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Defence is the Best Offence: Horizontal Disintegration and Institutional Completion in the German Coordinated Market Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Markus Hertwig

    (Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany)

  • Johannes Kirsch

    (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)

  • Carsten Wirth

    (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, Germany)

Abstract

The article considers how (new) forms of horizontal disintegration, like onsite subcontracting, challenge and change the industrial relations institutions of the German coordinated market economy (CME). Focusing on firm-level co-determination practices, it analyses how works councils respond to strategies of onsite subcontracting and what effects their responses have for the employment system. Based on evidence from 12 case studies, it is argued that although onsite subcontracting might prompt institutional erosion, this does not pass uncontested. Rather, practices of network-oriented employee representation on the part of works councils might bring about an ‘institutional completion’, in this case, the institutionalisation of the network as an additional point of reference for employee representation. This may stabilise and even extend the scope of existing CME institutions through a process of ‘institutional upgrading’. In some areas of the economy, however, management and works council practices are more likely to exacerbate dualisation and social inequality.

Suggested Citation

  • Markus Hertwig & Johannes Kirsch & Carsten Wirth, 2019. "Defence is the Best Offence: Horizontal Disintegration and Institutional Completion in the German Coordinated Market Economy," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(3), pages 500-517, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:3:p:500-517
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017018772765
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Torben Krings, 2021. "‘Good’ Bad Jobs? The Evolution of Migrant Low-Wage Employment in Germany (1985–2015)," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(3), pages 527-544, June.
    2. Moshfique Uddin & Anup Chowdhury & Geoffrey Wood, 2022. "The resilience of the British and European goods industry: Challenge of Brexit," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 31(4), pages 934-954.
    3. Chiara Benassi & Lisa Dorigatti, 2020. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Challenge of External Work Arrangements for Industrial Manufacturing Unions in Germany and Italy," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 34(6), pages 1027-1044, December.
    4. Markus Helfen & Jörg Sydow & Carsten Wirth, 2024. "Inter-organisational human resource management and network orientation of worker representatives: a practice-based perspective," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 30(2), pages 181-206, May.
    5. Helfen, Markus & Wirth, Carsten, 2020. "Management von Arbeit in pluralen Netzwerkorganisationen: Trends, Deutungen und Handlungsoptionen," Working Paper Forschungsförderung 185, Hans-Böckler-Stiftung, Düsseldorf.

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