Organisational Change through Partnership

Organisational Change through Partnership offers the most comprehensive account to date of partnership at enterprise level in Ireland. Based on a survey of all known cases of workplace partnership in the unionised sector, this study examines the reasons behind decisions to adopt partnership, the structures and agendas that employers and trade unions developed and the outcomes that ensued from partnership.

The study provides strong evidence that a partnership approach to organisational change has positive outcomes for employers, employees and trade unions including better business performance, increased productivity, fewer disputes, improved communications and better relationships overall. This timely book concludes with a discussion of the strategic choices open to employers and trade unions now that they are confronting the necessity for painful changes in light of the current economic recession.

Reviews

"This book provides the most comprehensive account to date of management-union partnership in the private sector in Ireland. It is a must-read for HR and IR practitioners as well as policy-makers interested in the future of employee relations in this time of economic crisis."

Kieran Mulvey, Chief Executive Officer, Labour Relations Commission

"This book suggests that employers and trade unions in Ireland can gain more from collaboration than from conflict. It highlights in unique detail the potential that a partnership approach to organisational change has to deliver positive outcomes for employers, employees and trade unions."

Dr Tim Hastings, co-author of Saving the Future: How Social Partnership Shaped Ireland's Economic Success

About the Author

John O'Dowd is in independent consultant specialising in organisational change and dispute resolution. He has worked with a wide range of organisations helping employers and trade unions to design and develop effective change management processes and to resolve disputes arising from organisational changes. He is a former director of the National Centre for Partnership and former general secretary of the Civil Public and Services Union. In 1998 he published Employee Partnership: A Guide for Managers, Oak Tree Press, and in 2005 he co-authored with Jerome T. Barrett Interest-Based Bargaining: A Users Guide, Trafford Publishing. He was awarded his doctorate in 2006.