Employee Relations: An International Journal

Vivien K.G. Lim

2003 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450310483361

This study examined the attitudes of older workers towards work and retirement, retirement planning and their willingness to continue working after retirement and to undergo retraining. Data were collected via questionnaire surveys. Respondents consisted of 204 individuals aged 40 and above who attended courses at a local institute of labor studies. Findings suggested that work occupied a salient part of the respondents’ lives. In general, respondents also held rather ambivalent attitudes with regard to the prospect of retirement, i.e. while they did not view retirement negatively, they were nevertheless anxious about certain aspects of retirement. Results also suggested that majority of respondents preferred to remain employed in some ways even after they have officially retired from the workforce, i.e. partial rather than full retirement was preferred. Implications of findings for organizations and policy makers were discussed.

Ebrahim Soltani

2003 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450310483370

Reports findings from a research designed to investigate the main issues of the current human resource (HR) performance evaluation systems in over 150 UK‐based quality‐focused organisations. The study identified the main characteristics of HR performance evaluation systems currently conducting in total quality management (TQM)‐based organisations. The research approach consisted of a questionnaire survey in a sample of cross‐section organisations in different economic sectors with enough experience of quality management to reflect the widest possible range of characteristics in the HR performance evaluation practices. The survey results provide the most recent details of the performance appraisal systems currently conducting in TQM organisations and their effectiveness in improving and achieving TQM objectives. Also discusses implications of these findings for HR performance evaluation system in general, and a quality‐driven HR performance evaluation in particular.

Abubakr Mohyeldin Tahir Suliman

2003 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450310483389

This paper aims at exploring the relationship between self‐rated performance and immediate‐supervisor rated performance in the United Arab Emirates. A sample of 1,285 participants‐ employees and managers‐ were surveyed using self‐administered questionnaire. The results revealed a clear gap between employees’ perceptions of their performance and their managers’ perceptions. The implications of the results for both managers and researchers are also discussed in the paper.

Guy Vernon

2003 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450310483398

Gauges of the extent of the managerial hierarchy drawn from occupational classifications appear to promise a comprehensive and precise overview of cross‐national comparative developments in work organisation. This paper considers the plausibility of the national historical shifts apparent from such gauges, and explores their comparative relation to alternative indications of work organisation, focusing on the experience of eleven advanced industrialised nations in the post‐war period. It shows that whilst it is clear that in the cases of some nations such gauges meaningfully express at least the comparative extent of managerial hierarchies, it is equally clear that for other nations they do not. The paper concludes that occupational classifications are no basis for inferences about comparative developments in the extent of managerial hierarchies, still less work organisation.

Sanjiv Sachdev

2003 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450310483406

Examines the issue of uprating the minimum wage. Argues that this issue is nearly as important as the level of the minimum wage, but one that has been relatively neglected. Maintains that Britain lacks an adequate uprating mechanism and outlines some consequences of this. Argues that increases in the UK have had an erratic pattern that may be related to the electoral cycle. Drawing upon experience in the USA, argues that the lack of an adequate mechanism may lead to: avoidable and intense political lobbying; greater instability and uncertainty for low paying firms; and unfairness to those on or near minimum wages, who are then held captive to the vagaries of the political process to maintain the value of their incomes. Considers the possible form of any uprating mechanism with an overview of the US and French experience. Argues that any uprating mechanism must not only maintain the value of the minimum wage in relation to inflation but also to those of more highly paid workers.