Papers of Professor R H 'Bob' Fryer, academic

Scope and Content

This collection contains: records of research on behalf of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE), 1970-1981; Rolls Royce redundancy survey records, 1968-1972; records concerning litigation over employee questionnaire, 1972-1979; records concerning the Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA), 1974-1975; records concerning the Inland Revenue Staff Federation (IRSF) review steering committee, 1974-1975; papers concerning economic and social issues, especially in Coventry and the West Midlands, c1973-1985.

Administrative / Biographical History

Robert Harold Fryer graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1966 and in 1967 was awarded a distinction in the graduate diploma in social and administrative studies at the University of Oxford. From 1967 to 1968 he was a research assistant in the Industrial Sociology Unit at Imperial College of Science and Technology and from 1968 to 1969 he was a research officer in sociology at the University of Oxford. From 1969 to 1971 he was a lecturer in the department of management sciences at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

In October 1970 he began work on a project regarding the organisational behaviour of trade unions at the newly created Industrial Relations Research Unit, University of Warwick. In 1973 he moved to the university's Department of Sociology as a lecturer concerned with the teaching of Research Methods and Social Institutions. He became a Senior Lecturer in 1978, resigning from this post in 1982. While at Warwick, his research projects included redundancy and the collapse of Rolls Royce (with Professor Dorothy Wedderburn on behalf of the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS)), 1971-1972; change and organisation within the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE), 1973-1981, and organisation and representation within the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS), 1979-1982. Fryer was also chairman of the National Advisory Committee for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning and Director of New College at Southampton University.

Reference: biographical note in MSS.373/19 ; University of Warwick, Annual Reports; Bob Fryer et al (ed), 'Law, State and Society' London, 1981.

Access Information

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Other Finding Aids

Custodial History

These papers were accumulated by Bob Fryer in the 1970s during the course of his research into industrial relations. They were deposited by the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, in October 1996.

Related Material

Records of the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE)

Records concerning research involving Fryer on behalf of the Society of Civil and Public Servants (SCPS) (MSS.232/6 currently uncatalogued).