Partnership in the workplace is more preached about than practised, a survey carried out by the graduate school of business at UCD for the National Centre for Partnership suggests.
The survey, of nearly 400 companies, shows that despite agreement between the social partners on the need to develop new forms of co-operation in the workplace, only 28 per cent of unionised companies have trade union representatives involved in the introduction of team working.
One of the authors, Dr John Geary of UCD, says the survey shows "significant marginalisation of union influence at the workplace". New ways of working "are very much a minority practice in Irish companies".
Dr Geary has used material from the survey in a paper, "New Work Structures and the Diffusion of Team Working in Ireland", presented at the University of Limerick.
He says that, contrary to popular belief, Ireland is lagging behind other European countries in the introduction of new forms of work. "As a consequence, many Irish companies are not reaping the economic benefits which accompany the introduction of these new initiatives." Nor is there any evidence to support the claim that "greenfield" companies are more open to new ideas and practices than "brownfield" companies. The survey shows new work practices are most evident in financial services, in high-tech industries and in companies most exposed to international competition.
The evidence suggests that "even where employers have been experimenting with new work practices, particularly around team working, their form and significance would appear to be modest and limited. It is not the case, for example, that employees are being granted full autonomy to make decisions in the workplace for themselves - traditional forms of supervision remain deeply embedded in the Irish workplace."
New work practices, the survey finds, often place extra pressures on employees. "Nonetheless, where they have been introduced, the evidence would suggest that they are often welcomed by employees, levels of co-operation between employees and employers increase", producing a more favourable view of management. "Such improvements in management-employee relations are unlikely, however, to lead to a transformation in employees' trust of management. Much more likely is a pragmatic adjustment on the part of employees, where acceptance of new working arrangements is seen to be necessary in difficult economic circumstances.
"There are some grounds for concern for unions. In unionised companies only 28 per cent of firms reported that union representatives were involved in the introduction of team working.
"This finding would suggest significant marginalisation of union influence at the workplace level. But where unions were involved, employers confirmed the importance of their participation and the contribution which they made to the change process."
Dr Geary concludes that the "prognosis for a wider diffusion of new work practices in Ireland is not very bright", and that such a diffusion would require "fundamental changes in the attitudes of employers and trade unions".