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The Potential and Precariousness of Partnership: The Case of the Kaiser Permanente Labor Management Partnership
Author(s) -
KOCHAN THOMAS A.,
ADLER PAUL S.,
MCKERSIE ROBERT B.,
EATON ADRIENNE E.,
SEGAL PHYLLIS,
GERHART PAUL
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2008.00503.x
Subject(s) - general partnership , public administration , political science , business , public relations , law
In 1997, the Kaiser Foundation Health Care and Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Federation, and a coalition of unions signed a national agreement creating one of the most ambitious labor management partnerships in U.S. history, initially covering some 58,000 employees. Based on field research and archival data, this paper analyzes the first eight years of this partnership in light of three strategic challenges—initiating, governing, and sustaining partnership—and the organizational challenge of partnership in a highly decentralized organization.