IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecoind/v32y2011i4p591-608.html

How close can we dance? Labour–management partnership on a borderline

Author

Listed:
  • Monica Rolfsen

Abstract

Recent studies have examined whether labour unions will benefit from stepping out of their traditional role and into labour–management partnership. This article discusses the limits of such partnership, exploring the negotiations prevailing as the union representatives go so far into cooperation that it turns out to be controversial among their members. In order to understand this conflict, there is a need to clarify the content of the labour–management partnership. This article contributes first by presenting novel empirical material from an in-depth qualitative case study. This material indicates that controversies occur when the union representatives start acting like managers, are responsible for decisions that reduce the members’ benefits and distance themselves from the rank-and-file’s point of view. In addition, this article contributes by exposing that close cooperation in long-term development issues need not be controversial. Quite the contrary – this is mentioned as the most positive outcome of the partnership.

Suggested Citation

  • Monica Rolfsen, 2011. "How close can we dance? Labour–management partnership on a borderline," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 32(4), pages 591-608, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:32:y:2011:i:4:p:591-608
    DOI: 10.1177/0143831X10387837
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X10387837
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0143831X10387837?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Werner Nienhueser, 2009. "The Effects of Different Types of Works Councils on Bargaining Outcomes: Results of an Empirical Study," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 30(3), pages 372-400, August.
    2. Harvie Ramsay & Dora Scholarios & Bill Harley, 2000. "Employees and High‐Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 501-531, December.
    3. Vidu Badigannavar & John Kelly, 2005. "Why Are Some Union Organizing Campaigns More Successful Than Others?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 43(3), pages 515-535, September.
    4. Anthony Dobbins & Patrick Gunnigle, 2009. "Can Voluntary Workplace Partnership Deliver Sustainable Mutual Gains?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(3), pages 546-570, September.
    5. Peter Hasle & Niels Møller, 2007. "From Conflict to Shared Development: Social Capital in a Tayloristic Environment," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 28(3), pages 401-429, August.
    6. Joel Rogers & Wolfgang Streeck, 1995. "Works Councils: Consultation, Representation, and Cooperation in Industrial Relations," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number roge95-1, January.
    7. Michael Terry, 2003. "Partnership and the Future of Trade Unions in the UK," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 24(4), pages 485-507, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Uschi Backes-Gellner & Jens Mohrenweiser & Kerstin Pull, 2015. "The effectiveness of codetermination laws in cooperative and adversarial employment relations: When does regulation have bite?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 36(2), pages 215-238, May.
    2. Markku Sippola, 2019. "Dancing to the tune of the employer? Union–management relationships at Nordic subsidiaries in Russia," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 40(4), pages 913-931, November.
    3. Peter Hasle & Rikke Seim & Bjarke Refslund, 2019. "From employee representation to problem-solving: Mainstreaming OHS management," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 40(3), pages 662-681, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter Butler & Olga Tregaskis & Linda Glover, 2013. "Workplace partnership and employee involvement – contradictions and synergies: Evidence from a heavy engineering case study," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 34(1), pages 5-24, February.
    2. Catherine Casey & Helen Delaney, 2022. "The effort of partnership: Capacity development and moral capital in partnership for mutual gains," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 52-71, February.
    3. White, Michael & Bryson, Alex, 2018. "HPWS in the Public Sector: Are There Mutual Gains?," IZA Discussion Papers 11965, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Barry, Michael & Bryson, Alex & Gomez, Rafael & Kaufman, Bruce E. & Lomas, Guenther & Wilkinson, Adrian, 2018. "The," IZA Discussion Papers 11860, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Artz, Benjamin & Heywood, John S., 2020. "Unions, Worker Participation and Worker Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 705, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Zwick, Thomas, 2003. "Works Councils and the Productivity Impact of Direct Employee Participation," ZEW Discussion Papers 03-47, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. George Saridakis & Yanqing Lai & Stewart Johnstone, 2020. "Does workplace partnership deliver mutual gains at work?," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 41(4), pages 797-823, November.
    8. Michael Barry & Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez & Bruce Kaufman & Guenther Lomas & Adrian Wilkinson, 2018. "The ''Good Workplace'': The Role of Joint Consultative Committees, Unions and HR policies in Employee Ratings of Workplaces in Britain," DoQSS Working Papers 18-08, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    9. Zwick, Thomas, 2004. "Employee participation and productivity," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 715-740, December.
    10. Olivier Van der Brempt & Christophe Boone & Arjen van Witteloostuijn & Annette van den Berg, 2017. "Toward a behavioural theory of cooperation between managers and employee representatives in works councils," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 38(2), pages 314-343, May.
    11. Gregor Gall, 2018. "The uses, abuses and non-uses of Rethinking Industrial Relations in understanding industrial relations and organised labour," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 39(4), pages 681-700, November.
    12. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    13. Deakin, S. & Koukiadaki, A., 2011. "Capability Theory, Employee Voice and Corporate Restructuring: Evidence from UK Case Studies," Working Papers wp429, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    14. Uwe JIRJAHN & Stephen C. SMITH, 2018. "Nonunion Employee Representation: Theory And The German Experience With Mandated Works Councils," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(1), pages 201-233, March.
    15. Ariel C. Avgar & Niti Pandey & Kiwook Kwon, 2012. "Discretion in Context: A Moderated Mediation Model of the Relationship between Discretion and Turnover Intentions," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 106-128, January.
    16. Amanda Pyman & Peter Holland & Julian Teicher & Brian K. Cooper, 2010. "Industrial Relations Climate, Employee Voice and Managerial Attitudes to Unions: An Australian Study," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 460-480, June.
    17. Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser & Stephen C Smith, 2022. "Works councils and workplace health promotion in Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1059-1094, August.
    18. Surhan Cam & Serap Palaz, 2023. "Mutual interests management with a purposive approach: Evidence from the Turkish shipyards for an amorphous impact model between (subjective) well‐being and performance," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 40-70, January.
    19. Melanie Simms, 2015. "Accounting for Greenfield Union Organizing Outcomes," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(3), pages 397-422, September.
    20. Thorsten Schank & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2004. "Works councils - sand or grease in the operation of German firms?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 159-161.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:32:y:2011:i:4:p:591-608. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ekhist.uu.se/english.htm .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.