Michelle O'Sullivan

New directions in the roles and responsibilities of the HRM function

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue, which brings together five papers exploring the changing anatomy of HRM at organisational level. Design/methodology/approach – This overarching paper briefly contextualises the theme and introduces the five selected empirical papers. Findings – The findings in this paper vary according to the core theme of each of the five contributions. The first paper highlights whether the mix of distributed HR activities between the HR department and internal/external agents may be understood to be less a product of contextual influences and more a matter of corporate choice. The second paper establishes that role dissonance is a very real issue for middle managers with HR responsibilities. The third paper unearths the complexities and challenges involved in changing existing HRM procedures and practices in a post-merger scenario. The fourth paper provides an understanding of the management of human resource supply chains and outlines five, empirically derived, generic models of HR outsourcing. The final paper finds that human resource IT diffusion and take-up is primarily fuelled by interpersonal communication and network interactions among potential adopters. Originality/value – Combined, the papers offer insights on the changing anatomy of the HRM function against the backdrop of a dynamic contemporary organisational landscape and showcase cross-national research on the theme.

Union availability, union membership and immigrant workers: An empirical investigation of the Irish case

Purpose – The papers purpose is to examine the propensity of recent immigrants to join Irish trade unions compared to Irish workers.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on the 2005 Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), a quarterly survey carried out by the Central Statistics Office.Findings – Results show that immigrant workers are less likely to join Irish trade unions than comparable native workers. Length of residency is an important factor in the likelihood of immigrants being unionised but employment in the public or private sector assumes even greater importance than nationality in determining union membership.Research limitations/implications – While the QNHS is generally a robust representative sample survey of the population, errors may occur in the proportion of non‐Irish nationals surveyed due to difficulties of ensuring their inclusion in the sample population. Language may also be an obstacle, particularly for recently arrived immigrants.Practical implications – From a t...

Minimum Labour Standards in a Social Partnership System: The Persistence of the Irish Variant of Wages Councils

This article examines the Irish variant of the Wages Councils, Joint Labour Committees (JLC), which set legally binding minimum pay and conditions for low-paid workers in some sectors. We trace the reasons for the continued existence of the JLC system even after the introduction of a National Minimum Wage in 2000. We also examine its contemporary relevance and the prospects for its retention in the future, particularly in light of growing employer opposition to them.

Everything and nothing changes: Fast-food employers and the threat to minimum wage regulation in Ireland

Ireland’s selective system of collective agreed minimum wages has come under significant pressure in recent years. A new fast-food employer body took a constitutional challenge against the system of Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) and this was strengthened by the discourse on the negative effects of minimum wages as Ireland’s economic crisis worsened. Taking a historical institutional approach, the article examines the critical juncture for the JLC system and the factors which led to the subsequent government decision to retain but reform the system. The article argues that the improved enforcement of minimum wages was a key factor in the employers’ push for abolition of the system but that the legacy of a collapsed social partnership system prevented the system’s abolition.

Organising methods and member recruitment in Irish trade unions

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the recruiting and organising methods used by Irish full‐time union officials to recruit new members in the private sector of the economy.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a survey of full‐time union officials in eight Irish trade unions.Findings – Results indicate that the use of organising techniques by officials had no significant impact on changes in membership numbers but did have a significant and positive impact on reported changes in new members. However, the variance explained was extremely modest.Research limitations/implications – A potential limitation is that the organising model is assessed solely from the perspective of full‐time union officials. An area for future research would be to capture the attitudes and experiences of local activists involved in organising.Practical implications – The demands of the organising approach require great commitment in terms of time and financial resources for unions. Yet the returns from this inv...

Employee voice and silence in auditing firms

– The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory study of employee voice and silence in international auditing firms. The authors examine two key questions: what is the propensity of employees in training to speak up on workplace problems and how would management react to employees in training speaking up on workplace problems? , – The authors compare and contrast the views of employees on training contracts with management including partners. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight managers/partners and 20 employees working in six large auditing firms in Ireland. , – The authors find that employees on training contracts have a high propensity to remain silent on workplace problems. Quiescent and acquiescent forms of silence were evident. Management expressed willingness to act on employee voice on workplace problems concerning business improvements and employee performance but were very resistant to voice in regard to a change in working conditions or a managers’ performance. Employees and management couched employee voice in terms of technical knowledge exchange rather than being associated with employee dissatisfaction or having a say in decision making. , – The authors highlight how new professional employees are socialised into understanding that employee voice is not a democratic right and the paper provides insight on the important role of partners as owner/managers in perpetuating employee silence. Previous research on owner/managers has tended to focus on small businesses while the auditing firms in this study have large numbers of employees.

Facilitators and Inhibitors of Collective Action: A Case Study of a US-Owned Manufacturing Plant

This article develops a theoretical model of collective action at work using the key concepts of mobilization triggers, facilitating factors, and inhibiting factors. It then illustrates the value of this model for understanding why a low‐pay, low‐skill, blue‐collar manufacturing facility remained non‐union, drawing primarily on the accounts of a limited sample of redundant workers. These accounts are used to demonstrate the importance of social contexts where inhibiting conditions dominate and where management practices succeed in gaining worker consent and forestalling a collective response from workers.

The role of the state in shaping zero hours work in an atypical liberal market economy

Zero hours work typifies work where there are no guaranteed hours offered by the employer. This article examines the relationship between the state and the emergence of zero hours work in an atypical liberal market economy, Ireland. Based on interviews with informed stakeholders with a focus on four sectors – retail, health, education and accommodation/food – the article concludes that the actions of the state have created a weak regulatory environment that has facilitated the emergence of zero hours work. The findings are discussed with a theoretical frame using the concepts of accumulation and legitimation.