Employee Involvement

1
Employee Involvement Participation

• Its all about power control!
• How should the power control be divided?

2
Perspectives

• Unitarist
• Pluralist
• Marxist

3
Frontier of Control (Goodrich)

• What is the demand for control?
• - the demand not to be controlled
  disagreeably?
• - the demand not to be controlled at all?
• - the demand to take a hand in controlling?

4
The Extent of Control

• Control that is allowed Vs that which is taken
• Negative Vs Positive control
• Customery Vs Contagious control

5
Three Levels of Control

• 1. Wages conditions
• 2. Techiques related to everyday work
• 3. Wider trade policy strategy formulation

6
Salamons Forms (1998)

• Industrial Democracy worker control
• Employee Participation influence decision
  making
• Employee Involvement engage support,
  understanding, commitment contribution

7
Continuum of Employee Participation

• No Receiving Joint Joint Employee
• Invlt. Info. Consult. D-M
  Control
• (Blyton Turnbull 1997)

8
Ramseys 4 Types

• 1. Task Involvement
• 2. Briefing Systems
• 3. Consultative Arrangements
• 4. Financial Participation

9
The Push for Participation

• Ideological
• Institutional (EU)
• Higher expectations
• Attitudes towards authority
• Alienation dissatisfaction at work
• Organisational change
• HRM

10
Issues

• Who initiates?
• Who determines the agenda?
• Extent (operational/strategic)
• Scope
• Form (direct/representative)
• Purpose

11
The Cynical View

• The rhetoric may be one of worker empowerment,
  employee participation and involvement , but
  the prime objectives remain more efficient
  production and more effective management control.
  
• Managers appear to support most employee
  involvement practices so long as these do not
  radically effect their control function within
  the firm.

12
Some Mechanisms

• Suggestion schemes
• Team working
• Attitude surveys
• Collective bargaining
• Quality circles
• Worker Directors
• Works councils

13
Direct Participation

• Team Working
• Quality Circles
• Attitude Surveys
• Suggestion Scheme

14
Indirect (representative) Participation

• Collective Bargaining
• Works Councils
• Worker Directors

15
Relevent EU Directives

• Fifth Directive (1972)
• Vredling Directive (1980)
• Social Charter (1989)
• European Works Councils Directive (1996)
• Directive on Information Consultation (2002)

16
Existing Irish Provisions

• Transnational Information Consultation Act
  (EWC) 1996
• Worker Participation Acts 1977/88
• Other pieces of employments law eg. Safety,
  Health Welfare Act, 1989, Protection of
  Employment Act, 1977 etc.

17
Worker Directors

• Ireland confined to the state sector
• Management View
• - articulate employee views
• - ensure employee commitment
• - reduce conflict
• Union View
• - alternative power centre undermining ability
  to challenge
• - positive development

18
Evidence of Limited Impact (Salamon 1998)

• Infrequency of board meetings
• Exclusion of worker directors from side
  meetings
• Role of the board is to endorse decisions
• Rely heavily on senior management for information

19
Move to Works Councils

• 1996 EU Directive
• All companies with over 1000 employees,
  operating in two or more member states, must
  establish a European Works Council

20
Works Councils

• A method of providing formal employee
  representation at workplace level to facilitate
  consultation and discussion of enterprise related
  issues between workers and management.
• Operates alongside collective bargaining.

21
Works Councils - Features

• Joint
• Common interest
• Co-operative
• Representative
• Union non-union
• Strategic operational

22
Works Councils - Rights

• Right to be informed
• Right to be consulted
• Right to independent investigation
• Right to co-determination

23
Cycles or Waves of Participation

• Cycles history of participation shows periods
  of development followed by periods of decay with
  little/no overall change (Ramsey 1983)
• Waves interest in participation ebbs flows
  at both the micro and macro levels (Marchington
  1992)

24
Four Common Problems

• Lack of continuity
• Lack of middle management support
• Adoption of inappropriate systems
• Employee scepticism

25
Trade Union Response

• Management emphasis on intrinsic rewards
• Primary motive productivity
• Attempt to undermine existing arrangements
• 2 Strategies
• Block
• Negotiate

26
Towards Partnership

• P2000 PPF
• Definition
• NCP/NCPP
• Evidence of practice?

27
Partnership (P2000)

• an active relationship based on recognition of
  a common interest to secure competitiveness,
  viability and prosperity of the enterprise. It
  involves a continuing commitment to improvements
  in quality and efficiency and the acceptance by
  employers of employees as stakeholders with
  rights and interests to be considered in the
  context of major decisions effecting their
  employment.

28
Exploring partnership (Irish local authority)

• - what initiates partnership?
• - what does it mean?
• - whats in it for the workers?

29
Exploring partnership

• The findings
• - their understanding of partnership
• - the unions and industrial relations
• - the issues addressed
• - the successes and the obstacles
• - the future

30
EU Information and Consultation Directive 2002

• This is the best opportunity ever, to reform the
  Irish industrial relations system. Prof Keith
  Sisson
• Right to be informed and consulted on matters
  currently affecting their jobs and those likely
  to impact on their future work life.

31
More About the Directive

• Deadlines
• 20/50 Threshold (coverage)
• Definitions
• Scope, timing, method
• Representatives
• Penalties

32
Definitions

• Information is the transmission, by the
  employer to the employees representatives, of
  data in order to enable them to acquaint
  themselves with the subject- matter and to
  examine it.
• Consultation means the exchange of views and
  establishment of dialogue between the employees
  representatives and the employer.

33
Employee Voice Some descriptive indicators
34
Employee Voice Some descriptive indicators
35
A Case of Good Practice

• In this organisation commitment to informing and
  consulting employees comes from the top. They
  employ multiple mechanisms for both purposes.
  Material is presented in good time and is broad
  and deep in scope. Both direct and
  representative mechanisms are used. Decisions can
  and do change as a result.

36
The Context

• Large MNC, financial services
• Voice champion at the top
• Biannual strategy roll-out
• Partnership forum
• Active EWC
• Focus groups (improvement)
• Team meetings published action plans
• Suggestions schemes (rewarded)

37
A Case of Poor Practice

• There is no real commitment to informing and
  consulting employees. The organisation pays lip
  service by having mechanisms in place that are
  not active. Employee representatives are
  marginalised. The preference is for direct
  mechanisms to be used for informing (at short
  notice). Decisions should not and do not change.

38
The Context

• Large MNC, distribution
• 95 union density
• Weekly team meeting (scripted)?
• Annual review (scripted) ?
• Performance appraisal ?
• Employee survey
• Electronic notice-board ?
• Union-management meetings ?

39
Issues for moving forward

• Opportunity Vs threat
• Representatives
• Coverage (50/20)
• Framework / Model - direction
• Trigger
• Facilitation and Training (NCPP, LRC)
• Redress

40
Conclusions

• There is a move towards more EI/EP
• Reasons
• Underlying motives
• Voluntarism Vs regulation
• Is regulation enough?