Employee Relations: An International Journal

Titus Oshagbemi

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506878

This article explains reasons why the study of the relationship between leadership and age may be important and, using a questionnaire survey to collect data from over 400 UK managers, it identifies age influences on the leadership styles and behaviour of the managers. The findings suggest that younger and older managers have different profiles in their consultative and participative leadership styles. Older managers consulted more widely and favour more participation in comparison with younger managers. However the two groups of managers both practice directive and delegative leadership styles at about the same degree. On leadership behaviour, only idealised influence shows a significant F ‐test between younger and older managers while the other measures show remarkable similarities between the two age groups. Some implications of the findings are discussed including the need to harmonise the positive contributions of both the younger and the older workers and giving respect to the contributions of both groups.

Rachel Suff; Steve Williams

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506887

Based on data generated from a case study investigation of a well‐known partnership company the implications of partnership for employees are examined. The partnership approach received the endorsement of employees and it does appear to have brought them tangible benefits. Nevertheless, an assessment of employee perceptions of four key ingredients of partnership – employee voice, job security, quality of working life and job satisfaction, and trust – demonstrates the inappropriateness of “mutuality” as a device for conceptualizing the employment relationship under partnership regimes. The reality of market relations and the imbalance of power in the employment relationship imply that genuine mutuality is likely to be unobtainable in practice.

Paul J. Gollan

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506896

There is considerable political and industrial relations debate in Australia concerning the value and merit of Australian workplace agreements (AWAs). However, formalised individual agreements are a relatively new phenomenon in the Australian industrial relations landscape, consequently, to date there has been limited assessment of the strategies, outcomes and processes involved in making and negotiating such agreements. This paper attempts to fill this gap by reviewing responses from 688 employers who had approved AWAs with the Office of the Employment Advocate (OEA) before February 2000. There are a number of issues that can be identified from this exploratory study. AWA employers were likely to be “individualistic” employers with more individual employee consultation and human resource practices. Individual employee and employer consultation arrangements were more likely to be used in establishing AWAs and generally communicating with the workforce as a whole. The survey also suggested that the majority of respondents intended to increase their use of AWAs in the future citing increased flexibility and the benefit of all employees being under one type of industrial relations instrument as the primary reasons for their introduction.

Sing Lim Leung; Nikos Bozionelos

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506904

The association between the “five‐factor model” of personality and the prototypical image of the effective leader, and the extent to which that image was linked to the features of transformational leadership were examined in a questionnaire study that involved a sample of 101 Chinese origin individuals in Hong Kong. High levels of extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability and openness were perceived as characterizing effective leaders. In line with research on leader emergence in the Anglo‐Saxon culture but contrary to expectations, extraversion was the trait most potently associated with the prototypical notion of the effective leader. And that notion was linked to the features of transformational leadership. The findings also suggested that men and women may partly differ in the criteria they utilize to evaluate leaders. Additional research is necessary, but the findings imply that most of the conclusions on the relationship between personality traits and leader emergence drawn with Anglo‐Saxon samples are generalizable in Confucian societies.

Yahya Melhem

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506913

Data from 517 service workers in 14 retail banks show positive and significant association between four empowerment antecedents (including trust, incentives, information and knowledge) and empowerment of customer‐contact employees. Particularly, the findings in this research suggest that trust, communication, knowledge and skills of customer‐contact employees may have a direct and strong impact on the empowerment of service employees. Empowerment antecedents (trust, incentives, communication, and knowledge) of customer‐contact employees accounted for significant variation in the levels of empowerment among customer‐contact employees in the banking industry. Implications for future research and for management practice are discussed.

Claire Massey

2004 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425450410506922

Governments around the world are increasingly focusing on initiatives that encourage business improvement and build “firm capability”. A particular target of such initiatives has been the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. As the way in which this sector contributes to a country's economic and social goals has become more widely understood, there has been a growing emphasis on encouraging the owners and managers of these enterprises to engage in “best practice” initiatives. The assumption is that best practice will lead to increased levels of firm performance and economic growth. In New Zealand the Ministry of Economic Development has undertaken a study of business practice and performance based on a framework initially developed by the Australian Manufacturing Council in 1994 for a survey on the manufacturing sector. The study is now in its third iteration and for the first time incorporates all sectors of the economy. This paper presents the results relating to employee practices in small firms from the most recent study.