International Journal of Manpower

Dilip Subramanian; Joan Miquel Verd; Josiane Vero; Bénédicte Zimmermann

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0092

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the International Journal of Manpower on capabilities, work and human resource policies and practices. After presenting the main concepts of the capability approach, inspired by Amartya Sen's work, the paper goes on to review the major findings of the contributions to this issue. Design/methodology/approach – Bringing together economists and sociologists, the special issue develops a relevant range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Findings – The special issue adopts the capability approach as a yardstick to assess corporate policies from the combined perspective of economic and human development. It asks how firms can contribute to developing sustainable human capabilities at work. Originality/value – Human resource management is mainly oriented towards optimising workers’ labour for the benefit of employers and shareholders. The papers in this issue provide some well‐documented suggestions on how to break with a reductionist understanding of employees as “human capital”, considered from the sole viewpoint of economic efficiency, by introducing a shift in perspective towards an integrated approach, embracing both economic and human development.

Marion Lambert; Josiane Vero

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0091

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the French reform of employees’ access to lifelong learning by addressing the issue of the relationship between corporate training policy and employees’ capability to aspire for learning. Design/methodology/approach – The investigation is based on the French linked employer‐employee survey DIFES1, which allows for responses from employees and human resource management to be analysed together. From a mixed ascending hierarchical clustering, the paper highlights the different ways in which the reform was applied within firms, and identifies capability‐friendly backgrounds. From bivariate probit models, it examines what factors affect employees’ capability to aspire. Findings – First, the results identify 10.5 per cent of French firms as capability‐friendly. Second, it reveals that the capability to aspire is even more influenced by the environment as shaped by the corporate training policy than by professional pathways, occupational groups and other determinants, whilst training experiences themselves have no influence. Third, it raises the key issue of capability for voice as a matter of fundamental importance. Research limitations/implications – Because of the cross‐sectional nature of the survey, the research is not able to address the temporal dynamics of the capability to aspire, how it evolves over time. Practical implications – In contrast to political pronouncements attributing employees’ lack of aspiration to a personal inclination, the results show how corporate training policies may increase employees’ capability to aspire for training by making it a collective issue and provide insights to combat adaptive preferences. Originality/value – The research provides, for the first time, an understanding of the relationship between corporate training strategies and the capability to aspire.

Dilip Subramanian; Bénédicte Zimmermann

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0093

Purpose – The purpose of this tri‐sectoral comparative study is to analyze the scope and content of vocational training policies, and their practical implications and outcomes for employers and employees at three French‐based companies, one in the pharmaceutical sector, the second in the consultancy and information technology sector, and the third in the automobile industry. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a qualitative study and relies on a cross‐fertilization of methods valorizing the triangulation approach: in‐depth informal interviews with different categories of personnel, participant and non‐participant observation, and documentary investigation. Findings – Our results show that though the three companies investigated rank as training friendly organizations both in terms of the level of financial investments and training densities, these statistical regularities mask significant qualitative differences. The focus, goals, opportunities and outcomes of training policies at the three firms share few common attributes. The paper goes on to propose a typology identifying three types of training organisations: skill up‐dating, learning, and capability enhancing. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates that product specificities and the technology associated with it matter less than the system of work organisation and the mode of management in determining the scope and content of training programmes as well as their outcomes in matters of professional development. Whereas researchers have invariably monopolized the term of learning organizations to designate service‐sector corporations, staffed by highly skilled workforces, operating at the core of the knowledge economy, our findings shows that even neo‐taylorist industrial firms can justifiably qualify to be learning organizations. Finally, the paper proposes a comprehensive analytical grid to facilitate further qualitative research in the field of vocational training.

Martí López‐Andreu; Joan Miquel Verd

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0094

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse how company policies and strategies affect career development opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal approach is used, combining quantitative and qualitative data. Panel quantitative data have been used to classify different career paths, and biographical interviews conducted to identify the effects of company policies on these career paths. All the employees interviewed were working in two service organisations in Barcelona (Spain): a retail company and a public transport company. Findings – The results of the analysis show that the combination of new organisational methods, along with the human resource policies developed by the companies, reduces the opportunities for promotion and also actors’ degree of control over transitions. Thus, career development is mainly marked by individual characteristics (educational credentials, age and gender) which are difficult or impossible to transform, and to a much lesser extent by the resources (mostly internal training) companies provide. Originality/value – The article uses the capability approach as an analytical tool to address three specific company policies: those related to work organisation and working conditions; training; and appraisal and promotion. These policies are placed in a longitudinal perspective as a way of assessing their role in the development of workers’ careers.

Anne‐Juliette Lecourt

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0095

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze employees’ trajectories within the Accreditation of Prior Experience Learning process (APEL) in France. It seeks to understand how candidates implement this right, the resources and supports required to manage this implementation, and how employer‐employee relationships impact on the end result. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a new national survey of more than 3,000 employed APEL candidates, most of whom are women working in the care sector. Findings – The paper argues that individual pathways within this process are influenced more by the socio‐economic issues at stake in a given sector, its certification policies, environmental incentives and employer‐employee joint investments than by individual characteristics. All these elements go to configure a “capability pathway”, comprising individual resources, rights, and environmental, social and individual conversion factors. Practical implications – A better understanding of employers’ role and the support they provide during the course of the overall process can help increase the efficiency of lifelong learning. Spaces of mediation at candidates’ disposal and real freedom at work, such as exercising one's right to voice and aspiring to development, are determinant. Originality/value – Not much is known about how corporate policies affect individual employee pathways within the framework of the Accreditation of Prior Experience Learning (APEL) process in France. The paper contributes to this literature by using a recent survey econometrically investigating the impact of joint employer‐employee investment.

Jean‐Michel Bonvin; Maël Dif‐Pradalier; Eric Moachon

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0096

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent and under which conditions restructuring processes allow workers to effectively voice their concerns, with a view to influencing the restructuring logic and transforming its outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – In‐depth case studies with semi‐structured interviews, documentary analysis and a survey, all conducted at firm‐level (taking also into account the impact of the European Workers’ Council when relevant). Findings – Both settings (be it the Swiss flexible labour law and collective labour agreements or the protective professional status enjoyed by the French workers) do not guarantee the enhancement of workers’ capability set in restructuring processes. Whatever the entitlements and the cognitive and political resources available to the workers, two conditions are crucial to enhancing their capability for work and for voice: workers’ ability to re‐build collectives; and an adequate regulatory framework imposing on employers and shareholders the duty to negotiate. Originality/value – The paper suggests another way of assessing restructuring processes and outcomes based on the capability approach, and demonstrates its greater relevance compared to economic or managerialist views of restructuring, based on efficiency and profitability.

Jean De Munck; Isabelle Ferreras

2013 International Journal of Manpower

doi: 10.1108/IJM-05-2013-0099

Purpose – This paper aims to use the Capability Approach in order to shed light on the capability for voice of workers in an industrial restructuring process. Design/methodology/approach – The research relies on conceptual frames and distinctions borrowed from Amartya Sen, Jon Elster and Jürgen Habermas. It is based on an empirical case study: the restructuring of the Brussels plant of the Volkswagen (VW) group in 2006‐2007. Findings – The central distinction established in the paper is the one between deliberation and bargaining. The structures that characterized social dialogue at the VW plant in Brussels did not totally deprive Belgian workers of capability for voice. But they seriously limited its scope. Research limitations/implications – The empirical investigation is focused more on trade unions than on internal management relationships. Social implications – The paper presents an analysis of the real opportunities for deliberation and bargaining that goes beyond the mere formal implementation of social law. Originality/value – The paper discusses application of the Capability Approach to empirical procedures of collective bargaining in the context of a globalised restructuring process in the automotive sector.