Trust in management: the role of employee voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between employee voice arrangements and employees' trust in management using data from the 2007 Australian Worker Representation and Participation Survey of 1,022 employees. Drawing on social exchange theory and employee relations literature, we test hypotheses concerning the relationships between direct and union voice arrangements, perceived managerial opposition to unions and employees' trust in management. Consistent with our predictions, after controlling for a range of personal, job and workplace characteristics, regression analyses indicated that direct voice arrangements were positively related to employees' trust in management. Union voice arrangements and perceived managerial opposition to unions were negatively related to trust in management. The article concludes by highlighting the study's implications for management practice and avenues for further research.

Partnership, collaboration and mutual gains: evaluating context, interests and legitimacy

“…At the same time, however, models of partnership may need to be developed for different sectors and groups of workers rather than assuming a one size fits all approach, and may also need to be integrated into a broader and supportive HR system to generate trust and achieve mutual gains across diverse workgroups (Alfes et al 2012;Holland et al 2012). HR and IR systems cannot operate in isolation.…”

“…Alternatively, collaborative relationships have been argued to be contrary to the long-term interests of workers and trade unions, typically underpinned by notions of managerial incorporation (Kelly 2004). Thus, over the past 20 years, the notion of workplace partnership, collaboration and associated mutual gains has resulted in very heated debates regarding employee representation and voice, and the extent to which mutual gains are actually realisable (Kochan and Osterman 1994;Holland, Cooper, Pyman and Teicher 2012). Other debates concern the concept of partnership in the absence of union recognition (Dietz, Cullen and Coad 2005;Johnstone, Ackers and Wilkinson 2010).…”

“…Despite this, partnership has been promoted as a public policy goal in liberal economies such as the USA, the UK, Ireland (Ackers and Payne 1998;Osterman, Kochan, Locke and Piore 2002;Dobbins and Gunnigle 2009) and, to a lesser extent, Australia (Holland et al 2012;Townsend, Wilkinson, Burgess and Brown 2013). The question is what factors sustain or hinder the enabling conditions for partnership?…”

Developing Positive Employment Relations

“…It should be noted that Australia, like the UK, has an ER system that has historically been predicated upon an adversarial relationship between management and unions (Holland et al 2012 ;Bailey and Peetz 2015 ). Within Australian workplaces, employer attitudes and the general ER culture have been identifi ed as major barriers to the establishment of eff ective representative works councils or similar bodies (Gollan and Patmore 2006 ;Gollan et al 2014 ) and, hence, to the promulgation of workplace partnership.…”

“…During most of the twentieth century, the high membership of Australian unions and their industrial and political strategies have helped some of the employees achieve substantial gains in wages and conditions, in turn moderating or reducing inequality (Peetz 2015 ). However, over recent decades, trade union density and infl uence in Australia have signifi cantly diminished (Holland et al 2012 ;Bailey and Peetz 2015 ). Trade union membership has reached a historical low of 17 %, with higher membership recorded in the public sector (42 %) than in the private sector (12 %) ( ABS 2014 ).…”