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The purpose of this paper is to advance a conceptual analytical framework to help explain employment regulation as a dynamic process shaped by institutions and actors. The paper builds on and advances regulatory space theory.

The paper analyses the literature on regulatory theory and engages with its theoretical development.

The paper advances the case for a broader and more inclusive regulatory approach to better capture the complex reality of employment regulation. Further, the paper engages in debates about the complexity of employment regulation by adopting a multi-level perspective.

The research proposes an analytical framework and invites future empirical investigation.

The paper contends that existing literature affords too much attention to a (false) regulation vs deregulation dichotomy, with insufficient analysis of other “spaces” in which labour policy and regulation are formed and re-formed. In particular, the proposed framework analyses four different regulatory dimensions, combining the legal aspects of regulation with self-regulatory dimensions of employment regulation.

The purpose of this paper is to extend understanding regarding the basis and foci of employee commitment. It does so by exploring the direction towards employee centric rather than an assumed organisation basis of commitment.

Survey data of over 300 employees from a variety of organisations in the Republic of Ireland were collected. Data focussed on worker orientations and their foci of commitment.

The findings confirm a more pluralistic and mixed basis to the antecedents of worker commitment, as opposed to an assumed human resource management unitarist ideology often promoted by organisational managers. At the level of individual workers, a dominant focus for commitment relates to career development and the milieu of an immediate workgroup.

There are three implications. First, mutual gains possibilities are not straightforward and there are practical pitfalls that employee interests may get squeezed should managerial and customer interests take precedence. Second, there remain competing elements between job security, flexibility and autonomy which can impact performance. Finally, line managers are key conduits shaping commitment and especially psychological contract outcomes.

This paper unpacks the relationship between ideological orientation and an individual’s foci of commitment. The research found that traditional orientations and foci of commitment are deficient and that simplified individualistic interpretations of the employment relationship are complex and require more critical scrutiny.

Existing research on the relationship between human resources management (HRM) and worker reactions to practices rarely explore differences between occupational classes and their receptiveness to HRM initiatives. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using data from a single case organization, the authors examine whether HRM practices apply uniformly across distinct occupational groups, and if there are differing impacts by occupational class on commitment, motivation and satisfaction.

Using occupational identity, the results indicate that different groups of employees have varied perceptions of, and reactions to, the same HRM practices.

The paper adds that human resource practice application may have a tipping point, after which distinct employee groups require different HR architectural configurations.

HRM policy and practice may be better tailored to the different specific needs of diverse occupational groups of workers.

The paper argues that existing theory and practice advocating universal or high potential HRM as a route to positive employee outcomes are potentially flawed.

The purpose of this paper is to present exploratory research on the potential variation of front line manager (FLM) types and attendant causal links between FLM style and employee outcomes. It challenges the value of a homogenous FLM construct and tests for variation in FLM styles which may affect behaviours and employee outcomes.

A set of discreet FLM types is defined from extant theory and literature (named here as Policy Enactor; Organizational Leader; and Employee Coach). Each type and its relationship to employee outcomes is explored empirically using survey data and qualitative interviews with a small sample of employees (n=46 employees across eight FLM groups) within a multi-national manufacturing plant.

The findings provide preliminary support for an FLM “type” construct. Employees reported a significant dominance of the “Organizational Leader” type for one FLM, while across a broader set of FLM’s the proportions showed measurable variation. The qualitative data provides context examples that help explain FLM typologies and link to employee outcomes.

Much of current literature explores the FLM construct as a singular construct, relying on its contextual relevance for definition within a certain discipline. This paper focuses on combining these contextual experiences to present a multi-faceted construct for the role of FLMs within the employment relations literatures. By moving from the implicit to the explicit, the paper offers a conceptual lens for quantitative and qualitative exploration of the role of FLM types. As a result, attendant and subsequent FLM and employee behaviours may be better examined and possibly better specified. To add value to this contribution longitudinal and more extensive data sets could be examined and tested in the future.

Given the emergence of new legal initiatives for union recognition, declining levels of union membership and the growth of alternative forms of employee representation, this paper aims to examine the management of employee voice in non‐union firms.

The research adopts a case study approach in seven non‐union organisations from different sectors of economic activity in the UK. Several themes guided the design of the research instruments. Interviews were conducted with managerial respondents responsible for the design and implementation of employee voice at each case study, including non‐personnel practitioners.

Provides information on: the meaning of non‐union voice; the range of practices adopted; the potential outcomes; and apparent barriers to the implementation of non‐union voice arrangements.

The research collected data from managerial respondents only, and this limitation is noted. Further research in this area is suggested, particularly from employee stakeholders involved in the processes of employee involvement.

The paper addresses a gap on employee voice in non‐union settings. It suggests that it is too simple to dismiss voice in non‐union organisations as ineffective and inconsequential.

Seeks to locate the role of trade unions in bargaining for vocational education and training (VET) within the context of workplace industrial relations. Drawing on the experiences and findings of a TUC project aimed at improving union awareness of training initiatives, argues that any clear distinction between distributive and integrative bargaining ignores the complexity, dynamics and variation found at different workplaces. Further suggests that both policy‐makers and government agencies have misplaced the vital role which trade unions offer in formulating both a coherent labour relations and ultimately a training strategy which can utilise employee skill formation. Also suggests that a review of the voluntary employer‐led system is long overdue.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the roles and influence of shop stewards under workplace partnership regimes in five case study firms in the Republic of Ireland. It aims to assess the dynamics and potential longevity of partnership relationships.

A framework is utilised which analyses the scope, breadth and depth of union influence in terms of the structure of partnership processes and the capacity of agency to affect relations among shop stewards, union members and plant management.

The findings show that while union representatives view partnership in a positive light, there remain problems as to the longevity of partnership owing to management control and a disconnection between national (government) and local (workplace) support mechanisms for partnership. The paper concludes that social partnership is a process that remains anchored in a relationship of both antagonism and accommodation between capital and labour.

Much of the extant literature tends to focus on the outcomes of partnership in terms of the gains or losses to either management and/or unions. In this paper, the focus is on the way the “processes” of social partnership shape the behaviour and roles of workplace union representatives. A number of theoretical and policy implications are discussed.

There is a long line of human resource management and employee relations research that points to the important function that line managers play within organisations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the level of line manager closest to the employees, the front-line manager (FLM), to understand the role they play in informal voice pathways.

The research project from which these data are drawn is of mixed method design in a multi-site case study organisation. The organisation is a quasi-military, public sector organisation with around 2,000 front-line employees. While this paper focuses primarily on one aspect of data collection, survey results are provided to allow a deeper contextual understanding while the qualitative data progresses the theoretical contribution.

The findings suggest that the FLMs play an important role in informal voice, however, the context of a strong and militant union means that the power dimension is different from previous studies into informal voice that have been conducted in the poorly unionised hospitality sector. In this context, informal voice with the FLM becomes just one pathway for employees to take when raising issues.

The single case study used is an exceptional case, therefore, has limited generalisability, nevertheless it does provide the opportunity to progress the theoretical understanding of voice pathways.

This paper has originality in that the research focus is the role of FLMs in informal voice in an organisation that is strongly unionised and militant. It provides a conceptual development of employee voice pathways that can be further developed and tested in the future.

This paper aims to examine the antecedent influences and merits of workplace occupations as a tactical response to employer redundancy initiatives.

The data are based on analysis of secondary documentary material reporting on three workplace occupations in the Republic of Ireland during 2009.

Perceptions of both procedural (e.g. employer unilateral action) and substantive (e.g. pay and entitlements) justice appear pivotal influences. Spillover effects from other known occupations may also be influential. Workplace occupations were found to produce some modest substantive gains, such as enhancing redundancy payments. The tactic of workplace occupation was also found to transform unilateral employer action into scenarios based upon negotiated settlement supported by third‐party mediation. However the tactic of workplace occupation in response to redundancy runs the risks of potential judicial injunction and sanction.

Although operationally difficult, future studies should strive to collect primary data workplace occupations as they occur.

The paper identifies conditions conducive to the genesis of workplace occupations and the extent to which the tactic may be of benefit in particular circumstances to workers facing redundancy. It also contextualises the tactic in relation to both collective mobilisation and bargaining theories in employment relations.