Labour-management partnership in the non-union retail sector

Authors: Badigannavar, Vidu¹; Kelly, John²

Source: International Journal of Human Resource Management, Volume 16, Number 8, Number 8/August 2005 , pp. 1529-1544(16)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $50.43 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Analysts and policy advocates have argued that a meaningful labour-management partnership can be established in the absence of trade unions. In this paper we have examined employee outcomes of partnership in a medium-sized non-union retail firm, regarded as one of the ‘best practice' cases of non-union partnership by the Involvement and Participation Association (IPA) of the UK. We have also compared the employee outcomes from our case study firm with those from a representative sample of retail sector workers from unionized and non-union retail firms in the UK. Findings indicate that compared to employees in other retail-sector firms, workers in the ‘best practice' partnership firm were significantly disadvantaged with respect to their influence over workplace and policy decisions with little evidence of ‘mutual gains' as claimed by partnership advocates.

Keywords: Retail sector; non-union; labour-management partnership; worker outcomes

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585190500220820

Affiliations: 1: London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, +020 7955 7286, +020 7955 7595 2: London School of Economics, Department of Industrial Relations, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, +020 7955 7030, +020 7955 7042

Publication date: 2005-08-01

More about this publication?