Employee Relations: An International Journal

Ahmad, Mansoor ; Allen, Matthew

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-05-2014-0044

Purpose – Despite a growing literature on human resource management (HRM) in emerging economies, evidence from Pakistan is limited. There is scant information on both the human resource (HR) practices that indigenous workplaces adopt and their associations with HR-related outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to fill that gap by examining whether universalistic assumptions about the applicability of “high-performance” HR practices are valid in Pakistan, a country with religious values and organizational traditions that differ to those in the west. Design/methodology/approach – This study draws on the, to date, most comprehensive survey of indigenous establishments in Pakistan. The authors use logistic regressions to analyze the data. Findings – Workplaces, in general, adopt several “high-performance” HR practices, such as extensive training, career breaks, rigorous pre-employment candidate assessment, and the sharing of strategic information with employees. Attitude surveys and the provision of training in a variety of jobs to non-managerial employees are consistently associated with better HR-related outcomes (absenteeism, quit rates, and labour productivity). Overall, the paper finds some limited support for the applicability and efficacy of high-performance HRM practices in Pakistan. Such practices conform to Islamic principles. The results also indicate, however, that cultural traits play a role in how those practices are implemented. Social implications – Increased adoption of certain HR practices by establishments in Pakistan may help to improve the working conditions and employment prospects of employees and may also ameliorate the country’s sluggish economic growth rates. Originality/value – HRM in Pakistani establishments has received relatively scant attention. Existing research either focuses on a relatively small number of firms, assesses HR in MNC subsidiaries, or examines a limited range of HR practices. Understanding the HR practices that are (and are not) adopted and their associations with performance outcomes will not just enhance the knowledge of HR in emerging economies, but will also provide insights into how to improve establishment performance and economic growth rates.

Tlaiss, Hayfaa

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-03-2014-0028

Purpose – Few studies examine the career success of women in the Arab Middle East. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to explore the conceptualizations of the career success of women managers in Lebanon. Drawing on the individual, behavioral, and structural approaches, this study also investigates the women’s approaches to career success. Capitalizing on the institutional theory (IT), the current investigation accounts for the complexity of the local context by illustrating how a diverse set of socio-cultural values and norms, institutional constraints, and individual agency impact the overall experience of career success among Arab women. Design/methodology/approach – This study is exploratory in nature and draws on a qualitative approach. In-depth, face-to-face, open-ended interviews were conducted with women managers across the managerial hierarchy in a wide range of industries, sectors, and organizations. Findings – The findings suggest that the Lebanese women managers’ career success was not conceptualized exclusively using the objective or the subjective measures. Rather, it was conceptualized on a continuum between these measures, thus challenging the rigid objective/subjective dichotomy in the context of Lebanon. The results also suggest that the career success of these women managers is better predicted and explained by the individual and behavioral approaches than by the traditional, structural approach. This empirical work sheds light on the gendered working conditions that women experience and how they capitalize on their individual agency to survive the hegemonic masculinity embedded in their workplaces, along with the inequalities that it promotes. Originality/value – This study is the first to explore the conceptualizations and the determinants of the career success of women managers in Lebanon. However, the originality of this paper is not only limited to its contribution to the limited research on the careers of Arab women; it also extends to its usage of various approaches to predict career success as well as to adapt IT as a theoretical framework for capturing the myriad of factors that impact women’s careers and success. The originality of this study also lies in advancing the theoretical concept of hegemonic masculinity into studies looking at Arab women’s career experiences by shedding some light on how the reproduction of gender, gendered working practices, and agency impact their career success.

Barrett, Rowena

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-05-2014-0048

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore what the attitudes of small firm owner-managers are to developing the skills of their key resources and then examine how these and other factors affect owner-managers’ preferences for training these employees. Design/methodology/approach – This study of training in small road transport firms in West Australia is cast in light of the literature on human resource management in small firms underpinned by insights drawn using the resource based view of the firm. Small firms (less than 20 people) dominate this industry, while the increasing freight task, and extreme distances between West Australian ports, towns and mines highlight this sectors’ importance. Survey results from 39 small road transport firms and interviews with nine owner-managers are analysed. Findings – Legislative, regulatory and licensing requirements were shown to be a key determinant of skills development. Employers ensured that basic standards for employee certification and qualification were met, as the penalty for not doing so would be too high. Regulations drove the need for certain types of training – licenses, fatigue management, occupational health and safety, handling dangerous goods, the Maritime Security Identification Card card, forklift license, mine site inductions – while owner-managers knew where to get the training their staff needed. Although regulation appeared most visible in prescribing what happened in relation to training for drivers, the relevance of owner-managers’ attitudes could not be ignored, nor could conditions in the firms external environment as this shaped how these requirements were met. Research limitations/implications – The RBV is useful in showing how skill development enabled similarity in skills across firms, while the attitudes owner-managers and economic and social conditions meant what happened in firms around skill development varied. The importance of small firm owner-managers’ attitudes are clearly highlighted and shown to influence organizational decisions and choices around training, but these were not independent of the regulatory framework and the economic and social conditions within which the firm operated. The small firms in this study did engage workers in formal training when necessary but it was put in the context of the idiosyncratic approach of the owner-manager and the day-to-day needs of the firm. “Training” was essentially about ensuring certain types of skills were held by employees and then passing on knowledge to ensure the behavior of employees was consistent with the owner-manager’s vision for the firm in its current environment. Originality/value – Ways industry and government can encourage training activity that goes beyond the day-to-day firm needs are suggested.

Cooper, Rae ; Baird, Marian

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-07-2014-0085

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how the “right to request” flexible working arrangements (FWAs), located in national policy and in organisational policy contexts, are brought to life in the workplace by employees and their managers. The authors seek to understand the nature and content of requests, the process followed in attending to requests, the scope of the arrangements which resulted and the implications for the work of both employees and managers. Design/methodology/approach – The authors employ a case study method, investigating how formal “right to request” FWAs policies translate to practice within two large companies in Australia. The primary data focuses on 66 in-depth interviews with line managers, employees and key organisational informants. These interviews are triangulated with legislative, company and union policy documents. Findings – Most requests were made by mothers returning from maternity leave. Typically their requests involved an attempt to move from full-time to part-time hours. The authors found a considerable knowledge deficit among the employees making requests and a high level of informality in the processing of requests. As a result, managers played a critical role in structuring both the procedure and the substantive outcomes of FWAs requests. Managers’ personal experience and levels of commitment to FWAs were critical in the process, but their response was constrained by, among other things, conflicting organisational policies. Research limitations/implications – The scale of the empirical research is possibly limited by a focus on large companies in the private sector. Practical implications – The authors provide insight into the implementation gap between FWA policy and practice. The authors make suggestions as to how to make “right to request” policies more accessible and effective. Social implications – The “right to request” flexible working is an issue of critical importance to families, employees, managers, organisations and economies. Originality/value – “Right to request” FWAs are relatively new in legislation and policy and thus the authors have an incomplete understanding of how they operate and come to life at the workplace level. The authors show a significant implementation gap between policy and practice and point to some of the critical influences on this. Among other things, the authors build new insight in relation to the interaction of formal and informal and the role and place of the direct manager in the process of operationalising the “right to request”.

Hwang, Kyung-Jin ; Wang, Kan

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-12-2014-0148

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore China’s labour dispute arbitration system reform through analysing the degree to which it has attained its stated objectives – notably, independence, justice, efficiency and professionalism – from the perspectives of the arbitrators, previously ignored in research on China. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used a mixed research method using questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent to all full-time labour dispute arbitrators in Beijing, China with a useable response rate of 71 per cent. Additionally, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 key stakeholders involved in the arbitration process. Findings – Instead of establishing an impartial platform, the arbitration system endeavours to promote the state’s capacity to rule over labour relations. Its recent reform excluded arbitrational independence owing to concerns about reducing the Chinese Communist Party’s arbitrary power. Arbitrational justice was perceived to improve through case resolution efficiency, which made arbitrators minimise arbitration time, partly because of high caseloads but largely because of their key performance indicators. Quality of arbitration was compromised. The arbitrators understood the spaces and boundaries of the reform, and focused on increasing professionalism to enable them to more fluidly manoeuvre between the different political economic interests, above safeguarding labour rights. Research limitations/implications – The questionnaire size was too small for regression analysis. Future research should expand the sample sizes and conduct cross-regional studies. Practical implications – In 2008, China undertook an arbitrational system reform – probing its practical influence contributes to the authors understanding about the changing institutional environment of Chinese labour relations. Originality/value – As a pilot study on labour dispute arbitrators, this research presents the dynamics of the Chinese labour dispute resolution mechanism.

Park, Rhokeun

2015 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-09-2014-0107

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in the relationship between employee participation and organizational commitment, and the moderating role of organizational strategy in those relationships. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed hypotheses were tested by multilevel analyses with data from surveys of 1,105 employees and 49 managers in 49 companies located throughout South Korea. Findings – The results demonstrated that POS mediated the relationship between employee participation and organizational commitment, and that participation practices were related more strongly to POS and organizational commitment in companies with a prospector or analyzer strategy than in companies with a defender strategy. Research limitations/implications – Organizational-level variables were measured by one manager in each company. This study provides important implications regarding the fit between participation practices and organizational strategy. Practical implications – Managers in prospector or the most innovative companies should provide employees with more opportunities to make decisions and to receive financial incentives for their contributions. Originality/value – This study is unique in that it simultaneously examined the horizontal fit and the vertical fit while focussing on individual employees’ outcomes rather than organizational performance.