Partnership and process in the maritime construction industry
| Pages | 290-304 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450210428453 |
| Published date | 01 June 2002 |
| Date | 01 June 2002 |
| Author | Jo McBride,John Stirling |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Employee
Relations
24,3
290
Employee Relations,
Vol. 24 No. 3, 2002, pp. 290-304.
#MCB UP Limited, 0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/01425450210428453
Partnership and process in the
maritime construction industry
Jo McBride and John Stirling
University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Keywords Partnering, Trade unions, Case studies
Abstract The authors provide a case study of a partnership agreement in the Tyneside
maritime construction industry. They focus on the role of trade unions and the complex tensions
that emerge between regional and local officials and workplace representatives. They argue that
agreements can only be understood within the context of existing employee relations structures.
Their conclusion suggests that the agreement had little impact on a ``branch plant'' of a national
company and that it was often received with hostility and little commitment. As a consequence the
partnership became a symbolic agreement with potential significance for external customers but
no role in shaping workplace employee relations.
Introduction
Partnership, as a description of the collective employment relationship, has a
relatively recent genesis, although it is suggested that its roots can be traced to
an ``alternative'' tradition in British industrial relations that has always
embraced co-operation (Claydon, 1998; Haynes and Allen, 2001). In this paper
we seek to explore the application of partnership in an ``old'' industry with
industrial relations shaped by a high density of trade union membership and
often characterised by adversarial collective bargaining and overt conflict
rather than co-operation.
Our analysis raises significant questions about the conceptualisation of
partnership and its systematic application in research. We are also concerned
to argue that partnership agreements must be contextualised to be understood
(Stirling and Wray, 2001). This context includes external factors such as
market position as well as the historical development of industrial relations and
current developments within an organisation and with its trade unions.
Partnership must be viewed as a dynamic relationship that can develop in
stages and reflects both adversarial and co-operative behaviour (Hammer and
Stern, 1986).
In our case study we are seeking to address the issues noted by Taylor and
Ramsay (1998, p. 119) when they suggested that:
Few attempts have been made to explore the complex relationship between national trade
union organisation, lay representatives and the actual experience of work and the labour
process under a partnership regime.
While we are not able to explore the labour process, given the short-lived
nature of the partnership, Taylor and Ramsay's (1998) emphasis on the
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The authors would like to thank Dave Wray for access to his work on partnership and for his
comments, and our two anonymous referees for their thoughtful and constructive reviews.
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