Documents Oxenbridge, Sarah 7 results

"A recent article in this journal provided a critique of the design of the Survey of Employees Questionnaire within the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The principal criticisms concerned the use of vague response categories, double-barrelled questions, needless ordinal measurements and the use of multiple binary items in place of ordinal or scalar measures. The critique highlighted some areas worthy of attention but we argue that, in other areas, it took insufficient account of the survey's core objectives and of the practical and financial constraints guiding its design. We offer a broader assessment of sources of error within the WERS 2004 Survey of Employees. "

"The current popularity of 'partnership' in workplace industrial relations raises the question of the durability of such arrangements. This article investigates the stability of cooperative employer–union relationships by means of case studies. It analyses perceptions of the experience of negotiation and consultation. Continuing net benefits are reported both by managers and by union representatives in workplaces where cooperative relationships are robust. The benefits come primarily from the informal consultative processes and levels of trust that are engendered. Nonetheless, parties to the relationship, however robust they were, faced substantial challenges to their efforts to diffuse and sustain cooperative working. It is concluded that cooperative relationships are likely to be stable where employers wish to maintain an independent employee voice, especially where workplace union density remains relatively high."

"We report how trade unions and employers initially reacted to the introduction of the statutory recognition procedure in the Employment Relations Act 1999 (ERA). Interview data indicate that the ERA and the drift of EU influence have acted to shift employer attitudes towards greater approval of unions and have accelerated the rate at which employers are redesigning their relationships with unions. Although they are restricting unions' influence over traditional issues such as pay-setting, employers are increasingly seeking their assistance in implementing organizational changes. We explore the impact of these developments on union activity and on collective representation more broadly."

"This paper examines the experiences of Qantas and Aer Lingus. The two companies have a shared history as national, 'legacy' (full-service) carriers and strategically important, 'benevolent' employers. More recently, both airlines have been forced to change in the face of competition from low cost carriers (LCCs) and external threats to their existence. In this paper, we examine how the two airlines have reacted to these pressures. We look at the role played by institutional frameworks and competitive circumstances in determining industrial relations strategies. The entry of LCCs and changes (or potential changes) to ownership structures through privatization and takeover bids have led to downward pressure on pay and conditions at both airlines. Accordingly, a key issue considered is whether a collectivist model of employment relations can survive in the face of low cost competition. "

"Inside the Workplace provides an in-depth exploration of the findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS 2004), the fifth in the series of surveys conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), and the Policy Studies Institute (PSI). The WERS series is widely regarded as providing one of the most authoritative portraits of contemporary employment relations at the workplace in Britain.
Across Britain, managers and worker representatives were interviewed in over 3,000 workplaces. Over 20,000 employees returned completed questionnaires. The survey links the views from these three parties, providing a truly integrated picture of employment relations within workplaces.
As well as providing an up to date account of the state of employment relations in Britain, this book will also provide information on the changes that have occurred since the last survey was conducted (1997/8). Eagerly anticipated, Inside the Workplace will highlight change in a number of areas affected by government policy, including the Working Time Directive, equal opportunities, work-life balance, workplace conflict and statutory trade union recognition procedures.
Inside the Workplace provides a unique contribution to the study of employment relations and an invaluable resource for students, academics and practitioners in the fields of employee relations, human resource management, organizational behaviour and sociology."