Documents Poutsma, Erik 24 results

"This study investigates how nation-level cultural values (‘individualism' and ‘collectivism') and intra-organizational task control mechanisms influence the level of organizations' use of formal telework practices. Employing a multi-level analysis on survey data (2009/10), including 1577 organizations within 18 nations, we found that ‘high use of formal telework practices in organizations' was more likely when: (1) organizations operated in nations characterized by strong national values; and when they employed (2) ‘hard' indirect controls (i.e. individual performance-related pay and 360º performance-evaluations). High telework use was less likely when organizations employed direct controls (i.e. higher proportions of managers) and ‘soft' indirect controls (i.e. higher proportions of professionals). ‘Low use of formal telework practices' was more likely when organizations employed ‘soft' indirect controls. Our findings suggest that national cultural values can function as ‘soft' indirect controls to mitigate the ‘telework risk' of high levels of telework practices. Internal ‘soft' task controls only sufficed for managing low levels of telework practices. We discuss the smart and dark sides of telework and how these relate to the management of telework practice. Implications for future telework research and practices are discussed."

"This article compares the spread of broad-based individual performance-related pay practices (PRP) in Central and Eastern European (CEE) and Western European companies. The article investigates the dominance effect of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the constraining effects of industrial relations, i.e. collective bargaining and union influence. A key finding is that we did not find stronger influence by US MNEs compared with other MNEs. Regarding the determinants of industrial relations, in general decentralised firm-level bargaining supports the adoption of PRP schemes, whereas a greater degree of unionisation tends to reduce it. However, the latter effect is not found in CEE countries with their more permissive industrial relations system. The fact that there are high levels of broad-based individual PRP in CEE, that there is no negative association with unionisation and a positive relationship with firm-level bargaining and no effect of MNEs suggests that this practice is well established in firms in CEE. "

"This exploratory paper provides preliminary evidence on the distribution of various forms of variable pay-by-pay determination structure. Data is drawn from the CRANET survey of company human resource practices, and is used for 13 countries. These countries are divided into two regimes, those where pay determination is predominantly centralized and those where it is generally decentralized. The use of variable pay is compared between the two. The results are consistent with both institutional and resource-based perspectives."

"This special issue aims to bring together contributions that take a dynamic approach to the development of financial participation, employee share ownership and profit sharing. The approach is premised on the notion that companies have ‘space' to take a set of key decisions about financial participation. From different angles and experiences in different corners of the world, all contributions show that institutional pressures may be coupled with responses of different actors shaping the form and use of financial participation. The special issue also highlights the importance of future multilevel and mixed methods research to take into account the different institutional forces as well as actors decisions on different levels in shaping the form and use of financial participation."

"The impact of institutionalized contexts on the HRM activities of multinational firms has become a focus of increasing attention in recent literature. However, theories of how different types of business systems or market economies may influence HRM, and the impact of context on multinational corporations (MNCs) operating under these different conditions are still not fully tested. In this paper the influence of the extent of institutional embeddedness of different national contexts (based on varieties of capitalism theory) on the HRM activities of MNCs is explored through the use of extensive survey data from four countries: the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Evidence is found of differences in HRM practices between foreign- and domestic-owned MNCs, as well as between MNCs and domestic organizations. Although less than expected, the restricted amount of leeway within a coordinated economy also appears to have differential effects on the various HRM practices explored in these foreign and domestic organizations. "

"Using a unique data set of more than 2800 organizations in 19 countries, this article investigated the variations in adoption of workplace work–family arrangements and whether this variation can be explained either by differences in welfare-state contexts or by organization-related factors. Although the welfare-state context contributed significantly to the explanation of workplace work–family arrangements, the adoption of workplace arrangements was more strongly related to organizational conditions and characteristics. However, the results also show that when the development of work–family arrangements is mainly left to the market, as in the liberal context, employers do not fully make up for the absence of public provisions. The findings support the institutional argument that public provisions help to create a normative climate that gives rise to new social expectations and ‘a sense of entitlement' regarding work–family support. The study supports the rational choice perspective where both employers' institutional environments and organizational factors are viewed as resources and constraints influencing employers' decision to adopt work–family arrangements."

"This article uses a new data set on the incidence of financial participation in large publiclytraded firms in six European Union countries (Netherlands, France, UK, Finland, Spain,and Germany) to evaluate the possible complementarities between participatory practices.We find evidence that broad-based profit-sharing schemes are related to both direct and indirect participation, but we do not find this for broad-based equity schemes. In fact,broad-based equity schemes are negatively related to indirect participation. Stock option plans appear to be negatively related to all forms of employee participation. Overall, the paper shows that the various forms of financial participation have very different relationships with other forms of employee involvement and participation."

"This paper describes developments in broad-based financial participation of employees in their enterprises within the European Union (EU). Broad-based means that all or most employees are eligible for participation in the scheme, in contrast to selective schemes where only certain categories of personnel (in most cases higher staff and management) are eligible. The main objective of this paper is to provide a comparative overview on the nature and extent of financial participation in the EU in the 1990s. It is based on a review of available international research and publications, together with interviews with and reports from national experts. Special attention is given to types of employee share ownership and the relationship with the three other pillars of employee participation: direct participation, representative participation and collective bargaining. For this purpose, the report includes an analysis of the situation in ten countries, based on the findings of the 1996 EPOC (Employee Direct Participation in Organizational Change) survey."