A Theory of Employment Systems Micro-Foundations of Societal Diversity,9780198294238

A Theory of Employment Systems Micro-Foundations of Societal Diversity

by
ISBN13: 9780198294238
ISBN10: 0198294239
Format: Hardcover
Pub. Date: 1999-11-25
Publisher(s): Oxford University Press
List Price: $110.64

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Summary

This book considers why there are such great international differences in the way employment relations are organized within the firm. Taking account of the growing evidence that international diversity is not being wiped out by 'globalization', it sets out from the theory of the firm, and explains why firms and workers should use the employment relationship as the basis for their economic cooperation.

Author Biography


David Marsden is presently a Reader in Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics. His career has also taken him to Aix-en-Provence, Trier, and Rome as a Visiting Professor. He has researched extensively on comparative industrial relations and labour markets, and he has worked with the ILO, the OECD, the European Commission, and the World Bank. At present, he also acts as a member of a team of advisors to European Commissioner Edith Cresson on education and training policies in the EU.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
xiv
List of Tables
xv
Part I A Theory of Employment Systems
The Employment Relationship
3(28)
Employment Systems
3(5)
Incompleteness of the Employment Contract
8(5)
Opportunism
11(2)
Defining the `Acceptable Set' of Tasks
13(3)
Tacit Knowledge and Problems of Codification
13(2)
Detailed Job Descriptions are not Economic
15(1)
Work Measurement, in Practice, is Negotiation
16(1)
Use of Classification Criteria to Assign Tasks to Jobs
16(2)
The Function of Job Classification Systems
18(3)
Use of Job Categories to Simplify Transactions
19(2)
Articulation into Systems
21(1)
Two Potential Objections to the Argument
21(2)
Insights from the Historical Rise of the Employment Relationship
23(4)
Conclusion
27(4)
The Limits of Managerial Authority
31(30)
Introduction
31(1)
Transaction Rules and the Employment Relation
32(9)
Efficiency: Competencies and Jobs
33(3)
Enforceability: Transparency and the Control of Opportunism
36(3)
The Exhaustiveness of the Classification
39(2)
Examples of Each Type of Task Allocation Rule
41(5)
Work Post
41(1)
`Job Territory'/`Tools of the Trade'
42(2)
Competence Rank
44(1)
Qualification Rule
45(1)
How each Rule Deals with Different Kinds of Opportunism
46(11)
Job Boundaries and Work Allocation
47(3)
Continuity of Employment
50(1)
Unusual Tasks and Task Variability
51(2)
The Recognition and Transmission of Skills
53(4)
Conclusion
57(4)
Diffusion and Predominance of Employment Rules
61(25)
Introduction
61(1)
Task Allocation Rules as Partial `Evolutionarily Stable Strategies'
62(5)
Predominance of Individual Transaction Rules
67(5)
Greater Robustness
68(2)
First-mover Difficulties for Innovators
70(1)
Incompatibilities between the Rules
71(1)
The Need for Inter-firm Institutions
72(11)
Improving the Robustness of Transaction Rules
72(2)
Power Balance and Policing Members' Actions
74(2)
Greater Flexibility of Application
76(4)
Renegotiation of Transaction Rules
80(3)
Conclusion: Evolutionarily Stable Strategies and Labour Institutions
83(3)
Classification Rules and the Consolidation of Employment Systems
86(31)
Introduction
86(1)
A Theory of Job Classification
87(5)
A Simple Model
87(2)
`Atomistic' and `Holistic' Views of Job Classification
89(2)
Incompleteness of Job Descriptions
91(1)
Some Lessons from Occupational Classifications used in Earnings Statistics
92(5)
Labour Market Conventions and Job Classifications
97(6)
Multi-employer Job Classification Agreements
97(4)
Familiarity and Convention
101(2)
Some Comparative Evidence on Classifications and their Diffusion
103(4)
Reinterpreting the ILO Evidence
104(1)
Coverage of Classification Systems
105(2)
The Role of Institutions in Diffusing Classification Rules
107(2)
Employment Systems: Integrating Transaction Rules and Inter-firm Institutions
109(8)
Part II Evidence and Personnel Management Implications
Societal Diversity of Employment Systems: Comparative Evidence
117(31)
Some Evidence of Inter-country Differences in Employment Systems
117(2)
Production Versus Training Approach: Key Indicators
119(9)
Job Design
119(2)
Skill Transferability and Occupational Markets
121(1)
Internal Promotion and Internal Labour Markets
122(1)
Treatment of Skills in Job and Pay Classifications
123(1)
Wage Contours and Occupational and Internal Labour Markets
124(4)
Task-oriented versus Function-oriented Approach: Key Indicators
128(5)
Control Systems
128(2)
Work-flow Rigidity
130(1)
Functional Specialization of Work Roles
130(1)
Hierarchical Segmentation
131(1)
Patterns of Functional Flexibility
132(1)
Diffusion of Main Employment Systems
133(6)
The United States
133(4)
Japan
137(2)
Conclusion
139(9)
Performance Management
148(29)
Introduction
148(2)
The Inherent Difficulties of Performance Measurement
150(3)
Objective/Non-judgemental Criteria
150(1)
Judgemental Criteria
151(2)
Mutual Distrust and Performance Management
153(1)
Some Conventionally Used Performance Criteria
154(2)
How the Contractual Constraints Shape Performance Criteria
156(8)
The Enforceability Constraint
157(3)
The Efficiency Constraint
160(4)
Moral Hazard, Transaction Rules and Performance Criteria
164(5)
Employer Protections against Moral Hazard by Employees
164(2)
Employee Protections against Employer Opportunism
166(3)
Conclusion: Societal Influences on Performance Criteria
169(2)
Appendix 1 Some Examples of Criteria Used in Performance Appraisal
171(2)
Appendix 2 Transaction Rules and Performance Standards
173(4)
Pay and Incentives
177(36)
A Theory of Pay and Classifications
177(7)
The Price of Labour is a Rule not a Number
178(4)
Price and Job Classifications
182(2)
Price as a Rule and `Rate for the Job'
184(6)
Rate for the Job and Opportunism
184(3)
Dealing with Contingencies: Why Pay Schedules are so Complex
187(1)
Dealing with Exceptions to `Rate for the Job': the Example of Trainee Pay
188(2)
Rate-for-the-Job Classification and Pay for Performance
190(8)
Moral Hazard and Performance Pay
190(3)
Job Classification and Rewarding Performance at the Margin
193(5)
Hierarchical versus Occupational Classifications and Pay Structures
198(11)
Hierarchical and Occupational Pay Structures
199(4)
Pay Continuity Between the Blue--and White-Collar Hierarchies
203(3)
Pay for Organizational versus Occupational Skills
206(1)
Company Employment Practices and Pay Systems
206(3)
Conclusion
209(4)
Skills and Labour Market Structure
213(34)
Introduction
213(1)
Effects of the Production and Training Approaches on Labour Market Structure
214(5)
Approaches to Enforceability and Functional Flexibility
219(2)
Institutionalization of Transaction rules by OLMs and ILMs
221(10)
Institutional Foundations of Occupational Markets
222(1)
The of Role of Institutions When Employers Share Training Costs
223(5)
ILMs and their Institutional Supports
228(3)
Monopsony and Secondary Labour Markets
231(2)
Employment and Self-employment
233(9)
Some Quantitative Evidence on Alternatives to the Employment Relationship
233(3)
Employment Systems and Market-mediated Employment
236(2)
Movements between Employment Forms
238(4)
Conclusions
242(5)
Part III Conclusions
Employment Systems and the Theory of the Firm: Societal Diversity
247(27)
Introduction
247(2)
Transaction Costs, Opportunism and Knowledge
249(3)
Organizational Learning
250(2)
Flexibility, Productivity and Skills
252(2)
The Quality of Trust and Cooperation within the Firm
254(3)
The Role of Inter-firm Institutions
257(12)
The Benefits of Inter-firm Institutions
257(2)
Consequences of Institutional Weakness
259(3)
Function and Form of Labour Institutions
262(4)
Models of Corporate Governance
266(3)
Societal Diversity of Employment Systems
269(5)
References 274(17)
Index 291

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