Ana Belén García

Employee Representatives in European Organizations

Worldwide, and also within the European Union, there is a strong debate on the conditions for a creative social dialogue in organizations. The problem-solving potential of this formal dialogue between employer and employee representatives is crucial and has already been shown in different organizations, however, is not always easy to achieve. In this chapter, we first discuss the role of social dialogue in Europe and the changes that currently take place. Then we present the framework of the studies forming the base of this book: the New European Industrial Relations (NEIRE) model. This model focuses on outcomes and key factors contributing to creative social dialogue in European organizations. At the end of the chapter we briefly describe the results of surveys and interviews gathered from more than 700 human resources managers in eleven European countries, participating in this project.

The Tower of Power: Building Innovative Organizations Through Social Dialogue

This chapter offers a general picture of the experiences with and expectations towards employee representatives of more than 700 HR managers in 11 European countries. First, the most salient trends in the countries are presented based on the NEIRE model, describing outcomes and factors contributing to a constructive and innovative social dialogue. The conclusions of the 11 studies are summarized in ten ideas for achieving cooperative and innovative industrial relations. These ten ideas illustrate the wishes of employers towards improvement of social dialogue and bring us one step further in understanding the current European industrial relations systems and the expectations, concerns and objectives of employers. Overall, improving the quality of social dialogue is perceived as the healthiest and fairest way to make decisions in a democratic organizational context.

The State of Art: Trust and Conflict Management in Organizational Industrial Relations

The aim of this chapter is to explore the role of trust and conflict management in Industrial Relations (IR) within organizations. First, we offer a short review of trust and conflict management from different theoretical perspectives. Secondly, this chapter offers an overview of key empirical studies on trust and conflict management in the specific context of industrial relations. We summarize findings relevant for the different partners and set an agenda for future research.

Employee Representatives in Spain. Which are the Perceptions and Expectations by Employers

Spain has a tradition of a particularly competitive industrial relations climate. The country’s current financial crisis and economic recession have triggered a period of unprecedented reforms in the labor market, employment policies and the structure of the collective bargaining. The change towards a decentralized system of industrial relations have placed employee representatives as key parts at the organizational level, with an important role in social innovation and to promote the competitiveness of the organization. Drawing on the results from interviews and a survey among Spanish HR managers we observe that the economic recession has underpinned the large opposition in social relationships. Employee representatives and managers perceive and behave as two opposed groups, subject to high levels of conflict. However, building a constructive social dialogue ties up with the expressed will by Spanish managers to work with competent counterparts at the negotiation table, partners who have a strategic vision of the dynamics of the organization and with whom they can work vis-a-vis through transparency. They point out that empowering employee representatives so that they can achieve these competencies, together with the professionalization of their role, are further challenges for social agents.

Improving social dialogue: What employers expect from employee representatives

The model of social dialogue within organisations between management and employees is facing unprecedented challenges, and changing rapidly. In this new context of labour relations, experiences and expectations of each other are key drivers for the primary parties to this social dialogue. There has been little systematic research investigating the conditions for constructive social dialogue, particularly when it comes to ‘soft factors’, such as perceived competences, trust, influence and conflict behaviours. Addressing these issues based on theories of conflict, trust and influence, this article investigates experiences and expectations of employee representatives on the part of human resource managers, their counterparts in social dialogue. The results of surveys conducted in 11 European countries indicate that, overall, employers found a model of structured dialogue with elected employee representatives useful. Furthermore, competences of employee representatives, cooperative conflict behaviours, informal relations and trust promoted the influence of employee representatives on organisational decision-making and the quality of these decisions. We discuss implications for different systems of industrial relations. JEL Code: J50