James Arrowsmith

The Impact of the National Minimum Wage in Small Firms

The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) had potentially significant implications for small firms. Orthodox economic theory predicts adverse consequences, though institutional analysis points to potential efficiency as well as fairness effects. Using longitudinal data on 55 firms, this paper examines the impact of the NMW in small firms in clothing manufacture and hotel and catering. Different patterns of adjustment were observed, explained by both size and sector characteristics. Overall, the impact of the NMW was mediated by the informality of employment relations in the small firm.

What can ‘benchmarking’ offer the open method of co-ordination?

Benchmarking offers actors a means of resolving the horizontal and vertical collective action problems that often bedevil the development and implementation of decision-making. It has assumed a vital role in the EU’s ‘open method of co-ordination’ with its focus on the identification and dissemination of ‘best practice’ through mutual learning and peer review, offering new solutions for policy management in an increasingly complex, diverse and uncertain environment. Yet the evolution of benchmarking from management tool to regulatory instrument is also problematic, and not just because it remains conceptually ambiguous and technically difficult to effect in practice. More fundamentally, the mechanisms of control that underpin benchmarking in large companies are generally unavailable to public policy-makers. As a result, benchmarking must be looser at EU level, and perhaps ultimately viewed as a complementary rather than an alternative form of regulation.

Between Decentralization and Europeanization: Sectoral Bargaining in Four Countries and Two Sectors

This article draws on the findings of research in metalworking and financial services in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the UK to explore the impact of three challenges to established sector-level bargaining arrangements: further decentralization to company level and a reorientation of the bargaining agenda towards competitiveness and employment; the cross-border dimension to bargaining prompted by the single European market; and the emergence of new business activities. It finds similarity within each sector across countries, and similarity within each country across sectors. Implications are drawn out for the balance between company and sectoral bargaining; the relationship between sector-level bargaining arrangements in different countries; and the capacity of sectoral systems to adapt to new contingencies.

Pay and Working Time: Towards Organization‐based Systems?

The decentralization of pay and working-time determination has widely been seen as marking a shift to organization-based arrangements. Empirical investigation has been limited, however. This paper examines the process and outcomes of pay and working time through a survey of over three hundred workplaces in four important sectors: printing, engineering, retail and health. It finds that a strong sector effect is demonstrated whether or not there are national arrangements in place, and that employers tend to move like ships in a convoy when managing change. It is argued that the convergence and durability of existing arrangements is associated first with the structural boundaries provided by markets, technology and labour; second with the increased importance of legitimacy in a context of growing uncertainty; and third as a result of shared information sources and networks. The strength of the sectoral reference raises significant questions for much of current organizational research, notably its focus on levels of pay and the relevance of the analytical distinction between the internal and external labour markets. The research also has a number of important policy implications, drawing attention to the pros as well as cons of co-ordination in pay and working-time arrangements

Managing employee commitment in the not‐for‐profit sector

The voluntary and not‐for‐profit sector accounts for an important and growing proportion of employment in the UK though it remains highly under‐researched. Rates of pay are often relatively low, necessitating forms of human resource management that emphasise non‐financial means of eliciting employee motivation and commitment. This paper examines HRM in a major charity that provides services to adults with learning disabilities. It finds that the intrinsic commitment to the job held by employees – which the organisation is trying to tap – can form a competing commitment towards different entities of the organisation. This competing commitment is difficult to reconcile to organizational objectives because it reflects ambivalences in existing power structures and group dynamics. The results have wider relevance to the management of employee commitment in other service sectors.

Once More into the Sunset? Asian Clothing Firms after the National Minimum Wage

Intense global competition and the advent of a raft of employment regulations (notably, the national minimum wage, or NMW) have placed the UK garment industry under severe pressure. The prospects for a significant segment of this sector—ethnic-minority-owned businesses—appear to be extremely gloomy, although earlier predictions of its demise proved to be unduly pessimistic. Drawing on case studies of eighteen firms, we present an examination of longitudinal change in the Asian-dominated West Midlands clothing industry. In particular, the aim is to examine the responses of manufacturers to market and regulatory change (in particular, the NMW). The findings clearly illustrate that the sector is in decline, with firms finding it increasingly difficult to cope with cheap imports, labour shortages, and employment regulations. A range of responses was evident and included firms that resorted to operating in ‘grey’ markets; manufacturers that ‘retrenched’ their operations; ‘work intensification’; and businesses that attempted to move ‘up-market’. Finally, potential policy responses are considered. In particular, the case of the Coventry Clothing Centre is examined. The Centre worked with the grain of employment legislation, and appeared to have experienced some success in encouraging local firms to accommodate the NMW and improve working practices.

A flexible future for older workers

Explores the extent and patterns of age discrimination within a changing workplace context, and specifically focuses on how employment flexibility may be used to the mutual advantage of employers and older workers. Results are presented from two large‐scale national surveys conducted with the Institute of Personnel Management (1994, n = 1,700) and the Institute of Management (1995, n = 1,665). Case study research conducted with Ford/XR Associates, J. Sainsbury and the UK National Health Service is also reported. Research shows that although age discrimination in employment remains extensive, an innovative approach to the recruitment, utilization and retention of older workers may bring a series of positive joint gains.

The meaning of 'employee engagement' for the values and roles of the HRM function

Employee engagement has become a dominant part of the vocabulary of human resource management (HRM), yet there has been little investigation of the implications of this for HRM in organisations. This article analyses a case study of an initiative at New Zealand Post designed to improve the engagement and performance of supervisory staff. It makes two important contributions to the development of the nascent literature. First, it suggests that effective engagement initiatives require political astuteness and commitment on the part of HR. This is because they require a clear business case focused on performance, not merely engagement itself, and an evidence-based approach to design and implementation. This potential appears to be furthered by the commonly observed restructuring of HRM into a ‘business partner’ role. Second, a purposive approach to employee engagement involves HR interrogating the employment relationship to address fundamental issues of employee voice, work design and management agency. This can introduce complications, and resistance, into the partnership with management, but it also offers a means to reconcile ‘soft’ (employee-centred) HRM values to ‘hard’ (performance) concerns around specific change management initiatives. Employee engagement thus need not constitute unitarist subterfuge, but rather something of a ‘neo-pluralist’ turn in the values and activities of HRM.

The European Cross-border Dimension to Collective Bargaining in Multinational Companies

The international dimension is becoming increasingly important to collective bargaining in multinational companies (MNCs) as a result of changes in their operating environment and internal structures. This article examines this process in two sectors and four EU countries. The findings show that although the cross-border dimension to collective bargaining remains muted in formal terms, its significance may be masked by it assuming an implicit rather than explicit character, and that European Works Councils have had some effect in reinforcing the relevance of the international dimension for domestic and, occasionally, transnational collective bargaining.

Public Policy, the Performance of Firms, and the 'Missing Middle': the case of the Employment Regulations, and a Role for Local Business Networks

The social and economic institutions of a country provide a framework shaping the performance of individual firms. The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) in the UK provides a key illustration of the weakness of institutions and the ways in which they might be strengthened. Evidence from 81 small firms in three sectors reveals limited responses to the NMW. It points to the potential role of local business networks in filling the gap between individual firms and the governments business support services. Existing evidence on the difficulties which firms have using these services is reviewed, and the example of local support for the Coventry clothing industry is discussed to illustrate the potential role of local networks. The constraints are, however, formidable and if the benefits are to be realized the government needs to pursue a much more active industrial policy.