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Dr Peter Butler

Job: Reader in Employment Relations

Faculty: Business and Law

School/department: Leicester Castle Business School

Research group(s): Contemporary Work and Employment Relations

Address: The Gateway, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 250 6134

E: pabutler@dmu.ac.uk

W: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/bal

 

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Personal profile

Peter Butler is a Reader in Employment Relations in the Department of HRM.  He lectures on employment relations at both undergraduate and post graduate level. 

Publications and outputs

  • The impact of changes in funding on third-sector organisations providing employment and skills support
    dc.title: The impact of changes in funding on third-sector organisations providing employment and skills support dc.contributor.author: Payne, Jonathan; Butler, Peter; Rose, Jonathan
  • Shouting into the Void? The introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and its impact on third-sector organisations delivering employment support in England
    dc.title: Shouting into the Void? The introduction of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and its impact on third-sector organisations delivering employment support in England dc.contributor.author: Payne, Jonathan; Butler, Peter; Rose, Jonathan
  • Local authority commissioning of employability support in Scotland and its impact on third-sector provision
    dc.title: Local authority commissioning of employability support in Scotland and its impact on third-sector provision dc.contributor.author: Payne, Jonathan; Butler, Peter; Rose, Jonathan
  • Employer engagement with third-sector activation programmes for vulnerable groups: interrogating logics and roles
    dc.title: Employer engagement with third-sector activation programmes for vulnerable groups: interrogating logics and roles dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Payne, Jonathan dc.description.abstract: Employer engagement with active labour market programmes (ALMPs) and related employability projects is seen as vital to their ‘success’. However, the role of employers remains under-researched – a gap which widens in relation to non-governmental programmes led by not-for-profit, third-sector organisations (TSOs). Recent studies suggest that engaging employers may depend on addressing both human resource (HR) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) ‘logics’ and linking the roles of ‘gatekeeper to jobs’ and ‘proactive strategic partner’. A key question is whether TSO-led programmes are better placed to combine these logics and roles in engaging employers to help vulnerable groups into decent sustainable employment. The article explores this through a case study of two projects in England. The findings highlight the challenges that TSOs face in having to appeal almost exclusively to a CSR logic and explores why this is the case. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Of charities and choice: Researching the choices of the long-term unemployed on third-sector employability programmes
    dc.title: Of charities and choice: Researching the choices of the long-term unemployed on third-sector employability programmes dc.contributor.author: Payne, Jonathan; Butler, Peter dc.description.abstract: ‘Work-first’ (or ‘workfare’) activation policies severely restrict the choices of the unemployed. Can third-sector organisations (TSOs), with their person-centred mission, support long-term unemployed adults to make their own choices, given individual and societal constraints? Commentators often focus on ‘what works’ in supporting those with complex needs; others draw on the ‘capabilities approach’ (CA). With commentators often talking past each other, two key issues emerge. First, what constitutes real choice, and, second, how to deal with the testimonies of programme users when those experiencing social deprivation may overstate the choices available to them? We argue that the CA’s dichotomisation of ‘true/real’ versus ‘constrained/no’ choice is problematic for a balanced assessment of choice possibilities across different programmes. Building on insights from current literatures, we develop a framework for researching choice possibilities. Using qualitative research, we apply this framework to a TSO employability programme in England, and find users have more control over their choices compared with UK workfare policy. The article contributes to international debates on the value of the CA, the links between programme form, user choice and well-being, and the scope for TSOs to deliver on their user-centred mission and prefigure better alternatives to workfare. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Employees’ experience of human resource practices under plural form franchising: The impact of front-line managerial capability
    dc.title: Employees’ experience of human resource practices under plural form franchising: The impact of front-line managerial capability dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Muskwe, Never dc.description.abstract: The franchising business model has received scant attention within the field of human resource management (HRM). Data tracking workers’ experience of this format are more elusive still. This study draws on comparative, qualitative data derived from discussions with eighty-two respondents working within the corporate and franchised divisions of a market leading, fast food multinational company (MNC). Extant analyses of franchised operations point to shortcomings in franchisees’ treatment of staff. This outcome is typically asserted to be the result of the opportunism that flows from the desire to maximise revenues and minimise costs. This emphasis on structural pressures ignores the micro-level influences and the complexity of the day-to-day dynamics of the employment relationship. Specifically, the impact of the leadership skills and competence of front-line managers (FLMs) is overlooked. The study highlights that differences in FLM capability significantly affect the work climate, further aggravating poor HR activities in the franchised units, while offsetting some of the repressive task features associated with routinised work in the corporate division. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Pay progression in routinised service sector work: Navigating the internal labour market in a fast food MNC
    dc.title: Pay progression in routinised service sector work: Navigating the internal labour market in a fast food MNC dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Anita Hammer dc.description.abstract: The UK’s widespread use of low-skill, low-paid employment has been well documented. It has been argued internal labour markets (ILMs) benefit such workers, affording them with opportunities for progression. Relatively little is known, however, about the impact of ILMs on entry level workers undertaking routinised service sector work. Drawing on qualitative data this article explores the prospects on offer in a market leading, fast food MNC. Potential enabling features include on the job training, a transparent and integrated pay structure and a professed culture of progression. Occupational movements to positions above the low-pay threshold are, however, relatively rare. We conjecture this contradiction is the result of the business context in which the firm operates. The findings suggest that in sectors where price leadership strategies dominate, escape from low-pay is likely to be exceptional, even within large organisations featuring some of the classic characteristics of ‘pure’ or strong ILMs. dc.description: open access article
  • HR practice in a fast food MNC: Exploring the low discretion, high commitment phenomenon
    dc.title: HR practice in a fast food MNC: Exploring the low discretion, high commitment phenomenon dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Hammer, Anita dc.description.abstract: The UK’s widespread use of low-skill, low-paid employment has been well documented. It has been argued internal labour markets (ILMs) benefit such workers, affording them with opportunities for progression. Relatively little is known, however, about the impact of ILMs on entry level workers undertaking routinised service sector work. Drawing on qualitative data this article explores the prospects on offer in a market leading, fast food MNC. Potential enabling features include on the job training, a transparent and integrated pay structure and a professed culture of progression. Occupational movements to positions above the low-pay threshold are, however, relatively rare. We conjecture this contradiction is the result of the business context in which the firm operates. The findings suggest that in sectors where price leadership strategies dominate, escape from low-pay is likely to be exceptional, even within large organisations featuring some of the classic characteristics of ‘pure’ or strong ILMs. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • Distributed Leadership and Employee Cynicism: Trade unions as joint change agents
    dc.title: Distributed Leadership and Employee Cynicism: Trade unions as joint change agents dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Tregaskis, Olga dc.description.abstract: The themes of change management and workplace partnership continue to attract significant academic interest – albeit within discreet literatures. Drawing on longitudinal, qualitative data in a heavy engineering organization this article details how a collaborative partnership between management and trade unions, encompassing a distributed’ leadership format, was configured to enhance organizational capacity for change in the context of significant employee cynicism. Bridging human resource management/organizational behaviour and industrial relations perspectives the works makes a theoretical contribution to our understanding of the factors underpinning the successful implementation of workplace partnership and the utilisation of distributed leadership configurations. More generally the work informs leadership theory through its scrutiny of distributed leadership in situations of high conflict. dc.description: The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.
  • A minutes a life-time in fast-food!: Managerial job quality in the quick service restaurant sector
    dc.title: A minutes a life-time in fast-food!: Managerial job quality in the quick service restaurant sector dc.contributor.author: Butler, Peter; Hammer, Anita dc.description.abstract: The fast-food sector remains significantly under researched relative to its size and importance. Drawing on qualitative data this article explores the nature of managerial work in a market leading organisation. The research speaks to important contemporary debates vis-a-vis managerial job quality in routinised service sector work and the compatibility of such jobs with key quality of working life criteria (e.g. opportunities for skills development, decision latitude, voice and meaning). The theoretical contribution of the article lies in the rigor of the analytical lens and exploration of how objective QWL criteria are coloured by subjective expectations and social processes to produce nuanced and unanticipated outcomes e.g. accounts of rewarding, interesting and meaningful work notwithstanding severe structural constraints and bureaucratic rigidities.

See a full listing of Peter Butler's publications and outputs.

Key research outputs

Butler, P and Tregaskis O. Workplace partnership and legitimacy: A multi-layered analysis of the shop steward experience, Work, Employment and Society. Accepted September 2014.

Research interests/expertise

Peter Butler has researched and published in the area of non-union industrial relations and partnership working.  His particular areas of interest are the effectiveness of non-union modes of employee representation (NER) and the resilience of workplace partnership in recession.  He has also published on the theme of the management of managers in US multinational companies (OUP Press). 

Areas of teaching

Employment Relations at under graduate and post graduate level.  Dissertation (MA) and PhD thesis supervision     

Qualifications

BSc, MA, PhD (all Warwick)    

Courses taught

Employment Relations (HRMG2203/ HRMG5057)