Article 2021

Labour in the Board and Good Work: How to Measure and Evidence From Germany

Management Revue
Journal · Vol. 32 · Issue 3 · pp. 219-243
Abstract

Can board-level co-determination promote Good Work? Good Work can be characterised by fair income, job security, opportunities for personal development, low stress and misuse, and high-quality work equipment. Good Work is not easy to measure, in part since it has a subjective aspect. For this reason, the indicators used in this paper are derived from data on corporate and personnel structures that are supportive of Good Work. Supplementing the numerous studies that exist on the impact of works councils on Good Work, this paper highlights how board-level co-determination can also have a strong positive influence. The paper uses data from the co-determination index (Mitbestimmungsindex), a new and innovative indicator that measures the extent to which co-determination is institutionally embedded within firms. Three examples illustrate the impact of board-level co-determination on Good Work: first, on the linking of elements of Good Work with the remuneration of directors in a highly co-determined corporation; second, on the independence of the member of the management board responsible for the personnel department; and third, on the level of vocational training in the companies. © 2021. Management Revue. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Training corporate governance labour management relations personnel management and executive compensation

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Work and Production, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Funding & Acknowledgements
Hans Böckler Stiftung
Our research was supported by the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung under the project grant „Mitbestimmung und eine zukunftsweisende Unternehmensführung: Messung von Stärke und Einfluss durch einen Mitbestimmungsindex (MB-ix)“.
References 10 References
1 Mitbestimmung in Deutschland Tradition Und Effizienz, (1999)
2 Worker Directors A German Product that Didn T Export, (2009)
3 Addison, John T., Works councils in Germany: Their effects on establisment perfomance, Oxford Economic Papers, 53, 4, pp. 659-694, (2001)
4 Addison, John T., The course of research into the economic consequences of German works councils, British Journal of Industrial Relations, 42, 2, pp. 255-281, (2004)
5 Addison, John T., Worker representation and temporary employment in Germany: The deployment and extent of fixed-term contracts and temporary agency work, Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, 2, 1, pp. 24-46, (2019)
6 Allaart, Piet, Company-provided further training in Germany and the Netherlands, Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training, 1, 2, pp. 103-121, (2009)
7 Backes-Gellner, Uschi, Codetermination and personnel policies of German firms: The influence of works councils on turnover and further training, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8, 3, pp. 328-347, (1997)
8 Aber Ob Die Karten Voll Ausgereizt Sind 10 Jahre Mitbestimmungsgesetz 1976 in Der Bilanz, (1987)
9 Bellmann, Lutz, Works council presence and impact on training of the workforce, Jahrbucher fur Nationalokonomie und Statistik, 226, 5, pp. 487-504, (2006)
10 Schmollers Jahrbuch Journal of Applied Social Science Studies, (2011)
Quick Actions
Full Text via DOI
Citation Metrics
1
Times Cited (Scopus)

References 10
Document Identifiers