular firm. To investigate these relationships, detailed case studies were undertaken in three Western Australian firms. The results show that, in two of the firms for certain job ladders, and in the third for its total labour force, employ ment policies and practices were sensitive to the internal technological and other re quirements of the firm in ways that cut across expected market oriented responses to the labour market at large. Personnel on these job ladders did experience patterns of tenure, career path, training, and earnings that indicate response to these policies and practices. However, while some evidence was found that earnings of those on such job ladders were responsive to variables related to career within the firm, general investments in education and training appeared to be dominant.