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Language(s):
eng - English
Dates:
2007
Publication Status:
Accepted / In Press
Pages:
X, 234
Publishing info:
Amsterdam : University of Amsterdam
Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Defining the multinational company and its context
1.2 Current debates on multinationals’ employment practices
1.3 Research questions
1.4 The argument
1.5 Outline of chapters
Chapter 2
Paving the way to workplace employment practices: Theoretical perspectives on social interaction between multinationals and other actors
2.1 Theoretical approaches to company behavior
2.1.1 Microeconomic theory – rational choice approach
2.1.2 Discretionary behavior and negotiation
2.1.3 Structural contingency theory
2.1.4 Resource dependence theory
2.1.5 Summary and evaluation
2.2 Assumptions on behavior and social interaction
2.3 Micro-foundations of multinationals’ behavior and social interaction in shaping employment practices
2.3.1 Actors and their attributes
2.3.2 Social interaction channels – analytical framework
2.3.3 Forms of social interaction
2.3.4 Effects on employment practices
2.4 Conclusions
Chapter 3
Social interaction in a multinational company’s reality: Operationalization and research design
3.1 The case study of Electra
3.1.1 Electra and its subsidiaries in Western and Eastern Europe
3.1.2 Employment practices
3.2 Unit of analysis
3.3 Social interaction channels: an operationalization
3.3.1 Electra headquarters and subsidiaries
3.3.2 Interaction between Electra’s sister subsidiaries
3.3.3 Electra and the local society
3.3.4 Management-workforce interaction in the subsidiaries
3.3.5 Electra and employee representatives
3.3.6 International trade union interaction and the European works
council
3.4 Research methods
3.4.1 Qualitative comparative approach
3.4.2 Social interaction in a game-theoretical perspective
3.5 Conclusions
Chapter 4
Who rules the multinational company?
Corporate interests, headquarter-subsidiary interaction and effects on subsidiary behavior
4.1 Electra’s past legacy and current challenges
4.1.1 Administrative heritage
4.1.2 Developments in organization, strategy and human resource
management
4.2 Internal and external forces shaping Electra’s organization and
behavior
4.3 Interaction between headquarters and Electra factories
4.3.1 Production planning
4.3.2 Employment issues
4.4 Interaction between Electra’s sister factories
4.5 Analysis of interaction within Electra
4.6 Conclusions
Chapter 5
Committed to being local?
Electra, the local society and hard employment practices in Western and Eastern European workplaces
5.1 Behind the gates: Electra factories and local conditions
5.2 Electra’s social interaction with the local society
5.2.1 Labor market actors
5.2.2 Municipalities and local governments
5.2.3 Citizens, media and other local actors
5.3 Committed to being local?
5.4 Hard employment practices in local conditions: wages and collective bargaining
5.5 Hard employment practices in local conditions: employment
flexibility
5.5.1 Numerical flexibility
5.5.2 External flexibility
5.5.3 Internal flexibility
5.5.4 Functional flexibility
5.5.5 Summary
5.6 Benefiting from local conditions: why variation in wages and
flexibility?
5.7 Conclusions
Chapter 6
Soft employment practices in Electra’s Western and Eastern European workplaces
6.1 Human resource management and employment practices across
Europe
6.2 Organization and work systems in Electra factories
6.3 Management-worker interaction in Electra factories
6.3.1 Formal and informal relations
6.3.2 Workplace communication
6.4 Motivation, worker empowerment and participation in Electra’s decisionmaking
6.4.1 Evidence from the factories
6.4.2 Effects on productivity and performance
6.5 Social rewards and fringe benefits
6.6 Analyzing social interaction between Electra’s management and the local workforce
6.6.1 Forms of workplace interaction
6.6.2 Electra’s soft employment practices and local standards
6.7 Conclusions
Chapter 7
From bargaining to dancing: Workplace industrial relations and involvement of trade unions and works councils in Electra’s employment practices
7.1 Organization and current trends in industrial relations: Electra and
industrial relations systems in Western and Eastern Europe
7.1.1 Electra and country-level industrial relations systems
7.1.2 Workplace interaction between Electra, trade unions and works councils
7.2 Negotiating employment flexibility practices with local trade unions
7.3 Analyzing social interaction between Electra and workplace employee representatives
7.4 Conclusions
Chapter 8
Two faces of international trade union interaction and the European Works Council
8.1 International trade union cooperation within and beyond European Works Councils: overview of evidence
8.2 East-West trade union interaction in Europe: a country-level perspective
8.3 East-West trade union interaction in Electra: a company-level perspective
8.4 Institutionalized international interaction: Electra’s European Works
Council
8.4.1 Formal functioning: the management’s extended hand?
8.4.2 Informal functioning: between friendships and antagonism
8.4.3 The European Works Council of Electra versus trade unions
8.5 Analysis: two faces of international interaction of trade unions
8.6 Conclusions
Chapter 9
Understanding the role of multinational companies and social
interaction in variation in workplace employment practices
9.1 Dissertation theme and approach
9.2 Summary of research findings
9.3 Revisiting research questions
9.3.1 Where is the variation in employment practices?
9.3.2 Why does variation exist?
9.4 Unfolding social interaction in a multinational company: the case of Electra
9.4.1 Interaction forms
9.4.2 Complementarities in interaction forms and their sustainability for
variation in employment practices
9.4.3 Externalities of the multinational company’s behavior
9.5 Additional reflections on theory
9.6 Future research agenda
Appendix: List of interviews
Bibliography
Samenvatting (Summary in Dutch)
Rev. Type:
-
Identifiers:
eDoc: 434164
Degree:
PhD
