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Management and Labour in Europe: The Industrial Enterprise in Germany, Britain and France.
... The research focusing on the understanding of the culture effect and societal institutions mainly have shown three different aspects associated with leadership and organisation (Tsai, 2011). The main focus by sociologists are given more attention to the societal problems such as industrial relations, education system, labour markets, career aspects of mangers, culture, etc. (Gallie, 1978;Lane, 1989;Maurice et al., 1986;cited from Snaebjornsson and Edvardsson, 2013). The effect of these all aforementioned attributes in the organisation behaviour has been evident to large extent (Gallie, 1978;Lane, 1989;Maurice et al., 1986;Snaebjornsson and Edvardsson, 2013). ...
... The main focus by sociologists are given more attention to the societal problems such as industrial relations, education system, labour markets, career aspects of mangers, culture, etc. (Gallie, 1978;Lane, 1989;Maurice et al., 1986;cited from Snaebjornsson and Edvardsson, 2013). The effect of these all aforementioned attributes in the organisation behaviour has been evident to large extent (Gallie, 1978;Lane, 1989;Maurice et al., 1986;Snaebjornsson and Edvardsson, 2013). Interestingly, the work of has revealed that organizational factors are also vital within organizational setting. ...
This paper focuses on the impact and effectiveness of feminine and masculine styles of leadership on contrasting genders in four different economies namely; India, Canada, Pakistan, and United Kingdom's IT Sector. By combining probability and non-probability sampling techniques, the data has been gathered from 248 respondents via semi-structured 5-points scale survey questionnaire. The findings have shown that employees irrespective gender are significant positively affected by feminine leadership style. Additionally, in developing countries; Pakistan and India there is significant use of feminine leadership while developed economies namely; Canada and the UK have higher preference for masculine leadership style. Nevertheless, overall male workers do not have higher preference to work under masculine leadership style while females have higher preference for both masculine and feminine leadership styles. Interestingly, feminine style of leadership is highly demonstrated by males in Pakistan while in other three economies, it is exhibited by female line-managers. Moreover, female line-managers in the UK have shown higher masculine style of leadership in contrast to other economies. There is significant positive relationship between style of leadership and contrasting genders in distinctive economies. Additionally, feminine leadership style is more effective than the masculine leadership style. Feminine leaders demonstrate higher people-orientation and participative style of management whereas masculine leaders rely on task-orientation and autocratic style.
... Çizim 1'de de görüldüğü üzere, çokuluslu işletme, köken ülkesinin kurumsal çevresi içerisine iyice yerleşmiştir. Son yıllardaki yaygın akademik tartışma, farklı ülkelerdeki farklı ekonomik örgüt biçimlerine dikkati çekmektedir (Whitley, 1992;Lane, 1989). Whitley (1992)'in ifadesiyle "ulusal iş sistemleri" ya da Lane (1989)'in deyimiyle "endüstriyel düzenler" kapitalist sistemin uygulanışında bile, "en iyi yol"dan ziyade ekonomik faaliyetleri organize etmenin alternatif yolları bulunduğunu belirtmekte, ulusal kurumsal değişkenlerin bazı karakteristik "kümeleri" içinde kökleşen çokuluslu işletme davranışı hakkında bilgi vermektedirler. ...
... Son yıllardaki yaygın akademik tartışma, farklı ülkelerdeki farklı ekonomik örgüt biçimlerine dikkati çekmektedir (Whitley, 1992;Lane, 1989). Whitley (1992)'in ifadesiyle "ulusal iş sistemleri" ya da Lane (1989)'in deyimiyle "endüstriyel düzenler" kapitalist sistemin uygulanışında bile, "en iyi yol"dan ziyade ekonomik faaliyetleri organize etmenin alternatif yolları bulunduğunu belirtmekte, ulusal kurumsal değişkenlerin bazı karakteristik "kümeleri" içinde kökleşen çokuluslu işletme davranışı hakkında bilgi vermektedirler. ________________________________________________ yapısını içermek için şirket eşbiçimliliğinin bir uzantısını sunmaktadır. ...
Çalışma, uluslararası ortak girişimlerde (UOG) benimsenen farklılaşmış stratejik
insan kaynakları yönetimi (İKY) uygulamalarını açıklamayı amaçlamaktadır. İKY
uygulamaları, UOG’lerin karşı karşıya kaldıkları yerel eşbiçimlilik ve şirket içi
tutarlılık baskılarını eşzamanlı olarak yönetmede kullandıkları en önemli araçlardan
biri olarak kabul edilmektedir. Çalışmada, Türkiye’de faaliyette bulunan UOG’lerin
bağlamsal etmenlerinin İKY uygulamaları üzerindeki etkileri, niteliksel ve niceliksel
yöntemler kullanılarak incelenmektedir. Elde edilen sonuçlar, UOG’lerde çift yönlü
baskıları dengede tutmak amacıyla İKY uygulamalarında farklılaşmaya gidildiğine
ve UOG’lerde benimsenen İKY uygulamalarının bağlamsal etmenlerin bir işlevi
olduğuna işaret etmektedir. Çalışmanın bulguları, UOG’in bağlamsal etmenlerinden
özellikle yabancı ortağın çokuluslu işletme stratejisinin ve pazara giriş stratejisinin
insan kaynakları uygulamalarının en önemli belirleyicileri olduğunu öngörmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Uluslararası ortak girişim, uluslararası stratejik insan
kaynakları uygulamaları, yerel eşbiçimlilik, şirket içi tutarlılık, çokuluslu işletme
stratejisi, Türkiye
ABSTRACT
The study aims to explain the differentiated strategic human resource management
(HRM) practices in international joint ventures (IJVs). These practices are used as
one of the most important instruments for IJVs in order to manage simultaneously
both local isomorphism and international conformity within the corporation. It
particularly examines the impacts of contingent contexts of IJVs in Turkey on HRM
practices by using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The results suggest
that the HRM practices used in IJV in Turkey are differentiated to balance the dual
pressures and are functions of contingency context. The findings indicate that
especially the strategy of multinational company and entry strategy of foreign partner in contingent context of IJVs are the most important determining factors of HRM
practices.
Keywords: International joint venture, strategic international human resource
management, local isomorphism, international conformity within the corporation,
strategy of multinational company, Turkey.
... One stream of argument is based on comparative institutionalism. Comparative institutionalism emphasizes the complex differences between national business systems in the roles of state, financial and education systems, employee- employer relations as well as market and non-market coordination (Hall and Soskice, 2001;Lane, 1995;Whitley, 1999). Scholars of comparative institutionalism maintain that institutional differences between nations have various constraints on transfer of HRM practices across national borders (e.g., Ferner, 1997;Whitley, 1999). ...
... Comparative institutionalism (also called comparative capitalism) is an umbrella term that covers a number of approaches. For example, Jackson andDeeg (2008, see also Amable, 2003;Aoki, 2001;Maurice and Sorge, 2000) distinguish three representative approaches under the broad label of comparative institutionalism: the varieties of capitalism approach (Hall and Soskice, 2001;Lane, 1989), the national business systems (NBSs) approach (Whitley, 1992(Whitley, , 1999) and the governance approach (Crouch and Streeck, 1997;Hollingworth and Boyer, 1997 and Deeg, 2008;Saka-Helmhout and Geppert, 2011). Accordingly, different institutions are seen as having comparative advantages for different types of economic activities and being interdependent and complementary (Hall and Soskice, 2001;Whitley, 1999). ...
... These legal mechanisms in Germany were supported by a consensus mentality and informal institutions which have influenced the discretion of corporations which impact wider society's social and environmental interests and concerns (e.g. Lane, 1989Lane, , 1992Lane, 1994). ...
... We suggest the NBS-approach also because it looks back on quite a rich tradition particularly in Europe (Whitley, 1992;Whitley & Kristensen, 1996, but increasingly so also in other parts of the world (Choi, Hilton & Millar, 2004). The research in this area is particularly rich in the field of comparing continental European NBSs with Anglo-Saxon versions (Lane, 1989;Sorge & Warner, 1986) which provides a fruitful basis for the analysis of (explicit) CSR as a predominantly Anglo-Saxon concept being applied increasingly in Europe. Furthermore, one of the key arguments of this school of research is that despite ongoing processes of globalisation in the sense of harmonisation and standardisation of management processes and structures, NBSs still remain distinctly different, and thus stress what empirically has been result of many studies in the area of CSR so far, that Europe (as compared to other continents) as well as different countries within Europe, provides a rather diverse picture of CSR challenges, practices and policies. ...
... Zählen zur letzteren in allen großen deutschen Elitestudien äußerstenfalls die Vorstands-, stellvertretenden Vorstands-und Aufsichtsratsvorsitzenden der 250 bis 300 größten Unternehmen und die restlichen Vorstandsmitglieder nur bei den Top-14, insgesamt also höchstens gut 900 Personen (Hartmann 2013, S. 30, 228), so geht es bei den Managern um sämtliche Vorstandsmitglieder von Unternehmen, teilweise bis hin zu mittelständischen Firmen. 3 S. u. a. Byrkjeflot 2000;Gergs und Schmidt 2002;Lane 1989;Locke 1989;Sorge 1999;Stewart et al. 1994. Die veränderten Rahmenbedingungen auf den internationalen Märkten, vor allem auf den Finanzmärkten, hätten nun, so die Argumentation, seit den 1990er-Jahren zu einer Angleichung der deutschen Managementrekrutierung an die Strukturen in Großbritannien und den USA geführt, und dies vor allem in zwei Punkten. ...
Zusammenfassung
Um die Jahrtausendwende wurde vielfach das Ende des spezifisch deutschen Modells der Managerrekrutierung und eine Angleichung an die angelsächsischen Verhältnisse verkündet. Der vorliegende Aufsatz überprüft diese These für die Vorstandsvorsitzenden der 100 größten deutschen Unternehmen anhand der zentralen Merkmale Ausbildung, Karrieretypus, Internationalität und soziale Herkunft zu fünf Zeitpunkten: 1970, 1995, 2005, 2015 und 2020. Es zeigt sich, dass die Rekrutierungskriterien und -mechanismen weit stabiler sind als seinerzeit angenommen. Es dominiert nach wie vor die Hauskarriere, und die Ingenieure und Naturwissenschaftler haben ihre Position sogar ausbauen können. Auch bei der sozialen Herkunft sind keine wesentlichen Veränderungen zu verzeichnen. Das gilt ebenfalls für die Aufsichtsratsvorsitzenden: Bei ihnen wie bei den Vorstandschefs stammen den gesamten Zeitraum hindurch über vier Fünftel aus bürgerlichen oder großbürgerlichen Familien. Die einzige gravierende Veränderung liegt im völligen Bedeutungsverlust der Juristen unter den Vorstandsvorsitzenden. Der Anteil der Ausländer unter ihnen wiederum ist zwar bis 2015 deutlich auf knapp 15 % angestiegen, in den letzten fünf Jahren aber wieder auf das Niveau von 2005 mit knapp 10 % zurückgefallen.
... This study argues that the research findings from SIDSs are equally essential to develop a more comprehensive theory of SHRM. Lane (1989) and Poole (1999) have rightly argued that: ...
The main aim of this entry is to extend the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Theory by applying the Contingency approach to explaining the similarities and differences in the HRM problems faced by the public sector of two Small Island Developing States (SIDS’s). This study uses the Contingency approach to explore the human resource management (HRM) problems faced by the public sector organisations in the small island developing countries and contributes to the theorisation of SHRM. The central argument of this paper emphasises that there is a gap in our understanding of SHRM from the perspective of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS’s), and this paper seeks to fill this research gap by analysing SHRM practices in the SIDSs.
... For instance, there are significant divides between the Hellenic, Roman, Rhineland, Eastern European and Anglo-Saxon models of vocational education. These evince a world of difference (OECD, 2010), in addition to the differing roles of education in the labour systems of France, Germany and the United Kingdom (Lane, 1990). ...
This article investigates a German initiative to fund a research programme on internationaldevelopment cooperation in vocational education and training (VET). It briefly describes the strandsof the programme and critically reflects on them. It is considered important that this programme beinitiated to stimulate research on international VET development cooperation because, while thereare institutes for and programmes on VET research, research on VET is modest in volume comparedwith that of educational research on elementary or secondary education. The article also considerspriority areas for VET research that are part of the programme and expands on these, using a numberof VET research themes and topics. An important conclusion is that in research on international VETdevelopment cooperation it is important to pursue a balanced approach by taking the practical,political, administrative and scientific factors into account. These factors all play a role at the national,regional and local levels. Too much pragmatism or too isolated a scientific specialisation should beavoided. Respectful cooperation between all the stakeholders is imperative, and is especiallyimportant in projects that combine researchers with a predominantly long-term perspective andteachers and managers with a mainly short-term outlook. Finally, I express the hope that morenational governments would follow the example of Germany. Their doing so would definitely raisethe profile of international VET research, which is absolutely needed.
... Geppert and Williams (2006) argue that headquarters management representatives in Germany emphasize that subsidiaries worldwide have relative decision-making autonomy in running their own operations. Moreover, Lane (1989) shows that German and Japanese MNEs allocate more resources and responsibilities as well as organizational and financial decision-making autonomy to their subsidiaries to develop networks in host countries similar to those existing in German and Japanese industries. In short, we expect that international corporations that are in favour of imposing decentralized strategies on their subsidiaries, such as German, Japanese and Swedish MNEs, ? ...
... 158 -160) personal control suits small organizations whereas impersonal control is more appropriate for larger organizations such as MNCs. However, a number of scholars (Lane 1989;Whitley 1994;Ferner and Quintanilla 1998;Legewie 2002;Harzing and Sorge 2003;Ferner 2003) has argued that personal control is also a distinctive feature of certain types of national business systems. For instance, past research shows that British and German MNCs rely more on direct personal control than French MNCs which rely more on impersonal control mechanisms (Harzing 1999). ...
... Geppert and Williams (2006) argue that headquarter management representatives in Germany emphasize that subsidiaries worldwide have relative autonomy in running their own operations. Moreover, Lane (1989) shows that German and Japanese MNCs allocate more resources and responsibilities as well as organizational and financial autonomy to their subsidiaries to develop networks in host countries similar to those existing in German and Japanese industry. In short, we expect that international corporations that are in favor of imposing decentralized strategies on their subsidiaries, such as German, Japanese and Swedish MNCs, tend to respect the autonomy of local subsidiaries. ...
The subsidiary is playing an increasingly important role in generating competitive advantage for MNCs. The key objective of this study is to empirically disentangle the underlying causal structure that determines the autonomy of subsidiaries. We argue that the division of decision-making authority between the headquarter and the operational unit primarily responds to the institutional contexts of both, the parent company and the subsidiary. This is because an MNC is a governance structure that operates affiliates in many and widely different institutional contexts. Our propositions are tested on a database that includes 263 European subsidiaries of 18 MNCs in 25 European countries. The empirical results support our institutional perspective and show that the subsidiary's autonomy is strongly associated with the global strategy of the parent firm and the national business system in which the affiliate is embedded. The results hold while controlling for various key characteristics of the parent firm and for the subsidiary.
... The importance of forms of formal employee representation-that is, institutionalized forms of employee representation within firms-is frequently analyzed in the literature on industrial relations (see, for example, Gollan and Lewin 2013). This particularly holds true for studies conducted in Europe, as public policy in Europe focuses not only on unions and collective bargaining (Lane 1989;Gollan and Lewin 2013). Some studies show that across different European countries the importance of employee representation bodies-for example, joint consultation committees in Great Britain-has increased in recent years (Bryson, Willman, Gomez, and Kretschmer 2013). ...
Following research on transition economies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and motivated by arguments regarding the business system approach, we propose that the existence of a socialistic heritage decreases the likelihood of employees’ being directly consulted during organizational change processes. Results based on 23,876 firms across all EU-27 countries support this proposition. Moreover, the likelihood of direct consultation decreases with the existence of formal employee representation and an increasing share of foreign ownership in firms located in CEE countries. Discussing the findings in the context of organizational democracy research and the recent literature on transition economies, our study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of participative decision-making processes in organizations.
... Cusimano (1996) acredita que o objectivo da formação e desenvolvimento nas organizações aprendentes consiste na criação de condições para a aprendizagem através de três domínios -competências, conhecimento e atitude (Nadler & Nadler 1994). McManus (1996) São incontáveis as menções à importância desta prática como se pode ver em trabalhos de Ulrich (1987), Lane (1990), Kessler & Purcell (1992, Pfeffer (1994Pfeffer ( , 1998, Appelbaum & Mackenzie (1996), Hoffman & Rogelberg (1998), Zobal (1998Zobal ( , 1999, Hanna, Burns & Backhouse (2000), Lewis (2000), ...
... Geppert and Williams (2006) argue that headquarter management representatives in Germany emphasize that subsidiaries worldwide have relative autonomy in running their own operations. Moreover, Lane (1989) shows that German and Japanese MNCs allocate more resources and responsibilities as well as organizational and financial autonomy to their subsidiaries to develop networks in host countries similar to those existing in German and Japanese industry. In short, we expect that international corporations that are in favor of imposing decentralized strategies on their subsidiaries, such as German, Japanese and Swedish MNCs, tend to respect the autonomy of local subsidiaries. ...
The subsidiary is playing an increasingly important role in generating competitive advantage for MNCs. The key objective of this study is to empirically disentangle the underlying causal structure that determines the autonomy of subsidiaries. We argue that the division of decision-making authority between the headquarter and the operational unit primarily responds to the institutional contexts of both, the parent company and the subsidiary. This is because an MNC is a governance structure that operates affiliates in many and widely different institutional contexts. Our propositions are tested on a database that includes 263 European subsidiaries of 18 MNCs in 25 European countries. The empirical results support our institutional perspective and show that the subsidiary's autonomy is strongly associated with the global strategy of the parent firm and the national business system in which the affiliate is embedded. The results hold while controlling for various key characteristics of the parent firm and for the subsidiary.
... Drogendijk and Slangen (2005) find no fundamental differences between Schwartz's and Hofstede's works; use a different set receiving other influences; d) the consideration of a country, or better, a territory, as a unit of analysis of national culture; and, e) the excessive use of statistical average. Holden (2002) adds to this list the outdated data used in Hofstede's work;and Lane (1989) points out the use of a questionnaire to capture cultural diversity, which is a questionable method in her opinion. with no major alterations in terms of the original values; and Dahl (2004) highlight the stability in Hofstede's values. ...
Cultural differences play a central role in International Business research. Despite receiving a great deal of attention from scholars, the effect of cultural differences is still not completely understood. While the importance of cultural differences in conducting business abroad is widely accepted, extant research provides mixed results on their impact. We argue that one reason why cultural differences’ impact is not fully understood are the shortages in the national cultural distance construct (Kogut & Singh, 1988), especially in the globalized and fast-changing contemporary world. Specifically, we identify three shortcomings in the current national cultural distance construct: (1) cultural differences are becoming increasingly less relevant among managers working in internationally oriented firms; (2) organizational cultural differences may prove more relevant than national cultural distance, especially since many firms have global operations; (3) the cultures’ reputation is not symmetric, i.e., the perceptions of the cultural differences are not taken into account. Thus, we present a conceptual model which addresses these shortcomings and we arguably contribute to a better understanding of the impact of national cultural distance. We discuss our proposed model and we put forward some avenues for future research.
... Two broad institutionalist schools of thought can be identified in the literature: comparative institutionalism and the new institutionalism (Almond and Ferner, 2006). Despite many variants of terminology -including "varieties of capitalism", "national business systems" and "societal effects" -the central thesis of comparative institutionalism is that organizations' management practices are largely influenced by national-level structural and regulatory arrangements (Schief, 2010;Hall and Soskice, 2001;Lane, 1989;Whitley, 1999). From the new institutionalist perspective, organizations' HRM practices are shaped by coercive, normative and cognitive pressures exerted by competitors and other social actors (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983;Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978). ...
With the increasing globalization of the world economy and the rapid diffusion of international management practices, a vast literature has emerged on how and why some of these practices are adopted or rejected by firms. A central issue in this body of literature is whether firms' adoption of management practices is triggered by a need to improve corporate performance (rationalism) or necessitated by institutional factors and constraints (institutionalism). This review of rationalist and institutionalist conceptual approaches is particularly interesting given that in the (prescriptive) human resource management literature the rationalist presumption of strategic choice and managerial autonomy is usually taken for granted, a view institutionalist approaches tend to criticize for being overly rationalist and acontextual. In concluding, the paper agues that since organizations are faced with both rationalist and institutionalist pressures in their choice of human resource practices, there is a need for robust, integrated frameworks that incorporate this duality.
The amount of research on management in Argentina is rather limited. Though a broad range of studies deal with “economic elites”, many take a clearly economic point of view and deal with phenomena on the macro level.
Zusammenfassung
Im Zuge der digitalen Transformation wird eine grundlegende Veränderung der Organisationsstrukturen von Unternehmen postuliert, die eine schnelle Anpassung an sich wandelnde Umweltanforderungen gewährleisten soll. Im Managementdiskurs werden in diesem Zusammenhang unter dem Label „digital leadership“ oder „agile Führung“ neue Führungskonzepte lanciert. Wir fragen in unserem Beitrag, ob es aktuell tatsächlich zu einer umfassenden Reorganisation der Führungsbeziehung kommt. Auf Basis von 36 Interviews mit Führungskräften aus Industrie- und Dienstleistungsunternehmen haben wir eine wissenssoziologische Deutungsmusteranalyse durchgeführt und deren Ergebnisse einer kritischen Betrachtung unterzogen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen eher Kontinuitäten im Führungsverständnis der deutschen ManagerInnen auf als einen grundlegenden Bruch. Vielmehr verstärkt der Digitalisierungsprozess die Durchsetzung des partizipativen Führungsstils – eine Entwicklung, die empirische Studien bis in die frühen 1980er Jahre zurückverfolgt haben.
Актуальность исследования обусловливается значением, которое имеет эффективное корпоративное управление для деятельности компании в современных условиях. Дается обзор экономической ситуации, сложившейся в современной Великобритании, а также особенностей устройства и функционирования британского бизнеса. Исследуется влияние на политику британских корпораций такого внешнего фактора, как действующее в стране законодательство. Прослеживается связь между системой ценностей, сложившейся на протяжении длительного исторического времени в британском обществе, и системой ценностей, существующей на уровне отдельной корпорации. Рассматривается общий механизм управления, что дополняется изучением функций его отдельных участников. Сравниваются статусы и сопряженные с ними роли, выполняемые акционерами и представителями высшего менеджмента компании. Анализируется структура совета директоров. Раскрываются принципы принятия управленческих решений, степень участия в этом процессе рядовых сотрудников, а также черты личности образцового руководителя. Описываются правила и традиции социального взаимодействия в организации, а также влияние иерархического устройства британского общества на формирование системы статусов и ролей в корпорации. Затрагиваются вопросы, связанные с проблематикой повышения производительности труда, кадровой политикой, подготовкой руководящего звена, а также степенью открытости инновациям. Цель: определение и характеристика показателей эффективности корпоративного управления на примере британской концепции. Методы: социологический анализ, сравнение, обобщение и систематизация на основе теорий М. Вебера и Э. Мэйо. Результаты заключаются в раскрытии характерных черт процесса управления корпорацией в современных социально-экономических условиях, определении факторов, которые влияют на формирование управленческих решений, а также важности изучения британской концепции корпоративного менеджмента. Вывод: отмечается, что британская концепция управления корпорацией в значительной степени соответствует принципам, изложенным в рамках бюрократической теории М. Вебера и доктрины «человеческих отношений» Э. Мэйо.
Philanthropic behaviour is of high actual relevance. It has predominantly been researched by analysing individuals and their motivation to act charitably (Bekkers & Wiepking, 2011; Katz & Greenspan, 2015). In light of obvious societal shifts from a short-term shareholder perspective to a long-term stakeholder paradigm, sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and thereof philanthropic engagement of companies gain in relevance. Often, such engagement serves marketing purposes. Philanthropic research concentrates on large companies with a tendency to neglect entrepreneurial and cultural perspectives (Onder, 2011; Seifert, Morris, & Bartkus, 2004). In order to contribute to the research gap of entrepreneurial philanthropic activities in the context of cultural differences, an exploratory evaluation of an industry of predominantly small enterprises of two different countries in Europe was conducted. Empirical data, derived from surveys with wineries in Germany and in France, allowed an assessment of philanthropic activities and their characteristics in light of cultural dimensions. The explorative investigation supports that cultural differences explain not only the intensity of philanthropic behaviour but also the spending behaviour. An overview of the linkages of philanthropic portfolios and cultural dimensions is provided as possible orientation for future research.
Multinationals experienced a great growth after the European postwar boom. Factors in the 1970s included increasing competition from the United States, the emerging European market, as well as ongoing economic crises and changes in the international economy. The articles analyzes three case studies of Western European chemical companies—Hoechst, Akzo, and Rhône-Poulenc—to show the consequences of structural changes on management and the workforce. This article argues that (1) domestic export-oriented supplement investments lost importance, and the domestic workforce had a harder time meeting qualification requirements; (2) organizational changes incorporated divisional competitive elements into a company’s organization of work; and (3) managers had to learn to respect national path dependencies and specific skills of the local workforce. Furthermore, it illustrates the developments of the workforce in Europe and abroad and stresses the importance of nationality within the management of multinationals.
This chapter considers both training and skills, since micro-level practices within firms are embedded in wider sets of institutions. The chapter begins by setting out the nature of skill, the different approaches nations take to skill formation and, at micro-level, the way people learn at work. It explains the nature of skill before reviewing current developments in both skills and training. These are confusing, since despite widespread rhetorical support, training levels are actively falling, particularly for the highly educated knowledge workers most governments see as their key resource. Set against this, skills are rising against a range of indicators, individuals are more highly qualified and work is more demanding, although discretion is falling. The nature of skills is also changing, with soft skills such as communication and customer service now dominating employers? lists of the elements they are most keen to recruit.
National institutions set certain constraints on the available choices for organizations and their incumbents. But the nature of the institutions are themselves the products of cultural choices, preferences and biases:
Germany is an ordered and orderly society, one in which there are laws and systems for most aspects of economic life. The preparation and development of people for management is no exception.1
This chapter sets out to explore how the British and German managers see their jobs. This will be done using Stewart’s model, described fully in Chapter 1. The spotlight will be placed, in turn, on the demands, the constraints and the choices perceived by our two sets of managers.
For a long time, proponents of a structuralist approach have assumed that the division of economic actors within firms into the groups of owners, managers and workers allows an explanation of their actions and behaviour. Roles, according to this approach, are, above all, contingent on economic categories such as ownership or the control of means of production, which are assumed not to differ between cultural settings (that is, the culture-free thesis). Members within each of these three groups are believed to act in a similar way, no matter where the firm is located. Interaction between members within each of these groups should therefore pose no obstacles for conducting business internationally: there would seem to be no need to think about peculiarities within specific countries.
The process of globalization driven by the activities of multinational companies (MNCs) has led some commentators to argue that MNCs are footloose, sourcing, producing and marketing on a global scale, as dictated by their business strategy (Ohmae, 1990; 1993; Strange, 1997; The Economist, 1995) and that through these denationalized companies, a process of homogenization is at work.
A worldly individual is most commonly defined as somebody who is devoted to the temporal world and experienced in human affairs (Gosling and Mintzberg, 2003). Expanding on this, one could say that a worldly individual is aware of not only his/her own but also others’ belief sets, values and is able to interpret and understand different behaviours and attitudes. Within a world where especially large companies operate on a global basis, one may expect or rather hope to find increasing numbers of worldly individuals working at various hierarchical levels in such organizations. The existence of, and importance associated with, multifunctional and multicultural/national teams within organizations can almost be seen as a contextual factor enforcing the gathering of a wide range of experience in world and human affairs. For example, Gosling and Mintzberg (2003) report on the importance of a worldly mindset and its development within Shell, and research by the author of this aspect with regard to leadership in the German chemical industry has shown that it has become a prerequisite for senior leadership positions to have gathered experience as an expatriate manager in a number of other countries.
The aim of this chapter is to examine the experience of professional labour in call centres within a cross-national framework. More particularly, it focuses on the work organization of nurses employed in call centre settings to provide public healthcare services by telephone. The experience of England (NHS Direct) and Quebec (Health-Info CLSC) are examined in a comparative analysis.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in the manufacturing sector, have been an essential part of the German coordinated market economy in the second half of the 20th century. Hence, to understand the departure of the German economy from this model since the mid-1990s, it is valuable to scrutinize changes within SMEs. To the ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach (VoC), the positive mutual reinforcement between the institutional systems and firm strategies has been decisive for the explanation of institutional stability and path dependency (cf. Hall and Soskice 2001). In many dimensions, manufacturing SMEs have a stake in the process: they are a major player in the reproduction of the occupational system; have accepted co-determination in labour relations — at least when they are medium-sized; prefer highquality niche strategies accommodated to the institutional opportunities and constraints; and have moved into a symbiotic relationship with the bank-based financing system.
Although the labour market and labour relations have been marginal to the process of European integration, present developments, both within member states and at the European Union (EU) level, have major implications for the European business environment. The last thirty years have witnessed profound changes in the nature of European employment, with important implications for both employers and trade unions. In the 1960s, the traditional image of the worker as a full-time, securely employed male in manufacturing was still fairly close to the norm. In the 1990s, the number of workers fitting that description has declined: the growth in the proportion of women in the workforce, the expansion of service sector employment, and the proliferation of part-time and temporary work — not to mention the persistence of high levels of unemployment (especially among younger workers) — have all transformed the character of labour markets and the nature of industrial relations. At the same time, a major new force in labour market regulation has appeared in the form of supranational government, initially in the area of the freedom of movement of labour but more recently in the progressive development of new rules regarding health and safety and the harmonisation of social protection and workers rights across the EU.
One of the most important debates in industrial sociology during the mid to late 1980s concerned the possibility of industrialised economies moving away from the production of standardised products with their concomitant narrow job specifications, and low skill requirements, to economies based upon customised products oriented to market demands requiring higher levels of skills and responsibilities from shop floor workers. The emergence of more highly skilled workers, it was argued, could be identified in countries such as West Germany, as it was then known, and several regions of Italy (Piore and Sable 1984, Kern and Schumann 1987). According to Lane’s (1988, 1989) comparative analysis of Britain, France and Germany, the institutional systems of training and industrial relations in Germany facilitate the emergence of new types of worker, whereas in Britain, the corresponding institutional systems hinder such an emergence. However, there is a growing body of literature in Britain attesting to the need for new types of skills in manufacturing. In contrast to the belief in a general tendency to de-skill workers in order to gain control over the labour process (Braverman, 1974), recent surveys suggest that employers are increasing the skills of their existing work force and harnessing them to the new microprocessor based technologies (Daniel 1987, Batstone and Gourlay 1986).
Angesichts eines weltweiten Standortwettbewerbs stellt sich die Frage, auf welche Weise in den westlichen Industrieländern noch die Voraussetzungen für eine hinreichende Anzahl qualifizierter und gut entlohnter Arbeitsplätze sichergestellt werden können. Da entwickelte Volkswirtschaften diesen Wettbewerb nur noch als Qualitäts-, Flexibilitäts- und Innovationswettbewerb gewinnen können, verweist dies auf die Frage nach den soziokulturellen Voraussetzungen einer innovativen Atmosphäre. Nur Institutionen und Beziehungsmuster, durch die betriebliche Produkt- und Prozeßinnovationen auf Dauer gestellt werden können, können weiterhin eine hinreichende Anzahl von Arbeitsplätzen, ein hohes Einkommensniveau und ein hohes Maß an wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Absicherung gewährleisten. Nur durch eine innovative Atmosphäre — und nicht durch staatliche Subventionen oder niedrige Arbeitskosten — lassen sich Unternehmen längerfristig an einen Standort binden.
In der betriebswirtschaftlichen Managementforschung finden sich drei dominante Betrachtungsweisen von Management: Die auf Fayol (1929) zurückgehende funktionalistische Perspektive versteht Management als ein Werkzeug, das durch die systematische Koordinierung sozialen Handelns die Möglichkeit eröffnet, bestimmte Ziele zu erreichen. Manager sind in dieser Perspektive politisch neutrale Funktionäre, die ihr Wissen und Können einsetzen, um sicherzustellen, daß “things get done” (Willmott 1984, S.353). Die Managementfunktionen beschreiben Aufgaben, die von den Managern wahrgenommen werden sollen und auch wahrgenommen werden (Carroll/Gillen 1987, S.41; Steinmann/Schreyögg 1990, S.19). Für die Managementfunktionen, für die sich im Anschluß an Gulick (1969) das Akronym POSDCORB (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, COordinating, Reporting, Budgeting) eingebürgert hat, wird der Anspruch einer universellen Gültigkeit über alle Hierarchieebenen, alle Typen von Organisationen und über alle Länder vermittelt (Snyder/Wheelen 1981, S.249; Whitley 1989, S.209; Staehle 1991a, S.73f.).
Bis vor wenigen Jahren war Vertrauen ein Thema, das in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Diskussion keine besondere Beachtung fand (s. u.a. Gambetta, 1988; Gondek, Heisig & Littek, 1992; Preisendörfer, 1995). Dies hat sich seit Anfang der 90er Jahre sichtbar verändert. Gegenwärtig stellt Vertrauen einen Gegenstand dar, der in der sozialwissenschaftlichen, aber auch der betriebs- und volkswirtschaftlichen Literatur auf großes Interesse stößt. Hierzu hat sowohl der abrupte Zusammenbruch des real existierenden Sozialismus in Osteuropa beigetragen als auch die in den westlichen, demokratisch verfaßten Gesellschaften sich vollziehenden Umbrüche, die aus der Globalisierung der Märkte und einer dramatischen Beschleunigung des technisch-organisatorischen Wandels resultieren. In der durch relative ökonomische Stabilität und politische Normalität geprägten Nachkriegsphase wurde Vertrauen in beiden Gesellschaftsformationen offenbar nicht als ein relevantes soziales Phänomen erkannt. Vielmehr stellte der jeweils existierende Grad an Vertrauen (oder Mißtrauen) in beiden Gesellschaftsordnungen eine unhinterfragte Voraussetzung für die Ausformung der gesellschaftlichen Institutionen und sozialen Beziehungen dar. Demgegenüber wird Vertrauen aufgrund des Übergangs zur Dienstleistungsgesellschaft, der alle fortgeschrittenen postkommunistischen und kapitalistischen Gesellschaften gegenwärtig gleichermaßen erfaßt, zu einem Gegenstand, dessen Bedeutung für den Zusammenhalt der Gesellschaft man sich bewußt zu machen und zu versichern sucht.
Deutschland und andere ähnlich entwickelte Gesellschaften sind auf einem Weg, zu dem man sich mit guten Gründen die Frage stellen kann, ob er früher oder später zu Verhältnissen führt, die als „Informations- und Wissensgesellschaft“(Kaase 1999) zu charakterisieren sind. In den Eigenschaften der Bürger ist die erweiterte Bildungsbeteiligung der markanteste Ausdruck dieser Entwicklung. Sie ist einer der säkularen Wandlungsprozesse, die seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Staat und Gesellschaft grundlegend verändert haben. Viele andere gesellschaftliche Veränderungsprozesse stehen mit der Bildungsexpansion in Verbindung: u.a. der Wandel der Erwerbsarbeit und der Klassenstrukturen, der Wandel in der Familie und der Rückgang der Geburtenzahlen, die veränderte Rolle der Frauen in der Gesellschaft, das gewachsene Interesse für Politik und die veränderten Formen der politischen Partizipation. Drastisch formuliert Beck (1986:128): Der Massenkonsum höherer Bildung habe „einen Riss zwischen den Generationen im Nachkriegsdeutschland entstehen lassen“, und weiter: Er habe das Erziehungsverhalten der Eltern verändert und habe traditionelle Orientierungen, Denkweisen und Lebensstile verdrängt. Die Bildungsexpansion sei eine der entscheidenden Voraussetzungen für den in Gang gesetzten Prozess der Individualisierung. Ferner habe sie zur Entkoppelung von Bildungssystem und Beschäftigungssystem geführt. „Im Übergang in die 80er-Jahre [hat] das Ausbildungssystem in der Bundesrepublik... eine ‚Bedeutungszäsur‘ durchlaufen.
‘Culture Matters’ — Kultur ist ein ökonomisch hoch brisanter ‘Stoff’! Diese Einsicht hat sich in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten vor dem Hintergrund des zunehmenden Zwanges zu internationaler Wirtschaftsaktivität und verschärften Wettbewerbes auf dem Weltmarkt in Unternehmen und Wirtschaftsverbänden durchgesetzt. ‘Kultur’, ehedem eher als Rahmenbedingung für wirtschaftlich relevante Entscheidungen betrachtet, rückt zunehmend mit ins Zentrum strategischen Kalküls von Produktionspolitik, Produktentwicklung und Marktorientierung. Unternehmen und Unternehmensvertreter sind in einer globalisierten Weltwirtschaft, gewissermaßen funktionsbedingt, ‘Grenzgänger zwischen den Kulturen’. Ob es sich um Prozesse der Markterschließung, die Gründung oder Übernahme von Produktionsstätten, die Anwerbung von Arbeitskräften oder die Beziehungen und Verhandlungen mit politischen Institutionen auf nationaler oder auch supranationaler Ebene handelt, in jedem Falle sind die Fähigkeiten dieser Akteure, Verstehens- und Vermittlungsleistungen zwischen Kulturen zu erbringen, weitaus stärker gefordert als bisher. Entsprechende Kompetenzen und Sensibilität für andere Kulturen und Verhandlungsstile werden zum wirtschaftlichen Faktor. Globalisierung intensiviert die Kontakte und die wechselseitige Einflüsse und Abhängigkeiten zwischen Kulturen, sie schafft zum einen transnationale Zonen wirtschaftlichen Handelns und ökonomischer Strukturen und ‘neutralisiert’ kulturelle Differenzen.
Angesichts eines weltweiten Standortwettbewerbs stellt sich die Frage, auf welche Weise in den westlichen Industrieländern noch die Voraussetzungen für eine hinreichende Anzahl qualifizierter und gut entlohnter Arbeitsplätze sichergestellt werden können. Da entwickelte Volkswirtschaften diesen Wettbewerb nur noch als Qualitäts-, Flexibilitäts- und Innovationswettbewerb gewinnen können, verweist dies auf die Frage nach den soziokulturellen Voraussetzungen einer innovativen Atmosphäre. Nur Institutionen und Beziehungsmuster, durch die betriebliche Produkt- und Prozeßinnovationen auf Dauer gestellt werden können, können weiterhin eine hinreichende Anzahl von Arbeitsplätzen, ein hohes Einkommensniveau und ein hohes Maß an wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Absicherung gewährleisten. Nur durch eine innovative Atmosphäre — und nicht durch staatliche Subventionen oder niedrige Arbeitskosten — lassen sich Unternehmen längerfristig an einen Standort binden.
During the 1980s and 1990s, the relationship between banks and non-financial companies in most European countries has been affected by the expansion of international financial markets. Their emergence allowed non-financial companies to directly access money and capital markets and thereby undermined the intermediation role which banks traditionally held in many countries. Furthermore, many national governments have taken policy actions to remove regulations which formerly protected financial markets from international competition (Canals, 1993).
Swen Hildebrandt and Sigrid Quack, Frankreich-Deutschland Human Resource Management im Bankgewerbe. Ausgehend von einem Beispiel aus dem Bereich des Bankgewerbes untersuchen die Autoren dieses Beitrags die Beziehungen zwischen Qualifikationsmodellen und Einstellungspolitik sowie zwischen Ausbildung und Einsatz des Personals auf franzosischer und deutscher Seite. Seit den 80er Jahren stehen die Banken und Sparkassen beider Lander einer anderen Handels-und Wettbewerbssituation auf dem Markt gegenuber. Dies bringt einen groseren Bedarf im Bereich qualifizierter und individueller Kundendenberatung vorallem mit der notwendigen Anpassung der Personalpolitik an die neuen Rahmenbedingungen mit sich. Die deutschen Banken und Sparkassen greifen immer noch auf das Instrumentarium des traditionellen Qualifikationssystems innerhalb der dualen Ausbildung zuruck, jedoch stellen sie vermehrt Abiturienten ein, werten die interne Ausbildung im Unternehmen auf und verbinden auf spezifische Aret und Weise Ausbildung und Universitatsstudium. Die franzosischen Banken betreiben bislang eine branchenspezifische Ausbildung. Parallel zur Reform dieser Ausbildungsgange, werben sie jetzt Hochschulabsolventen an und nutzen die Moglichkeit alternierender Ausbildungsvertragen. Zur Zeit lassen sich neuartige Modelle der Personalpolitik in Zusammenwirkung mit unterschiedlichen Ausbildungsformen in den franzosischen und deutschen Kreditinstituten feststellen.
Organisational innovations at the level of the firm are not a recent phenomenon. This can be seen from the broad scientific debate about Fordism and Taylorism and the large amount of research on the flexible specialisation of firms carried out since Piore and Sable (1984) first spoke about the Second Industrial Divide. Early work concentrated mainly on new organisational principles applied to production systems and processes which enable firms to exploit numerical and functional flexibility so that they can respond to changes in market and demand conditions.
The extensive academic debate on the rise of the European Firm reveals a recurring paradox. Most scholars agree that the image of diversity is the most distinctive characteristic of the European Firm. However the concept of diversity is, by definition, hard to define and tends to elude attempts to distinguish common characteristics of European companies.1 To provide empirical evidence for the existence or the rise of the European Firm thus poses the paradoxical question for researchers of whether common or diverging characteristics across European companies should be investigated. We adopt a comparative approach and investigate if and how executive boards of leading German and Dutch companies converged with respect to the nationality and educational backgrounds of their members in the period 1990-2005. In this period, globalisation and internationalisation, in particular by virtue of the liberalisation of the European market, are expected to have influenced firms fundamentally. We believe a study of possible convergence within European boundaries from the perspective of the executive boards provides new insights and contributes to the debate on the rise of the European Firm.
Die Frage, ob Wettbewerbsvorteile von Nationen auch auf der Ebene der Theoriebildung existieren, ist zweifellos recht abstrakter Natur, und ihre Beantwortung koromt, auch wenn empirische Ergebnisse herangezogen werden, ohne spekulative Momente nicht aus. In jedem Fall erscheint es notwendig, die Ausgangspunkte genau zu markieren (Abschnitt 1), bevor dann der Versuch unternommen werden kann, zunächst nationalen Unterschiede im Objektbereich der Theoriebildung zu identifizieren (Abschnitt 2) und dann einige Ansätze zur Eingrenzung von nationalen Unterschieden in der Theoriebildung selbst aufzuarbeiten (Abschnitt 3). Eine kurze Zusammenfassung schließt den Beitrag ab (Abschnitt 4).1
Recent institutional approaches have granted actors more strategic space in coping with their structural environment, but they largely neglect to conceive actors as social entities, thereby reducing the relation between actors and institutions mostly to interaction effects. This article underscores the dialectical and mutually constitutive relation between actors and institutions by taking a more actor-centred perspective. Empirically, the article analyses the professional socialization of corporate leaders in Germany in the context of the changing face of German capitalism. Drawing on insights from the literature on social agency and the sociology of management, it is argued that the professional socialization of corporate leaders, which facilitated a more consensus orientation, persisted over a long period, but eroded after the 1980s. The more conflictual interpretation of institutions and economic relations by today's corporate leaders is not only linked to (internal and external) political and economic structural changes but also to the managers' new professional experience.
Die erste Phase unseres Forschungsprojektes zu Entwicklungs- und Karrierewegen von Angestellten hat deutliche empirische Befunde für den hohen Stellenwert der Beruflichkeit für die Entwicklungs- und Karrierewege von Angestellten im Einzelhandel zu Tage gefördert (Voss-Dahm 2011; Franz 2011). Die berufliche Erstausbildung im Einzelhandel ist nicht nur unbestrittene Grundlage der Ausbildung und Personalrekrutierung. Sie eröffnet auch und noch immer überaus gute Chancen, in den Hierarchien der Einzelhandelsunternehmen in Führungsfunktionen und sogar in die oberen Ränge des Managements aufzusteigen. Für die Besetzung von Führungspositionen nutzen Unternehmen inzwischen zwar zunehmend eine Kombination von Ausbildung und Studium (duales Studium) sowie ergänzende Qualifikationen; die externe Rekrutierung von Hochschulabsolventen spielt jedoch nach wie vor keine nennenswerte Rolle, weil interne Aufstiegswege dominieren. Die Beschäftigungssysteme der Unternehmen sind auf der Grundlage von Beruflichkeit weitgehend geschlossen. Eine wichtige Einschränkung für die interne Karrieremobilität besteht jedoch mit Blick auf die unterschiedlichen Entwicklungschancen von Männern und Frauen. Der Einzelhandel weist hohe Beschäftigungsanteile von Frauen auf; allerdings arbeitet ein großer Teil der Frauen in geringfügigen Beschäftigungsverhältnissen, von denen aus weder weitere Kompetenzentwicklung noch betrieblicher Aufstieg möglich sind. Ein erheblicher Teil des Qualifikationspotenzials der Branche bleibt für Personalentwicklung und Karriere ungenutzt. Das mögliche Problem knapper Karrierepositionen wird auf Kosten der Frauen gelöst.
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