Works Councils and HRM in Germany: Analytical Arguments and Empirical Evidence

This chapter compares German works councils with alternative models of employee involvement and representation. It presents some empirical results of a recent survey of works councils in the German mechanical engineering industry concerning the relationship between works councils, management and unions and how works councillors perceive direct participation. Works council and Human Resource Management (HRM) give employees a voice in firms' decision making, the works council a collective voice, HRM an individual voice. By cross-tabulation the author discovers a considerable consistency of the works councillors' views on their relationship with management. Numerous works agreements on the implementation of team-working have been negotiated by strong and active works councils, thus connecting direct participation with the collective representation system. Authors point out that many firms with HRM are non-union companies. The chapter draws a conclusion regarding the increasing preponderance of the works council in the German industrial relations system.