Patricia Fosh

Students' Evaluation of Teaching in Higher Education: experiences from four European countries and some implications of the practice[1]

Abstract Mechanisms for the quality assessment of teaching in the higher education systems of the UK, The Netherlands, France and Germany give varying statuses to students’ assessment of teaching, specifically that done by means of questionnaires. Despite numerous assertions of the general validity of many aspects of such assessments, previous research — very little of which has been based upon the European experience — has nevertheless shown various biases in these evaluations (biases being defined as aspects of evaluation unrelated to the intrinsic characteristics of the teaching). It is also possible to hypothesise other sources of bias that are not analysed in depth in the existing literature; some of these may be specific to the higher education systems of individual countries. The possible existence of biases must necessarily entail some problems in the interpretation of questionnaire results and thus dilemmas in their application to decision‐making by institutions. [1] This is revised version of a ...

Local Trade Unionists in Action: Patterns of Union Democracy

Union democracy is a controversial subject. It has been brought to public attention in the 1980s with the introduction of legislation by the Conservative government to ‘give unions back to their members’, but it has also been the subject of a long-running debate among political theorists and sociologists since the time of the Webbs. It is not the intention of this chapter to make a contribution to the philosophical debate on the meaning of union democracy, instead the purpose is to describe and account for variations in democracy among a number of workplace union organizations. In analysing trade union democracy we have adopted a participatory framework, rather than the more prevalent competitive and representative model.2 The participatory model provides a better basis for the study of local democracy where sub-groups and competition for election may not exist.3 Such an approach draws attention away from the potentially ‘empty shells’ of the formal democratic machinery and from factionalism and instead emphasizes the continual interaction between workers and their delegates in their struggle over the conditions of employment. Furthermore, as Fairbrother states (1984, p. 23) membership involvement ‘is the essential ingredient to the vitality and success of unions’.

Measuring Trade Union Democracy: The Case of the UK Civil and Public Services Association

The Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) has experienced a substantial number of organizational changes over the last 25 years, both as a voluntary response to membership concerns and to comply with legislative demands. Have these changes made the CPSA more or less ‘democratic’? An answer to this question must acknowledge that individuals interpret ‘trade union democracy’ in different ways. This paper evaluates the changes in the CPSA’s organizational structure and internal decision-making procedures according to the emphasis of four models of trade union democracy: liberal pluralism, grass-roots activism, individual accountability and consumer trade unionism.

The Effect of Career Ambition and Satisfaction on Attitudes Towards Equal Opportunities and Family‐friendly Policies For Women

This study aims to uncover some of the reasons for differences in attitudes towards family‐friendly and equal opportunities (EO) policies for women between senior and junior staff and between male and female staff. This in‐depth case study of a multi‐national corporation in Hong Kong that included a survey questionnaire, interviews and participant observation suggests four categories of female employees according to their approach to EO: advocators, supporters, outsiders and rejecters. The approach adopted was dependent on the womans level of empathy towards the situation of working women and the extent of her career ambition. Four categories of male employees can also be classified depending on their level of empathy towards womens situation (similar to womens case) and their extent of career satisfaction (in contrast to womens career ambition), namely, antagonists, outsiders, fence‐sitters and sympathizers. Women at higher levels were less supportive of EO than women at lower levels. No such clear relationship between organizational level and attitudes towards EO was observed among men. In Hong Kong, female managers had little expectation that their organization would be family‐friendly and women workers who consciously chose to balance work and family accepted that it meant fewer promotional chances. No such self‐adjusted depressed ambition was observed among men.

Introduction: Whose Union? Power and Bureaucracy in the Labour Movement

Since the formation of permanent trade unions by skilled artisans in the nineteenth century, the relationship between unions and their members has been a perennial subject of social inquiry and political debate. Repeatedly scholars have examined the tensions which result from collective representation through permanent organizations and have questioned the representativeness and effectiveness of unions as vehicles for advancing workers’ interests. The need for this collection arises, we believe, because these questions have been given a new relevance by the economic, political and ideological shifts of the last decade. The Conservative government, for example, has framed its programme of legal intervention into union affairs at least partly on the assumption that union leaders are unrepresentative and insufficiently accountable to their members. Employers, too, have displayed a new interest in techniques such as profit-sharing and employee involvement which, according to some commentators, will reduce worker attachment to unions and possibly eliminate the demand for independent representation altogether. And finally, within the unions the deeply ingrained suspicion of officialdom among activists has fused with a newer feminist critique which points to the neglect of women workers’ interests by the union hierarchy.

The future for Hong Kong trade unions

Discusses how since 1970, the colonial government in Hong Kong has exercised its wide legal powers over trade union organization and activities in a benevolent manner. Whether the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will continue this policy is uncertain: the new government may enforce the trade unions’ legal framework more rigorously. UK trade unions proved themselves reliant and adaptable in the face of a wide raft of legislative “reforms”, brought in by Conservative governments in the 1979 to 1997 period, which laid down strict templates for their internal decision‐making processes. Suggests that the “survival lessons” learned by the UK trade unions during this period of hostile government may be of help to Hong Kong trade unions which face future challenges.

Union Autonomy, a Terminal Case in the UK? A Comparison with the Approach in Other European Countries and the USA

Since 1979, the Conservative government in the UK has introduced wide-ranging and detailed regulations for the conduct of union internal affairs; a number of other Western industrialized countries have not done so (or have not done so to the same extent) but have continued their tradition of relying on unions themselves to establish democratic procedures. Alternative views of the role of the state in industrial relations underlie these differences. A second, linked article, appearing in Employee Relations (Vol. 15 No. 4), examines state approaches to union autonomy in the context of attitudes towards other controls on union activities and attempts to explain the successive shifts in British policy in the UK since the 1960s.