IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jns/jbstat/v226y2006i5p562-587.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kooperation zwischen Betriebsrat und Management / Cooperation between Works Council and Management: Die Sicht beider Seiten und deren Folgen / The View from Both Sides and its Consequences

Author

Listed:
  • Dilger Alexander

    (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät, Institut für Ökonomische Bildung, Schlossplatz 4, D-48149 Münster, Germany)

Abstract

There are different kinds of works councils. They can be cooperative or antagonistic for example. There are also different kinds of management. The managers can be friendly or unfriendly to the workers and the works council representing them. Here the mutual relationship between works council and management is analysed. To this end two data sets are connected, the NIFA-Panel with information about mechanical engineering plants in Germany given by the management and the Bochumer survey of works councils in some of these plants. A new typology of the relationship between the works council and the managers of a firm is derived from these combined data. The effects of a positive, neutral or negative relationship on different turnover rates, product innovations and earnings of the firms are empirically analysed. The results are in accordance with prior studies using only separated data for works councils or management. Concretely, turnover and earnings are mostly lower and innovations more probable as long as any kind of works council exists. The kind of relationship influences the magnitudes of these effects and their statistical significance. A positive relationship reduces the departure rate most of all, a negative relationship has the strongest effect on innovations and, unexpectedly, an inconsistent relationship is best for earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Dilger Alexander, 2006. "Kooperation zwischen Betriebsrat und Management / Cooperation between Works Council and Management: Die Sicht beider Seiten und deren Folgen / The View from Both Sides and its Consequences," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 226(5), pages 562-587, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:226:y:2006:i:5:p:562-587
    DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2006-0507
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2006-0507
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jbnst-2006-0507?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Addison, John T. & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2000. "Die mitbestimmungsfreie Zone aus ökonomischer Sicht," Discussion Papers 1, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    2. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2002. "German works councils old and new: incidence, coverage and determinants," Discussion Papers 10, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    3. repec:bla:kyklos:v:49:y:1996:i:4:p:555-82 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. John Addison & Stanley Siebert & Joachim Wagner & Xiangdong Wei, 2000. "Worker Participation and Firm Performance: Evidence from Germany and Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 7-48, March.
    5. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 1996. "German Works Councils, Profits, and Innovation," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(4), pages 555-582, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian Pfeifer, 2011. "The Heterogeneous Economic Consequences of Works Council Relations," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 131(1), pages 59-71.
    2. Gralla, Rafael & Kraft, Kornelius, 2012. "Higher Wages, Overstaffing or Both? The Employer's Assessment of Problems Regarding Wage Costs and Staff Level in Co-Determined Establishments," IZA Discussion Papers 7021, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Backes-Gellner Uschi & Mohrenweiser Jens, 2010. "Die Wirkung des Betriebsverfassungsgesetzes am Beispiel der Freistellung von Betriebsräten – ein Beitrag zur Rechtstatsachenforschung / The Effect of the Works Council Act on Paid Leave of Absence of ," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 230(4), pages 420-435, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Grund & Andreas Schmitt, 2013. "Works councils, wages and job satisfaction," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(3), pages 299-310, January.
    2. John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2014. "Variable Pay, Industrial Relations and Foreign Ownership: Evidence from Germany," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 521-552, September.
    3. Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2001. "Verbreitung und Bestimmungsgründe verschiedener Formen der Arbeitnehmerpartizipation in Industriebetrieben," Discussion Papers 5, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    4. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2002. "The Long Awaited Reform of the German Works Constitution Act," IZA Discussion Papers 422, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2004. "The Course of Research into the Economic Consequences of German Works Councils," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(2), pages 255-281, June.
    6. David Metcalf, 2002. "Unions and Productivity, Financial Performance and Investment: International Evidence," CEP Discussion Papers dp0539, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Uwe Jirjahn & Steffen Mueller, 2014. "Non-union worker representation, foreign owners, and the performance of establishments," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 140-163, January.
    8. Olaf Hübler, 2003. "Fördern oder behindern Betriebsräte die Unternehmensentwicklung?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 4(4), pages 379-397, November.
    9. Bellmann Lutz & Ellguth Peter, 2006. "Verbreitung von Betriebsräten und ihr Einfluss auf die betriebliche Weiterbildung / Works Council Presence and Impact on Training of the Workforce," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 226(5), pages 487-504, October.
    10. Addison, John T. & Schank, Thorsten & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2003. "German Works Councils in the Production Process," IZA Discussion Papers 812, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Schnabel, Claus & Wagner, Joachim, 2002. "The reform of the German works constitution act: a critical assessment," Discussion Papers 16, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    12. Haltiwanger, John & Jarmin, Ron & Schank, Thorsten, 2003. "Productivity, investment in ICT and market experimentation: micro evidence from Germany und the US," Discussion Papers 19, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    13. John T. Addison & Claus Schnabel & Joachim Wagner, 2006. "The (Parlous) State of German Unions," Working Paper Series in Economics 23, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    14. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino, 2019. "Strikes, employee workplace representation, unionism, and industrial relations quality in European establishments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 109-133.
    15. Beckmann, Michael & Kräkel, Matthias, 2012. "Internal rent seeking, works councils, and optimal establishment size," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 711-726.
    16. John T. Addison & Alex Bryson & Paulino Teixeira & André Pahnke & Lutz Bellmann, 2013. "The Extent of Collective Bargaining and Workplace Representation: Transitions between States and their Determinants. A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Great Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(2), pages 182-209, May.
    17. Addison, John T. & Teixeira, Paulino & Evers, Katalin & Bellmann, Lutz, 2013. "Collective Bargaining and Innovation in Germany: Cooperative Industrial Relations?," IZA Discussion Papers 7871, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Olaf Hübler & Uwe Jirjahn, 2003. "Works Councils and Collective Bargaining in Germany: The Impact on Productivity and Wages," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 50(4), pages 471-491, September.
    19. Hirsch, Boris & Schank, Thorsten & Schnabel, Claus, 2009. "Works Councils and Separations: Voice, Monopoly, and Insurance Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 4126, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Steffen Müller & Jens Stegmaier, 2020. "Why is there resistance to works councils in Germany? An economic perspective," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 41(3), pages 540-561, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:226:y:2006:i:5:p:562-587. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.