Premium
Non‐union employee representation: exploring the riddle of managerial strategy
Author(s) -
Butler Peter
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
industrial relations journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.525
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 1468-2338
pISSN - 0019-8692
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2338.2009.00521.x
Subject(s) - underpinning , representation (politics) , action (physics) , dynamics (music) , business , political science , public relations , sociology , law , pedagogy , quantum mechanics , politics , engineering , civil engineering , physics
Utilising case‐study research in two organisations this article considers the strategy underpinning managerially imposed systems of non‐union employee representation. Drawing on Dundon and Gollan's ‘sensitising framework’, an interplay of external factors and internal dynamics is seen to prompt objectives that are both defensive (union avoidance) and proactive in nature (e.g. the legitimisation of change). The article suggests that such goals represent ‘rival logics of action’, the tensions unleashed being ultimately reflected in the ineffective functioning of the institutions under review.