HRM and employee involvement in Britain and Sweden:a comparative study

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine employee involvement in a comparative context against a background of increased HRM practices, using Poole’s framework of power in workers’ participation as a tool of analysis.

Since the 1980s the concept of employee involvement has assumed a position of central importance in human resource management and the aim of this research was to examine these contentions in a British bank, which has consciously adopted HRM policies over the past six years, and a Swedish bank, which could be said to be typical of the Swedish service sector in its employee relations practices.

From the research a picture emerged in which the Swedish work-force felt that they had a greater degree of involvement in their workplace (micro level) than their British counterparts. Of particular significance was that, at organizational level (macro level), the Swedish work-force felt as much estrangement as the British work-force from participation and involvement on strategic issues despite the existence of co-determinational structures.

Explanations of these findings, it is suggested, lie in an understanding of the wider convergent and divergent forces such as societal structures and economic changes influencing corporate life.

Keywords:

• Keywords Employee participation
• HRM
• banking sector