The University of Western Australia

W/Prof Robert Vincent Lambert

Winthrop Professor
Management and Organisations

Contact details

Address

Management and Organisations
The University of Western Australia (M261)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 2934

Fax

6488 1004

Email

rob.lambert@uwa.edu.au

Qualifications

BEc DipEd Natal, BA S.A., MA Warw., PhD Witw.

Biography

Rob completed a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in Sociology and Psychology before completing a Graduate Diploma in Education, a Master of Arts degree from Warwick University in the United Kingdom and a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.

The focus of Rob’s research over the past two decades has been the global restructuring of manufacturing and its impacts on society. He has traveled widely in East, Southeast and South Asia, conducting field research in Southern China, the Philippines and Indonesia. ARC linkage and Discovery grants have led to a concentration on the global white goods industry, resulting in a range of journal articles, book chapters and a book published by Blackwell, Oxford in 2008. Rob is continuing to research white goods restructuring and spent time in Europe during 2008 on this project. He is currently researching the global packaging industry.

Key research

The globalization of white goods manufacturing and packaging, with special reference to regional shifts from the United States, Europe and Australia to the Asian region.

Publications

Career 10 best

Lambert R, Webster E, Bezuidenhout A. 2008. Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity, Oxford. Blackwell.

Lambert, R.V., Gillan, M.P. 2007, “Spaces of hope? Fatalism, trade unionism, and the uneven geogrpahy of capital in white goods manufacturing”, Economic Geogrpahy, 83, 1, pp. 75-95.

“Globalisation and the Erosion of Class Compromise in Contemporary Australia”, Politics and Society, March 2 000, pp93-109.

“International Labour Standards: Challenging Globalisation Ideology”, (with Donella Caspersz), the lead article in a special political economy of Asia edition of Pacific Review, Vol. 8 No. 4, Routledge, London, September 1995, pp569-588

“Death of a Factory: An Ethnography of Market Rationalism’s Hidden Abode in Inner- City Melbourne”, Anthropological Forum, Volume 14, 2004, pp597-313.

“Asian Labour Markets and International Competitiveness: Australian Transformations”, in International Review of Comparative Public Policy, Vol.10., 1998. (Special edition on Labour Markets in Transition: International Dimensions), pp271-296.

“Challenging Global Corporate Power: Networking Scale in the New Labor Internationalism”, Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space, Susan McGrath-Champ, Andrew Herod, Al Rannie (eds.), forthcoming, 2009, London, Edward Elgar.

“Global Dance: Factory Regimes, Asian Labour Standards and Corporate Restructuring”, Globalisation and Patterns of Labour Resistance, Jeremy Waddington (ed.), London, Mansell, 1999, pp72-105.

“Batons and Bare Heads”, (with Phil Bonner), The Politics of Race, Class and Nationalism in Twentieth Century South Africa, edited by Stanley Trapido & Shula Marks, Longman, London, 1987, pp336-366

“The re-emergence of Political Unionism in South Africa,” (with E. Webster), a chapter in the book, Popular Struggles in Africa, Robin Cohen, (ed), James Curry, London, April 1988.

Recent Publications

Books

Lambert R, Webster E, Bezuidenhout A. 2008. Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity, Oxford. Blackwell.

Lambert, R.V., Teicher, J., O'Rourke, A. 2006, WorkChoices: The New Industrial Relations Agenda, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney Australia

Book Chapters (Commercial)

Gillan, M.P., Lambert, R.V. 2009, Industrial Restructuring, Trade Union Strategy, and Social Transformation in Australia and Asia in Trade, Labour and Transformation of Community in Asia, Palgrave MacMillan , Basingstoke, U.K. and New York

Webster, E., Lambert, R.V. 2009, Markets Against Society: Labor's Predicament in the Second Great Transformation in The ISA Handbook in Contemporary Sociology: Conflict, Competition, Cooperation, Sage, London

“Challenging Global Corporate Power: Networking Scale in the New Labor Internationalism”, Handbook of Employment and Society: Working Space, Susan McGrath-Champ, Andrew Herod, Al Rannie (eds.), forthcoming, 2009, London, Edward Elgar.

“Markets Against Society: the Predicament of Trade Unionism”, Sociological Theory in the Age of Globalisation, Anne Denis (ed.) forthcoming, with E Webster, 2009, Sage.

“Tianamen: The Story of Han Dongfang”, Voices of the World, Volume Five of the Human Enancipation Series, Boaventura De Sousa Santos (ed.), London Verso. (Will also be published in Portuguese and Italian) Forthcoming 2009.

Lambert, R.V. 2007, An early phase of transition: Global corporations and the reconfiguration of trade union power in The Future of Organised Labour: Global Perspectives, Peter Lang, Berne, Switzerland.

Lambert, R.V. 2007, Self regulating markets, restructuring and the new labour internationalism in Labour, the State, Social Movements and the challege of neo-liberal globalisation, Manchester University Press, Manchester, United Kingdom.

Gillan, M.P., Lambert, R.V. 2006, The Whitegoods Industry in Evolving Employment Relations: Industry Studies from Australia, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde, New South Wales.

Gillan, M.P., Lambert, R.V., Caspersz, D.M., Biyanwila, S.J. 2006, Prospects of a Counter-Movement to Radical market Politics in Australia in WorkChoices: The New Industrial Relations Agenda, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.

Teicher, J., Lambert, R.V., O'Rourke, A. 2006, Introduction: The Work Choices Act as the Triumph of Neoliberalism in WorkChoices: The New Industrial Relations Agenda, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.

Lambert, R.V., O'Rourke, A., Teicher, J. 2006, Conclusion:WorkChoices and the Struggle for Australian Society in WorkChoices: The New Industrial Relations Agenda, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.

Lambert, R.V., Webster, E. 2004, Emancipacao social e o novo internacionalismo operario: uma perspectiva do Sul in TRABALHAR O MUNDO, Edicoes Afrontamento, Protugal.

Lambert, R.V., Webster, E. 2004, Global Civil Society and the New Labor Internationalism: A View from the South in Creating a Better World Interpreting Global Civil Society, Kumarian Press, Inc, USA.

Journal Articles (Schol Refereed Journal)

Lambert R. 2008. Organic Public Sociology and the Labour Movement: A Biographical Reflection, Labour and Industry.

Lambert, R.V., Gillan, M.P. 2007, “Spaces of hope? Fatalism, trade unionism, and the uneven geogrpahy of capital in white goods manufacturing”, Economic Geogrpahy, 83, 1, pp. 75-95.

Lambert, R.V., Gillan, M.P., Fitzgerald, S. 2005, 'Electrolux in Australia: Deregulation, Industry Restructuring and the Dynamics of Bargaining”, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 47, 3, pp. 261-275.

Lambert, R.V., Gillan, M.P. 2005, “Justice, Rationalism and Factory Closures in Australia”, Labour and Industry, 16, 1, pp. 23-41.

Lambert, R.V. 2004, “Death of a Factory: Market Rationalism’s Hidden Abode in Inner-City Melbourne”, Anthropological Forum, 14, 3, pp. 297-326.

Full Refereed Conference Publications

Caspersz, D.M., Lambert, R.V., Will, T. 2009, “Recovering An Optimism Of Agency: Multi-Scalar Organizing In The Triton Dispute”, The Australian Sociological Association 2009 Annual Conference, Canberra, Australia, N/A, Pp. 1-12.

Caspersz, D.M., Lambert, R.V. 2009, “Creating An Active Society And Counter-Movement: The Yr@W Campaign”, The Australian Sociological Association 2009 Annual Conference, Canberra, Australia, N/A, Pp. 1-13.

Lambert, R.V., Gillan, M.P. 2005, “Spaces of Hope? Fatalism, trade unionism and the uneven geography of capital in whitegoods manufacturing”, AIRAANZ (Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand) Conference 2005: Reworking work, Sydney, Australia, na, pp. 302-311.

Funding received

A/Prof. Robert Lambert, Prof C Lipsig-Mumme, A/Prof LI Hancock, Prof S McBride 2005, “Labor Matters: The Recomposition of Trade Union Action in a Globalising Era Australia/Canada 1983-2003”, Monash University ex ARC, Funds Approved: $25,000.00. RFCD:

A/Prof. Robert Lambert 2000, “Global change, international competition and the transformation of whitegoods manufacturing in Australia”, ARC SPIRT, Funds Approved: $443,881.00. RFCD:

A/Prof. Robert Lambert, A/Prof J Mcguire 1998, “The globalisation of the whitegoods industry: An Australian case study”, ARC Small Grants, Funds Approved: $3,129.00. RFCD:

Memberships

International Sociological Association

Honours and awards

Excellence in Teaching Award (Team Teaching), 2007.

Previous positions

Head, Industrial Sociology, University of Natal

Teaching

Asian Business
Globalization and Organizational Change
Workplace Relations; Australian Industrial Relations

Current external positions

International Advisor, UnionsWA

Current projects

Industrial Relevance

Globalization of white goods manufacturing

Globalization of packaging manufacturing

Collaborations with Other Institutions

Currently collaborating with UNI Graphical Sweden; Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of the Witwatersrand (Research Fellow); Global Labor Institute (Geneva, Member of Executive Board); Centre for International Labour Studies, University of Warwick (Research Fellow).

Elected President of the International Research Committee for Labour Movements, International Sociological Association (Term 2006-2010; Secretary 2002-2006; member of the Executive Board, 1998-2002).

Research profile

Research profile and publications