Conceptualising the dynamics of employee information and consultation: evidence from the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

The debate concerning the emerging regulatory environment for employee voice continues apace, in particular the requirements to inform and consult employees as a result of the European Employee Information and Consultation Directive. This article examines the processes used to inform and consult employees across 15 case studies in the Republic of Ireland. It evaluates different voice arrangements using a conceptual framework that seeks to capture the dynamics of different employee voice schemes across union and non-union companies. The findings suggest that participation is more robust when the channels for information and consultation accommodate both conflictual and cooperative processes. It is shown that robust forms of participation are more likely through processes which facilitate independent representation. The evidence also shows that some employers may devise their own counterbalancing forms of (pseudo) consultation, in an attempt to minimise the impact of regulatory rights for employee voice.

Hard law, soft edge? Information, consultation and partnership

“…Dundon et al (2003) similarly found that employees were much more likely than mangers to express misgivings about the scope and depth of information and consultation at their workplaces; they found Irish organisations to be significantly better at informing rather than consulting employees.…”

“…It is dealing with the challenges of managing change that has to a large extent driven the contemporary focus on employee involvement and partnership. However, the literature consistently shows that existing voice and participation arrangements, be they under the rubric of partnership (NCPP, 2004) or otherwise seem to be considerably more effective in dealing with incremental as opposed to transformative change (Dundon et al, 2003). It seems the more fundamental in nature the change facing the organisation, the less "say" workers are granted; in such situations, information tends to significantly predominate over consultation (ibid, p. 54).…”

“…Information, of course, is power and in the inherently unequal employment relationship, management may be unwilling to cede such power to employees, much less have employees encroaching onto managerial decision-making, through granting consultation rights. Thus, the positive effects of voice and involvement arrangements tend to be mediated by the level of, in particular, senior management support (Dundon et al, 2003). Similarly, the partnership literature has frequently emphasised the importance of partnership "champions" on the management side (Geary and Roche, 2003;NCPP, 2002).…”

“…In such cases, employees may perceive that management seek involvement only on "their terms" and only on specific management-driven agendas (Dundon et al, 2003). In terms of partnership structures, a criticism commonly levelled is that partnership fora become mere "talking shops", with a resulting lack of tangible and visible outcomes (Tailby et al, 2004).…”

“…voice, yet extremely difficult to regulate or legislate for (Dundon et al, 2006;Marlow and Gray, 2005). It might have been expected, however, that a more robust legislative framework (mandating, for example, some form of regularised interaction between employers and employee representatives) and a more positive response from employer and trade union leaders might have stimulated greater management, employee and employee representative interaction, and might have led to increased trust on all sides [4].…”