We develop a theoretical framework to examine three hypotheses on the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organisational performance in European firms. The first is ...that collaborative forms of HRM practice are more strongly associated with superior firm performance than calculative forms. The second is that these associations are strongest where national institutional and normative settings support them. The third is that employer–employee consultative committees and collective payment methods are also associated with superior firm performance. The first two propositions are strongly empirically supported, as is the third, albeit more weakly. The implications of the findings for European policy and Varieties of Capitalism theory are discussed.
Purpose - This paper examines the challenges facing China's employment relations after its WTO accession and consequently, the implications for further reform.Design methodology approach - ...Theoretical questions are considered in relation to the debate on globalization vs the nation-state over political, economic and social issues. By examining the challenges from both internal and external sources, the paper investigates the impact on the employment relations system at both macro- and micro-levels.Findings - The major finding of this paper is that the current system of employment relations system in China is in the process of transformation towards a "hybrid" model combining authoritarianism and neo-corporatism.Originality value - This paper provides the most recent analysis on the impact of WTO accession on the changing pattern of employment relations in China. It helps people who are interested in transitional economy in general and in China in particular to have a better understanding about the transformation of employment relations system under the influence of different forces.
Over the last decade, Chinese authorities have pressed foreign multinational companies to recognize official trade unions. Employing cross-classified multilevel modeling on a large data set (10,108 ...foreign-owned firms cross-embedded in 32 home countries and 755 Chinese cities), this study examines the antecedents of the varied positions of foreign-owned firms toward union recognition around the midpoint of the first decade of the 2000s—a time when the government-led union recognition campaign in China was gaining strength. Drawing on a dual institutional pressure perspective, the authors theorize that the likelihood that a foreign-owned firm will recognize a union depends on both the industrial relations system in the home country and the location of its operations in the host country. Specifically, a foreign-owned firm is more likely to recognize unions if it originated from a nation where the legitimacy of collective representation is high and if it is located in a Chinese city where union recognition is prevalent among Chinese-owned firms.
The article examines how and why a new independent trade union was established in McDonald's Japan in 2006. We discuss these developments both within the McDonald's 'system' and the broader context ...of the growth of community unions in the Japanese employment system. The findings suggest that the 'McUnion' could be seen as a new form of trade union organizing in Japan; unlike an enterprise union it is independent of the employer and recruits 'non-regular' workers, yet unlike most community unions is established in one large employer, on a national rather than regional basis, has largely retained its membership and was established and operates with the direct involvement of the main Japanese Trade Union Confederation, Rengo.
Using data from German manufacturing establishments, this article examines the relationship between works councils and employment growth. Taking the endogeneity of councils into account, the ...estimates show a positive growth effect of works councils. This suggests that the performance-enhancing voice role of German works councils dominates their monopoly role. Moreover, the findings of this study support the hypothesis that workers are more likely to implement a council to protect their quasi-rents when the establishment is facing a long-term crisis.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of internal communication based on intangible resources rather than organizational boundaries.Design methodology approach - The paper ...reviews the resource-based theory of the company, the constructivist theory of communication and the situational theory of publics. It then proposes a resource model (RM) of internal communication based on interactive processes aimed at creating two catalytic resources for organizing: knowledge and allegiance. The field research explores whether this model captures the concept of internal communication prevailing in business, based on interviews with ten internal communication managers in Italian companies.Findings - The companies in this paper display a strong awareness of how intangible resources, such as knowledge and employee attitudes, contribute to the company's success. Consequently, they seek to promote active communication behaviours among employees. The RM depicts many characteristics of the way managers currently perceive internal communication.Research limitations implications - Because of the qualitative nature of the research, the results do not have universal validity.Practical implications - The paper suggests that the main function of internal communication departments is no longer to transmit messages but to promote active communication behaviours at all organizational levels.Originality value - The paper suggests a definition of internal communication that would help to generate the intangible resources that fuel organizations: knowledge and allegiance. It supports a new focus on active communication behaviours of employees.
Purpose – Providing employees with meaning in their work has inspired numerous researchers to study the role of personal meaningful work and its related outcomes. Despite this high level of interest, ...the theoretical views and methodological approaches used to explore this concept still require refinement and development. Without a comprehensive review of these views and approaches, the concept of meaningful work will remain an ill defined notion. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap with a review of the theoretical and empirical research on meaningful work. Design/methodology/approach – The paper includes a discussion on the concepts of “meaning” and “work”, and its importance and the sources for conceptual confusion, and a synthesis of the common features that form the idea of meaningful work in numerous empirical and theoretical studies. Findings – The paper found meaningful work is derived when the employee has a perfect understanding of the nature and expectations of the task environment (i.e. the work has a clear goal, purpose and value that is connected to the employee), the employee feels a sense of fit or congruence between their own core values and the job requirements and organizational mission and goals, and when perfect understanding exists of how employees’ roles contribute to the purpose of the organization. Practical implications – As part of an effective HRM strategy, organizations should actively encourage and develop managers’ abilities to redesign jobs and the climate to build enhanced feelings of meaning in work. Furthermore, organizations can promote greater experiences of meaningful work among employees by implementing the “job crafting” concept. Also, the role of top management is to focus on job elements that would possibly change personal needs of employees and hence perceive their jobs to be more meaningful. Originality/value – Given the limited amount of recent literature focused on defining meaningful work, this paper provides valuable resources to help organizations succeed in their understanding of how to engage in creating meaningful work environment. It also examines the underlying features that constitute the meaningful work concept and offers guidance for future research by presenting the current state of knowledge about meaningful work.
This article draws on a study of the experiences of (primarily non-unionized) minority ethnic workers in seeking advice and support for employment problems in the context of the decollectivization of ...employment relations in Britain. It focuses on one of the main recourses identified in the research, the Citizens Advice Bureau, its relationship with community organizations and with trade unions. Workers' testimonies about their experiences of help with workplace grievances are supplemented with views of advice providers, community-based organizations and trade unionists. Findings illuminate the specific experiences of minority ethnic workers, as well as similarities with majority ethnic non-unionized workers and highlight the paucity of individual employment advice and a growing crisis for workers' rights with the decline in collective union representation.
Purpose - Drawing on the contingency perspective of leadership, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between transactional leadership and team innovativeness by focusing on the ...moderating role of emotional labor and the mediating role of team efficacy. The authors propose and empirically test the hypothesis that the relation between transactional leadership and team innovativeness is negative when the level of emotional labor is high whereas the relation is positive when the level of emotional labor is low. The authors further examine the process mechanism of this interactive effect by testing the mediating role of team efficacy.Design methodology approach - In total, 90 Chinese work teams, comprising 462 members and 90 team leaders, were surveyed. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed and moderated causal steps approach applied to test the authors' mediated moderation model.Findings - As predicted, transactional leadership was negatively associated with team innovativeness when emotional labor was high whereas the association was positive when emotional labor was low. Team efficacy mediated the interactive effects of transactional leadership and emotional labor on team innovativeness.Research limitations implications - The paper contributes to the contingency perspective on transactional leadership and team innovativeness by identifying emotional labor as an important moderator and team efficacy as a critical mediator, yet methodological limitations do exist in the study. Although data were collected from multiple sources to avoid common method variance, the design was cross-sectional, which limits the authors' ability to make robust inferences of causality.Originality value - By examining both the moderating and mediating effects, the paper contributes to uncovering the black box in which transactional leadership exerts an influence on team innovativeness.
This study examines the antecedents and outcomes of labor-management cooperation. Data were drawn from 305 branches of a large unionized Australian-based multinational banking organization. The ...authors find that perceptions of a cooperative labor relations climate were positively influenced by procedural justice, the union's willingness to adopt an integrative approach to bargaining, and management's willingness to share information freely with the union. The findings also indicate that a cooperative labor-management relationship contributed to higher productivity and improved customer service. In addition, organizational commitment was found to have a positive effect on branch-level productivity and customer service, and union loyalty was associated with lower absenteeism.
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