Improving social dialogue: What employers expect from employee representatives

Abstract

The model of social dialogue in organisations between management and employees is facing unprecedented challenges, and changing rapidly. In this new context of labour relations, experiences and expectations of each other are key drivers for the primary parties within this social dialogue. There has been little systematic research investigating the conditions for constructive social dialogue, particularly when it comes to 'soft factors', such as perceived competences, trust, influence and conflict behaviours. Addressing these issues based on theories of conflict, trust and influence, this article investigates the experiences and expectations of employee representatives (ERs) by human resource (HR) managers, their counterparts in social dialogue. The results of surveys conducted in 11 European countries indicate that, overall, employers found a model of structured dialogue with elected employee representatives useful. Furthermore, competences of ERs, cooperative conflict behaviours, informal relations and trust promoted the influence of ERs on organisational decision making and the quality of these decisions. We discuss implications for different systems of industrial relations. JEL code: J50

Employee Involvement and Participation as a Function of Labor Relations and Human Resource Management: Evidence from Greek Subsidiaries of Multinational Companies in the Pharmaceutical Industry

“…There are many theories concerning the role of HR in managing employee relations (Olšovská et al 2015;Townsend et al 2019). The role of HR is to facilitate employee participation through the planning, implementation, execution and assessment of HR policies and participation practices (Pender et al 2018). There is empirical evidence that high degree of employee participation does not lead to desirable results without strategic and systematic HRM policies (Smith 2021) Employee involvement and participation practices include: (1) direct downward communication (newsletters, email, intranet, and noticeboards); (2) direct two-way communication (team briefings, workplace meetings, staff newsletters, and the cascading of information via the management team); (3) direct upward feedback (problem-solving groups, and suggestion schemes); (4) direct financial participation (profit-related bonus schemes, deferred profit-sharing schemes, and employee share ownership schemes); (5) indirect participation (employee committees, employee representative structures, e.g., Trade Unions, Works Councils, and Joint Consultative Committees) (Gennard et al 2016, pp.…”

Human resource management practices at university spin-offs

“…Conceptually, social dialogue comprises all kinds of negotiations and consultations between representatives of governments, employers and workers on issues of common interest relating to economic, labor and social policies. These elements are crucial in the pursuit of a decent work agenda (Pender et al , 2018). In the specific context of university spinoffs, the existing social dialogue is rather limited or even nonexistent.…”

Healthcare workers’ survival in times of COVID-19: The need for social dialogue

“…Within the EU, these works councils have legal rights pertaining to information, consultation and co-determination. This means that management must inform and consult employees, and that they even need the approval of the works council on many issues, otherwise decisions may be blocked (Müller & Stegmaier, 2017;Mohrenweiser, Jirjahn, & Smith, 2020;Pender, Elgoibar, Munduate, García, & Euwema, 2018). In hospitals, such works councils also can have a great impact on decision-making, particularly when relationships with management are constructive (Van den Berg, Grift, & Van Witteloostuijn, 2009).…”