managerial approaches and to assess the nature of their links to organizational
performance. We explored these questions using a British dataset that covers all
sectors of the economy, private and public.^1
The data is from theWorkplace Employee Relations Surveyof 1998 (WERS 98 ),^2
which is the fourth in a series of surveys aimed at achieving a ‘better understanding
of the processes which underlie employment relationships’ (foreword to Millward
et al. 1992 ). Questions on family-friendly management and equal-opportunity
practices were included in the survey for theWrst time in 1998 , and the range of
questions in the 1998 survey on high-involvement practices increased from pre-
vious surveys in the series. Our study used data from a structured interview with
the senior manager at the site responsible for employee relations. The 1998 survey
was of a sample of 2 , 191 workplaces with ten or more employees across the whole
economy. This was achieved through a response rate of 80. 3 percent.
- 1 The Use of Family-Friendly, Equal-Opportunity,
and High-Involvement Practices in WERS 98
Family-friendly management involves employers having an underlying commit-
ment to help employees obtain a balance between work and family obligations.
Equal-opportunity management is oriented towards eliminating any diVerentiation
of opportunities, resources, and rewards based on the membership of a sociological
group, for example based on gender, ethnicity, or age. It is thus concerned to ensure
that jobs, wages, promotions, and employment beneWts in the organization are
fairly distributed. High-involvement management is oriented towards work
enrichment andXexible working methods and ensuring that employees have the
skills and motivation to use their discretion and decision-making powers for the
beneWt of the organization. These three approaches to aspects of management are
expressed in management practices, and if they exist we ought to see a pattern in
the use of a range of practices associated with them. For example, if family-friendly
management is an identiWable managerial approach in the UK, we would expect
practices concerned with childbirth to coexist with those related to child rearing. If
this is more than simply a parent-oriented family-friendly policy, these in turn will
(^1) The United Kingdom’s Economic and Social Research Council funded this research (Grant
number R 2 000238112 ).
The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey is a survey that is jointly sponsored by the UK’s
Department of Trade and Industry, the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service, the Economic
and Social Research Council, and the Policy Studies Institute. The National Centre for Social Research
was commissioned to conduct the surveyWeldwork on behalf of the sponsors. WERS 98 is deposited at
the Data Archive at the University of Essex, UK. Neither the sponsors nor the Data Archive have any
responsibility for the analysis or interpretation of the material contained in this chapter.
586 stephen wood and lilian m. de menezes