EMPLOYABILITY AND SECURITY IN A FLEXIBLE GLOBAL LABOUR MARKET The importance of transparency ‘The goals of present-day managements are transparent. They are putting into place new management techniques and participation models based on the core group of people from whom they get the most profitability and productivity. How should unions react to this?’ In the 1980s and 1990s teamwork was the buzzword for human resources management. There was more autonomy in the workplace, which was not reflected in the management structure. Decentralisation and independent forms of work were exploited, particularly if they related to knowledge-based work. For example, one factory in Germany adopted a new work model, based on production teams, that led to high productivity gains. Orders were placed in the middle of an open-plan assembly hall. Each group could pick up an order and fulfil it as it decided, the only limitation being that the order had to be completed in two days. This gave the teams complete flexibility over its working hours – a valuable gain in an area where many workers were also farmers. This progressive model provided a win-win situation for everyone. The company was highly productive, and had a structured and effective works council. However, this type of production did not gain popularity, and came to be seen as a one-off exercise, mainly because managements tend to resist delegating power downwards and making the workforce autonomous. Co-determination defines rights Co-determination defines a set of rights that give employees the possibility of actively participating in shaping their work environment. This includes legally stipulated co-determination rights and internal company agreements devised in conjunction with union contracts, as well as informal decision-making that has arisen from co-determination practice. The institutional core of co-determination is the industrial constitution and corporate co-determination. Corporate co-determination is based on three laws: • the Coal and Steel Industry Co-determination Law(1951) • the Industrial Constitution Law(1952) and • the Co-determination Law(1976). Under co-determination, the management board manages the company and plans, co-ordinates and supervises the company’s activities. The supervisory board: • appoints the members of the management board for a fixed period of time and is also responsible for employment contracts(salary) and the number of senior managers • monitors the board’s management of the company’s business operations • can draw up lists of business operations that are important for the company and of those that will require its approval • scrutinises the annual accounts, the annual report and the proposals for the dis­posal of profits and provides a written report on these for the annual meeting. 17 © Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society