Table Of ContentIndustrial Relations & Conflict Management
Volume 1
Editors
Martin Euwema
University of Leuven, Belgium
Lourdes Munduate
University of Seville, Spain
Disseminating cutting edge theories and empirical research in the field of indus-
trial relations and conflict management, from an interdisciplinary approach, and
firmly based in theories on human behaviour in relation to work and organizations.
Formally the series will publish monographs and contributed or edited volumes
from leading psychology scholars. Specifically, the series integrates theories and
research from industrial relations (sociology, business, law and psychology), with
those on conflict management, mediation and more generally well-being and pro-
ductive behaviour in the workplace. Volumes in this series respond to the demands
of policymakers and the public, remaining relevant and applicable for science,
industry and society. Delivering relevant research and conclusions from local,
regional, national and international perspectives. The aim of the series is to con-
tribute to cooperative and constructive relations in organizations at three levels:
organizational level, team level and interpersonal level. The series will contribute to
the existing academic research and literature by providing an advanced publication
platform for improving the science of understanding industrial relations and conflict
management. Publishing volumes which deliver valuable contributions from the
range of developing perspectives on this subject.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13458
Martin Euwema • Lourdes Munduate • Patricia
Elgoibar • Erica Pender • Ana Belén García
Editors
Promoting Social Dialogue
in European Organizations
Human Resources Management and
Constructive Conflict Management
Editors Erica Pender
Martin Euwema University of Leuven
University of Leuven Belgium
Belgium
Ana Belén García
Lourdes Munduate University of Leuven
University of Seville Belgium
Spain
Patricia Elgoibar
IESEG School of Management
Paris
France
ISSN 2199-4544 ISSN 2199-4552 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-319-08604-0 ISBN 978-3-319-08605-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-08605-7
Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014957504
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v
Preface
This book is the first volume in a new series by Springer on Industrial Relations &
Conflict Management.
Traditionally, the field of industrial relations has primarily been a research do-
main of sociologists and lawyers. It has mainly focused on macro-economic issues
of negotiation between employer organizations, unions, and governments, as well
as on structural arrangements and legal frameworks of these industrial relations.
Conflict management in organizations has dealt with a wide variety of issues, often
focusing on organizational behavior at different levels, based on theories of psy-
chology and organizational and management sciences.
Worldwide we see a clear trend of de-centralization of industrial relations towards
the organizational level. Especially in Europe, more and more framework agree-
ments between unions, employer organizations and governments are made. These
negotiations take place within the organizations, both at a formal level—between
works council and management—and at an informal level—between individual
employees and their managers or HR departments. At the same time, conflict man-
agement has become one of the core elements of the formal social dialogue in orga-
nizations, for example on topics such as how to promote social relations and health
in the workplace, how to prevent exclusion, discrimination and bullying, and how
to manage labor, interpersonal and group conflicts constructively.
So, we see Industrial Relations and Conflict Management in organizations cross-
ing and partly overlapping with each other. In the meantime, the academic fields
of Industrial Relations (IR) and Conflict Management in organizations (CM) have
developed quite independently. As a result, the academic networks of industrial re-
lations, conflict management and bullying in the workplace, are quite independent,
showing only weak ties.
The new series Industrial Relations & Conflict Management intends to build
an interdisciplinary bridge between these fields. This will be done through the dis-
semination of cutting edge theories and empirical research in the field of industrial
relations and conflict management. The series takes an interdisciplinary approach,
however it is firmly based on theories about human behavior in relation to work and
organizations.
vii
viii Preface
More specifically, the series integrates theories and research from industrial re-
lations (sociology, business, law and psychology), with those of conflict manage-
ment, mediation and well-being and productive behavior in the workplace.
The aim of the series is to contribute to the development and dissemination of
knowledge to promote cooperative and constructive relations in organizations at
three levels: organizational level, team level and interpersonal level.
This first volume illustrates the new series perfectly. The volume presents the
results of an interdisciplinary study in 11 European countries on social dialogue in
organizations. The study focuses on the experiences and expectations of employers
towards the employee representatives in their organizations. The study highlights
structural as well interpersonal and group aspects of this social dialogue. The theo-
retical framework is based both on structural and on behavioral theories.
The core message of this first volume is three fold: 1. Social dialogue is an im-
portant instrument for innovative and healthy organizations, however needs a coop-
erative climate to blossom; 2. Employers in Europe want to invest in constructive
and innovative social relations at the organizational level; 3. Employers have many
ideas about how to promote and innovate social dialogue.
This innovation of social dialogue is highly needed. Not only in Europe, where
the EC promotes such a social dialogue based on the shared values of cooperation
between management and employers, however also globally. The quest for sustain-
able forms of organizing, with a focus on people, profit and planet, requires a con-
structive dialogue between ‘capital’ and ‘human capital’.
Martin Euwema & Lourdes Munduate
Series Editors
Contents
1 Employee Representatives in European Organizations ........................ 1
Martin Euwema, Ana Belén García, Lourdes Munduate,
Patricia Elgoibar and Erica Pender
2 Management Perceptions of Social Dialogue at the Company
Level in Belgium ..................................................................................... 19
Valeria Pulignano and Nadja Doerflinger
3 Employee Representatives in Denmark.
How Employers see them and what they Expect ................................. 39
Søren Viemose and Hans Jørgen Limborg
4 Employee Representatives in Estonia. How are they
Perceived and what are the Expectations
by Employers? ........................................................................................ 53
Mare Teichmann and Merle Lõhmus
5 Employee Representatives in France: Employers’
Perceptions and Expectations Towards Improved
Industrial Relations ................................................................................ 67
Aurélien Colson, Patricia Elgoibar and Francesco Marchi
6 Management’s Perceptions of Social Dialogue at the
Company Level in Germany .................................................................. 79
Michael Whittall
7 Management’s Perceptions of Social Dialogue at
Company Level in Italy .......................................................................... 93
Giovanni Passarelli
ix
x Contents
8 Industrial Relations and Works Councils in the
Netherlands—Results from Interviews and a
Survey among HR Managers ................................................................ 105
Aukje Nauta
9 Employee Representatives in Poland. How are they
Perceived and what are the Expectations
by Employers? ........................................................................................ 123
Barbara Kożusznik and Jarosław Polak
10 Employee Representatives in Portugal. How are they Perceived
and what are the Expectations by Employers? .................................... 135
Ana M. Passos and Vanessa Russo
11 Employee Representatives in Spain. Which are the
Perceptions and Expectations by Employers? ..................................... 147
Lourdes Munduate, Ana Belén García, Erica Pender,
Patricia Elgoibar and Francisco José Medina
12 Employee Representatives and Participation in
the United Kingdom ............................................................................... 163
Miguel Martínez-Lucio and Arjan B. Keizer
13 The Tower of Power: Building Innovative Organizations
Through Social Dialogue ........................................................................ 179
Ana Belén García, Erica Pender, Patricia Elgoibar,
Lourdes Munduate and Martin Euwema
Abbreviation List .......................................................................................... 197
