Showing papers on "Industrial relations published in 2014"
Book•
31 Mar 2014TL;DR: The authors examines contemporary changes in labor market institutions in the United States, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, focusing on developments in industrial relations, vocational education and training, and labor market policy.
Abstract: "This book examines contemporary changes in labor market institutions in the United States, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, focusing on developments in industrial relations, vocational education and training, and labor market policy. It finds that there are in fact distinct varieties of liberalization associated with very different distributive outcomes. Most scholarship equates liberal capitalism with inequality and coordinated capitalism with higher levels of social solidarity. However, this study explains why the institutions of coordinated capitalism and egalitarian capitalism coincided and complemented one another in the 'Golden Era' of postwar development in the 1950s and 1960s, and why they no longer do so. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study reveals that the successful defense of the institutions traditionally associated with coordinated capitalism has often been a recipe for increased inequality due to declining coverage and dualization. Conversely, it argues that some forms of labor market liberalization are perfectly compatible with continued high levels of social solidarity and indeed may be necessary to sustain it."
386 citations
TL;DR: The authors argues that HRM is by nature a multidisciplinary subject area, and that it has traditionally been closely associated with the field of industrial relations (IR), however, it appears to have increasingly been taken over by industrial and organisational (I-O) psychology, and in the process increasingly associated with organisational behaviour, which has also been taken by I-O psychology.
Abstract: This article argues that HRM is by nature a multidisciplinary subject area, and that it has traditionally been closely associated with the field of industrial relations (IR). However, it appears to have increasingly been taken over by industrial and organisational (I-O) psychology, and in the process increasingly associated with organisational behaviour, which has also been taken over by I-O psychology. Coupled with the narrowing and marginalisation of IR, this has meant an increasing ‘psychologisation’ not only of the study of HRM, but of the study of employment relations in general. This article discusses why this appears to have been happening, what its implications might be and what (if anything) might be done about it. Focus is on developments within North America, although the issues raised apply, perhaps, to different degrees, across liberal market countries and possibly beyond.
140 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: The authors argue that workers in China have been striking offensively for more money, better working conditions, and more respect from employers since 2008, using a political process model that suggests economic and political opportunities are sending "cognitive cues" to workers that they have increased leverage, leading them to be more assertive in their demands.
Abstract: A qualitative shift is underway in the nature of labor protest in China. Contrary to prior literature that characterized strikes as being largely defensive in nature, the authors suggest that since 2008, Chinese workers have been striking offensively for more money, better working conditions, and more respect from employers. They explain these developments using a “political process” model that suggests economic and political opportunities are sending “cognitive cues” to workers that they have increased leverage, leading them to be more assertive in their demands. Such cues include a growing labor shortage, new labor laws, and new media openness. Their argument is supported by a unique data set of strikes that the authors collected, two case studies of strikes in aerospace factories, and interviews with a variety of employment relations stakeholders
115 citations
TL;DR: A qualitative shift is underway in the nature of labor protest in China as mentioned in this paper, which suggests economic and political opportunities are sending "cognitive cues" to workers that they have increased leverage, leading them to be more assertive in their demands.
Abstract: A qualitative shift is underway in the nature of labor protest in China. Contrary to prior literature that characterized strikes as being largely defensive in nature, the authors suggest that since 2008, Chinese workers have been striking offensively for more money, better working conditions, and more respect from employers. They explain these developments using a "political process" model that suggests economic and political opportunities are sending "cognitive cues" to workers that they have increased leverage, leading them to be more assertive in their demands. Such cues include a growing labor shortage, new labor laws, and new media openness. Their argument is supported by a unique data set of strikes that the authors collected, two case studies of strikes in aerospace factories, and interviews with a variety of employment relations stakeholders
114 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposes an analytical framework conceptualizing the interface of employment relations and consumption relations within global supply chains, identifying four regimes of labor governance: governance gaps, collective bargaining, standards markets, and complementary regimes.
Abstract: Global supply chains are part of the corporate strategy of many multinational companies, often with adverse effects on labor conditions. While employment relations scholars focus on a production-oriented paradigm, revolving around interactions among employers, workers, and government, much of the activism motivating the development of private labor standards is based around companies' relations with their consumers. This article proposes an analytical framework conceptualizing the interface of employment relations and consumption relations within global supply chains, identifying four regimes of labor governance: governance gaps, collective bargaining, standards markets, and complementary regimes. Finally, we suggest a research agenda for examining the role of consumption relations in the changing nature of global labor governance. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined corporate social responsibility as a probable relationship management strategy that could strengthen relationships between organizations and their employees, and found that CSR could improve the trust and loyalty of employees.
Abstract: This study examined corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a probable relationship management strategy that could strengthen relationships between organizations and their employees. Specifically,...
103 citations
TL;DR: Work engagement relates to an individual's psychological state of mind while at work as discussed by the authors and is more relevant to HRM and employment relations but suffers from a lack of definition and a failure to specify the components that are associated with higher levels of employee engagement.
Abstract: Two basic approaches to engagement are contrasted. Work engagement relates to an individual's psychological state of mind while at work. The problems with this and its limited relevance to HRM are considered: its concern with a minority of employees, the way non-engaged staff are portrayed, the airbrushing out of conflict and the pernicious use of positive psychology. Employee or behavioural engagement is more relevant to HRM and employment relations but suffers from a lack of definition and a failure to specify the components that are associated with higher levels of employee engagement. It is usually a-contextual and lacks the subtlety of earlier work on HR and performance, while covering the same ground. Problems remain with research seeking to show the connections with financial performance. Boiling engagement measures down to one score is particularly worrying. The management of employee engagement in the UK National Health Service illustrates that properly constructed studies of employee engagement can inform policies and practices to improve work relations, employee well-being and aspects of performance.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the impacts of two important types of labor market regulation, minimum wages and employment protection legislation (EPL), on employment, earnings, and productivity.
Abstract: Labor market regulation is a high-profile, and often contentious, area of public policy. Although these regulations have been studied most extensively in developed countries, there is a growing body of literature on their effects in developing countries. This paper reviews that literature and focuses on the impacts of two important types of labor market regulation, minimum wages and employment protection legislation (EPL), on employment, earnings, and productivity. Strong and opposing views exist regarding the costs and benefits of these regulations, but the results of this review suggest that their impacts are generally smaller than the heat of the debates would suggest. Efficiency effects are found sometimes, but not always, and the effects can be in either direction and are usually modest. The distributional impacts of both minimum wage and employment protection legislation are clearer, with two effects predominating: an equalizing effect among covered workers, but with groups such as youth, women, and the less skilled disproportionately outside the coverage and its benefits. Although the overall conclusion is one of modest effects in most cases, the policy implication is not that these regulations do not matter. On the one hand, both minimum wages and EPL can affect distributional objectives. On the other hand, these regulations can generate undesirable economic or social impacts if they are established or operate in ways that exacerbate the labor market imperfections that they were designed to address.
99 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Hirsch and Macpherson as discussed by the authors studied thirteen case studies of recent efforts by both unions and worker centers to organize the unorganized in the New York City metropolitan area, and found that New York has the single largest concentration of this new form of labor organizing.
Abstract: Excerpt] This book includes thirteen case studies of recent efforts by both unions and worker centers to organize the unorganized in the New York City metropolitan area. Home to some of the first U.S. worker centers and to thirty-seven of the 214 that exist nationwide at this writing, New York has the single largest concentration of this new form of labor organizing.1 In recent years, as part 4 of this volume documents, New York also has become a launching pad for efforts to expand the scale of worker centers by building national organizations, such as the TWAOC. However, most worker centers, in New York and elsewhere, remain locally based and modest in size—especially relative to labor unions, which despite decades of decline still had over fourteen million dues-paying members nationwide in 2012 (Hirsch and Macpherson 2013).
80 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the development of the American human resource management field from the late 19th century to the start of the 21st century is surveyed and important people, ideas and events are identified as are contributing fields of study and schools of thought.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an alternative, neo-pluralist sociological and historical perspective of the employment relationship is sketched, which stresses the historical specificity of the experience of work and the explanatory limitations of the relationship.
Abstract: Radical pluralism, the mainstream perspective for British and European industrial relations, centres on a Marxian, sociological conception of the employment relationship, which structures explanations of power and conflict. This theoretical critique stresses the historical specificity of the experience of work and the explanatory limitations of the employment relationship. The intellectual history of radical pluralism is traced from Fox ((1974), Beyond Contract: Work, Power and Trust Relations, London: Faber) to Edwards ((1995, 2003), ‘The Employment Relationship,’ in Industrial Relations, ed. P. Edwards, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 1–36) and Blyton and Turnbull ((1994, 1998, 2004), The Dynamics of Employee Relations, Basingstoke: Macmillan). Five objections to the radical-pluralist employment relationship are outlined and an alternative, neo-pluralist sociological and historical perspective is sketched.
Book•
30 Jun 2014
TL;DR: Ackers as discussed by the authors discusses Hirschman's (1970) use of the terms "voice", "exit", and "loyalty" in the context of the employment relationship.
Abstract: Many recent studies of employment relations have explicitly drawn upon the concept of 'voice' as part of their analytical frameworks (see, for instance, Bryson et al., 2006; Budd et al., 2010; Dundon et al., 2004, 2005; Gollan, 2005; Lavelle et al., 2010; Wilkinson and Fay, 2011; Wood et al., 2009). However, Hirschman (1970), who is credited with introducing the term within scholarly analyses, largely applied the concept to customers within competitive markets and 'customer-members' of organizations such as clubs; he did not draw on it to explain employee behaviour within firms. This is noteworthy, as the relationship between consumers and firms in competitive markets and that between employees and employers are fundamentally different. Most importantly, the issue of power within the latter relationship requires even closer scrutiny than it does within the former. In addition, power and the assumptions that are made about the (in)ability of employers and employees to enter into a non-conflictual relationship and/or into a partnership are of central importance within the broad literature on employment (Ackers, forthcoming; Ackers et al., 2005; Johnstone et al., 2010). By contrast, assumptions that firms, in general, will seek to respond to changed customer preferences is more widely accepted (though compare Crouch, 2011). This chapter discusses Hirschman's (1970) use of the terms 'voice', 'exit', and 'loyalty'. It will raise and discuss crucial issues for studies that apply these terms within the employment relationship.
TL;DR: Engelbrecht et al. as discussed by the authors explored the influence of ethical leadership on trust and work engagement in SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, 40(1):1-9, doi:10.4102/sajip.v40i1.1210.
Abstract: CITATION: Engelbrecht, A.S., Heine, G. & Mahembe, B. 2014. The influence of ethical leadership on trust and work engagement: an exploratory study. SA Journal
of Industrial Psychology, 40(1):1-9, doi:10.4102/sajip.v40i1.1210.
TL;DR: Relational indicators of social class are related to mental well-being in European employees and are complementary to stratification indicators in social epidemiology, according to a policy perspective.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine social inequalities in employee mental well-being, using relational social class indicators. Relational social class indicators are based on theoretical insights about the mechanisms generating social (health) inequalities. Additionally, it is examined whether the psychosocial work environment and employment quality act as intermediary determinants of social class inequalities in mental well-being, simultaneously testing the mediation (differential exposure) and moderation (differential vulnerability) hypotheses. Data from the European Social Survey Round 2 (2004/5) and Round 5 (2010) were analysed. Mental well-being was assessed by the WHO Well-being Index. The measure for social class was inspired by E.O. Wright’s class scheme. Three-level linear multilevel modelling was used to account for clustering of employees within research years and countries. We found social class inequalities in mental well-being in the European working population for both men and women. Compared to unskilled workers, managers reported the best mental well-being, while supervisors held an intermediary position. As regards the mediation hypothesis, an unfavourable psychosocial work environment and low-quality employment conditions mediated the relation between social class and poor mental well-being in both men and women. However, low quality of employment relations only mediated the “social class-mental well-being” association in the male sample. As regards the moderation hypothesis, modification effects were seen for the psychosocial work environment and employment conditions in both men and women. Relational indicators of social class are related to mental well-being in European employees. Relational accounts of social class are complementary to stratification indicators in social epidemiology. From a policy perspective, better employee mental well-being and less social class inequality could be achieved through initiatives addressing the unequal social relations generated by structural positions in the labour process.
Book•
01 Mar 2014
TL;DR: The first integrated comparative account of employment law, its enforcement, and its importance throughout the British Empire is presented in this article, where the authors test the relationship between enacted law and enforced law in varied settings, with different social and racial structures, different economies and different constitutional relationships to Britain.
Abstract: Master and servant acts, the cornerstone of English employment law for more than four hundred years, gave largely unsupervised, inferior magistrates wide discretion over employment relations, including the power to whip, fine, and imprison men, women, and children for breach of private contracts with their employers. The English model was adopted, modified, and reinvented in more than a thousand colonial statutes and ordinances regulating the recruitment, retention, and discipline of workers in shops, mines, and factories; on farms, in forests, and on plantations; and at sea. This collection presents the first integrated comparative account of employment law, its enforcement, and its importance throughout the British Empire. Sweeping in its geographic and temporal scope, this volume tests the relationship between enacted law and enforced law in varied settings, with different social and racial structures, different economies, and different constitutional relationships to Britain. Investigations of the enforcement of master and servant law in England, the British Caribbean, India, Africa, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, and colonial America shed new light on the nature of law and legal institutions, the role of inferior courts in compelling performance, and the definition of "free labor" within a multiracial empire.
TL;DR: In this article, interviews with managers, workers, unionists and works councillors at the European Central Bank construction site in Frankfurt, Germany, show how transnational subcontracting allows employers to access, and create competition between, sovereign regulatory regimes.
Abstract: European integration through mutual recognition has facilitated the growth of a pan-European labour supply system in which transnational subcontractors ‘post’ workers from low-wage areas to higher wage areas This allows employers to create spaces of exception in which the national industrial relations system of the country where work occurs does not fully apply Drawing on interviews with managers, workers, unionists and works councillors at the European Central Bank construction site in Frankfurt, Germany, this article shows how transnational subcontracting allows employers to access, and create competition between, sovereign regulatory regimes It concludes that high-cost, high-collective good national systems such as the German one, which depend on territorial boundedness for their integrity, are likely to be destabilized by this aspect of European integration
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an overview of the institutional structure of the business system of China, including the role of the state, the financial system, ownership and corporate governance, the internal structure of a firm, employment relations, education and skills formation, inter-company relations (networks), and social capital.
Abstract: This chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Asian Business Systems provides an overview of the institutional structure of the business system of China. It explores the role of the state, the financial system, ownership and corporate governance, the internal structure of the firm (management), employment relations, education and skills formation, inter-company relations (networks), and social capital. Our analysis suggests a form of authoritarian capitalism, with the Communist Party retaining pervasive influence throughout the system. Within the basic architecture now in place, much institution-building remains to be done, with bottom-up, decentralized processes playing an important role in institutional change. Salient systemic characteristics include informality - deviance of actual practice from formal structures - and multiplexity - the presence of multiple business systems within China. This chapter contributes directly to the business systems and varieties of capitalism literature and identifies institutional contingencies for comparative and international social science research in general.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine trade union responses to migration in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom and explore how national regulatory structures and industrial relations traditions shape these responses, reflected in different ways of working with the state, employers, union members and the migrant worker community.
Abstract: This article examines trade union responses to migration in the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. We explore how national regulatory structures and industrial relations traditions shape these responses, reflected in different ways of working with the state, employers, union members and the migrant worker community. We identify three main logics that inform trade union action: class, race/ethnicity and social rights; these are used implicitly or explicitly in building representative action. Our analysis shows how trade unions in each country tend to give priority to certain specific logics rather than others. Our findings also show how, in each country, trade union renewal in relation to migration implies engaging with new logics of actions which have not been part of the historical trade union approach. Hence the question of migration brings specific challenges for union identity and strategy. We argue for an approach that goes beyond assumptions of path dependency, and stress the complexity of representation and the challenge of balancing different interests and strategies in the process of social inclusion.
25 Apr 2014
TL;DR: Employee voice has been widely used in the practitioner and academic literature on human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations in recent years as mentioned in this paper. But researchers from different disciplinary perspectives often use voice in different ways.
Abstract: Voice is a term that has been widely used in the practitioner and academic literature on
human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations in recent years. Freeman
and Medoff (1984) associated voice with union representation and in particular with the
role of unions in articulating concerns on behalf of the collective. As union density has
fallen in recent years, analysis of voice in workplaces has often focused on how workers
communicate with managers and are able to express their concerns about their work situation
without a union, and on the ways in which employees have a say over work tasks
and organizational decision-making. But researchers from different disciplinary perspectives
often use voice in different ways. Some refer to involvement, others to participation,
while yet others refer to empowerment or engagement as if they are interchangeable. As
Kaufman (Chapter 2) makes clear, few appreciate the historical pedigree of employee
voice, for instance, where Karl Marx and Adam Smith expressed interest in the ways
and means through which labour expressed its voice. The deeper antecedents to voice
have often been forgotten or eclipsed in a rush towards newer managerial fads, such as
engagement or other equally abstract notions of labour offering discretionary effort.
This book presents analysis from various academic streams and disciplines that
illuminate our understanding of employee voice from these different perspectives. The
following chapters show that research on employee voice has gone beyond union voice
and non-union voice to build a wider and deeper knowledge base. As the introduction to
the book, this chapter provides a guide to the debates about the different dimensions of
employee voice and to the research findings in different areas. We review the meanings
and purposes surrounding the definitions of voice; consider the role of key actors in the
workplace; and evaluate the different forms and processes of voice in different spheres,
contexts and organizational settings. We hope that the book will help the reader understand
the debates associated with employee voice and appreciate the contribution of the
different approaches to our understanding of what goes on in the workplaces that are at
the heart of modern economies.
TL;DR: The authors investigates the twin cultural (conservatism) and economic (neo-liberalism) challenge to gender justice through a discussion of female employment in Turkey, where essentialist views of women's difference continue to be used to legitimize the confinement of women to care work and the character of employment relations in a neo-liberal environment.
Abstract: This article investigates the twin cultural (conservatism) and economic (neo-liberalism) challenge to gender justice through a discussion of female employment in Turkey, where essentialist views of women's difference continue to be used to legitimize the confinement of women to care work and the character of employment relations in a neo-liberal environment renders women's participation in working life practically impossible. The article shows how neo-liberalism can actually act in tandem with cultural conservatism to shape a social order where traditional gender norms are reasserted, crippling parity of participation. It is argued that a widely shared tendency to regard cultural norms and labor market relations as natural phenomena presents an obstacle against the development of a transformative agenda for the eradication of gender injustice.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the quality of employment in the EU27 by means of a typological approach, based on several features of the employment conditions and relations characterising jobs.
Abstract: In this article employment quality in the EU27 is investigated by means of a typological approach, based on several features of the employment conditions and relations characterising jobs. The analyses are drawing on data from the 2005 European Working Conditions Survey. Results of Latent Class Cluster Analyses show that it is empirically and theoretically possible to reduce a multitude of factors determining the quality of employment into five different types of jobs regarding their employment quality: SER-like jobs, instrumental jobs, precarious unsustainable jobs, precarious intensive jobs and portfolio jobs. These five types of jobs are strongly related with important covariates such as the socio-demographic profile of workers, organisation level features and indicators of the intrinsic nature of work tasks. Moreover, they are clearly distributed differently between countries within the EU27. The findings from this innovative approach towards the quality of employment are discussed in terms of the implications for the measurement of contemporary employment arrangements in Europe.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define human resources as the overt talents and underlying characteristics that people possess, and identify three agendas in human resource management: the individual, the organisational and the societal/global.
Abstract: This article defines ‘human resources’ as the overt talents and underlying characteristics that people possess, and identifies three agendas in human resource management: the individual, the organisational and the societal/global. The academic discipline of human resource management (HRM) has grown up around the second agenda: the needs of managers to hire, motivate and develop people with the talents that organisations need. Like the curate’s egg, it is of variable quality: a tension between ‘best-practicism’ and analytical thinking is still present in it. Research in industrial relations has been more helpful in describing the spread of employer behaviour and analysing the reasons for it. However, the growing emphasis in academic HRM on understanding the psychological and social processes inside the ‘black box’ of the firm is encouraging the study of mutuality and sustainability in employment relationships. This direction has the potential to make academic HRM more relevant at the societal level where w...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of human resource practices that can alter the negative effect on the organization due to high employees' turnover is discussed extensively on the impact on professionals and decision makers in the industry.
Abstract: It is important for human resource (HR) managers to overcome employees' turnover intention. Issues encountered may be in the areas of shrinking pool of entry-level workers, individual differences, use of temporary workers, productivity and competitiveness, retirement benefits and skills development. Therefore, this paper discusses extensively on the impact of human resource practices that can alter the negative effect on the organization due to high employees' turnover. The population sample of this study was drawn from among the grounds security officers and supervisors of a Singapore based security company (Company ABC) for the purpose of this study to test for compensation and benefits, training, career development, performance management and employee relations. Analysis of findings are presented and conclusions and recommendations drawn for professionals and decision makers in the industry.Keywords: Turnover Intention; Career Development; Employee Relations; Performance Management; Compensation.1. INTRODUCTIONTurnover is defined as the "individual movement across the membership boundary of an Organization" (Price, 2001; Thwala et al., 2012). Interestingly unlike actual turnover, turnover intent is not explicit. Intentions are a statement about a specific behaviour of interest (Berndt, 1981). Studies have shown that turnover is one of the most researched phenomena in organizational behaviour (Price, 2001). The broad range of turnover studies is indicative of the significance and complexity of the issue. The phenomenon attracts interest due to its psychological dimension, its organizational significance, and its economic dimension. Thus it is imperative for HRM managers to understand that there are several factors inherent to counter staff intentions or turnover. One theory specifies that employees' decision to resign is influenced by two factors: their "perceived ease of movement", which refers to the assessment of perceived alternatives or opportunity and "perceived desirability of movement", which is influenced for instance by job satisfaction (Morrell et al., 2004; Abdullah et al., 2012). This describes how balance is struck both for the organization and its employees in terms of inducements, such as pay, and contributions, such as work, which ensures continued organizational efficiency. In general, when inducements are increased by the company, this will lower the tendency of the worker to leave and vice versa (Morrell et al., 2004). At the same time, managers should also be aware that of the question whether the decision to leave could have been prevented by the organization. This is important for the planning of interventions. It would be realistic to manage this turnover as unavoidable rather than spend on theorized preventive measures, such as increasing pay. These losses of employees can also be described as "necessary causalities" (Morrell et al., 2004).The impact of Human Resource Mismanagement can have a profound negative effect on the Organization. The expectancy theory predicts that one's level of motivation depends on the attractiveness of the rewards sought and the probability of obtaining these rewards can hold sway in any current organization management's objective to achieve high productivity and competitive edge in the 'market place'. Employees desire compensation system that they perceive as being fair and commensurate with their skills and expectations. Pay therefore is a major consideration in an organization because it provides employees with a tangible reward for their services as well as source of recognition and livelihood (Howard, 1993; Thwala et al., 2012; Abdullah et al., 2012).2. LITERATURE REVIEW2.1. Relationship between HRM Practices and Turnover IntentionIt is important for HRM to overcome employees' turnover intention. Issues encountered may be in the areas of shrinking pool of entry-level workers, individual differences, use of temporary workers, productivity and competitiveness, retirement benefits and skills development (Kotter, 1995). …
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present new empirical evidence of developments in eight automotive plants and interpret these through the application of a conceptual framework that distinguishes between the actors' orientations to action and social relations in specific exchange relations.
Abstract: This paper assesses developments in Japanese human resource management (HRM) practices and employment relations since the country's ‘post-bubble’ economic decline and in particular following the global financial downturn of 2008. Our research findings are broadly consistent with others that have provided a mixed picture of continuity, change and diversification but the most recent financial crisis has made the negotiated nature of workplace relations more apparent. These characteristics are not readily explained by conventional understandings of Japanese HRM as a culturally or institutionally determined phenomenon. We present new empirical evidence of developments in eight automotive plants and interpret these through the application of a conceptual framework that distinguishes between the actors' orientations to action and social relations in specific exchange relations. This framing allows a better assessment of the agency involved in the emergence of a more differentiated articulation and manifestation of ‘Japanese HRM’. We explain these dynamics through reference to strategic choice and the negotiations both between local and corporate managers, and between managers and trade unions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify from the current published evidence a disparity between China's professed strategic level of engagement and what happens at the organizational level, indicating that many Chinese organizations may be contributing to employment, but not to upskilling of workers, mutual learning, or engagement with local communities.
Abstract: China's international engagement is changing geopolitical dynamics to an extent that Western governments appear concerned. Negative reports of this engagement in Africa abound, not least in the area of employment relations and human resource management. Yet currently there is a lack of serious management research and theory development in this area, leaving international HR managers to rely on anecdotal information. The way Chinese management engages with African workforces may be quite different from Western managers�. The current work suggests that understanding this engagement should be informed by China's recent anti-imperialist involvement in Africa, its commercial motivation coupled with its political-seeking motive, the values such as paternalism that modify Western influences on Chinese HRM that are brought to Africa, and possible synergies with African values. Yet the current work identifies from the current published evidence a disparity between China's professed strategic level of engagement and what happens at the organizational level, indicating that many Chinese organizations may be contributing to employment, but not to upskilling of workers, mutual learning, or engagement with local communities
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine "managerial strategies" toward employment relations in three organisations with a focus on the "success" aspect of Hyman's partial failure notion, and the respective management teams of each case study are involved in management strategies to lift the standard of how they engage with employees.
Abstract: The contradictory objectives of consent and control in the employment relationship means that there is no single best way of managing and furthermore, all managerial strategies are ‘routes to partial failure’ (Hyman 1987, p. 30). This paper examines ‘managerial strategies’ toward employment relations in three organisations with a focus on the ‘success’ aspect of Hyman's partial failure notion. The respective management teams of each case study are involved in management strategies to lift the standard of how they engage with employees. While the indeterminacy of labour ensures that managerial strategies will never be complete, we seek to better understand how collaborative approaches to employment relations, for example partnerships, can co-exist, complement, or contradict within organisations with more individualised approaches to managing people, for example, employee engagement.
Book•
13 May 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define the field and define the FIELD, and then propose a set of criteria for defining the field, including infrastructure and employment relations, alternative accounts, new insights, and comparative evidence.
Abstract: SECTION I: DEFINING THE FIELD SECTION II: INSTITUTIONS AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTS, NEW INSIGHTS SECTION III: COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE SECTION IV: SUBSTANTIVE THEMES SECTION V: REFLECTIONS
TL;DR: Based on a two-sided ethnographic study in Accra, this paper analyzed Chinese-Ghanaian employment relations from the perspectives of psychological contract, cross-cultural equity expectations and foreignness.
Abstract: Based on a two-sided ethnographic study in Accra, this paper analyses Chinese–Ghanaian employment relations from the perspectives of psychological contract, cross-cultural equity expectations and foreignness. Reaching beyond racially framed allegations of each other that are informed partly by politicized media discourses, structural analysis shows that mutually contradictory, culturally grounded expectations regarding their employment relationship are central to the understanding of conflict between Chinese employers and Ghanaian employees. Central to the frictions of mutual equity expectations is the feeling of existential vulnerability that – although particular for each group – is shared by both Chinese migrant employers taking high financial risks in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile environment and their local employees recruited almost exclusively from economically marginalized groups.
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of the state in industrial relations and the development of collective bargaining autonomy in three Southern European countries is analyzed and the impact of contradictory forces on the direction of change is discussed.
Abstract: This article analyses the role of the state in industrial relations and the development of collective bargaining autonomy in three Southern European countries. The starting point is the impact of contradictory forces on the direction of change. While there are strong pressures towards less state regulation of working conditions and collective bargaining, the macroeconomic framework of monetary union imposed new coordination requirements upon these economies. Social pacts in the 1990s and 2000s provided a mechanism of state-coordinated governance while at the same time helping to enhance negotiated self-regulation. Nonetheless, significant cross-national differences remained in the extent and form of autonomous collective bargaining and in its outcomes. The structural challenges facing social partners in these countries, together with an emphasis on institutional strategies of revitalization, left them in a weak position at both company and national levels to face the challenges brought on by the crisis. Thus recent developments show a clear pattern of increased unilateral state interference, which raises important questions regarding the future of bargaining autonomy and the role of trade unions.
TL;DR: In this article, the impact of human resource practices that can alter the negative effect on the organization due to high employee turnover is discussed, such as compensation and benefit, performance management, training and employee relations.