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To examine non‐union channels of employee voice in the Auckland hotel industry over ten years in order to determine the efficacy of non‐union employee representation in a lightly unionised service sector context.

The study draws on a longitudinal study of employment relations in the Auckland hotel industry. Interview and archival data were collected in three waves between 1993 and 2003. A case study of a single hotel illustrates the analysis.

A majority of the hotels studied have adopted and continue to develop an array of non‐union voice channels. While hotel management retain their traditional decision‐making prerogatives and worker influence is constrained, there is evidence that interest in developing non‐union voice channels to gauge employees’ concerns and interests at work is valued by management, albeit for instrumental reasons.

Major limitations include the lack of employee data and sample composition: large hotels in one region only. Further research, incorporating data on employee attitudes and perceptions, is required in order to understand employees’ expectations and desires for influence at work and the reasons for any perceived efficacy.

This study shows that, contrary to the dominant view that they are of little or no value, non‐union voice channels may provide workers in a non‐union setting with a measure of influence that would otherwise be denied.

The relationship between specific “bundles” of human resource management (HRM) policies and practices and organisational performance in the hospitality industry is not well understood. Based on open‐ended interviews with managerial staff, and examination of management documents, the human resource management policies and practices adopted by a luxury hotel in support of a strategic decision to enhance quality are considered in order to shed light on the nature of the relationship between HRM bundles and effectiveness in a quality‐focused service context. The main features of the HRM policy and practice changes are outlined, along with associated changes to work design and organisation structure. The changes adopted are shown to have measurable positive effects on the key indicators of service used by the organisation. Support for the most commonly discussed models of HRM in the service sector is found.

Two general viewpoints on workplace “partnership” as a union strategy are identified: it is seen as either a potentially effective strategy for restoring union influence, or as fatally flawed. Discusses the determinants of robust union‐management partnership relations in order to assist the evaluation of “partnership unionism” as a union strategy. Outlines a definition of workplace partnership based on practice. Although common elements with earlier attempts to promote or implement union‐management cooperation can be discerned, it is argued that contemporary workplace partnership has distinctive characteristics arising from its specific context. Two cases are used to illustrate the internal dynamics of workplace partnership and the nature of interaction with environmental factors. The necessary components of robust partnership relations are thereby isolated. Partnership is found to be not only compatible with, but dependent upon, stronger workplace organisation. Such an understanding is found to be a possible alternative to accounts that stress union incorporation and demobilisation.

Experiencing labour unrest at the factory? It could have something to do with the colour scheme. With scientists demonstrating the effect of different colours on mood — and even intelligence — Alec Snobel looks at the role of colour advisers in office and factory planning.

The recent IBM Institute for Business Value CEO survey of 3,000 chief executives globally offers insight into CEO attitudes and behaviors in order to discern the strategies and actions most highly correlated to successful digital transformation and performance.

The IBM Institute for Business Value, in collaboration with the Oxford Economics, surveyed 3,000 CEOs and senior public sector executives between September and November 2020. The analysis identified a group of CEOs whose outlook on transformation and success with digital implementation sets them apart from others.

These Dynamic CEOs, who represent 38 percent of all commercial leaders in the IBM IBV research, shared two crucial insights: that traditional business models no longer differentiate their organizations; their organization?s digital transformation journey will never be complete.

These Dynamic CEOs are almost 70 percent more likely to lead high performing organizations than other top leaders.

Almost 90 percent of Dynamic CEOs expect their business and IT investments to deliver a material improvement in business performance over the next three years, with the greatest emphasis on investments in customer experience improvement, decision-making processes and business agility.