Paradoxes of participation: non-union workplace partnership in John Lewis

Abstract

The extent to which workplace partnership delivers mutual gains is subject to considerable debate amongst practitioners and scholars. One of the oldest and largest examples of workplace partnership is the John Lewis Partnership that began using forms of non-union employee representation in 1929. Despite ongoing interest from researchers in employee representation, and specifically non-union forms of employee voice, there have been few in-depth studies of the Partnership's organisational structure and practices since the 1980s. This paper explores in detail the operation of representation structures in the John Lewis Partnership, which is a significant case of non-union workplace partnership with the potential for mutual gains. A key finding of the paper was that the decision-making structures that characterise the Partnership, and that are protected by a constitution, are under constant threat from the discursive struggle to define partnership in a way that privileges managerial interests. The paper argues, therefore, that mutual gains need to be secured both structurally and discursively to address the tensions and paradoxes at the heart of debates about the meaning and aims of employee representation.

Keywords::

• John Lewis Partnership
• mutual gains
• non-union employee representation
• organisational democracy
• participation
• workplace partnership

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the John Lewis Partnership for providing extensive access to the organisation and its partners.

Notes

^1. The Deputy Partners' Counsellor was a member of the ‘Critical Side’ of the partnership, intended to be separate from management and given the specific task of ensuring that the constitution was upheld and that the principles of the partnership were given full consideration in personnel decision-making.