Economic and Industrial Democracy current issue

Editorial Introduction

Magnusson, L., Ottosson, J. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:37:05 PDT

The Impact of Cross-Border Mergers on the Co-Decision-Making Process: The Case of a Danish Company

Rocha, R. S. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:39:19 PDT

The present article investigates changes over time in the patterns of co-decision-making in a Danish multinational company that has grown through cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The findings show the difficulties that trade union representatives and management face when firms try to introduce a governance regime based on shareholder value ideology. The Danish tradition of cooperation between management and labour was especially affected, since the changes in co-decision-making processes destroyed more than top management understood or realized. The article argues that hybrid forms of governance are unlikely to emerge due to historically embedded governance institutions, which create distinct expectations about how a firm must be governed and who has the right to participate in this governance. The spread of the Anglo-Saxon model of governance in Europe is likely to have negative effects on co-decision-making processes and established patterns of organizational cooperation.

The Role of Trust in Secure and Insecure Employment Situations: A Multiple-Group Analysis

de Jong, J., Schalk, R., Croon, M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:39:55 PDT

This article assesses the impact of job insecurity on the mediating role of trust in the relationship between breach of the psychological contract and employee attitudes. It is argued that both objective and subjective job insecurity influence the relation between breach and trust, as well as the relation between breach and affective commitment, job satisfaction and intention to quit. Hypotheses for different configurations of subjective and objective job insecurity were tested in a sample of 834 Dutch workers employed in 48 organizations. In a multiple-group analysis, the relationships between breach, trust and employee attitudes in four groups of employees in different configurations of job security were analysed. The results show that objective job insecurity moderates the relationship between breach and trust. However, contrary to expectations, trust only partially mediates between breach and employee attitudes in all employment situations.

Union Responses to Restructuring and the Growth of Contingent Labour in the Irish Telecommunications Sector

MacKenzie, R. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:40:35 PDT

This article explores union responses to subcontracting in the context of the Irish telecommunications sector. Through a longitudinal case study the development of strategy is traced over a number of years as the union moved away from a policy of exclusion towards one of engagement. As the findings show, a three-tiered approach brought successes in terms of the retention and recruitment of workers on non-standard contracts. Yet this brought tensions over the role of the union in the regulation of the subcontracting process.

Organizations' Use of Temporary Employment and a Climate of Job Insecurity among Belgian and Spanish Permanent Workers

de Cuyper, N., Sora, B., de Witte, H., Caballer, A., Peiro, J. M. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:40:58 PDT

Extensive use of temporary employment may create a climate of job insecurity among permanent workers in a specific organization. This climate is likely conditional upon the proportion of temporary workers in the organization, and upon the reasons for hiring temporary workers. The percentage of temporary workers may relate to permanent workers’ shared perceptions of job insecurity. Employers’ motives for hiring temporary workers may relate to permanent workers’ perceptions of job insecurity when these motives threaten the position of permanent workers. Conversely, the relationship with a climate of job insecurity is likely negative when the organization hires temporary workers to support permanent workers. Analyses are based on samples of Belgian (N = 216) and Spanish (N = 404) permanent workers among 14 and 29 organizations, respectively. The results show a positive relationship between the percentage of temporary workers and a climate of job insecurity among permanent workers. Few motives were predictive for permanent workers’ climate of job insecurity. The findings are interpreted with reference to the specific Belgian and Spanish context.

Family Businesses and Trade Unions in Norway

Gulbrandsen, T. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:04 PDT

In this article an examination is made of the extent to which employees in family businesses are members of unions compared to workers in non-family businesses and of the extent to which owners collaborate with trade unions. The analyses demonstrate that the percentage of union members in family businesses with a family CEO (owner-management), controlling for other factors, is significantly lower than in family businesses with CEOs who are not related or in non-family businesses. Theoretically, there are two possible explanations for this finding. The workers may abstain from joining a union because they are unwilling to bear the brunt of opposing an authoritarian owner-manager. Or, alternatively, the owner-manager may treat the employees so well that they see no need for a trade union. The analyses indicate that lower union density in owner-managed enterprises is associated with a higher wage level. This result lends support to the second explanation.

Strategies to Promote Workplace Innovation: A Comparative Analysis of Nine National and Regional Approaches

Alasoini, T. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:09 PDT

This article provides an analysis of strategies aimed to promote workplace innovation in nine national and regional policy contexts in the last few years. Its conceptual objective is to elaborate a model, developed by Naschold, and assess its usability in the analysis of contemporary workplace development strategies. The empirical objective of this article is to assess strengths and weaknesses of the strategies and similarities and differences between them by means of the model. The comparison results in a map of profiles of the nine strategies. The policy objective of this article is to raise issues that can be considered crucial for promoting learning across national borders in workplace development. The study was implemented between 2005 and 2008 as part of the EU-funded WORK-IN-NET project (2004—9).

Local Agreements as an Instrument for Improvement of Management--Employee Collaboration on Occupational Health and Safety

Sorensen, O. H., Hasle, P., Navrbjerg, S. E. — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:41:10 PDT

Employee participation is crucial to safe and secure workplace environments. Health and safety regulation or voluntary agreements form two different approaches to this. In Denmark, a legislative change facilitates combining the two approaches. The new flexibility of approach enables the organization of health and safety to be tailored to the needs of the workplace based on a local agreement negotiated between management and local union representatives. This new approach is explored in this article. The study finds that the system has a positive impact on employee participation, improves collaborative relations, strengthens local commitment and there is a perceived increase in organizational efficiency and flexibility; all factors that have been shown to increase safety performance.