2 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL 14 NO 2, 2004

Foreword John Purcell, Editor, HRMJ

Trade unions and industrial relations remain important in understanding the

contexts that in¯ uence the management of people, the processes that are used in

determining contracts and, more broadly and more importantly, in providing

employees with a voice in decision-making and a source of collective power to in¯ uence

outcomes. Studies in human resource management cannot ignore these features of the

employment relationship; nor can they be relegated to union-only environments.

The ® rst three articles in this issue consider different aspects of trade union activities

and employers’ responses. In the ® rst, Bach uses case studies in three NHS trusts to

explore the sometimes uneasy relationship and dynamic between `staff side’ ± the role

of elected union representatives ± and management attempts to involve staff directly,

especially in periods of change. If nothing else, this article shows some of the

dif® culties in achieving partnership between unions and managements in the NHS,

especially in dealing with tough issues such as absenteeism and staff shortages.

The article by Heery and his colleagues is concerned with the way trade unions

have responded to the challenge of recruiting, representing and servicing members

who are not in an employment relationship with a single employer. Freelance workers

are especially prevalent in ® lm, television and music, the focus of the study. Given that

the use of freelances, who may be self-employed or have a quasi, self-employed-

dependent relationship, is growing, the ability of unions to recruit such workers and

® nd means of regulating or in¯ uencing contracts of employment should be of interest

to employers as well as freelances themselves.

Union recognition is a classic `contested terrain’. Gall uses multiple sources from

press reports, union journals, Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) case reports and

his own survey to provide a classi® cation of different types of employer resistance to

union organising and campaigns for recognition. While in Britain the extent of

employer opposition to union recognition has never been as extensive as it is in the

USA, it nevertheless is a distinctive feature of HRM. The implementation of union

recognition law in 2000 (the CAC has dealt with 365 cases to date) has made employer

responses to union recognition more focused and more visible.

The final two articles look at two issues of substantial contemporary interest.

Scholarios and Marks examine work-life balance in two software companies in

Scotland. The importance of this article is not just that it focuses on an issue that has

jumped in importance in recent years and is very unlikely to recede as a major policy

area in HRM, but also that the authors show how seeking to manage it can have

substantial bene® ts for employers. The type of support employers give to employees,

especially knowledge workers, to help them achieve a balance between work and life is

shown to be closely related to the commitment employees `give’ to their organisation.

Toulson and Dewe use three-pronged studies of HR managers, ® nance directors

and senior managers in New Zealand to uncover views on the use and desirability of

HR accounting. The steady rise in HR metrics makes this a timely study. It raises what,

for some, will be disturbing conclusions on the link between HR accounting and so-

called `hard’ HRM, and the view that the use of HR accounting is best explained in

some ® rms by the need for HRM professional legitimacy and credibility.