Transnational employee voice and knowledge exchange in the multinational corporation: The European Company (SE) experience

Abstract

The European Company ( Societas Europaea, SE) regulations include the highest mandatory provision for negotiation of transnational employee voice. What are the effects of transnational employee voice, enacted at works council and board levels, on knowledge exchange within the multinational corporation? This qualitative study of globally active SEs incorporated under the SE regulations that have ‘dual-forum’ transnational employee voice addresses that research gap. Our main contribution reveals that, over time, transnational employee voice facilitates multifaceted knowledge exchange, both widening the platform and strengthening relations for intra-multinational corporation collaboration. Alongside expressing labour interests as intended, dual-forum transnational employee voice stimulates managers and employees to develop mutually beneficial competencies and trust. These aid multilateral knowledge exchange. That knowledge, which includes factors affecting employees and quality of organizational and work life, also includes insights into country-specific market, industrial and operational issues. Importantly, dual-forum transnational voice fosters development of a participatory culture across the multinational corporation. Robust multifaceted knowledge exchange generates better-informed and more productive decision-making that yields plural socio-economic value.

Recalling the moral dimension: Transnational labour interests and corporate social responsibilities

“…Those strategic capabilities include actors' skills in spanning boundaries, managing conflict and shaping and transferring collective knowledge. These are observed similarly by Kristensen and Zeitlin (2005), Ferner et al (2012) and Fiedler et al (2021) at transnational levels. Sydow et al (2014) and Helfen and Sydow (2013) identify the role of key actors and their gaining multi‐party credibility.…”

Project‐based work in times of COVID‐19: A dynamic framework for knowledge exchange

“…Knowledge exchange is a process in which the implicit knowledge, embodied in individuals, teams, and organisations, is expressed and shared in a manner that is aimed to enhance the parties of the exchange (Fiedler et al, 2021 ; Sedighi et al, 2018 ). Accordingly, the exchange is stimulated in a supportive environment in which individuals constantly discuss their assumptions and shape and reshape ideas through knowledge networks, inter‐company alliances, and social groups.…”

Keeping It Quiet? The Micro-Politics of Employee Voice in Company Strategic Decision-Making

“…Much scholarly attention investigates the various combinations of these three forms of voice, enabling and constraining forces, and evaluations of their outcomes (Marchington, 2015). Some research points to the influence of inter-actor communication and relational qualities that affect at a micro level the chances of employee interest items gaining salience and being included on the discussion agenda and achieving positive outcomes (Casey and Delaney, 2019; Fiedler et al, 2020).…”