Conjuring up Consultation: The Role and Extent of Joint Consultation in Post‐war Private Manufacturing Industry

Consultative Employment Relations in Human Resource Management Environments with a Union Presence

“…The findings for the multinational concur with those from case studies in the UK (McInnes 1985). Workers perceived consultation as undermining the union and they felt this was contrary to their own goals.…”

“…They argued that company and employee interests were synonymous and that employees should trust managers to act in their interests. These findings strongly support Ramsay (1997) and McInnes (1985). Moreover, management in both organisations was unsympathetic to trade unions, particularly to the representatives of unskilled workers.…”

The outcomes of works councils: the role of trust, justice and industrial relations climate

“…Early studies examined managers', stewards and employee attitudes to consultation in both unionised and non‐union companies (Marchington and Armstrong, ; Broad, ). Studies were motivated by a ‘renaissance of consultation’ debate (MacInnes, : 93) in the post‐war period and the ‘Japanisation’ debate as Japanese‐owned manufacturing plants spread across the globe and especially to the UK. Broad's study of a Japanese‐owned firm in the UK found the development of a ‘consensus culture’ problematic for the effectiveness of joint consultation.…”

A Review and Critique of Research on Developments in Joint Consultation1

“…The marginality model has been put most forcefully by MacInnes (1985) in this journal, but we are now fortunate to have more detailed information from which to draw in Cressey et a f . (1985).…”

“…In recent years, there has been a renewed debate about the extent and nature of joint consultation within British industry. Evidence has been produced from a number of surveys about the extent of consultation, and the degree to which this may or may not have changed since the early to mid 1970's (Brown, 1980; Daniel and Millward, 1983; Joyce and Woods, 1984; Edwards, 1985; MacInnes, 1985). Whilst most commentators are agreed that there has been an increase in the extent of consultation over this period, MacInnes dissents from this position, arguing that the statistical evidence available does not in fact provide evidence of expansion.…”