Employee Relations: An International Journal

Nancy E. Day

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153862

Purpose – Although some research shows that positive outcomes occur when workers understand how their pay is determined, little is known about the dynamics of how pay communication affects pay satisfaction. This research proposes that the relationships between pay communication and pay satisfaction exist because justice perceptions mediate them. Pay communication is of particular interest to managers of public sector organizations, where many aspects of the pay system are in the public domain, and without adequate communication, may be easily misunderstood by workers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The study consists of a sample of 384 employees of a Midwestern public university in the USA who completed two questionnaires. Structural equation modeling is used. Findings – Pay communication has both direct and mediated relationships with pay satisfaction (satisfaction with pay level, benefits, pay raise, and pay administration). Distributive justice accounts for more variance in all pay satisfaction dimensions than procedural justice. Interpersonal and information justice are essentially unrelated to pay satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – The sample over‐represents women, non‐minorities, and workers with long‐service records. Results may not be generalizeable to other organizational contexts, particularly to private sector organizations. Practical implications – Perceived pay communication predicts not only pay satisfaction, but also perceptions of organizational justice. In turn, justice's mediation is critical to enhancing satisfaction with pay. Organizations should carefully design and implement pay communication programs. Originality/value – First, the relationships between perceived pay communication and pay satisfaction are shown to be, in part, based on justice perceptions. Second, issues of pay communication have rarely been studied in US public sector organizations, which require open pay systems. Third, this paper presents improvements in measures and other methods over past research in pay communication.

Marilyn Clarke

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153871

Purpose – Women continue to be under‐represented at higher levels of management in organisations and on boards throughout Western industrialised countries despite more than 30 years of government policies and organisational practices designed to redress this imbalance. The problem is how to ensure that more women make it to senior positions. This paper seeks to explore one approach to advancing women's careers through a women‐only development program designed for those identified as high‐potential leaders. Design/methodology/approach – Telephone interviews were conducted with participants from two intakes of the development program. Qualitative data analysis methods were used to identify common words and themes as well as divergent opinions. Findings – Women‐only development programs provide a safe and supportive environment for improving self‐confidence, learning new skills, and learning from the experiences of successful role models. They are a useful addition to other strategies designed to increase the number of women in senior positions but factors such as organisational culture and career choices also impact on career progress. Research limitations/implications – The sample size is small and may not be representative of overall program participants. The data rely on self‐reports. Only limited demographic detail was obtained. Practical implications – Future programs should focus more on helping women identify and tap into existing networks, develop more instrumental networks and access suitable mentors. Originality/value – The paper identifies social capital as an important element in career advancement and one area where women still lag behind men due to a lack of career enhancing networks and high‐status mentors.

Thomas Turner; Michelle O'Sullivan; Daryl D'Art

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153880

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore the recruiting and organising methods used by Irish full‐time union officials to recruit new members in the private sector of the economy. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a survey of full‐time union officials in eight Irish trade unions. Findings – Results indicate that the use of organising techniques by officials had no significant impact on changes in membership numbers but did have a significant and positive impact on reported changes in new members. However, the variance explained was extremely modest. Research limitations/implications – A potential limitation is that the organising model is assessed solely from the perspective of full‐time union officials. An area for future research would be to capture the attitudes and experiences of local activists involved in organising. Practical implications – The demands of the organising approach require great commitment in terms of time and financial resources for unions. Yet the returns from this investment may be slight as only a relatively weak relationship was found between the number of organising methods used and changes in membership numbers and the recruitment of new members. Originality/value – To date there has been little systematic study of either the recruitment methods used by Irish trade unions or the relative success of different approaches. Based on a survey of Irish full‐time union officials, this paper attempts to address this lacuna.

Vathsala Wickramasinghe; Rasika Chandrasekara

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153899

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether permanent workers with standard employment that is protected, and casual workers with long‐term employment that is not protected but performing the same core jobs, along with permanent workers side‐by‐side in the same work setting, exhibit different work‐related outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Permanent workers and casual workers holding core jobs with long‐term employment responded to the survey questionnaire. Logistic regression was used for the data analysis. Findings – Job satisfaction, procedural justice and work performance were found to be important work‐related outcomes that discriminate between permanent and casual workers. Originality/value – Although consequences of different employment arrangements would be of interest to many organisations world wide, on the one hand, little empirical research has compared work‐related outcomes of permanent workers with casuals (holding the same core functions with long‐term employment) or permanent workers with workers in any form of nonstandard employment arrangement. On the other hand, the literature on the use of labour flexibility strategies is mainly concentrated on developed market economies. If organisations use casual workers alongside permanent workers in core jobs, there is a need for examining implications of such practices. The findings of this study establish baseline data that would be a source of general guidance in stimulating future research in this area.

T.N. Krishnan

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153907

Purpose – Most research on employment relationship has been done on the Anglo‐Saxon context, the results of which may not be totally valid for India. The emerging employment relationship in India is best viewed through the lens of psychological contracts. Psychological contract has significant influence on valuable workplace outcomes. This paper seeks to propose a model for understanding employment relationship through the concept of psychological contracts. Design/methodology/approach – With the help of published case studies in the Indian context and based on social exchange theory, this paper proposes a model wherein trust mediates the relationship between the perception of breach of the psychological contract and HR systems. Findings – As more and more employees come under non‐unionized workforce, the non‐formal aspects of employment through the lens of psychological contracts becomes an important lever to manage employment relationships. The model presented in this paper suggests that depending on the HR system an organization adopts, the perception of breach of psychological contract gets affected. Based on the notion of consistency of HR practices, it is argued that HR systems across organizations form two archetypal extremes and each of these give rise to a different perception of breach of psychological contract. Originality/value – As HR managers are faced with a range of choices in implementing HR systems, it becomes difficult to narrow down the available options. This study would provide some guidelines to do so, by highlighting the process through which HR systems impact the perception of breach of psychological contracts and the resulting employment relationship.

Andrew R. Timming

2011 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/01425451111153916

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the recruitment and selection procedures employed in the body art sector. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative interviews were conducted with the owners/managers of eight body art studios located across the USA and the UK. Findings – The results suggest that recruitment and selection in the body art sector is characteristically informal and instinctive. It was also found that the use of formal methods of recruitment and selection in one of the case studies appeared to enhance difficulties in attracting and retaining talent. Practical/implications – The research corroborates the argument that smaller firms employ HRM strategies that are distinct from larger firms. But, more importantly, it also suggests that firm size could be a red herring in light of the various other factors that simultaneously influence HR service delivery. Originality/value – This paper explores HRM practices in a hitherto unstudied sector of the economy. It also adds another layer of complexity to the academic debates surrounding HRM in small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises.