Analysing data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey we establish the extent to which levels of training activity in Britain are lower in SMEs than in larger firms.The antecedents of training activity within the SME sector are examined in terms of the workplace characteristics that...

In this article we identify four distinct types of union responses to workplace restructuring on the basis of different combinations of ideological orientations and actions in collective bargaining. Four union branches are described, each making one of these different types of response when...

This article assesses the adoption and survival of labour-management partnership agreements in Britain. In contrast to predictions that British employers will avoid partnership agreements, significantly more agreements have been signed than expected with 248 partnership agreements signed between...

This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between unionization and the adoption of equal opportunities (EO) policies and practices in British workplaces, using data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. The results demonstrate an association between union...

This paper adopts Walton and McKersie's Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations to examine the outcomes of industrial relations negotiations to implement teamworking. Negotiations from 21 departments across two integrated steelworks are classified into four negotiation patterns, each producing...

This article provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between trade union recognition, union density, union learning representatives (ULRs) and employer-provided training in British workplaces using linked employer-employee data from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey....

This paper reports the findings from a survey of the effects of management buyouts on human resource management (HRM). Buyouts resulted in increased employment, the adoption of new reward systems, and expanded employee involvement. These developments support the resource-based view that buyouts...

This paper explores the 'mutual gains' argument that employees benefit when teamworking is introduced alongside employee involvement in problem-solving and within a co-operative industrial relations climate. It reports worker outcomes from negotiations to introduce teamworking across two...

A study is reported where the introduction of teamworking was accompanied by negotiated changes in working time patterns, involving some employees transferring to a 5-shift, 8-hour pattern, others to a 5-shift, 12-hour pattern. Employee attitude surveys before and after the changes show those...