Economic and Industrial Democracy recent issues

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.

Editorial Introduction

Magnusson, L., Ottosson, J. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

The Diversity and Politics of Trade Unions' Responses to Minority Ethnic and Migrant Workers: The Context of the UK

Lucio, M. M., Perrett, R. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

The article first argues that there is a range of approaches and models developed in relation to the question of representing ethnic minorities and migrants when it comes to trade union strategies. There is no single model. Instead, there is a variety of approaches and politics, just as there are with a `traditionally established workforce'. Second, this study finds that the understanding of ethnic minority needs varies and the politics of this must be central to any discussion, as one cannot read off assumptions about the issue from formal union strategies, traditional practices and established customs in relation to regulation. In effect, there is a politics of trade union responses and there is diversity in the way the `problem' is read and understood. Third, the article argues that the issue of minority ethnic workers raises questions of trade union identity and purpose. This points to much deeper issues related to the role of regulation and strategies of inclusion — and the extent to which they cohere. It also raises the issue of the configuration of strategies of social inclusion and on occasions how strategies ignore the broader issue of participation of those they seek to represent. To this extent the article is not exclusively about inclusion and exclusion — but about the politics and contradictory dynamics of inclusion.

Why is Organizational Change Related to Workplace Bullying? Role Conflict and Job Insecurity as Mediators

Baillien, E., De Witte, H. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

Although organizational change has often been cited as an important cause of workplace bullying, only few studies have investigated this relationship. The current article aims to address this issue by exploring a direct as well as indirect relationship (i.e. mediation by various job and team-related stressors) between organizational change and bullying. Data were collected in 10 private organizations in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (N = 1260). Results show a significant relationship between organizational change and bullying. Role conflict, job insecurity, workload, role ambiguity, frequency of conflict, social support from colleagues and social leadership are all related to bullying. Regression analyses reveal a relationship between change and role conflict as well as job insecurity. The other stressors were not associated with organizational change and, hence, do not mediate. Finally, regression analysis shows that the relationship between organizational change and bullying is fully mediated by role conflict and job insecurity.

The Effects of Different Types of Works Councils on Bargaining Outcomes: Results of an Empirical Study

Nienhueser, W. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

This article looks at the effects that different types of works councils have on the results of bargaining between a works council and management. It investigates, in particular, how the works council type has an influence on the use of company or works agreements and the assessment of such agreements by 1000 interviewed human resource managers. The typology combines two dimensions: power and willingness to cooperate. The resulting four types of works councils show different effects, controlling for other variables: overall, works agreements are widespread and highly valued by the majority of human resource managers. However, firms with a works council that the management perceives as being more powerful and less willing to cooperate have a higher number of works agreements. In this constellation, one also finds the worst assessments of works agreements by the human resource managers — they perceive such agreements as reducing flexibility and having fewer advantages. A more detailed analysis shows two more results: first, it is the power or strength of a works council, rather than the willingness to cooperate, that influences the frequency of works agreements. Second, the perceived willingness to cooperate has an effect on the assessment of works agreements, but not on their frequency.

No Longer So Strange? (Dis)Trust in Municipality--Small Business Relationships

Tillmar, M. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

In this article, a trust perspective is applied to the relationship between local government and their alternative service providers in the era of new public management. The importance of category-based (dis)trust is highlighted, as well as the complications occurring when service providers belong to several categories, all of which are in some respect distrusted. More specifically, the article illustrates how gender and professional hierarchies influence municipal trust in service providers. The complexities of trust in public sector outsourcing relationships are highlighted, as the trust that citizens' show in the service providers also affects the trust of the municipality.

Riding the Wave of Globalization: The Boundaryless and Borderless Careers of Chinese Seafarers

Morris, J., Bin Wu, — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

This article explores the emergence of new career patterns for Chinese workers in the context of the emergence of a global labour market. An empirical survey of 49 ships moored in Hong Kong Harbour and primarily crewed by Chinese seafarers is reported on, drawn from ships owned by Chinese state-owned companies, foreign-owned China-based ships or foreign-owned ships. Replacing the centralized, politicized job-allocation and promotion system, Chinese seafarers can be distinguished into three groups; `traditional' seafarers (employed by state-owned companies), `transgrants' (employed by state-owned companies or crewing agencies but mainly working on foreign-owned ships) and `freemen' (self-employed, working for both national and foreign-owned ships).

The Incidence of High-Performance Work Systems: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Employee Survey

Kauhanen, A. — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:28:53 PDT

This article uses representative employee survey data for Finland from 2003 to study the incidence of adaptive teams, incentive pay and employer-provided training. A combination of these practices would be termed a high-performance work system (HPWS). Influential theories suggest that we should view these practices as `bundled' together. However, these `bundles' are quite rare and thus HPWS is a rare phenomenon. The article finds that the probability of participation in HPWS is higher for (1) employees with higher socioeconomic status, (2) employees using communication technology for internal communication in the workplace, (3) younger employees, (4) full-time and permanent employees, (5) employees in larger firms and (6) employees in foreign-owned firms.

Editorial Introduction

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

Innovation, Working Conditions and Industrial Relations: Evidence for a Local Production System

Antonioli, D., Mazzanti, M., Pini, P. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

Given that recent studies highlight the potentially negative impact of `new' or `high performance' work practices on workers, the main objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of such work practices on workers' well-being for a northern Italy local production system. In addition, it is also important not to overlook the role of other firms' innovation activities and industrial relations. Thus, the empirical strategy aims to disentangle the role of innovation intensity in four different areas (technology, organization, training and ICT) and that of cooperative industrial relations at firm level on working conditions. The evidence is mixed. On the one hand, innovations have an overall positive effect on working conditions. However, this effect is weak and for specific organizational aspects, is negative. On the other hand, cooperative industrial relations are always positively and robustly linked to workers' well-being.

Balancing the Democracy Dilemmas: Experiences of Three Women Workers' Cooperatives in Hong Kong

Ng, C. W., Ng, E. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

Workplace democracy is `an evolving reality' reflected in an organization's daily practices to deal with dilemmas. This article examines the inherent tensions and conflicts of practising workplace democracy in three women workers' cooperatives in Hong Kong. The co-ops were young and supported by non-governmental organizations. Based on interviews and participant observation, it was found that on balance, these co-ops were tilted towards democracy at the expense of efficiency. The analyses suggest that as these co-ops grow and develop, to sustain democracy in the long term, they may need to pay more attention to efficiency issues. Although the pull towards efficiency can lead to the emergence of a managerial elite group, thus contributing to a degeneration of democracy, paradoxically, to revive democracy, some form and function of leadership and management, collectively agreed, need to be established.

Uncovering Divergence: Management Attitudes towards HRM Practices and Works Council Presence in German SMEs

Helfen, M., Schuessler, E. S. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

This article examines the impact of management attitudes towards human resource management (HRM) practices on the presence of works councils in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on a survey among executives of German SMEs, the key result of a logit regression analysis is that managers' attitudes towards key HRM practices have a strong impact on the prevalence of the works council in German SMEs. In particular, positive management attitudes towards individual employee participation and direct supervision seem to be detrimental for the institutionalization of works councils. The results suggest that there is more diversity and management choice regarding the institutions of industrial relations than generally expected in the case of German firms.

Trust, Employer Exposure and the Employment Relation

Nichols, T., Danford, A., Tasiran, A. C. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

Managers often believe that the better employees know them, the more they will trust them. Yet although specialist literatures exist on labour turnover and tenure (whether job tenure has declined for example) there is no sustained investigation into the wider sociological question: what is the relation between length of service and employee trust? This article seeks to provide the first such examination of this, utilizing the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey, a unique British dataset that permits controls to be made for a considerable number of industry, workplace and individual characteristics. The results do not fit the conventional wisdom.

Demand, Control and its Relationship with Job Mobility among Young Workers

Verhofstadt, E., De Witte, H., Omey, E. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

Karasek defined a stressful job as a job with an imbalance between the demands of the job and the control one can exercise in that job (a `high strain job'). Previous research showed that starters in a high strain job are indeed less satisfied. They are also not compensated for the high workload they face. This article raises the question whether this strain (`high strain job') is only temporary. The results of the duration analysis show that those starting in a high strain job leave their job significantly sooner than those in an `active' job. For many young workers, having a high strain job as the first job seems to be temporary. However, for a substantial segment of the young workforce, there is a considerable probability of remaining in high strain jobs. This finding determines the policy implication: the discussion on work stress should focus on those trapped in high strain jobs.

Making Capitalism Work: Fair Institutions and Trust

Oskarsson, S., Oberg, P., Svensson, T. — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:42:18 PDT

This study tests three hypotheses on data from a survey on employment relations conducted in Sweden in 2006. The first hypothesis implies that the extent to which an employee perceives formal institutions as fair and duly enforced increases the probability that he/she will behave cooperatively. The second hypothesis states that an employee's trust in the opposite party should have equivalent effects. The last hypothesis holds that an employee's perception of formal institutions as fair and duly enforced increases his/her trust in the opposite party. All three hypotheses are supported by the data. The interpretation is that there is indeed an effect on cooperative behavior and willingness to enter into flexible contracts from perceptions of fair and enforced institutions, but it is indirect and mediated by attitudes of trust.

Editorial Introduction

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

Intended or Unintended Consequences? A Critical Reappraisal of the Safety First Movement and its Non-Union Safety Committees

Taksa, L. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

For the most part, the extensive literature produced on joint labour—management safety committees since the 1970s has neglected historical antecedents. To provide insights from the past, this article focuses on America's early 20th-century Safety First Movement, which sought to reduce accidents through the adoption of non-union safety committees and re-engineering techniques, based on various aspects of scientific management. By assessing the relationship between these `soft' and `hard' dimensions of Safety First, this article demonstrates that the two were united in practical terms not only in the US but also in Britain and Australia. This fusion, it is argued, provided a means of obtaining workers' consent for organizational and workplace changes and overcoming prevailing resistance to the methods associated with scientific management. In doing so, it emphasizes the value of focusing on management goals and anticipated consequences of employee participation and representation.

The Role of the State in the Diffusion of Industrial Democracy: South Australia, 1972--9

Markey, R., Patmore, G. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

Australia was not immune from the wave of employee participation that swept the globe in the 1970s. Governments at national and state levels developed policies for employee participation. The South Australian Labor government of the 1970s was arguably more proactive in promoting industrial democracy in a broader sense than any other Australian government. For a short period, it led the debate in Australia on these issues and contributed to international debates. This article traces the course of the South Australian experiment, and in the light of recent theoretical developments, attempts to explain the experiment's demise.

The Development of Alternative Voice Mechanisms in Australia: The Case of Joint Consultation

Holland, P., Pyman, A., Cooper, B. K., Teicher, J. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

The Australian industrial relations landscape has changed significantly. An increasingly hostile political environment and the emergence of human resource management (HRM) have seen the role of union voice decline significantly. Drawing on responses from the 2004 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey (AWRPS), this article examines the incidence and predictors of joint consultation, and employees' perceptions of the effectiveness of joint consultation. The study finds that joint consultation is a popular feature of the workplace. Joint consultation was highest in unionized workplaces, and the presence of a union and favourable management attitudes to unions are statistically significant predictors of joint consultative committees (JCC). Employees also report JCCs to be highly effective. The article concludes that joint consultation, as an alternative mechanism in Australian workplaces, is viewed as an effective form of voice.

`Trojan Horse' or `Vehicle for Organizing'? Non-Union Collective Agreement Making and Trade Unions in Australia

Cooper, R., Briggs, C. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

Unions have historically had a central place in industrial relations in Australia. However, they have been sidelined in recent years by, among other things, the development of non-union forms of agreement making. In the context of declining union density and power, this article examines the dynamics and outcomes of collective non-union agreement making in Australia between 1996 and 2005. In particular, it questions the extent to which these agreements have been used as a vehicle for deunionization or whether, on the other hand, they have offered unions opportunities to organize in non-union worksites. The study finds that the direct effect upon Australian unions, as measured by non-union agreement coverage 1996—2005, was limited. Nevertheless, there is evidence of employers using agreements to undermine union activity. They have been used as instruments to stymie organizing drives and to pre-empt or to undo union collective bargaining. On the other hand, unions have been presented with some opportunities to leverage organizing activities by the structured, collective processes of the non-union agreement-making stream. The study concludes that the uses and effects of non-agreement making were contingent upon a number of variables including: the relative power of unions and employers in a given worksite; the relationship between unions and their members over time; the bargaining history of the parties; and the intentions and choices of employers seeking to make agreements.

Employees' Perspective on Non-Union Representation: A Comparison with Unions

Kim, D.-O. — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:28:04 PST

This study uses survey data from 857 employees of three unionized and three non-union establishments in Korea to compare employees' perspectives on non-union works councils and unions with regard to perceptual, attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. A majority of the hypotheses received fairly strong empirical support. Compared with unions, works councils were found to be lower in terms of perceived performance and employees' commitment, and depended more on employers. Union commitment and union participation were positively related with existence needs, but works council commitment and works council participation were positively related with relatedness needs. The results were interpreted to support the separate domain perspective (i.e. unions and non-union employee representation [NER] serve different purposes) and the complementarity view (i.e. union and NER develop interdependencies and NER cannot substitute unions).