Protection of part-time workers in Irish law

In Ireland, employment protection rights have been extended to regular part-time workers. This article traces the legislation's history, examines arguments of employers and unions and, having discussed the contents of the new legislation, raises the question whether the legislation is compatible with requirements of EC anti-discrimination law.     

Sodium and ready meals: a survey of Irish consumer awareness

The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of Irish consumer attitudes towards ready meals and current sodium issues in Ireland. A questionnaire was distributed to 357 consumers via convenience quota sampling to a range of nationalities in both rural and urban/city areas of Ireland. The survey revealed that a high proportion of respondents (45%; n = 161) were worried about the amount of salt they consumed. Despite this, 58% (n = 207) stated they never look at the sodium/salt contents on nutritional labels with 68% (n = 244) claiming that sodium/salt contents would never affect their buying choice. The survey also uncovered that 76% (n = 270) of the Irish consumers surveyed consider ready meals to be high in sodium and 80% (n = 285) consider them to be an unhealthy option. Despite this, 50% (n = 179) of the respondents consumed a ready meal at least once a week with a further 17% (n = 59) consuming them two to three times a week. Of those who did consume ready meals, 78% (n = 191) chose them due to their convenience. A total of 75% (n = 269) of all the respondents said they would choose a chilled ready meal over its frozen counterpart. The reason for this being attributed to the fact that chilled ready meals were perceived to be healthier (44%; n = 158) and of better quality (54%; n = 194) than their frozen counterparts. Results from this study highlight the need for concerted actions involving consumers, manufacturers and retailers to reduce sodium levels in Irish ready meals, as despite being reasonably aware of the sodium issue consumers were not making informed choices to reduce sodium/salt consumption.     

Is it ‘you’ or ‘your workplace’? Predictors of job‐related training in the Anglo‐American world

This paper examines the determinants of job‐related training and workplace voice. Using data from a unique 2016 cross‐national survey of Australian, British, Canadian and American employees, the paper contrasts two classic formulations in the literature; (1) the neoclassical/human capital approach which predicts that individual characteristics (such as age and education) which increase the efficiency of learning, will have the largest impact on the allocation of training (i.e. younger and more educated employees will be afforded training) and (2) the traditional institutional approach which favors the structural characteristics present at the industry and firm level, the nature of the job itself and the strategic choices of firms as the major predictors of job‐related training. We find that age – a key factor in the human capital model – plays a significant role in the allocation of training but that education (in keeping with recent evidence) does not. In sum the human capital model provides, at best, only a partial explanation for the differences in training observed across individuals. In contrast, variables invoked by the institutional literature (i.e. occupation level; industry; ownership type; and market structure) are highly significant and account for a much greater proportion of the variance in training observed across workers. Other institutional factors such as the presence of a union and a human resource department were strong positive predictors of job‐related training. But most important were product‐market strategy and employee voice. Respondents working in firms utilizing a ‘high road/high quality’ product/service strategy and with a workplace consultative committee were significantly more likely to receive training than similar workers employed in observably similar firms. This last finding supports the industrial relations view of voice as an important channel by which training is optimally delivered inside the firm.     

Country-of-origin and private-label merchandise

Abstract

This research examines the impact of country-of-origin (COO) perceptions on store brands and store ownership. Online grocery shoppers were subjected to a series of manipulations involving: (a) product type – national brand or store brand; (b) product source – including local or foreign, and culturally close or culturally distant; and (c) store ownership. We find that store brands benefit from being locally sourced, and benefit further if the store is also locally owned, in terms of risk, quality, and value perceptions. If a brand is to be foreign sourced, it is preferable for it to come from a country recognised as culturally close to the seller country. Being the first study to look at the impact of COO effects on store brands, our paper offers insights about how management should take advantage of local sourcing and ownership, or put in place marketing efforts to counter negative COO effects.     

Inflation and employment: is there a third way?

High post-war inflation precipitated a counter reformation intheory from Keynesianism and established the conventional wisdomthat a level of unemployment existed at which prices stabilised.The policy application of this notion failed to improve economicperformance and, although inflation fell, mass unemploymentand poverty returned. The explanation for this from within thenew orthodoxy was that demand and supply conditions in the labourmarket had changed and unemployability explained joblessness.A study of the trend in import prices suggests, however, thatthe fall in inflation can be more readily explained by fallsin import prices and other changes, which redistributed resourcesfrom the periphery to the core. This suggests that monetarycontrol works indirectly on inflation by lowering economic activityand by reducing the bargaining power of the relatively weak.The enormous economic and social costs of this suggest thatinstitutional ways of controlling prices offer major benefits.     

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.