Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Employee Voice
Employee Voice
An International Comparison
Lecture Objectives
Critically evaluate The purpose and rational for employee voice; The varying forms and dimensions of employee voice; Employee voice within an international context; Case study analysis
Employee voice can be defined as the ability for employees to have an input into decisions that are made in organisations(Boxall and Purcell, 2003)
Humanistic Grounds
Related to employee satisfaction re: Creativity Achievement & social approval Self actualisation
Power sharing
Related to: Embedding democratic values Rejection of autocratic authority relationships Important element of industrial democracy A means of influence of management decisions
Related to: Organisational efficiency Critical importance of employee knowledge sharing Critical to competitive success Support enhanced employee commitment
Voice can be a positive efficiency enhancing alternative to employee exit due to dissatisfaction where employees are dissatisfied with some aspect of their job. (Hirschman, 1970)
Variation e.g Germany indirect voice via dual channel system UK contrasting single channel system USA either union based indirect participation or non union system of participation
Institutionalist Perspective Framework (Poole et al, 2001) Four sets of variable: 1. Macro level structural economic and technical conditions, cultural and ideological variables, and the politico-legal framework; 2. The strategic choices of the parties 3. The power of the parties 4. Organisational structures and processes at the level of the enterprise.
Regulatory and institutional forms of employment protection may be perceived as impediments to competitiveness and deter inward investors; The effects of mobile capital upping sticks and exiting from regions where collective bargaining(CB) is extant to those where it is absent; The effects of labour market segmentation around flexibility and contracted out workdifficult to identify the real employer for the purposes of CB Significant expansion in numbers in the informal economy, many of whom not employees who experience extreme representational insecurity. (ILO, 2000:9-12)
Cultural features predispose to promote or constrain the development of employee voice as well as to influence its articulation in particular ways, e.g. Useful to compare study of worker participation in Germany and Taiwan. (Han and Chiu, 2000:160)
International study of Trade Unions (Olney, 1996 and Jose (1999) Need to consider the external and internal Factors impacting on the ability of TUs to dominate the channel of voice including: Friendliness of the prevailing legislative climate to employers; Employees attitudes towards trade unions; Changes in the structure of employment; Rise in unitarism
Employee voice and restructuring at Lufthansa and British Airways (Turnbull et al, (2004); European Industrial Relations Observatory (2005b) The Cross Border Transfer of Employee Relations Practices Subsidiaries of US MNCS in the UK (Journal of World Business, Vol. 41, No. 1:66-80)
Reading Sources
Key Reading
Lucas R. Lupton B and Mathieson H. (2006), Human Resource Management in an International Context. Brewster C. Sparrow P. and Vernon G. (2008), International Human Resource Management, 2nd edition CIPD, Boxall P. and Purcell J. (2003) Strategy and Human Resource Management, London. Blyton P. and Turnbull P. (2004) The Dynamics of Employee Relations (3rd edition) London: Routledge. Han T.S. and Chiu S. (2000) Industrial democracy and institutional environments: a comparison of Germany and Taiwan, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Vol. 21: 147-82
Hirscham A. (1970) Exit, Voice and Loyalty. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Poole M. Lansbury R. and Wailes N. (2001) A comparative analysis of developments in industrial democracy Industrial Relations, Vol. 40 No. 3: 49-525 International Labour Organisation (2000) Your Voice at Work. Geneva: ILO RougledgeCella G.P. and Treu T. (2001) National trade union movements, in R. Blanpain and C. Engels (eds) Compariative Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Industrialised Market Economies. The Hague: Kluwer Law International Strauss G. (1998) An overview in F. Heller, E. Pusic, G. Strauss and B Wilpert (eds) Organisational Participation: Myth and reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Additional Reading