62 SITUATING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
reviewed the literature and the rhetoric about partnership are understandably
sceptical (Ackers and Payne 1998) while those with a stake in its success, argue
that it has much to offer (Coupar and Stevens 1998). One of the main research
studies to date explored the nature and impact of partnership, as well as the
philosophy informing it, among organizations belonging to the IPA (Guest
and Peccei 2001). Several findings are relevant. First, definitions of partnership
endorsed by representatives of employers and employees embraced traditional
forms of direct and representative participation and also various aspects of
HRM including both ‘soft’ elements such as job redesign and communication
and ‘hard’ elements such as performance management. Second, in so far as
benefits were identified in terms of performance and employee satisfaction,
they tended to be more strongly associated with the softer elements of HRM
and with direct participation than with representative participation and hard
HRM. An interesting exception was the positive role of the use of employee
share ownership schemes. Third, most organizations felt that they had only
taken some of the steps towards partnership and still had further to travel.
Indeed, there were only a few formal partnership deals where, on the basis of
some of the criteria listed above as principles of partnership, some partnership
is actually in place. Finally, in the limited number of cases where high trust
existed, reflected most strongly in management’s willingness to share strategic
issues with workers’ representatives, there appeared to be a wider range of sig-
nificant benefits as judged by both management and worker representatives.
Crucially, in these contexts, there was a high level of application of HRM,
particularly high-commitment HRM, as well as a high level of direct and
representative participation over a range of issues. These issues are likely to
include those associated with the introduction or extension and application
of HRM.
A key conclusion from this analysis, and an issue picked up in the subse-
quent work by Peccei and Guest (2002) is that the role of trust and the process
whereby trust is developed, is a key to successful partnership. Trust is also the
focus of three detailed case studies of partnership reported by Dietz (2004).
His conclusions about the impact of partnership are positive. An important
question, and one that is addressed by other researchers (see, e.g. Oxenbridge
and Brown 2002), is whether trust works best within a formal or informal
setting. Dietz notes that the evidence from other research is inconclusive; his
own view is that a modest amount of structure can enhance and protect part-
nership. Like other researchers, he notes that partnership is often developed
by key individuals on the employer and employee sides who have built a high
level of interpersonal trust. This needs to be formalized to ensure it spreads
andsurvivesbeyondthem.
While Dietz concludes from his three cases that partnership can work,
Guest and Peccei (2001) are rather less sanguine about whether it will work
across a swathe of organizations. There are two reasons for this. One is that