relationship with employers than elsewhere in the world. Yet, it is an influence
that is changing, and also changing differently in different countries. It is
difficult to measure influence; but one way is to ask senior HR practitioners,
who have a high degree of confidence in knowing whether influence has
increased or decreased over a period. Figure 7.6 shows that in each country
there are both significant numbers of organisations, as represented by their
senior HR practitioner, that believe the unions’ influence has increased as well
as organisations where their influence has decreased. It also shows, though,
that in France and Spain more organisations are seeing an increase in union
influence than are seeing a decrease; the pattern is static in Germany; and in
Sweden and the UK the unions are losing influence. These trends have to be set
in the context of union density and coverage (see Table 7.3) which, again,
point to national differences. These data have been explored further in
Mayrhofer et al. (2000) and Morley et al. (2000).
The point has thus been made that cultural and institutional differences
do exist and that they do have an impact on HRM in Europe. Yet, these differ-
ences should not underplay the wider European trends identified earlier,
namely: the wider European sense of organisational and managerial responsi-
bility towards employees, the greater involvement of European states in organi-
sational life and the wider support of management towards employee and trade
union representation.
HRM in Europe 187FIGURE 7.612%20% 24%
8% 7%−14% −12% −15%
−23% −21%−50%−40%−30%−20%−10%0%10%20%30%40%50%DE F SUKIncrease
DecreaseChanges in trade union influence (Survey 1999/2000, Cranet network 2002)