[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/brjirl/v48y2010i2p375-399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collective Voice under Decentralized Bargaining: A Comparative Study of Work Reorganization in US and German Call Centres

Author

Listed:
  • Virginia Doellgast
Abstract
This article compares the process of and outcomes from work reorganization in US and German call centres, based on four matched case studies in the telecommunications industry. Both German cases adopted high‐involvement employment systems with broad skills and worker discretion, while the US cases relied on a narrow division of labour, tight discipline and individual incentives. These outcomes are explained by differences in institutional supports for collective voice. Works councils in the German companies used their stronger participation rights to limit monitoring and encourage upskilling at a time when US managers were rationalizing similar jobs. Findings demonstrate that industrial relations institutions can have a substantial influence on employment systems in work settings characterized by decentralized bargaining and strong cost pressures.

Suggested Citation

  • Virginia Doellgast, 2010. "Collective Voice under Decentralized Bargaining: A Comparative Study of Work Reorganization in US and German Call Centres," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 375-399, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:48:y:2010:i:2:p:375-399
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00791.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00791.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-8543.2010.00791.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rosemary Batt & David Holman & Ursula Holtgrewe, 2009. "The Globalization of Service Work: Comparative Institutional Perspectives on Call Centers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(4), pages 453-488, July.
    2. Larry W. Hunter & John J. Lafkas, 2003. "Opening the Box: Information Technology, Work Practices, and Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(2), pages 224-243, January.
    3. Virginia Doellgast & Ursula Holtgrewe & Stephen Deery, 2009. "The Effects of National Institutions and Collective Bargaining Arrangements on Job Quality in Front-Line Service Workplaces," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 62(4), pages 489-509, July.
    4. John Godard & John T. Delaney, 2000. "Reflections on the “High Performance†Paradigm's Implications for Industrial Relations as a Field," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(3), pages 482-502, April.
    5. Nathan Lillie & Ian Greer, 2007. "Industrial Relations, Migration, and Neoliberal Politics: The Case of the European Construction Sector," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(4), pages 551-581, December.
    6. Phil Taylor & Gareth Mulvey & Jeff Hyman & Peter Bain, 2002. "Work Organization, Control and the Experience of Work in Call Centres," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 16(1), pages 133-150, March.
    7. Virginia Doellgast & Ian Greer, 2007. "Vertical Disintegration and the Disorganization of German Industrial Relations1," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 55-76, March.
    8. David Finegold & Karin Wagner, 2002. "Are Apprenticeships Still Relevant in the 21st Century? A Case Study of Changing Youth Training Arrangements in German Banks," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 55(4), pages 667-685, July.
    9. Mari Sako & Gregory Jackson, 2006. "Strategy Meets Institutions: The Transformation of Management-Labor Relations at Deutsche Telekom and Ntt," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(3), pages 347-366, April.
    10. Anke Hassel, 1999. "The Erosion of the German System of Industrial Relations," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 483-505, September.
    11. Harry C. Katz & Rosemary Batt & Jeffrey H. Keefe, 2003. "The Revitalization of the CWA: Integrating Collective Bargaining, Political Action, and Organizing," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 56(4), pages 573-589, July.
    12. Edward Lorenz, 1992. "Trust, and the Flexible Firm: International Comparison," Post-Print halshs-00483724, HAL.
    13. Matias Ramirez & Frederick Guy & David Beale, 2007. "Contested Resources: Unions, Employers, and the Adoption of New Work Practices in US and UK Telecommunications," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 495-517, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chiara Benassi, 2016. "Liberalization Only at the Margins? Analysing the Growth of Temporary Work in German Core Manufacturing Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 597-622, September.
    2. Streeck, Wolfgang, 2010. "E pluribus unum? Varieties and commonalities of capitalism," MPIfG Discussion Paper 10/12, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Andrea Signoretti, 2021. "Workplace processes and employment opportunities for vulnerable social groups," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 27(1), pages 77-92, March.
    4. Janine Berg & Francis Green & Laura Nurski & David A Spencer, 2023. "Risks to job quality from digital technologies: Are industrial relations in Europe ready for the challenge?," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(4), pages 347-365, December.
    5. Saverio Minardi & Carla Hornberg & Paolo Barbieri & Heike Solga, 2023. "The link between computer use and job satisfaction: The mediating role of job tasks and task discretion," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(4), pages 796-831, December.
    6. Daniel Nyberg & Graham Sewell, 2014. "Collaboration, Co-operation or Collusion? Contrasting Employee Responses to Managerial Control in Three Call Centres," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(2), pages 308-332, June.
    7. Jae Eun Lee & Rosemary Batt & Lisa M. Moynihan, 2019. "Strategic Dilemmas: How Managers Use HR Practices to Meet Multiple Goals," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 513-539, September.
    8. Gregory Jackson, 2016. "Toward a Conceptual Framework for Understanding Institutional Change in Japanese Capitalism: Structural Transformations and Organizational Diversity," Working Papers halshs-01643921, HAL.
    9. Xiangmin Liu & Danielle D. van Jaarsveld & Yoshio Yanadori, 2022. "Customer aggression, employee voice and quit rates: Evidence from the frontline service workforce," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 348-370, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ian Greer & Thorsten Schulten & Nils Böhlke, 2013. "How Does Market Making Affect Industrial Relations? Evidence from Eight German Hospitals," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 51(2), pages 215-239, June.
    2. Xiangmin Liu & Danielle D. van Jaarsveld & Yoshio Yanadori, 2022. "Customer aggression, employee voice and quit rates: Evidence from the frontline service workforce," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 348-370, June.
    3. Ines Wagner, 2015. "The Political Economy of Borders in a 'Borderless' European Labour Market," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(6), pages 1370-1385, November.
    4. John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2014. "Variable Pay, Industrial Relations and Foreign Ownership: Evidence from Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 521-552, September.
    5. John T Addison & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2017. "The demise of a model? The state of collective bargaining and worker representation in Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 38(2), pages 193-234, May.
    6. Dorian Aliu & Ayten Akatay & Armando Aliu & Umut Eroglu, 2017. "Public Policy Influences on Academia in the European Union," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(1), pages 21582440176, February.
    7. Ines Wagner & Nathan Lillie, 2014. "European Integration and the Disembedding of Labour Market Regulation: Transnational Labour Relations at the European Central Bank Construction Site," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 403-419, March.
    8. David Marsden, 2015. "The future of the German industrial relations model [Die Zukunft des deutschen Modells der Arbeitsbeziehungen]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(2), pages 169-187, August.
    9. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Katalin Evers & Lutz Bellmann, 2016. "Is the Erosion Thesis Overblown? Alignment from Without in Germany," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 415-443, July.
    10. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Evers, Katalin & Bellmann, Lutz, 2012. "Is the Erosion Thesis Overblown? Evidence from the Orientation of Uncovered Employers," IZA Discussion Papers 6658, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Ines Wagner, 2015. "Rule Enactment in a Pan-European Labour Market: Transnational Posted Work in the German Construction Sector," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 53(4), pages 692-710, December.
    12. Chiara Benassi, 2016. "Liberalization Only at the Margins? Analysing the Growth of Temporary Work in German Core Manufacturing Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 597-622, September.
    13. Sean O’Brady & Virginia Doellgast, 2021. "Collective Voice and Worker Well‐being: Union Influence on Performance Monitoring and Emotional Exhaustion in Call Centers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 307-337, July.
    14. Andreas Kornelakis, 2016. "Inclusion or Dualization? The Political Economy of Employment Relations in Italian and Greek Telecommunications," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 385-408, June.
    15. John T. Addison & Paulino Teixeira & Alex Bryson & André Pahnke, 2013. "Collective Agreement Status and Survivability: Change and Persistence in the German Model," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 27(3), pages 288-309, September.
    16. Amanda Pyman & Peter Holland & Julian Teicher & Brian K. Cooper, 2010. "Industrial Relations Climate, Employee Voice and Managerial Attitudes to Unions: An Australian Study," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(2), pages 460-480, June.
    17. Hipp, Lena, 2020. "Feeling secure vs. being secure? Qualitative evidence on the relationship between labour market institutions and employees’ perceived job security from Germany and the U.S," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 15(4), pages 416-429.
    18. Dr Alex Bryson, 2011. "Change and Persistence in the German Model of Collective Bargaining and Worker Representation," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 382, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    19. Maddy Janssens & Chris Steyaert, 2009. "HRM and Performance: A Plea for Reflexivity in HRM Studies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 143-155, January.
    20. Wiedner, Jonas & Giesecke, Johannes, 2022. "Immigrant Men’s Economic Adaptation in Changing Labor Markets: Why Gaps between Turkish and German Men Expanded, 1976–2015," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(1), pages 176-205.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:brjirl:v:48:y:2010:i:2:p:375-399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.