The diffusion of high performance employment practices in the Republic of Ireland

This paper focuses on the behaviour and character of enterprises in modern Ireland by examining the extent to which high performance employment practices are being adopted by organisations. This paper draws on the results of an establishment‐level survey of work organisation and human resource management practice in three sectors of the Irish economy. This paper has three specific objectives: measuring the extent to which high performance work practices have been adopted by enterprises in Ireland; examining whether these innovations in the practical organisation of work are being supported by new ways of managing the broader employment relationship; and analysing precisely how establishments are combining innovative work practices and supporting HRM practices to achieve coherent overall employment models. Also finds that Irish firms are experimenting widely with workplace innovation and the changes in work organisation are matched by supporting adjustments to firms' HR policies and indicates that there is no single Irish “model” of industrial relations.

[1]  J. Arthur.  The Link between Business Strategy and Industrial Relations Systems in American Steel Minimills , 1992 .

[2]  David Stern,et al.  Becoming a High-Performance Work Organization: The Role of Security, Employee Involvement, and Training , 1992 .

[3]  Roger K. Blashfield,et al.  Mixture model tests of cluster analysis: Accuracy of four agglomerative hierarchical methods. , 1976 .

[4]  P. Osterman.  How Common is Workplace Transformation and Who Adopts it? , 1994 .

[5]  S. Wood.  High Commitment Management and Payment Systems , 1996 .

[6]  Mark A. Huselid.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity, and Corporate Financial Performance , 1995 .

[7]  William N. Cooke.  Employee Participation Programs, Group-Based Incentives, and Company Performance: A Union-Nonunion Comparison , 1994 .

[8]  M. Aldenderfer.  Cluster Analysis , 1984 .

[9]  John M. Barron,et al.  Who Adopts Total Quality Management (TQM): Theory and An Empirical Test , 2005 .

[10]  P. Marginson,et al.  Skating on Thin Ice? David Metcalf on Trade Unions and Productivity , 1990 .

[11]  Thomas A. Kochan,et al.  What works at work : overview and assessment , 1996 .

[12]  David Metcalf,et al.  Participation, contingent pay, representation and workplace performance: evidence from Great Britain , 1995 .

[13]  P. Osterman.  Skill, Training, and Work Organization in American Establishments , 1995 .

[14]  John Paul Macduffie,et al.  The Adoption of High‐Involvement Work Practices , 1996 .

[15]  Combat Poverty Agency,et al.  Where Are Poor Households?: The Spatial Distribution of Poverty and Deprivation in Ireland , 1998 .

[16]  R. Florida,et al.  Transplanted Organizations: The Transfer of Japanese Industrial Organization to the U.S. , 1991 .

[17]  J. Hausman.  Specification tests in econometrics , 1978 .

[18]  J. Fitzgerald,et al.  Economic Implications for Ireland of EMU , 1996 .

[19]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  Introduction: Technology, Organizations, and Innovation. , 1990 .

[20]  Eileen Appelbaum,et al.  The New American Workplace , 1993 .

[21]  S. Snell,et al.  Integrated Manufacturing and Human Resource Management: A Human Capital Perspective , 1992 .

[22]  Recent Developments in the Us: Trade Union Strategies , 1993 .

[23]  John Paul MacDuffie,et al.  Do U.S. Firms Invest Less in Human Resources?: Training in the World Auto Industry , 1995 .

[24]  Thomas A. Kochan,et al.  The Transformation of American Industrial Relations , 1988 .

[25]  John Paul Macduffie.  Human Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry , 1995 .

[26]  R. Crandall,et al.  Old Dogs and New Tricks: Determinants of the Adoption of Productivity-Enhancing Work Practices , 1995 .

[27]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[28]  Peter Cappelli,et al.  New Work Systems and Skill Requirements. , 1994 .

[29]  M. C. de Witte.  New forms of work organisation: Can Europe realise its potential? , 1999 .

[30]  P. Teague,et al.  Workplace innovations in the Republic of Ireland , 1997 .

[31]  M. Tayeb.  The competitive advantage of nations: the role of HRM and its socio-cultural context , 1995 .