Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T15:22:27.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reforming The Australian Workplace Through Employee Participation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Russell D Lansbury
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Relations, University of Sydney; Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University; Australian Centre in Strategic Management, Queensland University of Technology
Edward M Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Relations, University of Sydney; Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University; Australian Centre in Strategic Management, Queensland University of Technology
David Simmons
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Relations, University of Sydney; Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University; Australian Centre in Strategic Management, Queensland University of Technology
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The past decade witnessed a wide range of industrial relations reforms in Australia. Employee participation and industrial democracy was espoused by the Labor government (1983–96) as a key element in its workplace reform program. It was also embraced by the trade union movement and, to a lesser extent, by leading employers and their associations. A case study of employee participation in the Ford Motor Company is used to illustrate the process of workplace reform in Australia during this period While Ford Australia provides a positive example of workplace change, it is argued that the promise of employee participation has not generally been fulfilled in Australian industry. Contributing factors identified in the paper include economic recession, the decline of trade union membership and a lack of ‘people’ skills in managerial ranks.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1996

Footnotes

*

The authors appreciate the invaluable advice and assistance of Greg Bamber, Mark Shadur, Tom Bramble and Christine Breakspear and the editorial assistance of Kellie Caught and Rene Kienzle. They also would like to thank the managers and employees of Ford and the union representatives that contributed to this study.

References

AIA (1993) Report on the State of the Automotive Industry 1992, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Allen, J. (1987) Joint Consultation, Sydney, New South Wales Department of Industrial Relations and Employment, Sydney.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions and Australian Labor Party (1983) Statement of Accord, ACTU, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Australian Council of Trade Unions (1987) Australia Reconstructed, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Manufacturing Council (1990) The Global Challenge: Australian Manufacturing in the 1990s, AMC, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Business Council of Australia (1991) Developing Australia’s National Competitiveness, BAC, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Callus, R., Morehead, A., Cully, M., Buchanan, J. (1991) Industrial Relations at Work: the Australian Industrial Relations Workplace Survey, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Confederation of Australian Industry (1988) Employer Perspectives on the ACTU/TDC Report Australia Reconstructed, CAI, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Confederation of Australian Industry and Australian Council of Trade Unions (1988), Joint Statement on Participative Practices, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Confederation of Australian Industry, Business Council of Australia and Australian Council of Trade Unions (1986) Joint Statement on Issues Related to Productivity Improvements.Google Scholar
Davis, E. M., Lansbury, R.D. (eds) (1986) Democracy and Control in the Workplace, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Davis, E. M., Lansbury, R. D. (1995) ‘Consultation and Employee Participation in Australian Workplaces: 1986–1995’, in Davis, E.M., Lansbury, R.D. Managing Together, Longman, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Davis, E. M., Lansbury, R.D. (eds) (1996) Managing Together, Longman, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Davis, E. M., Lansbury, R. D. (1989) ‘Worker Participation in Decisions on Technological Change in Australia’, in Bamber, G.J., Lansbury, R.D. (eds), New Technology, Unwin Hyman, London, 100116.Google Scholar
Department of Employment and Industrial Relations (DEIR) (1984) Industry Democracy and Employee Participation: Seminar Proceedings, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Ford, B., Tilley, L. (1986) Diversity, Change and Tradition: The Environment for Industrial Democracy in Australia, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Karpin, D (1995) Enterprising Nation: Report of the industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Lansbury, R. D., Marchington, M. (1993) ‘Joint consultation and industrial relations: Experience from Australia and overseas’, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 31, 3, 6281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lansbury, R. D., Macdonald, D. (1992) ‘Automakers’ in Lansbury, R.D., Macdonald, D. (eds) Workplace Industrial Relations, Australian Case Studies, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Lever-Tracy, C. (1990) ‘Fordism transformed? Employee involvement and workplace industrial relations at Ford’, The Journal of Industrial Relations, 33, 2, 179196.Google Scholar
Mathews, J. (1991) Ford Australia Plastics Plant: Transition to Teamwork Through Quality Enhancement, Industrial Relations Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Kensington.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., Naughton, R., Sorenson, R. (1096) The Law and the Propagation of Joint Consultation in Australian Enterprises: Evidence from the Federal Enterprise Agreement Process’ Working Paper, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, University of Melbourne, Parkville.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, T. J. (1993) ‘Leading TQM at Ford’s Plastic Plant’, Paper presented to the Implementation Strategies for Total Quality Management Conference Brisbane 20–21 May.Google Scholar
Prescott, J. (1990) BHP Steel in the 1990s: International Success through People, EPAC Discussion Paper 90/01, AGPS, Canberra.Google Scholar
Simmons, D. E. (1994) The Adoption of International Best Practice in Australia, Master of Management Thesis, Graduate School of Management, The University of Queensland, St Lucia.Google Scholar
Simmons, D. E., Lansbury, R. D. (1996) ‘Workplace Reform at Ford Australia’ in Davis, E.M., Lansbury, R.D. Managing Together, Longman, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Simmons, D. E., Shadur, M. A. (1995) ‘Turning the Corner at Ford’, in Patrickson, M, Bamber, V, Bamber, G.J. (eds) Organisational Change Strategies, Case Studies of Human Resource and Industrial Relations Issues, Longman Australia, Melbourne.Google Scholar