Linda Glover

The human resource barriers to managing quality in China

China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The challenge for the future is likely to be the extent to which Chinese operations can utilize modern management techniques to improve product and service quality. This paper explores some of the problems that were affecting the management of quality within two foreigninvested enterprises (FIEs) based in the Shenzhen region of China. The paper argues that the provision of new factories and machinery was not sufficient in itself to ensure the maintenance of quality standards. Quality management in the West has become synonymous with increased employee involvement and developing customer-orientated cultures (Rees, 1998). The success or otherwise of quality management initiatives therefore depends upon the co-operation and enthusiasm of employees (Wilkinson et al ., 1998; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992). Quality management within the case companies was hampered by the prevailing work ethic and was hindered by inadequate human resource and management systems. The study highlighted poor standards of training, dissatisfaction over levels of remuneration, and poor communication within the case companies. The paper argues that the problems experienced by the companies were inextricably linked to aspects of Chinas historical development. This history has helped to engender employee attitudes and behaviours that are poorly understood. Models of quality management are needed which are sensitive to the Chinese operating context.

Worlds colliding: the translation of modern management practices within a UK based subsidiary of a Korean-owned MNC

This paper explores the factors that served to dislodge an espoused strategy of quality management with ‘soft’ HRM within a British subsidiary of a Korean owned multinational company. Accounts from British and Korean managers revealed competing sets of tensions at three levels: external organizational, intra-organizational, and internal workplace. The case is important for a number of reasons. First, research on UK based subsidiaries tends to have focused upon American and Japanese owned companies, with less evidence from MNCs from later industrialized economies. Second, evidence suggests that MNCs from Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have been experimenting with Western influenced high-performance work systems – but there is less evidence about how these are actually translated into the workplace. Third, there is a growing literature that suggests that the transfer of management practices in MNCs can be partly understood as a ‘negotiated process’, and disagreements may emerge between organisational actors in respect of the meaning and function of such practices. This article offers further support for this contention and offers insights into how these processes affected day-to-day management of the workplace and undermined the espoused strategy.

‘When the Going Gets Tough’: Recession and the Resilience of Workplace Partnership

Drawing on longitudinal research in an engineering multinational corporation, this article considers the resilience of workplace partnership under conditions of retrenchment. In line with extant literature, the twin influences of trade union power and competitive strategy are seen to significantly shape the durability of partnership. Beyond these determinants, trust and managerial skill and political sensitivity are deemed important moderators. The findings nonetheless suggest that the favourable alignment of these factors may not represent a sufficient bulwark in those situations where the axis of partnership is local, within the context of otherwise centrally coordinated industrial relations.

Mutual gains? The workers' verdict: a longitudinal study

‘Who gains from partnership?’ is a topic that has been hotly debated (Roche 2009) and it has been suggested that the ‘balance of advantage’ is often skewed towards employers. However, employee testimony remains limited. To address this gap, the paper examines employee evidence on the partnership process and their interpretation of the gains realised over time in a large UK-based subsidiary of an engineering multinational company. The research is part of a larger longitudinal case-study project extending over 5 years. The analysis here draws upon data collected during 2006–2010 and includes 99 interviews alongside nearly 200 matched survey responses, in addition to observational and documentary evidence. We introduce a process model of the ‘hierarchy of gains’ and suggest that this helps explain shifts in worker behaviour as a result of partnership.

Neither poison nor panacea: shopfloor responses to TQM

While there has been much conjecture as to the implications of TQM for shopfloor workers, there have been relatively few studies that have investigated shopfloor responses to TQM via in‐depth interviews. Focuses on shopfloor workers who might have been expected to conform to the “solidaristic” stereotype in terms of their orientation to work, because they had traditionally used the group as a source of power against the employer. The expectation was that they would resist any involvement in TQM. The initial response was positive and the paper seeks to explore this finding. It suggests that shopfloor orientations to work within the male‐dominated, well‐paid, unionised manufacturing sector may have moved from an emphasis on collective conflict towards “collective instrumentalism”, which encompasses a shift away from overt conflict, towards uneasy patterns of co‐operation.

Communication and consultation in a greenfield site company

Explores employee experiences of HRM within a division of a non‐unionised Korean owned MNC, which comprised a mix of greenfield site and brownfield site factories. Explores employee perceptions of the effectiveness of communication and consultation within the company. Incorporates a consideration of the role that gossip, rumour and the grapevine play when formal systems for communication and consultation are not trusted. Examines the conditions that led to a disjunction between the existence of “sophisticated HRM” systems for communication and consultation and positive outcomes in the workplace. Concludes that management action and behaviour were more important in determining HR outcomes than “typical” greenfield site variables such as a brand new factory or a “new” employment philosophy.

Workplace partnership and employee involvement - contradictions and synergies: Evidence from a heavy engineering case study

This article considers the workplace partnership–employee involvement nexus. While an empirical association has been recorded, there has been limited exploration of the potential benefits to be derived from the coupling of these interventions. Developing the idea of forward and reverse synergies this article argues the relationship is complex. The tendency for partnership to act as an antecedent for the utilization of employee involvement and wider organizational change has been documented – forward synergy. However, the reverse scenario, where involvement is used by management to initiate and subsequently bolster workplace cooperation and consensus has received far less scrutiny. This article seeks to shed light on both phenomena.

Can informal social relations help explain workers' reactions to managerial interventions? Some case evidence from a study of quality management

This article seeks to address the question of whether workers’ reactions to managerial interventions can be more fully explained when the influence of informal social relations are analysed. Empirical evidence is drawn from detailed case studies that examined workers’ reactions to quality management in British subsidiaries of two multinational companies. Some of the findings appear paradoxical at first sight. For example, workers expressed concerns for quality and customer satisfaction — despite feelings of demoralization and alienation. The analysis of informal relations offers an explanation for these responses. While not overlooking the importance of formal relations, the discussion focuses upon the nature and impact of informal relations (inside and outside the organization) as these have been less well discussed. Furthermore, the importance of linking the workplace with the non-work domain is increasingly being recognized and the concept of social relations can bridge these domains.