Using the endowment effect to explain managerial resistance towards codetermination: Implications for employment relations from the German case

This article provides an innovative defence of codetermination by way of exploring two of the most significant theorised objections to it from neo‐liberal and libertarian perspectives, namely the defence of the right to manage as freely chosen by employees and employers alike, and the right to manage being the most efficient, lowest transaction cost mode of employee governance. Instead, we focus upon management preference emanating from the endowment effect, and manifested in management style and ideology, as a more credible explanation for management's support for its prerogative to manage. The endowment effect prompts both strong employer and manager objections to codetermination and weak employee willingness to seek it because humans place more value upon items currently in their possession than upon those they do not possess. We explore this argument by examining the experience of codetermination in Germany. The significance of our argument lies in identifying managerial preference as the key variable to be challenged and changed in order to pacify management opposition to codetermination through political, ideological, and institutional means.     

Whistle‐blowing in the digital era: motives,issues and recommendations

With the ever‐increasing popularity of social media, whistle‐blowing, which generally refers to the disclosure of organisational wrongdoing, has entered a new era. Whistle‐blowing via virtual platforms has transformed not just the channel of disclosure, but also the associated motives, processes and outcomes. The impact on the whistle‐blower, the organisation and the public can often be accelerated and is seen as being more significant than traditional whistle‐blowing through internal means or external dedicated authorities or journalists. Yet systematic research on this changing phenomenon is just emerging, and regulation (e.g. for rewards, safeguards or protection) is lagging behind. In this paper, we specifically examine the impetus, as well as the benefits and drawbacks, of using online channels such as social media, blogging or websites, for whistle‐blowing by both employees and non‐employees, taking into consideration recent case law and development. A number of recommendations are proposed for virtual whistle‐blowers, organisations and governments.     

Discriminatory practices in hiring: institutional and rational economic perspectives

A number of research studies have analysed the causes, conditions and consequences of discrimination. Most of these have focused on either gender or racial discrimination. Studies of discrimination on other grounds, including disability, have been relatively less common. This study attempts to theoretically and empirically explore the nature of discrimination against disabled job applicants from the rational economic, as well as institutional theory, perspectives. The rational economic perspective emphasizes individual self-interest, conscious decision-making, and economic optimization. Institutional theory focuses on organizational actions taken to gain legitimacy rather than for monetary or utility optimization. Legitimacy is important to secure stakeholders' trust and recognition, and translates into favourable outcomes, such as resource support, customer loyalty, and ease in attracting qualified personnel. We test these two theories, using data drawn from 227 New Zealand organizations, which collectively employ approximately 10 per cent of that country's workforce. The evidence suggests that both theories to some extent predict discrimination based on disability. Employer behaviour reflects both rational concerns for cost minimization and institutional concerns for perceived legitimacy in the eyes of key stakeholders. The strength of each concern appears to vary with each employer's circumstances.     

A New Approach to Resolving the Right-to-work Ethical Dilemma

Union security has long been an industrial relations controversy. While compulsory unionism supporters say it benefits the working class, right-to-work advocates denounce it as an unethical infringement of individual rights and freedom. Unfortunately, neither side has adequately addressed the shortcomings of their viewpoint, nor the broader worker concerns about effective representation beyond just “unionism”. In this paper, we examine the ethical and practical problems of compulsory (union security) and voluntary (right-to-work) unionism and propose a new resolution, compulsory proportional representation, that has the advantages of: (a) ensuring workers’ freedom to associate or not associate, (b) promoting freedom to contract, (c) allowing free competition in representation in line with anti-trust principles, (d) improving industrial peace and efficiency, (e) enhancing fairness and social justice, and (f) addressing the employer–employee power imbalance. It is superior to either voluntary unionism, which often lead to management unilateralism, or compulsory unionism, where workers are compelled to join unions against their will. Helen Lam is an Associate Professor, Human Resource Management, in Athabasca University, working at the Centre for Innovative Management which focuses on graduate management programs in business administration. She received her Ph.D. from the Faculty of Business at the University of Alberta. Her research interests include the areas of downsizing, restructuring, quality initiatives, business ethics, employment relations, human rights and legal issues at the workplace. Her work has been published in a variety of academic journals. Mark Harcourt is a professor in the Department of Strategy and Human Resource Management, Waikato Management School, Waikato University. Mark has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Alberta, a Masters of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University. His teaching focus is on employment relations and human resources management. Mark has also published articles in many national and international journals on a variety of topics, including health and safety, and discrimination.     

Non-neoclassical capital theory

This paper attempts to identify characteristics of the capital theory which has arisen out of the critique of the neoclassical theory of capital by post-Keynesian school. Both strands are indissolubly integrated with value, distribution and growth theory. However, non-neoclassical theory stresses the importance of social relationships in the spheres of production, and distribution and exchange. Capital itself is an all-pervading concept rather than being just a category, as in neoclassical theory. The economy is viewed as a reproducing and expanding, production system in which accumulation and profits are ends in themselves. The central variable of analysis is not the individual economic agent, whose satisfaction is to be maximized.