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Statutory union recognition provisions operated in Britain for most of the last decade. More recently, there has been a renewed interest in them in the UK, leading to this review of experience in other countries to see if anything could be learnt from elsewhere. The position of the US and Canada is analysed. In addition, larger questions about the nature of comparative industrial relations research are raised.

This paper considers the impact of collectivist and individualist management styles in employee relations on levels of strategic integration in employee relations. The findings indicate a positive relationship between individualism and strategic integration. The findings further indicate that high levels of strategic integration are associated with low levels of collectivism in employee relations. Ownership was the most significant factor impacting upon variations in levels of strategic integration.

Human resource development (HRD) occupies some interesting educational territory. Given the rapid pace of development and innovation in education and in the practice of HRD, coupled with alternative approaches to learning, a re‐evaluation of HRD might be expected to be a prominent feature within discussions of the future practice of HRD. However, while there has been a growing demand in the academic literature of the last few years for management educators to engage more critically with their subject than has been the tradition in business schools. The case has been argued for strengthening the critical perspectives in contributory disciplines within management and for a revision of management more generally. Yet, while examples of critical pedagogies are accumulating, they seldom exhibit corresponding changes in HRD practices. Where HRD does depart from mainstream practices, alternatives are typically based on humanistic student‐centred aspirations for social equality, rather than on an analysis of HRD in terms of power, politics and social dynamics. The intention of this paper is to highlight what is not being talked about in HRD in order to illuminate the importance of power to the study of HRD. The paper will explore the significance of power in HRD, drawing on ideas from critical and post modern perspectives. By illuminating social and power relations embedded within HRD practices, the aim is to present a more contextualised and processual account than the proceduralist recipes that currently dominate the study of this vital aspect of educational and organisational practice.

States retain (socio-political) tools to govern the lives of their population and beyond. Such governing takes place in various offices, where frontline staff need to implement policies that are created at higher levels of the administrative and political hierarchy. This chapter proposes an in-depth view on work that is being done in Swiss resident registration offices, through an ethnographic lens. Following caseworkers in their daily work routines over an extended period allowed me to trace their practices and (in)formal approaches to their work. This chapter delves into longer field note extracts that allow for deeper contextuality. Two key themes that will be engaged with, hustling and shuffling, explore the presence of informality and the consequences that such informal practices have for institutional functioning. First, insights show that a high workload combined with a lack of resources, creates an air of hustling that pushes frontline staff to make up for shortcomings in resources by inventing new and more efficient ways to implement their work. Hustling goes beyond individual coping mechanisms; often embedded in collective routines and practices that are, however, not codified. Second, given the high amount of information, policies and laws frontline workers need to be familiar with, they shuffle around with knowledge and devise productive ways to communicate with each other while remaining able to process cases. As such, informality is neither the opposite to formality nor simply uncodified but can range from spontaneous solutions to established sets of practice that blur the boundary between formal and informal.

The general opinion in Britain at present is that the unions are not facing significant changes in management attitudes towards the institution of unionism. This view has been devised from surveys of relatively large‐sized plants in the manufacturing sector, an area of traditionally high levels of unionisation. It is argued that researchers in the UK may be looking in the wrong place or for the wrong signs in drawing this conclusion. Researchers may have been looking for substantial changes in management‐union relations rather than less obvious changes in terms of the power of existing institutions or of sustained opposition to new recognition agreements. Material relating to voluntary conciliation claims for recognition between 1976 and 1985 is examined, which shows a halving in the number of claims. Three recent studies in new towns all point to the high percentage of non‐union firms. A fall in union density can occur due to external contingencies, even in the absence of explicit management strategies of opposition to union organisation.

Greenfields are new plants – typically, but not exclusively manufacturing – that belong to an existing organization. They are ideal settings for teams, but implementation of the technology and people systems during start‐up can be difficult. This review aims briefly to describe the origin of the greenfield concept, three decades of research, and recommendations for work practices that promote teams.

A total of 37 research studies evaluating greenfield operations were located, including quasi‐experiments, surveys and case studies. A brief description of the study is provided, as well as information regarding productivity and employee attitudinal and behavioral outcomes.

The paper finds that greenfields are frequently used to implement team‐based systems, with varying results. Outcomes such as productivity, quality, employee satisfaction, absenteeism and turnover are described. Research evaluating greenfields is limited due to proprietary and competitive concerns and the reluctance to discuss failures. Three broad areas in which greenfields are unique are identified and discussed in the interest of promoting future research; these include employee attitudes and behaviors, organizational culture and human resource practices.

A total of 24 human resource practices that support team‐based work systems in new greenfield plants are recommended and described.

This paper fills a void in the team literature by reviewing greenfield facilities as distinctive organizations for team‐based systems.

Greenfield sites have been seen as the most favourable setting for the adoption of human resource management (HRM). Presents a study of two greenfield employers’ attempts to introduce and maintain HRM philosophy and practices. Contrasts one management’s creation of HRM philosophy with another’s efforts to replicate its principles in a new unit. Describes and assesses these managements’ practices over the ten years since start up. Demonstrates that in the face of market pressures, greenfield managers are no more capable of maintaining soft‐version practices than their brownfield counterparts. Shows how these managers attempted to legitimize hard‐version practices by continuing to rely on language which reflected the humanistic principles of HRM. Concludes that without a radical reappraisal of management’s values, the long‐term aims of HRM will elude greenfield and brownfield sites alike.

During the current decade, trade union membership has dropped by about 25 per cent, primarily due to the decline in manufacturing establishments in major urban centres. At the same time, there has been a growth in the number of new firms starting up in business. Based on research in those Scottish New Towns, it is found that the proportion of firms which recognise unions is much lower than that for the UK as a whole. Trade unions, it is argued, need to adopt much stronger organising initiatives in such locations if they are to tap in to potential members in these firms.

The results of a survey of some 230 West German subsidiaries currently operating in Britain are analysed. The issues examined include the extent of non‐union status, the existence of a personnel manager, and the nature of employee involvement arrangements. A major finding is that fully three‐quarters of the respondents are non‐union organisations, with the size of the organisation being particularly influential in explaining this and other relationships.

Focuses on recent empirical evidence on management approaches to industrial relations in greenfield companies in Ireland. Places particular emphasis on the impact of industrial relations on the location of greenfield site facilities, patterns of trade union recognition and avoidance, pay determination, and the role of employer associations. Finds that, despite a national system of “bargained consensus” and the integration of trade unions into corporatist decision‐making structures on economic and social issues, most recent greenfield site facilities are non‐union. Argues that this evidence points to extensive management opposition to conventional pluralist industrial relations, despite the existence of a State system which has consistently promoted a consensus approach over the past two decades. This apparent paradox is explained by reference to the transformation in the structure and performance of the Irish economy in parallel with related social changes since the early 1980s.