is the General Secretary of the GMB which corporately nowadays likes to describe itself as 'Brita... more is the General Secretary of the GMB which corporately nowadays likes to describe itself as 'Britain's General Union'. The GMB has more than 900,000 members in a very broad array of sectors including public services, energy, manufacturing, hotels and catering, clothing and textiles. In 1989 it amalgamated with the white collar union Apex. Edmonds is one of the most well-known public figures in today's trade union movement and he has held a particularly high profile role in recent controversies about one-memberone-vote in Labour Party elections. He was elected General Secretary in 1986 and re-elected in 1991. His union career began as a researcher in 1965 and he subsequently became a Regional Organiser, and a National Officer. He is a member of the TUC General Council and chairs a number of key TUC committees. The discussion is broadly divided into two sections. The first attends to Edmonds's reaction to new managerial initiatives and the second then concentrates on the unions' agenda.
A whole array of management‐led initiatives over the past ten years has resulted in a significant... more A whole array of management‐led initiatives over the past ten years has resulted in a significant shift in the basis of the employment relationship. In summary, this may be described as a move from “collectivism” to “individualism”. Highlights and describes the main elements of this and assesses the implications for the future of trade unions and collective bargaining.
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 2000
This article explores the industrial relations factors associated with the adoption of teamworkin... more This article explores the industrial relations factors associated with the adoption of teamworking and allied new working practices. A survey of trade union representatives in the UK steel industry reveals evidence that managers are less likely to introduce teamworking when they have to negotiate with trade unions. However, contrary to expectations derived from the existing literature linking teamworking with co‐operation, more conflict with unions was reported in workplaces where managers had introduced teamworking. In particular, when teamworking involved abandoning the distinction between process and maintenance work, conflict developed over health and safety and training issues. Union representatives were also more critical where managers sought teamworking for narrowly defined economic reasons, although union attitudes towards teamworking overall did not appear an important obstacle. However, formal agreements protecting workers, involving job security and redundancy provisions...
Abstract: In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, rem... more Abstract: In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration, and other human resource management practices by reviewing and synthesizing existing studies. We show that the impact tends to differ between buyouts and buy-ins, and argue that private equity is a heterogeneous phenomenon. Several issues that would benefit from further research are identified including the relative impact on employment, terms and conditions and job quality for managerial and non-managerial employees.
We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by ... more We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) and work-related disability disadvantage. We develop competing 'enabling' and 'disabling' hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance-related pay, teamworking and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer-employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. Although disabled employees report lower work-related well-being than their non-disabled counterparts we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.
Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format ... more Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
In this article, we explore the relationship between two different types of teamworking, percepti... more In this article, we explore the relationship between two different types of teamworking, perceptions of management rationales for introducing teamworking and organizational and human resource outcomes. Teamworking is classified into two different types: `high road' and `low road' teamworking. Management rationales for introducing teamworking are categorized as economic, social and cultural. Organizational performance is assessed by perceptions of plant competitiveness, customer care and product quality. We measure human resource outcomes through worker responses, training and promotion, communication and consultation, role of trade union and health and safety. The findings indicate that `high road' teamworking is associated with broader management rationales, and is perceived to have a greater positive impact upon both organizational performance and human resource outcomes. Particular features of high road teams - delayered management, flexible job descriptions, fewer pa...
This article assesses the extent to which employers displaying the Positive About Disabled People... more This article assesses the extent to which employers displaying the Positive About Disabled People ‘Two Ticks’ symbol adhere to the five commitments they are expected to uphold and whether adherence to these commitments is greater in Two Ticks than non-Two Ticks workplaces. It also assesses levels of employer support for and dialogue with Disability Champions in Two Ticks workplaces. These issues are explored in the public and private sectors separately. The analysis finds only limited adherence to the five commitments in Two Ticks workplaces, no consistent evidence that adherence is higher in Two Ticks than non-Two Ticks workplaces and limited evidence of support for and dialogue with Disability Champions in Two Ticks workplaces. It also finds little evidence of variation between public and private sector workplaces.
This paper draws on the Organisational Growth and Development (OGD) lifecycle model to extend und... more This paper draws on the Organisational Growth and Development (OGD) lifecycle model to extend understanding of congruence or 'best fit' theory within strategic human resource management (SHRM) debates on the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and performance. With reference to management control theory, economies of scale and the availability of specialist managerial skills, the paper hypothesises that while an HPWS-performance relationship might exist in small, medium-sized and large firms, the relationship will be stronger in large firms than in both small and medium-sized firms, and stronger in medium-sized firms than in small firms. Analysis of data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey demonstrates, however, that there is no association between HPWS and workplace performance in mediumsized firms, in contrast to the positive relationship between HPWS and performance found in large firms and between HPWS and labour productivity in small firms.
This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between unionization and the ad... more This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between unionization and the adoption of equal opportunities (EO) policies and practices in British workplaces, using data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results demonstrate an association between union recognition and the adoption of a range of EO practices. However, this association largely only holds where unions are able to influence EO decision-making via negotiation or consultation. There is little evidence that the equality practices adopted in unionized workplaces where negotiation and consultation does not occur are any different from those adopted in non-unionized workplaces.
This article assesses the contents of the majority of employer-union partnership agreements signe... more This article assesses the contents of the majority of employer-union partnership agreements signed in Britain from 1990 to 2007. Few agreements contain the expected partnership principles and most express modest overall aims and limited ambition. Typical agreements are substantively hollow with more than one-third containing no substantive provisions; and procedurally biased, with more than four-fifths offering unions greater involvement in employers’ decisions. Partnership agreements continue the procedural bias of traditional British collective agreements representing the lowest common denominator of agreement — unions work towards the success of the enterprise in return for involvement in employers’ decisions. The implications for New Labour’s Third Way approach and the policy of encouraging voluntary partnership agreements to promote fairness at work are considered.
In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on ... more In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on the basis of different combinations of ideological orientations and actions in collective bargaining. Four union branches are described, each making one of these different types of response when required to negotiate the introduction of teamworking in two steel plants. We report a wide variation in the subsequent outcomes from teamworking for management and workers in each department according to union response. However, no single type of response optimized all types of outcomes, suggesting union strategies involve important and purposeful trade-offs in outcomes.
This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar... more This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar large work sites. We consider whether the patterns of response are significantly different where change has been introduced through a more cooperative or a more conflictual bargaining process. In the cooperative negotiations that more typified one site, trade unions made concessions, generating both dissatisfaction with the terms under which teams were introduced and a decline in job satisfaction. At the site more characterised by conflictual negotiations, employees were more satisfied with teamworking after unions protected manning in teams, negotiated a pay increase for more workers and the side payment of a desired 12-hours shift pattern. The findings indicate how response to workplace change depended upon the terms under which teams were introduced, in turn shaped in important part by the process of negotiating change.
In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration,... more In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration, and other human resource management practices by reviewing and synthesizing existing studies. We show that the impact tends to differ between buyouts and buy-ins, and argue that private equity is a heterogeneous phenomenon. Several issues that would benefit from further research are identified including the relative impact on employment, terms and conditions and job quality for managerial and non-managerial employees.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1992
This paper outlines and analyses the major changes in workforce organization that have been intro... more This paper outlines and analyses the major changes in workforce organization that have been introduced by British and German steel producers in the past decade, against a backcloth of retrenchment in the industry, new product development and technological change. Including multiskilling, a reduction in demarcation and team-working, these changes have had a major effect upon the composition of the workforce and the nature of work undertaken at the shopfloor level. While these changes have had a common broad trajectory, they have been introduced at a different pace and in different forms. The contrasts are provided not only at the international level. but between plants in the same countries. The paper further outlines the response of trade unions to these changes and the implications for industrial relations at the shopfloor level.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2005
Although the productivity and survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be enhanc... more Although the productivity and survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be enhanced if they adopt human resource management (HRM) practices, there is a far greater degree of informality in employment practices in SMEs than in larger workplaces. The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which a range of factors both internal and external to the workplace predict the extent to which HRM practices have been adopted in SMEs. Using data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, the analysis reveals that differences in workforce skill-mix, unionization and the customer base are important influences, with the first of these influences being particularly strong. As such, we suggest SMEs may lack the capability to develop HRM practices, but they are more likely to adopt such practices if they employ highly skilled employees and are networked to other organizations Keywords SME; HRM; small firms.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1996
... should not be seen as the search for a formalized strategic human resource man-agement ... to... more ... should not be seen as the search for a formalized strategic human resource man-agement ... to change management attitudes, seeking to make managers more respon-sible for performance. ... Pressure for change came from the demands of auditing for British Standard awards. ...
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2005
Bibliographic data and classifications of all the ERIM reports are also available on the ERIM web... more Bibliographic data and classifications of all the ERIM reports are also available on the ERIM website: www.erim.eur.nl ERASMUS RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
is the General Secretary of the GMB which corporately nowadays likes to describe itself as 'Brita... more is the General Secretary of the GMB which corporately nowadays likes to describe itself as 'Britain's General Union'. The GMB has more than 900,000 members in a very broad array of sectors including public services, energy, manufacturing, hotels and catering, clothing and textiles. In 1989 it amalgamated with the white collar union Apex. Edmonds is one of the most well-known public figures in today's trade union movement and he has held a particularly high profile role in recent controversies about one-memberone-vote in Labour Party elections. He was elected General Secretary in 1986 and re-elected in 1991. His union career began as a researcher in 1965 and he subsequently became a Regional Organiser, and a National Officer. He is a member of the TUC General Council and chairs a number of key TUC committees. The discussion is broadly divided into two sections. The first attends to Edmonds's reaction to new managerial initiatives and the second then concentrates on the unions' agenda.
A whole array of management‐led initiatives over the past ten years has resulted in a significant... more A whole array of management‐led initiatives over the past ten years has resulted in a significant shift in the basis of the employment relationship. In summary, this may be described as a move from “collectivism” to “individualism”. Highlights and describes the main elements of this and assesses the implications for the future of trade unions and collective bargaining.
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 2000
This article explores the industrial relations factors associated with the adoption of teamworkin... more This article explores the industrial relations factors associated with the adoption of teamworking and allied new working practices. A survey of trade union representatives in the UK steel industry reveals evidence that managers are less likely to introduce teamworking when they have to negotiate with trade unions. However, contrary to expectations derived from the existing literature linking teamworking with co‐operation, more conflict with unions was reported in workplaces where managers had introduced teamworking. In particular, when teamworking involved abandoning the distinction between process and maintenance work, conflict developed over health and safety and training issues. Union representatives were also more critical where managers sought teamworking for narrowly defined economic reasons, although union attitudes towards teamworking overall did not appear an important obstacle. However, formal agreements protecting workers, involving job security and redundancy provisions...
Abstract: In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, rem... more Abstract: In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration, and other human resource management practices by reviewing and synthesizing existing studies. We show that the impact tends to differ between buyouts and buy-ins, and argue that private equity is a heterogeneous phenomenon. Several issues that would benefit from further research are identified including the relative impact on employment, terms and conditions and job quality for managerial and non-managerial employees.
We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by ... more We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) and work-related disability disadvantage. We develop competing 'enabling' and 'disabling' hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance-related pay, teamworking and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer-employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. Although disabled employees report lower work-related well-being than their non-disabled counterparts we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.
Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format ... more Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
In this article, we explore the relationship between two different types of teamworking, percepti... more In this article, we explore the relationship between two different types of teamworking, perceptions of management rationales for introducing teamworking and organizational and human resource outcomes. Teamworking is classified into two different types: `high road' and `low road' teamworking. Management rationales for introducing teamworking are categorized as economic, social and cultural. Organizational performance is assessed by perceptions of plant competitiveness, customer care and product quality. We measure human resource outcomes through worker responses, training and promotion, communication and consultation, role of trade union and health and safety. The findings indicate that `high road' teamworking is associated with broader management rationales, and is perceived to have a greater positive impact upon both organizational performance and human resource outcomes. Particular features of high road teams - delayered management, flexible job descriptions, fewer pa...
This article assesses the extent to which employers displaying the Positive About Disabled People... more This article assesses the extent to which employers displaying the Positive About Disabled People ‘Two Ticks’ symbol adhere to the five commitments they are expected to uphold and whether adherence to these commitments is greater in Two Ticks than non-Two Ticks workplaces. It also assesses levels of employer support for and dialogue with Disability Champions in Two Ticks workplaces. These issues are explored in the public and private sectors separately. The analysis finds only limited adherence to the five commitments in Two Ticks workplaces, no consistent evidence that adherence is higher in Two Ticks than non-Two Ticks workplaces and limited evidence of support for and dialogue with Disability Champions in Two Ticks workplaces. It also finds little evidence of variation between public and private sector workplaces.
This paper draws on the Organisational Growth and Development (OGD) lifecycle model to extend und... more This paper draws on the Organisational Growth and Development (OGD) lifecycle model to extend understanding of congruence or 'best fit' theory within strategic human resource management (SHRM) debates on the relationship between high performance work systems (HPWS) and performance. With reference to management control theory, economies of scale and the availability of specialist managerial skills, the paper hypothesises that while an HPWS-performance relationship might exist in small, medium-sized and large firms, the relationship will be stronger in large firms than in both small and medium-sized firms, and stronger in medium-sized firms than in small firms. Analysis of data from the British Workplace Employment Relations Survey demonstrates, however, that there is no association between HPWS and workplace performance in mediumsized firms, in contrast to the positive relationship between HPWS and performance found in large firms and between HPWS and labour productivity in small firms.
This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between unionization and the ad... more This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between unionization and the adoption of equal opportunities (EO) policies and practices in British workplaces, using data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results demonstrate an association between union recognition and the adoption of a range of EO practices. However, this association largely only holds where unions are able to influence EO decision-making via negotiation or consultation. There is little evidence that the equality practices adopted in unionized workplaces where negotiation and consultation does not occur are any different from those adopted in non-unionized workplaces.
This article assesses the contents of the majority of employer-union partnership agreements signe... more This article assesses the contents of the majority of employer-union partnership agreements signed in Britain from 1990 to 2007. Few agreements contain the expected partnership principles and most express modest overall aims and limited ambition. Typical agreements are substantively hollow with more than one-third containing no substantive provisions; and procedurally biased, with more than four-fifths offering unions greater involvement in employers’ decisions. Partnership agreements continue the procedural bias of traditional British collective agreements representing the lowest common denominator of agreement — unions work towards the success of the enterprise in return for involvement in employers’ decisions. The implications for New Labour’s Third Way approach and the policy of encouraging voluntary partnership agreements to promote fairness at work are considered.
In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on ... more In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on the basis of different combinations of ideological orientations and actions in collective bargaining. Four union branches are described, each making one of these different types of response when required to negotiate the introduction of teamworking in two steel plants. We report a wide variation in the subsequent outcomes from teamworking for management and workers in each department according to union response. However, no single type of response optimized all types of outcomes, suggesting union strategies involve important and purposeful trade-offs in outcomes.
This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar... more This paper examines patterns of worker response to the introduction of teamworking at two similar large work sites. We consider whether the patterns of response are significantly different where change has been introduced through a more cooperative or a more conflictual bargaining process. In the cooperative negotiations that more typified one site, trade unions made concessions, generating both dissatisfaction with the terms under which teams were introduced and a decline in job satisfaction. At the site more characterised by conflictual negotiations, employees were more satisfied with teamworking after unions protected manning in teams, negotiated a pay increase for more workers and the side payment of a desired 12-hours shift pattern. The findings indicate how response to workplace change depended upon the terms under which teams were introduced, in turn shaped in important part by the process of negotiating change.
In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration,... more In this article we consider the impact of private equity and buyouts on employment, remuneration, and other human resource management practices by reviewing and synthesizing existing studies. We show that the impact tends to differ between buyouts and buy-ins, and argue that private equity is a heterogeneous phenomenon. Several issues that would benefit from further research are identified including the relative impact on employment, terms and conditions and job quality for managerial and non-managerial employees.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1992
This paper outlines and analyses the major changes in workforce organization that have been intro... more This paper outlines and analyses the major changes in workforce organization that have been introduced by British and German steel producers in the past decade, against a backcloth of retrenchment in the industry, new product development and technological change. Including multiskilling, a reduction in demarcation and team-working, these changes have had a major effect upon the composition of the workforce and the nature of work undertaken at the shopfloor level. While these changes have had a common broad trajectory, they have been introduced at a different pace and in different forms. The contrasts are provided not only at the international level. but between plants in the same countries. The paper further outlines the response of trade unions to these changes and the implications for industrial relations at the shopfloor level.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2005
Although the productivity and survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be enhanc... more Although the productivity and survival of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be enhanced if they adopt human resource management (HRM) practices, there is a far greater degree of informality in employment practices in SMEs than in larger workplaces. The aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which a range of factors both internal and external to the workplace predict the extent to which HRM practices have been adopted in SMEs. Using data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, the analysis reveals that differences in workforce skill-mix, unionization and the customer base are important influences, with the first of these influences being particularly strong. As such, we suggest SMEs may lack the capability to develop HRM practices, but they are more likely to adopt such practices if they employ highly skilled employees and are networked to other organizations Keywords SME; HRM; small firms.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 1996
... should not be seen as the search for a formalized strategic human resource man-agement ... to... more ... should not be seen as the search for a formalized strategic human resource man-agement ... to change management attitudes, seeking to make managers more respon-sible for performance. ... Pressure for change came from the demands of auditing for British Standard awards. ...
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2005
Bibliographic data and classifications of all the ERIM reports are also available on the ERIM web... more Bibliographic data and classifications of all the ERIM reports are also available on the ERIM website: www.erim.eur.nl ERASMUS RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
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