From ‘the best kept company secret’ to a more proficient structure of employee representation: The role of EWC delegates with a managerial background

Jeremé Charles Snook and Michael Whittall
Additional contact information
Jeremé Charles Snook: Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Michael Whittall: Nottingham Trent University, UK

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2013, vol. 34, issue 2, 355-378

Abstract: This article is a longitudinal case study that demonstrates how company middle managers acting as European works council (EWC) delegates are well placed to represent the interests of the wider workforce. Contrary to widely held assumptions about the role of management on EWCs, namely that such delegates represent nothing more than the ‘managerial capture’ of this European institution, the article exemplifies such delegates as possessing skills sets which incorporate communication, organization, strategy, assertiveness, tact and diplomacy that can benefit the EWC. The delegates in this study developed both solidarity and a shared sense of identity among employees that spanned national borders; delegates also influenced both company policy and strategy. Ultimately these delegates operating in a strictly non-unionized IT company helped transform the company EWC from its initial description as ‘the best kept company secret’ into a more purposeful structure of employee representation.

Keywords: Employee representation; employee rights; European works councils; industrial democracy; management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0143831X12448556 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:34:y:2013:i:2:p:355-378

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X12448556

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Economic and Industrial Democracy from Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().