Abstract:This paper provides a nuanced insight into the workplace level interactions between a union and HRM systems within a union-management partnership arrangement. Soft outcomes of HRM systems typically suffer from compromised implementation by managers struggling to balance competing operational priorities, but we show how a union limits this poor implementation. Qualitative and documentary data were retrieved from a major UK retailer and a trade union to examine how union activity interacts with HRM delivery.Firs… Show more
“…improved productivity and enhanced quality of working life (Harley, 2020; Jo et al , 2020). Research indicates in a mutual gains environment, unionized workplaces can enhance the implementation and outcomes of the HPWS (see for example: Gill, 2009; Pyman et al , 2010; Gill and Meyer, 2013; Vernon and Brewster, 2013; MacKenzie et al , 2015; Cook et al , 2017). It follows that workplaces with a HPWS and a mutual gains ER arrangement may provide greater opportunities for employees to express organisation and employee-focused voice, as there will be pressure on the organisation to design voice mechanisms that facilitate both forms of voice.…”
Section: Integrated Model Of Employee Voice Systems and Behaviour Within Hpwsmentioning
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model drawing together and integrating research from employment relations (ER), human resource management (HRM) and organizational behaviour (OB) to identify how high-performance work systems (HPWS) encourage voice behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe authors identify shortcomings in research on the relationship between HPWS practices and employee voice behaviour, attributable to the disparate conceptualization of voice across management disciplines. The authors then present a conceptual model using the ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) framework to theorize how the ER climate influences the design of the HPWS and subsequently how the HPWS encourages voice behaviour. Practical implications and recommendations for future studies are provided.FindingsThe mutual gains ER climate will influence the design of the HPWS; in turn the HPWS' practices will influence line manager AMO to manage voice and the employees' AMO to engage in voice behaviour, resulting in the encouragement of both employer and employee interest forms of voice.Practical implicationsThe HPWS-voice behaviour interaction model sheds light on the types of HR practices organisations can implement to optimize employee voice behaviour.Originality/valueThe conceptual model demonstrates how ER, HRM and OB factors influence voice behaviour within a HPWS, which has not previously been considered by voice scholars. The integrated conceptual model encourages a multidisciplinary approach to studying employee voice in future research.
“…improved productivity and enhanced quality of working life (Harley, 2020; Jo et al , 2020). Research indicates in a mutual gains environment, unionized workplaces can enhance the implementation and outcomes of the HPWS (see for example: Gill, 2009; Pyman et al , 2010; Gill and Meyer, 2013; Vernon and Brewster, 2013; MacKenzie et al , 2015; Cook et al , 2017). It follows that workplaces with a HPWS and a mutual gains ER arrangement may provide greater opportunities for employees to express organisation and employee-focused voice, as there will be pressure on the organisation to design voice mechanisms that facilitate both forms of voice.…”
Section: Integrated Model Of Employee Voice Systems and Behaviour Within Hpwsmentioning
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model drawing together and integrating research from employment relations (ER), human resource management (HRM) and organizational behaviour (OB) to identify how high-performance work systems (HPWS) encourage voice behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe authors identify shortcomings in research on the relationship between HPWS practices and employee voice behaviour, attributable to the disparate conceptualization of voice across management disciplines. The authors then present a conceptual model using the ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO) framework to theorize how the ER climate influences the design of the HPWS and subsequently how the HPWS encourages voice behaviour. Practical implications and recommendations for future studies are provided.FindingsThe mutual gains ER climate will influence the design of the HPWS; in turn the HPWS' practices will influence line manager AMO to manage voice and the employees' AMO to engage in voice behaviour, resulting in the encouragement of both employer and employee interest forms of voice.Practical implicationsThe HPWS-voice behaviour interaction model sheds light on the types of HR practices organisations can implement to optimize employee voice behaviour.Originality/valueThe conceptual model demonstrates how ER, HRM and OB factors influence voice behaviour within a HPWS, which has not previously been considered by voice scholars. The integrated conceptual model encourages a multidisciplinary approach to studying employee voice in future research.
“…While this process of oppositional engagement was seen as important to protect members' interests (Cook et al., 2020), there was a clear tension for the unions in that adopting a strongly confrontational approach might compromise the informal day‐to‐day relationships with managers, but failing to challenge managers risked alienating their own members. Indeed some union members felt JCCs only served to ‘rubber stamp’ decisions that had already been made by managers behind closed doors rather than offering a genuine opportunity for negotiation around alternative proposals: How many times I've heard those words ‘it's a done deal [TU official, Local Council]…”
Section: The Institutional Legitimacy Of Restructuringmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In the UK, the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1 sets out minimum consultation periods where there is a risk of redundancy (known as Section 188), the offer of alternative internal employment, and the entitlement to redundancy pay (roughly 1 week per year of service). However, since 2012 workers in the UK with less than 24 months continuous service are not entitled to statutory redundancy pay, and the low level of trade union membership density outside the public sector means that collective consultations typically relate to the timing rather than substantive content of restructuring proposals (Cook et al., 2020; McLachlan et al., 2020). However, following legal rules such as these may be the least that workers and trade unions expect.…”
Section: The Institutional Legitimacy Of Restructuringmentioning
Drawing on institutional theory, this paper advances understanding of how restructuring practices are shaped by the organisational and institutional context and the concerns for legitimacy. Longitudinal case study findings from UK local government suggest a pattern of incremental deviance where repeated cutbacks are legitimised through a narrative of continuous improvement. This results in increased labour flexibility, work intensity and managerialism within services. We argue that the lack of resistance to change can be explained by the steady desensitisation of workers to repeated cutbacks as opposed to the inherent fairness of management actions. Through context‐specific research the theoretical and empirical distinctions between responsible and pure restructuring, and soft and hard Human Resource Management policies, are challenged.
“…Therefore, utilizing the power of other organizations may be an effective way to reconcile the dark side of HPWS and builds a fair and effective management system in the workplace (Guest, 2017 ). Trade unions are always regarded as facilitators to HRM through assistance and supervision in enterprises (Cook et al, 2020 ). For example, Chen et al ( 2018 ) found that union practice can create a harmonious labor-management atmosphere in the workplace, which improves the impression of the employees on the enterprise, thus strengthening the positive relationship between HPWS and the positive experience of employees.…”
Improving the well-being of the employees is the inevitable choice to improve corporate performance and competitive advantage and the social responsibility that enterprises must undertake. Based on the job demands-resources model, this study introduces perceived organizational support and work stress as the mediator and trade union practice as the moderator to explore the double-edged sword effect of a high-performance work system (HPWS) on the well-being of the employee. Taking 243 employees from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui as samples, we found that HPWS positively affects the well-being of the employee through perceived organizational support and negatively affects the well-being of the employee through work stress. Union practices can significantly reduce the positive effect of HPWS on work stress and further weaken the negative effect of HPWS on the well-being of the employee through work stress. The results of this study provide a new way to explain the impact of the HPWS on the well-being of the employees and find that union practice can weaken the negative effects of HPWS. This study provides a new thinking direction for improving the well-being of employees in enterprises.
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