Employee involvement in management’s decision making has been a challenge for the European Community (EC) since its beginning. Already in view of the six founding countries the…
Abstract
Employee involvement in management’s decision making has been a challenge for the European Community (EC) since its beginning. Already in view of the six founding countries the European Economic Community (EEC) was confronted with a significant degree of diversity between the different Member States. This diversity increased with every enlargement, in particular when in 1973 the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland became members and much later in 2004 when Central and Eastern European (CEE) States together with Malta and Cyprus were included. This diversity in the area of employee involvement in management’s decision‐making is well documented. Therefore, it may be sufficient for the purpose of this paper to only give some broad indications. There are countries, as for example Germany, Austria, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, which have systems with a dual structure where employee involvement in management’s decision‐making institutionally is separated from the trade unions, even if in actual practice the links between the two are significant. In other countries employee involvement is based on two pillars: both the trade unions and a body elected by all em ployees. This is the case in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain. In the Scandinavian countries employee in volvement is exclusively in the hands of the trade unions. In countries like Ireland and the U.K. employee involvement for a long time was more or less a taboo subject for the trade unions. The fear of being compromised in opposing measures through their industrial strength prevented them becoming integrated into the mechanism of decision‐making in companies. Only recently ‐ mainly due to the EU input ‐ this attitude is changing gradually. Italy has developed an interesting mixture of its own. Even if it may be possible ‐ as just indicated ‐ to discover or gani ‐ sational similarities between the systems of different countries, the still remaining differences should not be overlooked. It has to be added that in some countries employee involvement in manage ment’s deci sion‐making is exclusively based on legislation (as for example in Germany), in others exclusively on collective agreements (as for example in Scandinavia) and again in others on a mixture of both (as for example in Belgium). The subject matters for employee involvement are as different as the degree of participation, ranging from mere information to co‐determination. And only some countries know employee involvement in company boards whose systems again differ significantly from each other. In short, there is a wide spectrum of patterns of employee involvement in management’s decision‐making and some countries where such involvement is virtually unknown.
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Spotlights labour law contracts in Germany and how this increase is only modest. States contractual relations in both the public and private sector in Germany (in principle) are…
Abstract
Spotlights labour law contracts in Germany and how this increase is only modest. States contractual relations in both the public and private sector in Germany (in principle) are identical. Adds that public servants are excluded from labour laws and are covered by a separate law. Debates the various legal and moral rights of the law and concludes that the developments in Germany are not deregulation but to the contrary – the regulatory framework limiting individual freedom of contracts is steadily increasing.
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The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the effectiveness of labour law based on the experience of Germany.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the effectiveness of labour law based on the experience of Germany.
Design/methodology/approach
The article provides an analysis of the factual impact of labour law in Germany.
Findings
Different subsystems – as are labour administration, labour court system, works council system, collective bargaining system and individual labour law protection – show deficiencies of factual implementation which are inherent to the structure of these subsystems and not easily to be changed. The most problematic area are small and medium‐sized enterprises where to a great extent works councils as internal monitors do not exist.
Originality/value
The paper offers some randomly selected examples to illustrate the problems at stake.
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Looks at the unique way Germany’s trade unions work, by the use of workers’ participation with elected representatives, which uses works councils in conjunction with management…
Abstract
Looks at the unique way Germany’s trade unions work, by the use of workers’ participation with elected representatives, which uses works councils in conjunction with management. Briefly sketches the structure and function of these very different and apposite ends of the spectrum.
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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a key issue in the global context. The idea is toreshape the focus of companies’ activities by taking account of employees’ and…
Abstract
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a key issue in the global context. The idea is to reshape the focus of companies’ activities by taking account of employees’ and society’s interests. This fashionable label plays a big role in the context of codes of conduct for multinational enterprises as well as for recent strategies EU policies. Long before the invention of the label CSR it has been generally accepted in Germany that enterprises are not supposed to primarily increase the “share holder value” but rather the “stakeholders’ value”, thereby including the employees’ interests. And it even has been assumed that enterprises do have an important function in promoting the well being of the society as a whole: the bigger the company the bigger the duties in this respect. This view is backed by the Constitution and inline with the constitutional doctrine as well as with the interpretation given by the Federal Constitutional Court.
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Manfred Stock, Alexander Mitterle and David P. Baker
Advanced education is often thought to respond to the demands of the economy, market forces create new occupations, and then universities respond with new degrees and curricula…
Abstract
Advanced education is often thought to respond to the demands of the economy, market forces create new occupations, and then universities respond with new degrees and curricula aimed at training future workers with specific new skills. Presented here is comparative research on an underappreciated, yet growing, concurrent alternative process: universities, with their global growth in numbers and enrollments, in concert with expanding research capacity, create and privilege knowledge and skills, legitimate new degrees that then become monetized and even required in private and public sectors of economies. A process referred to as academization of occupations has far-reaching implications for understanding the transformation of capitalism, new dimensions of social inequality, and resulting stratification among occupations. Academization is also eclipsing the more limited professionalization processes in occupations. Additionally, it fuels further expansion of advanced education and contributes to a new culture of work in the 21st century. Commissioned detailed German and US case studies of the university origins and influence on workplace consequences of seven selected occupations and associated knowledge, skills, and degrees investigate the academization process. And to demonstrate how universal this could become, the cases contrast the more open and less-restrictive education and occupation system in the US with the centralized and state-controlled education system in Germany. With expected variation, both economies and their occupational systems show evidence of robust academization. Importantly too is evidence of academic transformations of understandings about approaches to job tasks and use of authoritative knowledge in occupational activities.
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The quality of an education system or a comparative international assessment refers more and more to quantitative parameters, i.e. “educational indicators”. The paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The quality of an education system or a comparative international assessment refers more and more to quantitative parameters, i.e. “educational indicators”. The paper aims to analyse the structure of several educational indicators and indicator systems and answer the question “What can educational indicators achieve?”
Design/methodology/approach
Starting with a general consideration of the term “indicator” the findings are applied to the educational area and the development of educational indicators is analysed critically.
Findings
Indicators allow for the illustration of outcomes and of system processes. Beginning in the 1950s, following the empirical turn in research methods, and the growing significance of approaches from economics of education, indicators are now applied in national and international settings. The findings show that the combination of the quantitative and qualitative approach is more successful as the isolated research.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on secondary analysis. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodology should be undertaken in following the progress of educational systems.
Originality/value
The findings of quantitative research based on educational indicators determine the general public and political discussion and often the discourse in the scientific community. The analysis shows that a critical distance especially when preparing political decisions is a necessary attitude.
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Collins Asante-Addo, Jonathan Mockshell, Manfred Zeller, Khalid Siddig and Irene S. Egyir
The purpose of this paper is to analyze determinants of farmers’ participation and credit rationing in microcredit programs using survey data from Ghana.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze determinants of farmers’ participation and credit rationing in microcredit programs using survey data from Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the Garrett Ranking Technique to analyze farmers’ reasons for participation or non-participation in credit programs, a probit regression model to estimate factors influencing farm households’ participation, and the Heckman’s sample selection model to identify factors influencing farm households’ probability of being credit rationed by microcredit programs.
Findings
The results reveal that farm households participate in credit programs because of improved access to savings services and agricultural loans. Fear of loan default and lack of savings are reasons for non-participation in credit programs. Furthermore, membership in farmer-based organizations (FBOs) and the household head’s formal education are positively associated with farmers’ participation in credit programs. The likelihood of farmers being credit rationed (i.e. their loan applications were either rejected or the amount of credit they applied for was reduced) is less likely among higher income farmers and members of FBOs such as farmer cooperatives and savings clubs.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that policy strategies aiming to improve access to savings and credit services should educate farmers and strengthen FBOs that could serve as entry points for financial service providers. Such market smart strategies have the potential to improve farmers’ access to financial services and reduce rural poverty.
Originality/value
Although existing studies have examined farmers’ participation in credit markets and credit rationing separately, the unique contribution of this paper is the analysis of participation in microcredit programs as well as the likelihood of farmers being credit rationed in Ghana.
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John Robinson, Andi Darell Alhakim, Grace Ma, Monisha Alam, Fernanda da Rocha Brando, Manfred Braune, Michelle Brown, Nicolas Côté, Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Ana Karen Garza, David Gorman, Maarten Hajer, John Madden, Rob Melnick, John Metras, Julie Newman, Rutu Patel, Rob Raven, Kenneth Sergienko, Victoria Smith, Hoor Tariq, Lysanne van der Lem, Christina Nga Jing Wong and Arnim Wiek
This study aims to explore barriers and pathways to a whole-institution governance of sustainability within the working structures of universities.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore barriers and pathways to a whole-institution governance of sustainability within the working structures of universities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on multi-year interviews and hierarchical structure analysis of ten universities in Canada, the USA, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, the UK and The Netherlands. The paper addresses existing literature that championed further integration between the two organizational sides of universities (academic and operations) and suggests approaches for better embedding sustainability into four primary domains of activity (education, research, campus operations and community engagement).
Findings
This research found that effective sustainability governance needs to recognise and reconcile distinct cultures, diverging accountability structures and contrasting manifestations of central-coordination and distributed-agency approaches characteristic of the university’s operational and academic activities. The positionality of actors appointed to lead institution-wide embedding influenced which domain received most attention. The paper concludes that a whole-institution approach would require significant tailoring and adjustments on both the operational and academic sides to be successful.
Originality/value
Based on a review of sustainability activities at ten universities around the world, this paper provides a detailed analysis of the governance implications of integrating sustainability into the four domains of university activity. It discusses how best to work across the operational/academic divide and suggests principles for adopting a whole institution approach to sustainability.
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Angela Wroblewski and Andrea Leitner
The TARGET approach aims at establishing a reflexive gender equality policy in research performing and research funding organisations. Monitoring has enormous potential to support…
Abstract
The TARGET approach aims at establishing a reflexive gender equality policy in research performing and research funding organisations. Monitoring has enormous potential to support reflexivity at both the institutional and the individual levels in the gender equality plan (GEP) development and implementation context. To exploit this potential, the monitoring system has to consist of meaningful indicators, which adequately represent the complex construct of gender equality and refer to the concrete objectives and policies of the GEP. To achieve this, we propose an approach to indicator development that refers to a theory of change for the GEP and its policies. Indicator development thus becomes a reflexive endeavour and monitoring a living tool. This requires constant reflection on data gaps, validity of indicators and the further development of indicators. Furthermore, we recommend the creation of space for reflexivity to discuss monitoring results with the community of practice.