The John Lewis Partnership is one of Europe’s largest models of employee ownership and has been operating a form of employee involvement and participation since its formation in 1929. It is frequently held up as a model of best practice (Cathcart, 2013) and has been described as a ‘workers’ paradise’ (Stummer and Lacey, 2001). At the beginning of 2012, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK unveiled plans to create a ‘John Lewis Economy’ (Wintour, 2012). As John Lewis is being positioned at the heart of political and media discussions in the UK about alternatives to the corporate capitalist model of enterprise, it is vital that more is known about the experience of employee involvement and participation within the organisation. This article explores the ways in which the practice of employee involvement and participation has changed in John Lewis as a result of competing employee and managerial interests. Its contribution is a contemporary exploration of participation in the John Lewis Partnership and an examination of the ways in which management and employees contested the meaning and practice of employee involvement and participation as part of a ‘democracy project’, which culminated in significant changes and degeneration of the democratic structures.
Strategic workforce initiatives, such as flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are established at the executive level, yet executive support for FWAs has been given scant attention. This study applies Bowen and Ostroff's human resource (HR) process dimensions of distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus to explore how executives in a large Australian insurance company signal support for the implementation of flexible work policy to subordinate supervisors. The findings show that executives signal their support through explicit statements encouraging use of FWAs, through reporting, and by their own use of FWAs. Importantly, the findings also show that the strategic context influence how executives interpret and implement HR policy, in this case with an emphasis on profitability and risk aversion. This study contributes to knowledge about HR policy implementation and the role of executives in shaping a work environment supportive of FWAs.Keywords: executive, flexible work arrangements, human resource policy, strategic HRM, supervisor support Key points 1 A critical dimension of support for flexible work arrangements (FWAs) is for executives to send signals encouraging take-up. 2 Executives need to model the use of FWAs and monitor and explicitly encourage subordinate use. 3 Where policy is ambiguous, executives develop informal practices consistent with priorities in the business context. 4 To address policy-practice gaps in FWAs, human resource managers should work with executives to communicate policy intent.
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