Employment flexibility in large companies: change and continuity

Claims that companies have increasingly turned to temporary workers, outworkers and subcontracting to enhance their ‘numerical flexibility’ are scrutinised using data from a survey of industrial relations in large companies. The survey reveals considerable continuity in the use of these employment practices. Recent reports published by the National Economic Development Office and ACAS are shown to overstate the extent of change in the 1980s.     

Market In efficiency in Person‐to‐Person Betting: Examining ‘Known Loser’ Insider Trading on the Exchanges

Applying the Shin z measure of market efficiency to the relatively new person‐to‐person internet betting exchanges, Smith, Paton, and Vaughan Williams found “significantly lower market biases” compared to bookmaker‐dominated markets. A reduced favorite‐longshot bias is interpreted as evidence that insider trading on the exchanges “is not widespread” and “not as commonplace … as is sometimes portrayed in the media.” Given that the Shin measure assumes “betting with bookies,” whereas the exchanges represent “betting without bookies,” the present study employs the notion of ‘significant mover’ to empirically test for the presence of ‘known loser’ insider trading on the exchanges where traditional notions of bookmaking do not apply. Findings indicate that, far from being less problematized by insider trading compared to racetrack betting, activity aimed at profiting from “known losers” may be potentially commonplace on the exchanges. This includes profiting from horses that are unplaced. This study offers new insight into the efficiency of betting markets.     

The multidivisional firm and control over the work process

This paper investigates the role of M-form organisation in enabling management in large UK companies to regain control over the work process subsequent to the growth of strong shopfloor trade union organisation in the 1950s and 1960s. A dynamic model is proposed in which the degree of control over the work process shifts between managers and workers. Logit analysis is employed to test two specific propositions: (i) that management in M-forms will seek to relocate bargaining at a level where unions are organisationally weak — the division, (ii) that unions will subsequently respond by creating inter-plant organisations. Both propositions receive empirical support.     

Negotiating European Works Councils: contours of constrained choice

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the factors influencing the nature of the ‘constrained choices’ being made by management and employee representatives in concluding agreements establishing EWCs. Four influences—a ‘statutory model effect’; a ‘learning effect’; a ‘country effect’; and a ‘sector effect’—are found to be at work.     

Management control systems and their effects on strategy formation at middle‐management levels: evidence from a U.K. organization

The relationship between management control systems (MCS) and the strategy process is a largely unexplored area of strategic management. This paper reports the findings of an in‐depth, longitudinal case study of a major British‐based organization operating within the increasingly globalized telecommunications industry. Informed by Simons' ( 1991 , 1994 , 1995 ) theoretical model of the strategy process–MCS relationship, the study examines the nature and extent of this relationship at middle‐ and lower‐management levels. Of particular interest were the effects that the design and use of three groups of MCS have on the development of new ideas and initiatives. Findings suggest that beliefs systems influence managers' initiation or ‘triggering’ decisions, the use of administrative controls affects the location of strategic initiatives and may lead to the polarization of roles, and simultaneous emphasis on a range of key performance indicators can create a bias towards one set of measures and against another. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of European Works Councils on Management Decision-Making in UK and US-based Multinationals: A Case Study Comparison

The operation of European Works Councils (EWCs) is taking management and employee representatives in MNCs into uncharted territory. In particular, for companies headquartered in Anglo‐Saxon economies there is little domestic tradition of statutory employee consultation. Drawing on comparative case studies, this article investigates the impact of EWCs on the process and outcomes of corporate‐level management decision‐making in UK and US‐based MNCs. Variation in EWC impact arises from the interaction of structural factors, such as business focus, management organisation and pre‐existing industrial relations arrangements, and agency factors, including management policy and the cohesion of employee representatives.     

The emergence of the Euro-company: towards a European industrial relations?

The growth of European-scale companies represents a further centralisation of management organisation in large enterprises. But processes of decentralisation are also evident. Implications of these opposing trends for labour relations are unclear. Taking account of differences between national systems, the article considers two paths that management approaches could follow.     

Strategy,Structure and Control In the Changing Corporation: A Survey-Based Investigation

Paul Marginson, Paul Edwards, Peter Armstrong and John Purcell draw on the findings of IRRU's Company Level Industrial Relations Survey to investigate the business structure, budgetary control systems and strategic orientations of large companies in the UK. Companies’ internal structure, and their systems of budgetary control, are shown to be associated with the kind of diversification strategy they are pursuing. Both external change, such as acquisition, and organic change are widespread across all types of firm as is the consequent internal reorganisation. They discuss the implications of the different strategic orientations and structural arrangements, and the rapidity of organisational change, for human resource policy. Paul Marginson and Paul Edwards are respectively Senior Lecturer and Professor of Industrial Relations at the Warwick Business School and Associate Fellow and Deputy Director of its Industrial Relations Research Unit; Peter Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in the Management School at the University of Sheffield; and John Purcell is University Lecturer in Management Studies and Fellow of Templeton College, Oxford.     

Employee Representation and Consultative Voice in Multinational Companies Operating in Britain

Multinational companies (MNCs) from different countries of origin are widely held to have distinct preferences regarding the presence of employee representative structures and the form that employee 'voice' over management decisions takes. Such preferences are said to derive from the national models that prevail in the different countries of origin in which MNCs are based. Findings from a large-scale survey of the UK operations of MNCs indicate that country-of-origin influences on patterns of employee representation and emphasis on direct or indirect channels of employee 'voice' are attenuated by other factors, notably sector and method of growth. They also reveal significant recent innovation in representation and voice arrangements by this key group of employers.     

Extending beyond borders: Multinational companies and the international management of labour

The paper investigates the potential consequences of MNCs' globalizing strategies for the management of labour, drawing on findings from a survey of employee management among MNCs operating in the UK. It finds clear evidence of transnational forms of management organization, including in the personnel sphere. But it also underlines that moves to globalism are uneven. Structures and policies to develop international management teams were found primarily among certain types of MNC. Most striking was the extent to which MNCs are actively engaged in the management of non-managerial employees at international level. Seven out of every ten companies monitored labour performance across sites in different countries. The broader significance of this finding lies in the business decisions which flow from the use of such information. As MNCs develop continental production strategies, pressures on local workforces, keen to attract future investment, for performance improvements are likely to intensify. These developments pose considerable challenges for labour which remains primarily local and national in its organizational focus.