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Knowledge capital accumulations are impacted by a variety of workplace factors, including the human resource management work system and the workgroup culture in which it is embedded. Organizations adopting high-involvement work systems stressing employee participation, empowerment, commitment, and accountability have the potential to produce, and to be a beneficiary of, greater stores of employee intellectual capital. The role of workplace culture in this relationship is potentially salient but its operational characteristics require further elucidation. Using a competing values framework to characterize workplace culture, four culture archetypes can be specified: hierarchical, market, entrepreneurial, and clan. Results from step-wise regression analysis show that the four workplace culture archetypes contribute differentially to intellectual capital stores, yet only the clan and entrepreneurial culture archetypes partially mediates this relationship.

Some important issues affecting the workplace cannot be studied directly for a number of reasons. For example, they may subject humans to unacceptable risks; theories may be tested before investing the time and money required for a full study; or funding may be more readily available for a novel investigation after investigators can show that an issue merits study. Simulations were used to compress time and collect enough data to permit robust statistical analysis. In this case, simulations were used to compress time and collect enough data to. Simulations are not without problems, the most important of which is how accurately they capture the collective bargaining issues being studied. This article examines whether the views and actions of the participants in our bargaining simulations reasonably reflect the conduct of actual bargainers. It finds that the participants in the simulation did take on their assigned roles. As a result, not only can this method be useful in exploring issues such as collective bargaining, but it can also potentially be useful for other social science issues.

Background: The objective of this study is to explore the nature of the association of discrete systems of human resource management practices and the rate of voluntary turnover of registered nurses (RNs) in a large sample of Canadian acute care hospitals and nursing homes. Turnover of nursing staff is a significant issue affecting healthcare cost, quality and access. The rate of annual turnover for registered nurses has been estimated to be about 20 percent in Canada, with a total cost of almost US$27,000 for each RN. Healthcare organizations that employ large numbers of registered nurses are keen to learn more about the role that organizational policies and practices play in reducing voluntary turnover, including the role of management and its deployment of human resources. The relationship of human resource management (HRM) practices and employee turnover has generally been under-investigated. Three HRM systems, composed of bundles of discrete workplace and employment practices, were assembled in order to assess the relationship of HRM practice systems with the rate of voluntary RN turnover, at the establishment level. The three HRM practice systems constructed are: a technical HRM system that focuses on policies and practices that regulate the employee-employer relationship; a quality-of-worklife HRM system that includes a variety of employee- and family-friendly employment practices; a high-involvement HRM system that involve workplace arrangements that increase commitment, engagement and participation of employees. Method and analysis: A questionnaire was sent to the chief nursing officers of 2,208 hospitals and long-term care facilities in every province and territory of Canada, yielding valid responses from 705 establishments. Each of the three HRM practice systems is estimated at each facility and comprises eight (8) discrete employment and workplace practices. Using estimates of voluntary RN turnover as the dependent variable, the analysis featured a step-wise ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model for each practice system. Results: After controlinf for facility characteristics and local labour market conditions, the quality-of-worklife HRM employment system ( p

Although there has been increased research attention on the development of peer evaluation instruments, there has been less emphasis on understanding student preferences for specific peer evaluation approaches. The authors used data from a study conducted with undergraduate students in management courses to examine student preferences of group work evaluation approaches and their perceptions about fairness, workload, and due process for each approach. The findings suggest that students prefer a confidential questionnaire to conduct peer evaluations and perceive it to be the fairest approach, although also reducing concerns for evaluating shared workload. However, there was evidence that student perceptions of due process in approaches without an instructor's involvement were lower.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the adoption of information technology is associated with human resource management and organizational restructuring.Design/methodology/approachSMEs in Nova Scotia were visited and complete data from 130 firms were obtained.FindingsThe rate of IT adoption varies noticeably among SMEs in Nova Scotia, with less than 10 per cent being high adopters. IT adoption was strongly associated with employer size, organizational restructuring and investment in human resource management.Research limitations/implicationsThe data are cross‐sectional and the generalizability of the results may be limited. While it was found that HRM and IT were strongly related, it was whether they are associated with higher employer performance was not examined.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that IT may play a role in enhancing the human resource function.Originality/valueThere has been little research exploring the link between HRM and IT adoption, particularly among small firms. This paper fills some of the gaps.

Despite an extensive practitioner literature on workforce reduction, relatively few Canadian studies have empirically examined the determinants of workforce reduction policies. Using data from more than 1,000 organizations across the country, this study investigated factors associated with permanent workforce reduction strategies. Fifty-three percent of the respondents permanently reduced their workforce during the two-year period of the study (with an average reduction of almost 15% of the workforce). Multinomial logit was used to compare organizations that had and had not engaged in employee cutbacks. The results revealed that differences in workforce reduction strategies were associated with the economic environment, characteristics of the organization, and human resource management policies. Rarely is it possible to browse through a major newspaper and not come across an article reporting the layoff of employees or the closure of a business. However, despite the near obsession of several organizations with reducing the workforce, relatively little research has focused specifically on permanent workforce reduction (Cameron, Sutton, & Whetten, 1988; Leana & Ivancevich, 1987). Rather, organizational scholars have, until recently, exhibited a strong preference for studying growing companies (Whetten, 1987). Moreover, while a review of the practitioner literature reveals a host of articles addressing downsizing and workforce reduction, the writings are largely prescriptive, typically unsupported by empirical research, and often in conflict. Around the world, organizations are striving to become more competitive as they struggle to meet the challenges of the global marketplace. Traditional notions of job security and rewards for loyalty and long service to the organization have, in many instances, been replaced by continuous change, uncertainty, and considerable shedding of employees (Mathys & Burack, 1993). Associated with such developments is the considerable pain, stress, and hardship inflicted on employees (both workers who have lost jobs and "survivors," those who remain with an organization). In addition, there is mounting evidence that many downsizing efforts fail to meet corporate objectives (Cameron, 1994; Cascio, 1993). Despite the extensive number of organizations engaging in workforce downsizing and restructuring, few Canadian studies have investigated the determinants of permanent workforce reduction strategies (in fact, popular press reports on employee cutbacks are often based on a small number of American reports). The present study has two major objectives. First, using data from 1,140 large Canadian organizations, it provides evidence concerning the frequency of workforce reduction. Second, it examines the relationship between an employer's workforce reduction strategy and a number of environmental and organizational variables by comparing organizations that have and have not engaged in permanent employee cutbacks. Review of the Literature Workforce reduction and organizational restructuring are beginning to attract research interest. In addition to an extensive and growing practitioner literature on workforce reduction (see, for instance, Adamson & Axmith, 1983; Byrne, 1994; Hansen, 1985; Nienstedt, 1989; Tomasko, 1990, 1991), there is an increasing focus on strategic responses to downsizing (for example, Koys, Armacost, & Charalambides, 1990; Lawrence & Mittman, 1991; Mathys & Burack, 1993). In 1993 that the Strategic Management Journal devoted its entire summer 1993 issue of the journal to the topic of corporate restructuring. In recent years, a number of researchers have used case studies to study the workforce reduction process (Cornfield, 1983; Hardy, 1987, 1992; Teram & Hines, 1988). Furthermore, a growing area of research (and one of particular interest to organizational decision-makers) involves an examination of the consequences of workforce reduction and organizational decline (Cameron, Freeman, & Mishra, 1991; Cameron, Whetten, & Kim, 1987). …

Although workforce reduction has remained popular among organizations throughout the 1990s, few largescale studies of the impact of employee cutbacks have been conducted in Canada at the establishment level. About 55% of establishments reported reducing their workforce over a 2-year period, with an average reduction of almost 16% of the workforce. When comparing establishments that had and had not engaged in permanent employee cutbacks, the results indicated that workplaces experiencing downsizing were more likely to have lower scores on the employer efficiency and employee satisfaction measures and report less favourable employer-employee relations. Further analysis limited only to establishments experiencing workforce reduction revealed that a high-involvement workplace strategy was associated with significantly better performance outcomes. Resume Bien que la reduction des effectifs soit restee courante dans les entreprises tout au long des annees 90, on a realise peu d'etudes i grande echelle traitant de l'impact de ces compressions sur les entreprises au Canada. A peu pres 55 % des entreprises ont signals une reduction moyenne de presque 16 % de leur personnel sur une periode de deux ans. En comparant ces etablissementsla a ceux qui n'ont pas effectue de compression de leur personnel permanent, les resultats indiquent que, par suite de compressions, les etablissements sont davantage susceptibles d'assister non seulement a une diminution de l'efficacite de l'employeur et de la satisfaction des employes, mais egalement de la qualite des relations employeur-employes. Une autre analyse, qui se limite a des etablissements ayant fait l'experience d'une reduction des effectifs, a revele qu'une strategie de grande participation en milieu de travail etait associee a une sensible amelioration des resultats. Although the 1990s may be characterized as the "downsizing decade," there is growing evidence from both the practitioner and academic literatures that many downsizing efforts have failed to meet organizational objectives (Cameron, 1994a; Cascio, 1993; Tomasko, 1990). Furthermore, many downsizing programs are not carefully thought out or linked with the strategic plans of the organization (American Management Association, 1994). An important question that is being debated in the academic literature and in boardrooms across the country is quite simply: Does downsizing work? There is a tendency for management to focus on financial issues during an organization's restructuring, and it is only recently that the literature has begun to provide guidance for managers who acknowledge the importance of effectively managing nonfinancial issues (Ford & Perrewe, 1993). This study, which is based on survey responses from almost 2,000 Canadian establishments, has two major objectives. First, it examines the relationship between permanent workforce reduction and three sets of outcomes (employer efficiency, employee satisfaction, and employer-employee relations). Although several studies have investigated the impact of downsizing on the survivors (e.g., Armstrong-Stassen, 1993; Brockner, Grover, O'Malley, Reed, & Glynn, 1993; Mone, 1994), little empirical work in Canada has focussed on the establishment level. Second, it explores whether the consequences of downsizing are mitigated by a highinvolvement workplace strategy. Background A Definition of Downsizing As a startingm point, it is important to clarify what is meant by downsizing. Academics and practitioners use the word to mean a variety of different activities; examples of words used as synonyms for downsizing include "building-down," "de-hiring," "de-recruitment," "reduction in force," "resizing," and "right-sizing." It is problematic to study downsizing if the meaning of the word is unclear (Littler, Bramble, & MacDonald, 1994). Cameron (1994b) defined downsizing as: a set of activities undertaken on the part of management and designed to improve organizational efficiency, productivity, and/or competitiveness. …

Cet article veut situer le C.P. 1003 dans son avant et son après: sur quoi cet arrêté se fondait-il ? en quoi innovait-il vraiment ? comment a-t-il influencé les lois qui l'ont suivi ? La présente étude procède selon la méthode historique et comparative., The impact of P.C. 1003 on labour relations legislation in the various Canadian provinces can be both overestimated and underestimated. Many other elements and factors came together to produce a Canadian System of industrial relations in 1944. P.C. 1003 was both a result and a beginning.The American Wagner Act of 1935 and the pressure exerted in Canada by union leaders to obtain similar legislation in this country were two major factors. Some provincial legislations had established Systems of conciliation, through the federal and/or provincial Departments of Labour.A few previous laws prepared the way for P.C. 1003. The Quebec Trade Disputes Act of 1901 introduced mediation, conciliation and arbitration. Although the services were offered on a voluntary basis to interested parties, a certain number did use them, and that very fact contributed to the view that state intervention was normal. The federal legislation adopted in the first decade of the century had a similar impact, at least until its constitutionality was successfully attacked in 1925.After the Snider case, all Canadian provinces but one moved to "provincialize" the effect of the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act by adopting similar legislation. The 1937 Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act of British Columbia provoked much interest; and the 1943 Ontario Collective Bargaining Act was an important experimental prelude to P.C. 1003. The provisions of these acts were in most cases voluntary, but their application, whether mandatory or voluntary, helped to foster the belief that government intervention in labour disputes was normal, if not desirable. The first federal-provincial conference held on the subject in 1943 also helped to pave the way to the acceptance of the main elements of P.C. 1003.Because of the war situation and the urgency of keeping conflicts from becoming too disruptive, steps that could not have been taken in other circumstances became acceptable at that time. Thus the administrative machinery for certification and conciliation services was put in place. The "cost-plus" system of granting government contracts played a major role. Because P.C. 1003 was mandatory for all war industries, it applied to most of the unionized industries. The rest of the economy was covered by provincial laws, many of them simply extending P.C. 1003 provisions to labour disputes in provincial jurisdiction. These provisions were continued after the war under the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act. By 1948, all of the provinces had adopted a Labour Relations Act, under that name or another, containing the major features of P.C. 1003 and of the 1948 federal Industrial Relations and Disputes Investigation Act. In a sense, P.C. 1003 owed a lot to previous provincial laws, but subsequent legislation also owes a lot to P.C. 1003, especially with regard to the technical aspects of certification and the creation of labour boards.

This longitudinal panel study investigated the interactive effect of work-group membership stability and time on survivors' reactions to organizational downsizing. The participants were 159 nonmanagement employees of a federal government department. Survivors in moderate-change work groups did not react more negatively to the downsizing. In fact, they reported a significant increase in job satisfaction, job security, job performance, and employee morale. Survivors who changed to different work groups expressed the least positive attitudes in the initial phase of the downsizing, but the most positive attitudes at the completion of the downsizing. Work-group membership (in)stability was more likely to affect survivors' reactions to various aspects of their job over time than factors related to the work group itself.

The NLRA was enacted to promote collective bargaining. Judicial and NLRB interpretations that allow an employer to implement its final offer after reaching an impasse with union negotiators subvert the purpose of labor law and allow employers to use collective bargaining to deunionize.

During the 1990s, many Canadian hospitals introduced quality improvement initiatives while radically reducing their work force. Yet, the incompatible nature of QM and organizational downsizing suggests that the success of one or both change management programs will be sacrificed when done concurrently. Results from a large sample of Canadian hospitals suggest that the implementation of a strong quality improvement initiative can mitigate the negative consequences of severe work force contractions on certain valued organizational performance objectives.

In recent years, hospitals have radically restructured their operations while significantly downsizing their workforces. To date, little is known about the combined effect of these change processes on organizational functioning. There have been few large‐scale studies investigating how hospitals have performed when both organizational restructuring and downsizing are used concurrently. The research reported here sets out to separate and isolate the independent and combined effect of organizational restructuring and downsizing on hospital performance. In particular, it aims to address the following question: Do hospitals which undergo significant organizational restructuring while maintaining their workforce complement perform any better than hospitals that institute significant restructuring while heavily downsizing, and any better than hospitals which heavily downsize but undertake little or no organizational restructuring? Categorical regression analysis results from a sample of 285 Canadian ac...

Over the past few years many nations have undertaken activities aimed at restructuring and reengineering their health system as a means of achieving greater cost effectiveness and consumer responsiveness. Most efforts at reforming healthcare delivery have been accompanied by the downsizing of healthcare organizations. Organizations that are undergoing decline or significant workforce contractions are widely believed to experience a number of negative or dysfunctional attributes as a consequence of reductions in, or redeployments of, their labor force. For organizations undergoing planned workforce reductions, much speculation has been made in an attempt to identify a set of "best practices" that have the potential to mitigate the dysfunctional consequences associated with large permanent reductions in the workforce. This article explores the relationships among workforce-reduction practices and perceptions of organizational dysfunction in a large sample of Canadian hospitals. Results of the analysis suggest that the application of certain "progressive" workforce-reduction practices preceding, during, and subsequent to the downsizing process may play an important role in mitigating some of these dysfunctional organizational consequences. This research provides some evidence to suggest that how a workforce reduction is carried out may have a greater effect on organizational effectiveness than either the magnitude or severity of the overall workforce reduction.

Despite the popularity of workforce cutbacks in the 1990s, largescale empirical stud-ies at the bargaining unit level are rare. I explore some of the consequences of per-manent work force reduction using data from both employer and union respondents. About 56 percent of employer participants and 57 percent of local union officials reported a permanent reduction of bargaining unit employees. In comparing bargain-ing units that experienced a permanent reduction of union members, results obtained from both employers and union officials indicated a significant negative impact on over-all employee satisfaction and labor climate. Additional analyses with union respon-dents revealed that the reduction of bargaining unit employees was also associated with a higher rate of grievances and absenteeism and poorer relations between union members and their supervisors.

This study examined employees' perceptions of the factors associated with a service quality initiative during and following organizational downsizing. The participants were employees of a large Canadian federal government department that began implementing a service quality initiative in 1995 and then reduced its workforce by 20% between 1996 and 1997. One hundred employees were interviewed in 1996 and 275 employees completed a questionnaire in 1997 and 14 months later in 1998. Overall, survivors perceived that the downsizing had an adverse effect on the department's quality initiative. Factors during the downsizing that were associated with greater perceived support for the quality initiative, service quality, teamwork and quality improvement efforts following the downsizing were job level (management), greater initial commitment to the quality initiative, lower perceived negative downsizing effect on the quality initiative, higher perceived organizational morale, and higher trust in the organization and organizational commitment. Initial commitment to the quality initiative was an especially important predictor of how remaining employees perceived the quality initiative following the downsizing. Respondents reported a significant increase in service quality and teamwork following the downsizing period suggesting that these key features of a quality program may be only temporarily affected by organizational downsizing.

In recent years, health care in Canada as elsewhere has witnessed unprecedented restructuring and reorganization. Concurrent with the massive restructuring of health care systems, many health care organizations have dramatically downsized their workforces by shedding jobs and people. It is generally assumed that forced workforce reductions can have significant deleterious consequences on organizations. This study examines the impact of workforce reduction on perceptions of organizational performance in a large sample of Canadian health care organizations.

Organizational scholars and practitioners alike have long recognized the role of corporate culture in shaping the strategic and operational choices that organizations pursue. It is the responsibility of those who plan for change to select approaches that are compatible with the enduring elements of the organization’s dominant culture. A large sample of Canadian hospitals were surveyed to assess how organizational culture impacts the choices that organizations make in managing fiscal cutbacks. Results suggest that approaches and strategies used by Canadian hospitals in managing the change are variably influenced by CEO perceptions of the prevailing corporate culture.

This study investigated the extent to which large employers provide formal training to employees. More than two-thirds of large Canadian employers had formal training. Factors related to the presence of formal training included organisation size, decision-making ideology, and the use of team-based programmes.

I investigate the relationship between labor-management climate and perceptions of productivity, product!service quality, and customer!client satisfaction using a regional and national sample of Canadian organizations and a regional sample of local unions. Overall, the ordered probit results reveal a strong relationship between labor-management climate and measures of organizational performance with a more positive labor-management climate associated with more favorable scores on the performance variables.

Widespread concern has been expressed recently over the differential treatment of women by the courts and various arbitration and adjudication proceedings. Based on data obtained by content analysing 367 Canadian dismissal cases from 1980 to 1993, this study examines the relationship between the plaintiff's gender and the court's ruling regarding the existence of just cause for termination. The results indicate that female plaintiffs are more likely than men to succeed in their court action. However, in comparison with their representation in the Canadian workforce, a relatively small percentage of women are plaintiffs in wrongful dismissal actions. Possible explanations for the study's findings are discussed.

There is little research examining the attitudes of small business owners and managers toward labour relations and trade unions. Based on data from 149 owners and managers in small and medium-size manufacturing businesses, the results indicated that respondents favoured more laws limiting the power of unions, perceived that unions interfered with the efficient running of a business, and believed that dealing with a union makes managing a business more difficult. There was also strong support for the position that unionized firms are less productive and less profitable. Overall, respondents in nonunion firms tended to have more negative views of unions relative to executives from union organizations.

Despite the growth in wrongful dismissal litigation over the past two decades, few studies have examined the factors influencing the court's determination of reasonable notice of termination. The present study utilizes a recent sample of 233 cases in which the defendant employer was a small or medium-sized business. Plaintiffs, on average, received more than eight months notice of reasonable notice. The plaintiff's length of service, salary and occupational status were important determinants in the calculation of reasonable notice. Implications of the study's findings for small business owners and managers are also discussed.

Many sorts of quantitative and qualitative empirical research are regularly used to answer questions related to work and workplace issues. However, some issues involving human behavior may be difficult to capture using standard empirical methods. Common barriers include access to people or information; problems with accurate or honest reporting; behavior that occurs over long periods of time; cost; and ethical barriers as to research using human subjects. Important information related to collective bargaining can be difficult to collect for all of these reasons. Participants in collective bargaining may not want outsiders present for all or critical parts of negotiations. They may not be candid about motives or actions, or they may be honest but not fully self-aware as to motives or actions. Bargaining sessions may be long and extend over months or years. In the case of gathering information about collective bargaining within the larger union-employer-employee contexts may require decades of access and involvement. As a result, costs in terms of time and funding and other issues may rule out examining certain sorts of questions using actual participants engaged in collective bargaining. Thus, one important area that would benefit from empirical research – testing the effects of law and proposals for law reform in general and collective bargaining law reform in particular – has so many of these problems that many important issues cannot be tested using standard methods. In addition, testing law reform proposals requires gathering data on actions that have not yet happened. Simulations provide one useful way to overcome many of these problems. In effect, simulations create a law reform laboratory. Of course, simulations are only useful if they are reflect reality. This article examines evidence as to participants’ actions in a simulation used to test various iterations of laws governing how collective bargaining impasses are to be resolved and whether those actions sufficiently mirror those of employer and union negotiators as to provide reliable data on the likely effects of law reform.

While unionized employees in Canada and the United States share similar protections against unjust dismissal, there are noticeable differences between the two countries with respect to nonunion employees. In three Canadian jurisdictions, nonunion employees who are wrongfully dismissed may be able to seek statutory remedies including reinstatement. As well, employees may be able to proceed with a court action based on the common law of wrongful dismissal. This article provides a summary of the avenues available to the nonunion employee with particular attention to wrongful-dismissal law principles. More specifically, major features of the law of wrongful dismissal are discussed, including what constitutes just cause for termination, factors used in the calculation of reasonable notice, and remedies available to an employee in a wrongful-dismissal action. Reference is made to both legal analyses and empirical studies. In addition, some of the limitations of the law are noted.

Both labor and management often have a lawyer present their case at an arbitration hearing. This paper investigates whether the probability of obtaining a favorable arbitration outcome was related to the use of legal counsel. An analysis of 1,284 Canadian non-discipline/discharge cases revealed that a party was more likely to receive a favorable award when it had legal representation and the other side did not. However, there was no difference in win rates when the outcomes of cases in which both parties used lawyers were compared with those in which neither side was represented by legal counsel.

The influence of job security and compensation policies, expressed in written scenarios, on future job applicants' (103 college students) ratings was examined. Favorable attitudes toward the company and intention to consider employment with the organization were rated significantly higher when the firm adopted a policy assuring reasonable commitment to job security.

In the past few years, organizations in a variety of industries have been urged to consider adopting human resource management (HRM) practices that can better capture the full of potential of their human capital (Pfeffer, 1994; 1998). Drawn by the promise for enhanced organizational performance, these HRM practices represent novel and progressive ways of deploying human resources. The rationale for their adoption is to improve employee and customer satisfaction, decrease operating expenses and lower costs, while sharpening organizational effectiveness and financial performance. Although not without controversy, there is a large and rapidly expanding body of evidence which shows a strong relationship between the adoption of certain HRM practices and higher levels of organizational performance (Becker and Gerhart, 1996; Boselie, Dietz and Boon, 2005; Bowen and Ostroff, 2004; Colbert, 2004; Delaney and Huselid, 1996; Guest, 1997; Huselid, 1995; Paauwe and Boselie, 2005; Wood, 1999).

In this paper, we demonstrate that the court-developed doctrine which allows an employer to implement its final offer upon reaching an impasse has now become a tool for lawlessness and that this important explanation for the decline of union membership in the United States has been wrongly ignored and overlooked. Our analysis of data collected from fifteen years of National Labor Relations Board decisions on this issue provides powerful support for the conclusion that employers are using this doctrine to create roadblocks to agreement and to end collective bargaining relationships. Not only does it permit employers to deunionize and refuse to negotiate, it actually creates an incentive for employers to use the law as a tool to deunionize. As a result, a law enacted to promote collective bargaining has, instead, become one which destroys collective bargaining. Implementation has become anything but an obscure or rare event. Rather, it is now common and has played a part in high-profile labor disputes, including disputes at Caterpillar, the Detroit News, the National Football League, the baseball players strike, and International Paper. Unions and workers are not the only ones to suffer its destructive role. Even in less publicized cases, its impact on employers, workers, and the government, can be sizeable. In a recent case discussed in the article, the hearing lasted 60 nonconsecutive days and more than 1000 pages of briefs were filed. Approximately 450 employees, some of whom lost $17,000 a year, are entitled to back pay in addition to recompense for cutbacks in pensions, vacations, holidays, and other sorts of employee compensation. It is estimated that backpay will exceed $40 million. The back pay is so great the employers may be put out of business. Although it did not suffer personally, trying and deciding a case lasting sixty days was also enormously expensive for the government. Our preliminary analysis of the data leads us to conclude that this labor law doctrine has advanced far down the wrong road, with direct disastrous consequences for unions and workers. However, it should be borne in mind that although they suffer the most visible losses, they are not the only victims. The government bears the cost of investigating, prosecuting, and deciding cases, the vast majority of which lead to the conclusion that employer claims of impasse are frivolous. Surely this money could be put to better uses. Employers themselves do not escape costs. They risk enormous backpay liability, and most, whether they succeed or not before the Board, must deal with extended disruption to their workforces and productivity. In the end, this may be sufficient to put the company out of business.

Aim To investigate the impact that increasing human capital through staff training makes on the voluntary turnover of registered nurses. Background Healthcare organizations in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia are experiencing turbulent nursing labour markets characterized by extreme staff shortages and high levels of turnover. Organizations that invest in the development of their nursing human resources may be able to mitigate high turnover through the creation of conditions that more effectively develop and utilize their existing human capital. Methods A questionnaire was sent to the chief nursing officers of 2208 hospitals and long-term care facilities in every province and territory of Canada yielding a response rate of 32.3%. The analysis featured a three-step hierarchical regression with two sets of control variables. Results After controlling for establishment demographics and local labour market conditions, perceptions of nursing human capital and the level of staff training provided were modestly associated with lower levels of establishment turnover. Conclusions and implications for Nursing Management The results suggest that healthcare organizations that have made greater investments in their nursing human capital are more likely to demonstrate lower levels of turnover of their registered nursing personnel.

Background Turnover of nursing staff is a significant issue affecting health care cost, quality, and access. In recent years, a worldwide shortage of skilled nurses has resulted in sharply higher vacancy rates for registered nurses in many health care organizations. Much research has focused on the individual, group, and organizational determinants of turnover. Labor market factors have also been suggested as important contributors to turnover and vacancy rates but have received limited attention by scholars. Purpose This study proposes and tests a conceptual model showing the relationships of organization-market fit and three local labor market factors with organizational turnover and vacancy rates. Methods The model is tested using ordinary least squares regression with data collected from 713 Canadian hospitals and nursing homes. Results Results suggest that, although modest in their impact, labor market and the organization-market fit factors do make significant yet differential contributions to turnover and vacancy rates for registered nurses. Implications Knowledge of labor market factors can substantially shape an effective campaign to recruit and retain nurses. This is particularly true for employers who are perceived to be "employers-of-choice."

Aim This study examines the association of high involvement nursing work practices with employer-of-choice (magnet) status in a sample of Canadian nursing homes. Background In response to a severe shortage of registered nursing personnel, it is imperative for health care organizations to more effectively recruit and retain nursing personnel. Some long-term care organizations are developing employee-centred cultures that allow them to effectively enhance nurse and resident satisfaction. At the same time, many nursing homes have adopted progressive nursing workplace practices (high involvement work practices) that emphasize greater employee empowerment, participation and commitment. Method A mail survey was sent to the director of nursing in 300 nursing homes in western Canada. In total, 125 useable questionnaires were returned and constituted the data set for this study. Separate ordinary least squares regressions are performed with magnet strength, nurse satisfaction and resident satisfaction used as dependent variables. Results Nursing homes that demonstrate strong magnet (employer-of-choice) characteristics are more likely to have higher levels of nurse and patient satisfaction, even after controlling for a number of significant factors at the establishment level. Magnet nursing homes are more likely to have progressive participatory decision-making cultures and much more likely to spend considerable resources on job-related training for their nursing staff. The presence of high involvement work practices is not found to be a significant predictor in magnet strength, nurse or resident satisfaction. Conclusion Merely adopting more high involvement nursing work practices may be insufficient for nursing homes, which desire to become ‘employers-of-choice’ in their marketplaces, especially if these practices are adopted without a concomitant investment in nurse training or an enhanced commitment to establishing a more democratic and participatory decision-making style involving all nursing staff.

Many health care workplaces are adopting more cooperative labour‐management relations, spurred in part by sweeping changes in the economic environment that have occurred over the last decade. Labour‐management cooperation is seen as essential if health care organizations are to achieve their valued performance objectives. Joint labour‐management committees (LMCs) have been adopted in many health care workplaces as a means of achieving better industrial relations. Using data from a sample of Canadian union leaders in the health care sector, this paper examines the impact of labour‐management forums and labour climate on employee and organizational outcomes. Research results suggest that labour climate is less important in predicting workplace performance (and change in workplace performance) than is the number of LMCs in operation. However, labour climate is found to be at least as important in predicting union member satisfaction (and change in member satisfaction) as is the wide adoption of LMCs in operation. These findings are consistent with the notion that the greater use of LMCs is associated with augmented workplace performance (and a positive change in workplace performance), notwithstanding the contribution of the labour climate in the workplace.

Management scholars and practitioners alike have become increasingly interested in learning more about the ability of certain 'progressive' or 'high-performance' human resource management (HRM) practices to enhance organizational effectiveness. There is growing evidence to suggest that the contribution of various HRM practices to impact firm performance may be synergistic in effect yet contingent on a number of contextual factors, including workplace climate. A contingency theory perspective suggests that in order to be effective, HMR policies and practices must be consistent with other aspects of the organization, including its environment. This paper reports on empirical findings from research that examines the relationship between HRM practices, workplace climate and perceptions of organizational performance, in a large sample of Canadian nursing homes. Data from 283 nursing homes were collected by means of a mail survey that included questions on HRM practices, programmes, and policies, on human resource aspects of workplace climate, as well as a variety of indicators that include employee, customer/resident and facility measures of organizational performance. Results derived from ordered probit analysis suggest that nursing homes in our sample which had implemented more 'progressive' HRM practices and which reported a workplace climate that strongly values employee participation, empowerment and accountability tended to be perceived to generally perform better on a number of valued organizational outcomes. Nursing homes in our sample that performed best overall were found to be more likely to not only have implemented more of these HRM practices, but also to report having a workplace climate that reflects the seminal value that it places on its human resources. This finding is consistent with the conclusion that simply introducing HRM practices or programmes, in the absence of an appropriately supportive workplace climate, will be insufficient to attain optimal organizational performance.

Although many organisations have in recent years installed TQ programs, many have been unable to realize significant performance enhancements. Results from a diverse sample of Canadian health care organisations suggest that merely having a TQ program is insufficient for attaining selected performance improvements. Health care organisations which have both a formal TQ program and a deep commitment to quality improvement are perceived to perform better on a number of valued outcomes.

Despite an extensive body of research examining Human Resource Management (HRM) and firm performance, relatively little has addressed this issue using all three firm performance outcomes, namely, employee performance, operational performance and financial performance. In addition, little research has focused on small firms or compared differences between countries. This paper uses data from three studies from two different countries to examine the relationship between HRM practices and perceptions of firm performance. The findings from all three studies indicate that the effect of HRM practices on firm financial performance is mediated by overall employee satisfaction and operational performance.

This study, based on responses from 283 union members, examined members' involvement in two union activities. Union loyalty was strongly related to a willingness to help organize a nonunion employer. In addition, occupying a union executive or shop steward position was associated with both helping organize a nonunion employer and voting in the most recent election.

146 business students with full-time work experience participated in a study of dismissal from employment. Based on self-ratings, men were more likely than women to favor court action in the event of dismissal.

In both academic and practitioner communities, there is an increased concern related to the time-consuming nature of the traditional labour arbitration system in Canada. The arbitration process was initially instituted to combat the delays and costs experienced in the courts. This study addresses the gap in the scientific literature by considering these ongoing concerns.Many Canadian jurisdictions offer the parties an opportunity to expedite the arbitration process pursuant to applicable legislation. However, despite the opportunity to accelerate the process, there appears to be a reluctance to use the expedited arbitration system. We performed content analysis on over 550 Canadian expedited and traditional labour arbitration cases. The case sample was limited to termination cases. We studied and compared delay at multiple times during the arbitration process, including the delay to the hearing, delay to the arbitration award, and total delay. Furthermore, we studied the case outcome; specifically, whether the grievance was granted or denied and adopted an ordered analysis to investigate differences in case outcomes.Our results support the perception that there is a difference in the expediency of expedited arbitration cases in comparison with traditional arbitration cases. The results also show that the outcomes of dismissal cases, decided in the expedited system, do not significantly differ from the traditional arbitration system. The findings suggest that there are statutorily available opportunities for the parties to accelerate the arbitration process without compromising the results., Dans les milieux universitaires et chez les praticiens, on se dit de plus en plus préoccupé par les délais et le temps encouru dans l’application du système d’arbitrage du travail au Canada. Pourtant, ce processus d’arbitrage a été initialement institué afin, justement, d’éviter les longs délais, ainsi que les coûts reliés aux recours aux tribunaux traditionnels. Cette étude cherche à combler le manque de connaissance, à cet égard, dans la littérature scientifique.De nombreuses juridictions canadiennes offrent aux parties la possibilité d’accélérer le processus d’arbitrage, en conformité avec la législation applicable. Toutefois, malgré cette alternative offerte, il semble y avoir une certaine réticence à utiliser le système d’arbitrage accéléré.Nous avons analysé le contenu de plus de 550 cas d’arbitrages accélérés et traditionnels au Canada. Cette échantillon ne porte que sur des cas où le processus d’arbitrage a été conduit à son terme. Nous avons étudié et comparé les délais encourus durant divers moments au cours du processus d’arbitrage, y compris le délai pour parvenir à l’audience, le temps pour rendre la sentence et les délais totaux encourus. En outre, nous avons étudié les décisions rendues, plus spécifiquement si le grief a été accueilli ou rejeté, et nous avons opté pour une analyse hiérarchique des cas (ordered analysis), dans le but de mieux comprendre les différences dans les décisions rendues.Nos résultats viennent montrer que le recours à l’arbitrage accéléré, plutôt qu’à l’arbitrage conventionnel, fait une différence. Ils montrent également que, dans le cas des griefs rejetés, cette différence s’avère peu significative. Notre recherche montre enfin que, peu importe le système, les parties disposent de diverses opportunités statutaires permettant d’accélérer le processus d’arbitrage, cela sans en compromettre les résultats., Tanto en las comunidades académicas como en las profesionales, existe una preocupación creciente relacionada con la naturaleza lenta del sistema tradicional de arbitraje laboral en Canadá. El proceso de arbitraje se instituyó inicialmente para combatir los retrasos y los costos experimentados en los tribunales. Este estudio aborda la brecha en la literatura científica al considerar estas preocupaciones continuas.Muchas jurisdicciones canadienses ofrecen a las partes la oportunidad de agilizar el proceso de arbitraje de conformidad con la legislación aplicable. Sin embargo, a pesar de la oportunidad de acelerar el proceso, parece haber una reticencia a utilizar el sistema de arbitraje acelerado. Este artículo se base en un análisis de contenido de más de 550 casos canadienses de arbitraje laboral acelerado y tradicional. La muestra se limita a los casos terminados. Estudiamos y comparamos el retraso en múltiples ocasiones durante el proceso de arbitraje, incluida la demora en la audiencia, el retraso en la adjudicación del arbitraje y la demora total. Además, estudiamos el resultado del caso, específicamente, si la queja fue otorgada o denegada, y se adoptó un análisis ordenado para investigar las diferencias en los resultados de los casos.Nuestros resultados apoyan la percepción de que existe una diferencia en la conveniencia de los casos de arbitraje acelerado en comparación con los casos de arbitraje tradicional. Se muestra también que los resultados de los casos de despido, decididos en el sistema acelerado, no difieren significativamente del sistema de arbitraje tradicional. Esto sugiere que hay oportunidades legalmente disponibles para que las partes aceleren el proceso de arbitraje sin comprometer los resultados.