Privatisation,corporate control and employment growth: Evidence from a panel of large Polish firms, 1996–2002

Using data on Polish firms this paper examines the relationship between corporate control structures, sales growth and the determinants of employment change. Privatised and de novo firms are the main drivers of employment growth; in the case of de novo firms, it is foreign ownership which underpins the result. Being privatised has a positive impact on employment but this is concentrated within a range of 3–6 years after privatisation. There are no systematic differences in employment response to negative sales growth across the ownership categories. Employment in state firms is less responsive to positive sales growth. From these results we infer that the behaviour of state firms is affected by both insider rent sharing and binding budget constraints.     

Comparing modes of privatisation: a study of the telecommunications sectors in Argentina and Mexico, 1990–2000

This article examines the variation in the post‐privatisation pattern of labour and employment relations in the telecommunications sectors of Argentina and Mexico. The findings suggest that the initial mode of privatisation—negotiated vs. imposed reform—shaped changes in employment, subcontracting and work rules in the period following privatisation. The research also suggests, however, that negotiated reform is more likely to emerge only when certain political incentives are present.     

Employers and child workers: an institutional approach

This article explores employers' perspectives on the introduction of child employment legislation in Australia 1 through the lens of the three pillars—regulative, normative and cultural‐cognitive—of institutional theory. The study extends the traditional industrial relations (IR) focus on regulation to examine how human resource (HR) practices around child employment become legitimised, normalised and socially supported.     

Externalizing the core: Firms' use of employment intermediaries in the information and communication technology industries

Recent research suggests that nonstandard employment relations may be a source of innovation for the firm. In this article, we analyze firms' strategic correlates and perceived benefits from using two types of employment in‐termediaries—consulting firms and temporary help agencies—in their core activities. Organizations with an innovation strategy are more likely to use consulting firms in their core activities, while organizations that compete on the basis of low cost are more apt to use temporary help agencies. Moreover, managers say that consulting firms are more likely than temporary help agencies to provide them with special competencies in their core activities. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of guanxi networks on the employment relations of rural migrant women in contemporary China

Based on qualitative data collected from Beijing, Shantou and 30 villages in Hebei and Henan with rural women migrants, their family members and employers, this article examines how guanxi networks influence rural migrant women's employment relations, and how they are exploited by their employers through guanxi. Research on guanxi often demonstrates its positive side, whereas this article examines the other side of guanxi—the abuse of such connections in the process of employment relations.     

The council approach to collective bargaining: A report on 3 real world precedents

What will come of the unique situation in public employment to test, develop, refine, and advocate new dimensions in all employer-employee relations? Experimentation is proceeding in several states with several different approaches. The most successful mechanisms may be combined into a total program and advocated—not only to other public employers—but to the private sector as well. The employee-council approach, discussed here, may be the most productive of the possibilities.     

Alternative balanced scorecards built from paradigm models in strategic HRM and employment/industrial relations and used to measure the state of employment relations and HR system performance across U.S. workplaces

This paper constructs alternative balanced scorecards based on high‐performance work system (HPWS) and employment relations system (ERS) models. The models are depicted and compared in diagrams and used as framework skeletons for building separate HPWS and ERS scorecards, intended to provide a detailed data picture of the operational health and performance of an organization's employment/HR system and its operations, processes, and inputs/outputs. The scorecards are filled in with nationally representative data from 2,000+ U.S. workplaces using more than 50 employment/HR indicators, as reported by separate panels of managers and employees. The indicators for each workplace are aggregated into an overall HR/employment system score, ranked from low‐to‐high, and graphed as frequency distributions. These distributions provide a unique snapshot picture of the mean and dispersion of the state of employment relations and HR system performance for companies across the United State. They also reveal that “models matter” since the HPWS and ERS scorecards provide distinctly different evaluation assessments.     

Privatisation of the Royal Mail: Third Time Lucky?

The Conservatives privatised most of the UK's state‐owned industries during the 1980s and 1990s, but the Royal Mail remained under public ownership. It was privatised through a public flotation in early October 2013 when around 70 per cent of the company's shares were sold by the government. This paper looks at the reasons why the enterprise was not sold earlier. It especially focuses on the failed attempt to privatise it in 1993/4, although other occasions when privatisation was contemplated are mentioned. The discussion draws on government papers that are closed to the public under the 30‐year rule but to which the author had access as the UK government's Official Historian of Privatisation. The study demonstrates that in the past a combination of lukewarm support for privatisation at the prime ministerial level, concerns about the political consequences (including a possible revolt in Parliament), and trade union opposition proved decisive in preventing privatisation of the Royal Mail.     

Economic restructuring and state intervention in Holdenist suburbia: understanding urban poverty in Australia

From the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s a particular conjuncture of capital-state relations formed in Australia, leading to the development of a distinctive urban form —‘Holdenist suburbia’: built by government; of a large scale and uniform appearance; constructed of poor quality, cheap materials; home to relatively high percentages of public renters; comprised of predominantly working-class families; adjacent to manufacturing employment; and stigmatized. An examination of one such Holdenist suburban estate in 1966 and 1991 illustrates how certain aspects of economic restructuring and state intervention have forged such spaces as sites of urban poverty. With the broad aim of connecting Australian urban studies to ongoing international debates about the nature of contemporary urban poverty, it is noted that distinctive characteristics of Australian urban and welfare state development render the application of concepts derived from different cultural settings problematic. This paper makes two points. First, a ‘finer-combed’ interpretation of Australian postwar suburban development is required to delineate the role of the state in shaping a particular urban form during this period — the Holdenist suburban form. Second, this delineation is particularly important to understanding contemporary urban poverty in Australia, for the social provisions of state policy have, in contradictory fashion, both prevented the full development of outcast ghettos (Marcuse, 1996) and, in conjunction with the processes of economic restructuring, forged sites of urban poverty.     

The Saliency of Synecdoche: The Part and the Whole of Employment Relations

ABSTRACT Literary and rhetorical tropes invoke a transference of meaning from the common usage of a word or phrase. Organizational analysis research and writing in this area has concentrated upon the trope of metaphor. In this article it is argued that we should extend our attention to other tropes. To that end, the article identifies and illustrates the saliency of the trope of synecdoche through a discussion of employment relations. Following a brief identification of metaphor within writings on employment relations, the article goes onto discuss synecdoche as one of the ‘four master tropes’. We then argue that the trope is important in relation to how we write about and understand employment relations. Use of the trope is then illustrated through analysis of interview comments on local pay in the National Health Service. Finally, the saliency or prominence of synecdoche is argued through two related arguments, the nature of the rhetorical setting and the rhetorical nature of the employment relations setting.     

Employment relations in small commercial businesses in China

There has been a growing interest in the way patterns of employment relations are changing in China. However, there remains insufficient understanding in employment relations in small private businesses. This study of small businesses in China explores major issues in employment relations in these firms. The finding shows that there are major differences between large and small businesses in China in their employment practices and that considerable similarities exist between small firms in China and those in other countries.     

Labour market developments in the new EU Member States

The impact of the latest EU enlargements—with the arrival of 10 new Member States in May 2004 and the addition of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007—had been a subject of concern given their low initial living standards (around half the EU average). In practice, the experience has been largely positive, with strong inward investment and significant improvements in economic growth, employment and incomes, especially in the last two years. However, regional imbalances have worsened—notably between city regions and others—and job prospects for the unskilled have declined dramatically. Moreover, because industrial relations systems in the new Member States remain seriously underdeveloped, progress in embracing the EU social model (in all its diversity) is slow and uneven.     

Achieving a 10% Cut in Europe's Carbon Dioxide Emissions using Additional Excise Duties: Coordinated,Uncoordinated and Unilateral Action using the Econometric Model E3ME

Coordinated, uncoordinated and unilateral policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10% in 11 member states of the European Union (EU) by 2010 are compared with unilateral policies in each member state. The paper presents the results from four projections using a large-scale, integrated, regionalized E3 model of the EU (not a general equilibrium model) estimated on time series, cross-section data for 1968—93 with international trade treated as between each member state and a European transport and distribution network. The 10% reduction is achieved by additional excise duties incremented every year from 1999 to 2010, according to the carbon contents of fuels, with special treatment of electricity (taxed on outputs not inputs) and with revenues recycled via reductions in employers' social security contributions. Multilateral coordinated policies require a common tax rate of 156 Ecus per tonne carbon (1999 prices), which rises to an average of 162 Ecu/tonne, with a wide range between regions when policies are uncoordinated. All the tax shift projections show double dividends of emission reduction and employment gain for all member states. Unilateral policies do not show much carbon leakage and they show smaller gains for output and employment. The results are compared with those from a general equilibrium model (GEM-E3), tackling the same topic.     

The meaning of work,employment relations,and strategic human resources management in Israel

The paper deals with the meaning of work, employment relations, and strategic human resources management. First it shows that Israeli workers have become more individualistic and materialistic, and less collectively oriented, as instrumental achievements outweigh contributions to society. These issues apparently influence employment relations and organizational policies. Next, it deals with the corporatist employment relations system, based on tri-partite collective bargaining among employees, employers, and the state. During various times, the relative balance of power among the three parties swayed considerably, according to major political, economic and social events taking place in society. The final section on strategic human resources management focuses on the transition of Israel's Human Resources profession, from the traditional HR role to the new Strategic Human Resource Management role. These three spheres have gone through some significant changes in the last several decades, perhaps not parallel to most industrial nations.     

Multinationals and changing national business systems in Europe: towards the ‘shareholder value’ model?

This article reviews recent development in employment relations in MNCs, within the context of the varied and changing business systems within Western Europe. Focusing on Germany, France, Sweden and the UK, we analyse both the effects of national corporate governance systems on MNCs, and the extent to which MNCs specifically, and globalisation more widely, have affected the nature of national business and employment systems. While elements of a move towards a more ‘Anglo‐Saxon’, economically liberal model of corporate governance and employment relations can be detected in all four countries, this is far from complete. Cross‐national differences in business systems within Europe therefore continue to exert effects upon MNCs.     

Insider-controlled Firms in Russia

Privatisation Vouchers in Russia were heavily invested in the holders' own firms. Using data from a recent survey, we show that insider control in firms privatised in 1992-4 through the voucher process (as distinct from the earlier leased buy-out method) is insecure and dependent on managers' support. For employees, investment in insider control appears to have been motivated by employment income insurance rather than expected excess returns on the equity. Managers are predominantly the same individuals as before privatisation and display considerable hostility to outside investors, probably because they fear dismissal should outsiders gain control. Despite insider control, firms are shedding labour quite rapidly through voluntary resignations. Employment dynamics appear to be unrelated to insider equity ownership. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The British Home Stores pension scheme: privatised looting?

On entering administration, British Home Stores owed its pension scheme £571 million—a significant employment relations issue of historical wage theft by investor–owner managers. The article locates ‘lawful’ looting of business assets in a framework that builds on Ackerlof and Romer's theory of bankruptcy for profit and connects this to an empirical narrative on business re‐structuring at British Home Stores towards administration.     

《劳动合同法》背景下高校劳务用工人员劳动关系分析

随着高等教育大众化和全球化的不断深入发展,高校正式编制的教职工很难满足高校不断发展的用人需要,形成高校内部规模较大的编制外劳务用工队伍。在新劳动合同法背景下,如何正确处理高校劳务用工人员劳动关系,避免用工风险,已经成为高校的当务之急。本文分析了高校人员结构及劳务用工人员劳动关系的现状,指出高校在处理劳务用工人员劳动关系方面应把握的几个重要环节,为建立高校健康和谐的劳动关系提供了合理化建议。     

Work,employment and engagement conditions in a female‐dominated public service occupation after restructuring/outsourcing

Most research on the phenomenon of public service restructuring/outsourcing focuses on lower skilled work in peripheral activities and typically provides an overview of effects on work, employment and employment relations. Through an in‐depth case study of probation, the intention of this article is to explore professional worker experiences of the restructuring/outsourcing of a core public service activity where the workforce is female dominated. The article highlights three dimensions of job quality that all suffered deterioration—work, employment and engagement. The case of probation adds to evidence demonstrating that employees experience adverse effects even though transfer regulations and union agreements supposedly protect workers. Probation also stands as an exemplar of impoverishment processes in a female‐dominated occupation which reinforces the view that public services can no longer be relied upon to provide high‐quality jobs for highly qualified women.     

Understanding wage restraint in the German public sector: does the pattern bargaining hypothesis really hold water?

German public sector wage restraint has been explained through the presence of a specific type of inter-sectoral wage coordination in the industrial relations system—that is, export sector-led pattern bargaining. First, as a literature-assessing exercise, this paper reviews the literature in industrial relations and comparative political economy (CPE) and finds that (i) the origins and mechanics of inter-sectoral wage coordination through pattern bargaining have never been laid out clearly; (ii) that the mechanisms of the pattern bargaining thesis have never been tested empirically; and (iii) that the CPE literature reveals an export-sector bias. Second, as a theory-testing exercise, hoop tests are performed to verify the pattern bargaining hypothesis. The key finding is that Germany cannot be considered a case of export sector-driven pattern bargaining, opening a new research agenda for the study of public sector wage setting centred on public sector employment relations, public finance, public administrations and the politics of fiscal policy.