This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, The Changing Workplace: Part B, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. The first part of the document examines current thinking regarding knowledge and control in workplaces emphasizing flexible production systems, flexible technology, and a flexible work force. The following topics are discussed: the rhetoric of public and private sector reports; mass production technologies and the rise of Fordism (alienation and the transformation of work); organization of work in Japan (dual labor markets, gender and the labor market, and just-in-time production systems); and educating flexible workers (education and training in the national interest and the resurgence of human capital theory, high technology and education, and skills in the workplace). The first part of the document contains 159 references. The following papers constitute approximately two-thirds of the document: "Flexible Production Systems and Regional Development" (A. J. Scott); "Fordism's Unknown Successor: A Comment on Scott's Theory of Flexible Accumulation and the Re-emergence of Regional Economies" (J. Lovering); "Towards Flexible Skill Formation and Technological Literacy: Challenges Facing the Education System" (J. Mathews, G. Hall, H. Smith); "The Australian Trade Union Movement and Post-Fordism" (I. Campbell); "Circuits of Capital and Industrial Restructuring: Adjustment in the Australian Clothing Industry" (J. A. Peck); and "The Limits to 'Japanisation': Just-in-Time, Labour Relations and the UK Automotive Industry" (P. Turnbull). Each paper contains references. The document also contains an eight-item annotated bibliography. (MN)