Work Identity at the End of the Line? Privatisation and Culture Change in the Uk Railway industry

What do we mean by workplace culture? Is culture change in an organization possible, and what happens when managers and politicians try? Work Identity at the End of the Line? is the story of workplace culture and identity in the railway industry before, during and after privatisation in the mid-1990s. Drawing on original interviews as well as autobiographies from those who worked for British Rail, the author analyses the experience of the privatisation process. By placing those events in their historical context of previous private and state ownership, this book provides a critical and highly readable understanding of what happened to the railway industry and its workforce during the 1990s. It provides a powerful critique of the attack on the wider public sector and the culture of its workforce since the 1980s. The book will be of interest to sociologists, cultural and economic historians, policy makers, as well as those studying culture change in business and management.