Analysing the Influence of Institutional,Organizational and Interpersonal Forces in Shaping Inter‐Organizational Relations*

abstract Much of the literature on inter‐organizational relations assumes that firms operate as relatively autonomous and cohesive units that are (1) unimpeded by wider institutional norms governing the industry as a whole, and (2) allow little or no role for the boundary spanning agents who oversee and monitor ‘contracts’ on a daily basis. This perspective is not surprising given that so many studies rely solely on questionnaires completed by a single respondent within one or more of the organizations. Nor has there been much recognition of the dynamic interplay between forces at the institutional, organizational and interpersonal levels. In order to address these issues, we propose a framework that explicitly focuses on forces at these three levels, as well as the interplay between them, in order to analyse how and why inter‐organizational relations take the forms they do. We argue that trusting, OCR‐type relations are more likely to be produced and reproduced when there are strong institutional forces promoting common obligations on both parties, and there is a relative mutuality of power relations between the organizations. However, because the contract is maintained by boundary spanning agents, agreed norms at the institutional and organizational levels are a necessary but not sufficient factor for OCR to develop. Conversely, in the absence of these forces, there is less incentive for either organization to establish and maintain close interpersonal relations, and indeed ACR‐type, distant relations may be beneficial for organizations and individuals that wish to dispense with existing contracts.     

Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment Relationship

This paper draws upon new research in the UK into the relationship between changing organizational forms and the reshaping of work in order to consider the changing nature of the employment relationship. The development of more complex organizational forms – such as cross organization networking, partnerships, alliances, use of external agencies for core as well as peripheral activities, multi‐employer sites and the blurring of public/private sector divide – has implications for both the legal and the socially constituted nature of the employment relationship. The notion of a clearly defined employer–employee relationship becomes difficult to uphold under conditions where employees are working in project teams or on‐site beside employees from other organizations, where responsibilities for performance and for health and safety are not clearly defined, or involve more than one organization. This blurring of the relationship affects not only legal responsibilities, grievance and disciplinary issues and the extent of transparency and equity in employment conditions, but also the definition, constitution and implementation of the employment contract defined in psychological and social terms. Do employees perceive their responsibilities at work to lie with the direct employer or with the wider enterprise or network organization? And do these perceptions affect, for example, how work is managed and carried out and how far learning and incremental knowledge at work is integrated in the development of the production or service process? So far the investigation of both conflicts and complementarities in the workplace have focused primarily on the dynamic interactions between the single employer and that organization’s employees. The development of simultaneously more fragmented and more networked organizational forms raises new issues of how to understand potential conflicts and contradictions around the ‘employer’ dimension to the employment relationship in addition to more widely recognized conflicts located on the employer–employee axis.     

现金管理

在瞬息万变的市场中．今天的公司成功案例可能变成明日的失败教训。经济全球化离不开企业．而企业的利益相关者和顾问是在不熟悉的环境中经营的，先例很少。同时．公司发展的需要会带来一揽子复杂的融资计划．而资金提供者可能会中止提供资金。     

The Competitiveness of Networked Production: The Role of Trust and Asset Specificity

The paper offers a synthesis of sociological and transactions cost economics perspectives on production networks. Sociological explanations of network effectiveness (competitiveness) stress the importance of trust, and transactions costs emphasizes asset specificity. The approach here is comparative, the capabilities of networks are assessed against those of the vertically integrated, managerially co-ordinated hierarchy. The argument is that the competitiveness of each form derives from different organizational capabilities. Neither is inherently superior – by supporting different strategies, networks and hierarchies can co-exist. A distinction is drawn between those networks that rely on communal support and trust and those networks whose dynamism relies on individualistic and autonomous entrepreneurship. The absence of trust (or the surfeit of entrepreneurial zeal) leaves firms reliant on generic assets. Trust creates the conditions under which communities of firms can develop industry-specific assets capable of delivering real services to network firms that are unavailable through market channels. The competitiveness of a production network is a function of the value adding activities undertaken by agents and the collective responses made to external threats or disturbances. The argument is illustrated with reference to the organization of watch (timepieces) production in Hong Kong     

Trade Unions and Democracy in South Africa: Union Organizational Challenges and Solidarities in a Time of Transformation

Based on a nationwide survey, this article focuses on the perceptions of Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) members on two of the central issues that have dominated debates on the South African labour movement: the advisability of COSATU's Alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) and the extent of internal union democracy. The survey revealed that the ANC‐Alliance continues to enjoy mass support, while internal democracy remains robust. At the same time, the federation faces the challenges of coping with — and contesting — neoliberal reforms, retaining and re‐energizing rank and file in the post‐apartheid era, and in reaching out to potential members in the informal sector and other areas of insecure work.     

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

Adrian Wilkinson and his colleagues discuss the growing importance of quality management in the UK, outline the basic principles of TQM, and examine its implications for employee involvement. They suggest that there are contradictions between the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sides of TQM. This can be exemplified in the relationship between TQM and employee involvement which has not been fully explored. Drawing on a major programme of research on employee involvement, three cases are analysed. They argue that the links between TQM and employee involvement are more complex than the TQM literature would have us believe and there are tensions between employee involvement and TQM. Finally, there is a wider discussion of the subject which analyses a number of constraints on the implementation of TQM in the UK. Adrian Wilkinson, Mick Marchington and John Goodman are respectively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor in the School of Management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. Peter Ackers is a Lecturer at Loughborough University Business School.     

Typologies of shop stewards: a reconsideration

The most comprehensive attempt to relate differences between or typologies of shop stewards to other factors has been the research undertaken by Batstone et alia. This article reconsiders and amends their typology.     

Inter-organizational Relations and Employment in a Multi-employer Environment

This study focuses on the employment dimensions of inter‐organizational relations, taking as an example a large regional airport. The dense and complex relationships that emerge in a multi‐agency setting are highlighted to illustrate the tensions and contradictions that characterize the management of workers in an environment where contracting and recontracting predominate. These findings suggest that there is a need, on the one hand, to include inter‐organizational relations in the study of the employment relationship and, on the other hand, to reinsert employment issues into the analysis of inter‐organizational contracting and partnerships.