Browse

This book addresses some of the major contemporary issues in comparative business and employment relations. At its core are the findings of a four-year international exploration of the management of employment relations in American multinational companies in the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Data from detailed case studies are used to illuminate the tensions between the forces of globalization and the continuing distinctiveness of national business systems. It looks at what is distinctively American about US multinationals, asking how the US business system’s particular features influence their management of human resources across national borders. It shows that the transfer of ‘Americanness’ is not a technical, top-down, managerial process, but a highly political and ‘negotiated’ one in which groups and individuals at different levels within the company try to influence the terms of transfer. The book uses a wealth of empirical material to explore the ways in which US multinationals manage international employment relations in different host countries. Four areas of policy and practice are considered in detail: pay and performance; collective employee representation; the management of workforce ‘diversity’; and managerial careers. It shows how global HR policies are made; how they are diffused internationally; and how they are adopted, adapted, or resisted by overseas subsidiaries. It also explores some of the structures and processes that characterize US multinationals: the changing balance between centralization and subsidiary autonomy; the management of international learning; and the structure and role of the international human resource function.

Leadership is still much discussed, studied, and sought after, even though we now live in supposedly more democratic times with flatter organizations and empowered employees. But how can we best understand leadership? Are leaders born or made? Do they have particular traits or are we all potential leaders? Do the requirements for leadership change over time or are there timeless patterns? Do traditional approaches help us to pick and develop leaders or are there alternative ways that advance our understanding? This book investigates the notion of leadership in a series of historical case studies and rich essay portraits of some of the most famous, and infamous, leaders (e.g. Florence Nightingale, Richard Branson, Horatio Nelson, Martin Luther King, Henry Ford, etc.). The scenarios are drawn from right across the spectrum to include business, politics, society, and the military. The first part of the book considers four sets of parallel cases where leadership appears to be a major explanation of success and failure. The second part takes the four critical issues arising from these parallel cases (identity, strategic vision, organizational tactics, and persuasive communication) and explores them in detail. One main reason we have such difficulty in explaining and enhancing leadership, the author argues, is because we often adopt perspectives and models that obscure rather than illuminate the issues involved. The reliance upon traditional scientific analysis has not provided the anticipated advances in our understanding because leadership is more fruitfully considered as an art, or more exactly an array of arts, rather than as a science.

Personal authenticity was once a reference point from which critics and labour activists sought to challenge the domination of the corporation. Now it has entered into the parlance of managerial discourse. This book critically investigates the increasing popularity of personal authenticity in corporate ideology and practice. Rather than have workers adhere to depersonalising bureaucratic rules or homogenous cultural norms, many large corporations now invite employees to simply be themselves. Alternative lifestyles, consumption, ethic identity, sexuality, fun, and even dissent are now celebrated since employees are presumed to be more motivated if they can just be themselves. Does this freedom to express ones authenticity in the workplace finally herald the end of corporate control? To answer this question, this book places this concern with authenticity within a political framework and demonstrates how it might represent an even more insidious form of cultural domination. The book especially focuses on the way in which private and non-work selves are prospected and put to work in the firm. The ideas of Hardt and Negri and the Italian autonomist movement are used to show how common forms of association and co-operation outside of commodified work is the inspiration for personal authenticity. It is the vibrancy, energy, and creativity of this non-commodified stratum of social life that managerialism now aims to exploit. Each chapter explores how this is achieved and highlights the worker resistance that is provoked as a result. The book concludes by demonstrating how the discourse of freedom underlying the managerial version of authenticity harbours potential for a radical transformation of the contemporary corporate form.

Despite decades of efforts to promote gender equality, most leadership positions in business, politics, education, and even NGOs are occupied by men, and most people still work in occupations dominated by one sex. This book argues that gender imbalances in leadership and occupations are not simply a moral issue or an economic issue, but a governance issue. Gender imbalances persist in large part because the very people with the authority and influence to do something about them know very little about gender and how it works in their organizations and in society at large. Gender-imbalanced governance is an expression of entrenched ideas about masculinity and femininity that lead to poor decision-making. Improving the quality of governance requires action to counteract the main justifications for the status quo. Based on interviews and conversations with leaders and managers in Europe and the USA, the book presents seven of the most common explanations for persistent gender imbalances and shows how they are based on common stereotypes and myths about men’s and women’s abilities and preferences. This book provides a guided tour of current gender research from a multi-disciplinary perspective, covering research in neuroscience, psychology, history, law, and management. It challenges commonly held assumptions and offers alternative explanations and corresponding principles to guide individual decisions, action, and behaviour towards achieving gender balance.

Organizations performing non-routine, innovative, often knowledge-intensive tasks, for example, professional partnerships need a rather flat, collegial, and non-bureaucratic structure. This book examines cooperation among partners in a US corporate law firm and provides a grounded theory of collective action among rival peers, or collegiality. Members (partners and associates) are portrayed as independent entrepreneurs who build social niches in their organization and cultivate status competition among themselves. This behaviour allows them to fulfil their commitment to an extremely constraining partnership agreement and generates informal social mechanisms (bounded solidarity, lateral control, oligarchic regulation) that help a flat organization govern itself: maintain individual performance, even for tenured partners; capitalize knowledge and control quality; monitor and sanction opportunistic free-riding; solve the ‘too many chefs’ problem; balance the powers of rainmakers and schedulers; and integrate the firm in spite of many centrifugal forces. These mechanisms and the solutions they provide are examined using a broadly-conceived structural approach combining theory-driven network analysis, ethnography of task forces performing knowledge-intensive work, and analysis of management and internal politics in the firm. The author presents a theory of the collegial organization that generalizes its results to all kinds of partnerships.

Today, a large proportion of the world’s states are under authoritarian governments. These countries limit participation rights, both in the political sphere and in the workplace. At the same time, they have to generate consent in the workplace in order to ensure social stability and prevent the escalation of conflict. But how do companies generate consent, given that employee voice and interest representation may be limited or entirely absent? Based on a review of research literature from sociology, organizational psychology, and behavioral economics, this book develops a theory of consent generation and distinguishes three groups of consent-producing mechanisms: socialization, incentive mechanisms, and participation and interest representation. It presents an empirical analysis of how these mechanisms work in Russian and Chinese automotive factories and shows how sociocultural factors and labor regulation present the differences between both countries regarding consent and control in the workplace. The book contributes to two research debates. First, it examines the generation of consent in the workplace: a core topic of the sociology of work and organization. Its particular focus is on consent generation in authoritarian societies. Second, the book contributes to the debate regarding the reasons for the different trajectories of post-communist Russia and China. The book provides an empirical analysis that explains the different work behaviors of employees in both countries, and links the micro level of the workplace and the macro level of institutions and organizational cultures.

The practice of consultation between senior managers and employee representatives has a long history in British employment relations yet has often been a poor cousin to collective bargaining. Two trends have elevated the importance of consultation. First, the decline in trade union membership and the retreat from collective bargaining in the private sector has meant that consultation is often the only form of collective employee voice available. Second, since the 1970s the European Union (EU) has embarked on programme of legislative support for consultation, most recently in the information and consultation directive of 2002. The United Kingdom's Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations implementing the directive became fully operational in 2008. The book charts the meaning and development of consultation in the twentieth century and explores the justifications for the practice. The way EU intervention to promote consultation evolved and changed is analysed with particular attention to the adoption of the ICE directive. The half-hearted response to EU consultation initiatives in Britain is analysed with a critical assessment of UK governments' handling of the issue, employer hostility, and union ambivalence. The take-up and impact of consultation regulations, especially ICE, is assessed and the processes involved in effective consultation explored. The dynamics of consultation are described drawing a contrast between ‘active’ consultation, and more limited consultation used as a means of communication. The UK experience is compared with practices in Europe. Suggestions are made to improve take-up of consultation and changes needed to the EU directive and ICE regulations.

This book examines how corporate e-learning is developed, implemented and how effectiveness is determined at IBM. It addresses the following questions: Why e-learning? How is e-learning developed? How is e-learning implemented? How is e-learning effectiveness determined? What are the lessons learned? E-learning is a tool to be used along with other means of learning. It is used when it is the best way to learn for a particular application. It is a way to save costly face-to-face time for optimal use. There is no one size that fits all. IBM is an early adopter in use of e-learning for training its global workforce. IBM, like other corporations, has its own unique e-learning solutions. Strategic vision, clear business objectives, well defined learning organization, strong leadership, corporate support, prudent use of e-learning, quality of content, ease of access, interoperability, accountability of learners and instructors, and a well defined measurement system all matter. Successful integration of these ingredients is essential for effective e-learning. Ignoring any of these key ingredients can lead to failure. IBM has its own rationale and approach to using e-learning. It has its growing pains. Experience in e-learning at IBM provides a unique context for leveraging e-learning to train employees. IBM has been successful in using e-learning in the context of their business objectives and business environments. IBM's experience and lessons learned should serve as an important guide to those who are implementing e-learning.

The chapters in this book address the state of Japanese corporate governance and managerial practice at a critical moment. They are based on detailed and intensive fieldwork in large Japanese companies and interviews with investors, civil servants, and policy makers in the period following the adoption of significant corporate law reforms in the early 2000s up to the months just before the global financial crisis of 2008. At the start of the decade, the time seemed right for Japan to move to a shareholder value‐driven, “Anglo‐American” system of corporate governance. Instead, an adjustment and renewal of the postwar model of the large Japanese corporation has taken place. Japanese managers have adapted to and reshaped corporate governance norms, using them to reform internal decision‐making structures. The board's role is seen in terms of strategic planning rather than monitoring, and external directors are viewed as advisers, not as representatives of the shareholders. Companies have responded to the threat of hostile takeovers by putting poison pills in place and have rebuffed hedge fund activists' demands for higher dividends and share buybacks. Although shareholder influence is more extensive than it was, central aspects of the Japanese “community firm” ‐ in particular, managerial autonomy and a commitment to stable or “lifetime” employment for core of employees ‐ largely remain in place. The Japanese experience suggests that there are limits to the global convergence of company law systems, and that the widespread association of Anglo‐American practices with the “modernization” of corporate governance may have been misplaced.

The cross-cultural management literature is still dominated by the quantitative approach to cultures which made the research field popular in the early 1980’s. While the hegemony of this approach was being consolidated, a French research group, Gestion & Société, led by Philippe d’Iribarne, was conducting alternative research. Over the past thirty years, the team has carried out investigations in over fifty countries, collecting data from a large sample of companies concerned with making the most of the cultures with which they were dealing. This book provides an overview of the lessons learnt from thirty years of empirical research and of the refinements of a new theoretical approach to national cultures which challenges the mainstream ones. It introduces an interpretative approach to culture considered as a filter through which people understand reality and give it meaning. Throughout the world, employees confer different meanings on the daily situations arising from companies’ operations such as being subject to the authority of a manager, responding to requests from a client, or having one’s work monitored. All interactions within organizational contexts are underpinned by social relations which make sense in different cultural universes of meaning. Drawing upon this interpretative perspective, the book covers the main management issues: leadership, procedures implementation and control, decision-making, industrial relations, customer relations, ethics and corporate social responsibility, interpersonal and corporate communication, multicultural teams, and international transfers of management practices. Finally, the book provides methodological guidelines to enable researchers and practitioners to engage in this alternative approach.

In its approximately twenty-five years of existence, the executive coaching field has rapidly grown, becoming a highly profitable market globally. It emerges as a recognized approach to improve leadership practice, increasingly becoming an important part of organizational life. Business schools are now incorporating executive coaching into their curricula. This book offers to readers a comprehensive overview of the executive coaching practice and the relevant research on executive coaching outcomes. It presents how coaching emerged as a personal and professional development intervention and focuses on what executive coaching is and what it is not. A detailed overview of all aspects relating to coaching executives is provided: the key stakeholders, context, and practical aspects of coaching interventions, the theoretical approaches underpinning the coaching practice, the tools, models, and frameworks applied by executive coaches, etc. While these themes have been covered in several publications within the coaching field, this book is different because of several additional contributions. It provides new insights into the executive coaching field by presenting a systematic review of its outcome studies, offering evidence on the different forms of impact that the executive coaching practice has, as well as providing an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing research and discussing how the latter can be addressed. It offers an overview of the existing key leadership theories and directly links the executive coaching field with the fields of leadership and leadership development. Finally, the broader implications executive coaching can have for management education are discussed.

The book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work, by providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in skills and training, employees’ control over their jobs, the pressure of work and job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people’s live out of work : their risks of work-life conflict, their motivation to work, their personal well-being and their attitudes to their society. It will provide an important contribution to the comparative study of European societies. It will forward our understanding of how institutional differences between European societies affect work experiences and their implications for non-work life. It draws on a rich new source of evidence – the European Social Survey – providing a comparative view over the period 2004 and 2010. The survey provides evidence for countries across the different regions of Europe and allows for a detailed assessment of the view that institutional differences between European societies – in terms of styles of management, social partnership practices and government policies - lead to very different levels of work quality and different experiences of the crisis.

Temporary employment has become a focus of policy debate, theory, and research. This book addresses the relationship between temporary employment contracts and employee well-being. It does so within the analytic framework of the psychological contract, and advances theory and knowledge about the psychological contract by exploring it from a variety of perspectives. It also sets the psychological contract within the context of a range of other potential influences on work-related well-being including workload, job insecurity, employability, and organizational support. The book identifies the relative importance of these various potential influences on well-being, covering seven countries; Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, as well as Israel as a comparator outside Europe. The book's conclusions are interesting and controversial. The central finding is that contrary to expectations, temporary workers report higher well-being than permanent workers. As expected, a range of factors help to explain variations in work-related well-being and the research highlights the important role of the psychological contract. However, even after taking into account alternative explanations, the significant influence of type of employment contract remains, with temporary workers reporting higher well-being. In addition to this core finding, by exploring several aspects of the psychological contract, and taking into account both employer and employee perspectives, the book sheds light on the nature and role of the psychological contract. It also raises some challenging policy questions and while acknowledging the potentially precarious nature of temporary jobs, highlights the need to consider the increasingly demanding nature of permanent jobs and their effects on the well-being of employees.

The book provides a comprehensive, comparative treatment of the development of new investment funds (NIF)—private equity, hedge funds, and sovereign wealth funds—and their impact upon labour and employment. Several countries are selected for in-depth treatment with a chapter devoted to each: USA, UK, Australia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Japan. The primary purpose of the book is to examine variations in the level and type of fund activity between countries, to consider influences upon these variations, and to analyse differences in the impact of these funds on labour and employment. This analysis is located in a broader discussion of the nature and development of corporate financialization and comparative capitalism. Between them, the chapters show that variations in national regulation have a significant impact on both the development of fund activities and their effects. With regard to labour effects, employment and labour regulations do not seem to be of prime importance in explaining the level of fund activity, but regulation supporting worker consultation and voice does seem to affect the capacity of labour representatives to influence the outcomes of fund activity on labour and employment.

This book presents findings based upon eight case studies of inter-organizational forms, involving interviews with about 450 managers and workers from nearly sixty employing organizations across many different sites of employment — the supplier, the client, the franchiser, the franchisee, the public purchaser and the private provider. The empirical material used is extensive and grounded. The research is intended to contribute to contemporary debates on changing work organization and ‘the future of work’ by reconnecting the analysis of organizations with the study of employment and work as well as situating the study of employment within the context of changing forms of organization. The hope is that this book's research will contribute as much to understanding why there may be limits to fragmentation and disintegration as to an explanation of their presence and effectiveness.

Framing Work provides a broad overview of contemporary writing about work and employment. The book makes use of Alan Fox’s concept of ‘frames of reference’ and identifies competing unitary, pluralist, and critical traditions within the field of employment studies. These traditions continue to shape much research and commentary on work and employment although they have evolved to address the concerns of today’s workplace. The book describes this process of evolution and offers a detailed account of the present form of unitary, pluralist, and critical scholarship. A differentiating feature of Framing Work is its emphasis on lines of fracture. Whereas other accounts of employment research have stressed the roles of unifying assumptions or a unifying method, this book stresses division and debate, constitutive features of all academic fields. Framing Work considers four areas of current controversy within employment studies, dealing with employee participation, the rise of customer culture, equality and diversity, and the impact of the global financial crisis. In all of these areas of debate, unitary, pluralist, and critical positions can readily be identified and the book reviews the arguments between these established frames. The book ends by noting that there has been a change in patterns of debate within employment studies. The classical form of debate, in which pluralists confronted critical opponents over the reform of collective industrial relations, has given way to a contemporary form. In the latter, unitary argument makes the running, proposing new forms of management, to which pluralists and critical researchers respond.

This book is designed for those who find current management orthodoxies inadequate, who are interested in alternative ideas and how they might be applied to management practice, but are not enthralled by the esoteric world of theoretical books about theory. This book offers a bridge between the ‘esoteric’ world of theory and the practical world of management by exploring and illustrating some current theories (Fuzzy Logic, Actor-Network Theory, Chaos Theory, Constructivism etc.) through discussion of some everyday management issues (strategic decision making, appraisals, negotiation, leadership, culture, and motivation).