Books by Virginia Doellgast
In this introduction, the editors develop an original framework to explain why unions are more or... more In this introduction, the editors develop an original framework to explain why unions are more or less successful in containing the spread of precarious work. They argue that employment precarity is both an outcome of and a central contributing factor to a mutually reinforcing feedback relationship between labour market, welfare state, and collective bargaining institutions; worker identity and identification; and employer and union strategies. Where employers are better able to exploit institutional exit options and divisions in the workforce, they are likely to seek cost containment and control via precarious employment relationships. Unions’ success in responding to these challenges depends on mobilizing power resources derived from inclusive institutions and inclusive forms of worker solidarity. This framework builds on academic discussions of institutional change, dualism, and precarious work from three broad research traditions: comparative political economy, critical sociology, and comparative employment relations. The chapter reviews this literature, outlines the framework, and then discusses the chapter findings in the book with reference to the framework.
The shift from manufacturing- to service-based economies has often been accompanied by the expans... more The shift from manufacturing- to service-based economies has often been accompanied by the expansion of low-wage and insecure employment. Many consider the effects of this shift inevitable. In Disintegrating Democracy at Work, Virginia Doellgast contends that high pay and good working conditions are possible even for marginal service jobs. This outcome, however, depends on strong unions and encompassing collective bargaining institutions, which are necessary to give workers a voice in the decisions that affect the design of their jobs and the distribution of productivity gains.
Doellgast's conclusions are based on a comparative study of the changes that occurred in the organization of call center jobs in the United States and Germany following the liberalization of telecommunications markets. Based on survey data and interviews with workers, managers, and union representatives, she found that German managers more often took the "high road" than those in the United States, investing in skills and giving employees more control over their work. Doellgast traces the difference to stronger institutional supports for workplace democracy in Germany. However, these democratic structures were increasingly precarious, as managers in both countries used outsourcing strategies to move jobs to workplaces with lower pay and weaker or no union representation. Doellgast’s comparative findings show the importance of policy choices in closing off these escape routes, promoting broad access to good jobs in expanding service industries.
Papers by Virginia Doellgast
This report summarizes research findings from a survey administered to 2100 call center workers, ... more This report summarizes research findings from a survey administered to 2100 call center workers, with the aim of investigating the causes and consequences of well-being and stress in these workplaces. The call center workers we surveyed report high levels of stress across a range of measures, including emotional strain, sleep difficulties, use of anxiety medication, and repetitive stress injuries. Workers experiencing higher stress were also more likely to be absent, were less satisfied with their jobs, and more likely to want to quit. However, call centers do not have to be stressful workplaces that damage workers’ health. Good management practices that invest in skills, give workers more control over how they talk with customers, and use monitoring information to develop rather than discipline workers all can improve the workplace climate and reduce stress and burnout. Experience with outsourcing and fears of future outsourcing were also correlated with stress: suggesting that commitments to job security and in-sourcing work may also contribute to improved worker well-being.
The work of a call center agent has been described as one of the ten most stressful jobs in the g... more The work of a call center agent has been described as one of the ten most stressful jobs in the global economy. Call centers are known for their heavy use of electronic monitoring, tightly controlled schedules and break times, and intense performance pressure. Past research has shown that these practices contribute to high levels of employee stress, anxiety, and burnout. Worker stress also creates problems for companies and their customers. Managers are affected by staffing challenges associated with employee turnover and absenteeism. Customers are routinely routed between employees who have been narrowly trained to answer specialized questions.
This report summarizes research findings from a survey administered to 2100 call center workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), with the aim of investigating the causes and consequences of well-being and stress in these workplaces. In this executive summary, we summarize our findings and recommendations based on those findings.
Socio-Economic Review, 2020
This article contributes to debates on the conditions for strengthening collective worker voice i... more This article contributes to debates on the conditions for strengthening collective worker voice in financialized organizations. It examines change in employment relations at France Télécom/Orange (FT) following a social crisis associated with employee suicides in 2007-2009. FT's labor unions developed creative approaches to study and publicize the negative effects of employment restructuring on workers' psychosocial health. The common framing they developed became a source of 'communicative power', used to influence how the suicides were interpreted both within the firm and in the media. This power was deployed to encourage substantive social dialogue that institutionalized worker participation in management decision-making. Findings demonstrate the potentially transformative role of discursive strategies that assert the legitimacy of worker well-being as both a measure of and input to organizational performance.
The preceding article by Arndt Sorge and Wolfgang Streeck entitled 'Diversified quality productio... more The preceding article by Arndt Sorge and Wolfgang Streeck entitled 'Diversified quality production re-visited: Its contribution to German socioeconomic performance over time' examines the historical dynamics of diversified quality production (DQP). SocioEconomic Review invited a group of leading scholars from different subfields to discuss the paper. Lucio Baccaro opens with a comprehensive reconstruction of the DQP concept within the field of comparative political economy and the history of the German model of capitalism. The next contribution by Virginia Doellgast investigates on how and why Sorge and Streeck's arguments have been influential in employment relations research. Tony Edwards focusses on internationalization, particularly the way in which German multinationals have expanded into other countries and what this means for the viability and prevalence of DQP, both in Germany and elsewhere. Finally, Josh Whitford explores the attempts to export of the concept of DQP to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, about 25 years ago.
Jackson, G., Doellgast, V., & Baccaro, L. (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility and Labour Stan... more Jackson, G., Doellgast, V., & Baccaro, L. (2018). Corporate Social Responsibility and Labour Standards: Bridging Business Management and Employment Relations Perspectives. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1), 3-13.
Introduction to a special symposium on Corporate Social Responsibility and Labor Standards – British Journal of Industrial Relations: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678543/2018/56/1
This article develops a framework for analyzing the social effects of marketization, defined as t... more This article develops a framework for analyzing the social effects of marketization, defined as the imposition or intensification of price-based competition. The conceptual background is debates in comparative employment relations over the liberalization of markets and its consequences across Europe. Our central proposition is that market-ization in its diverse forms leads to increased economic and social inequality via its effects on non-market institutions. We outline two mechanisms through which this happens. First, the means used by managers and investors to seek influence shifts from voice to exit, leading to the disorganization of industrial relations and welfare institutions. Second, economic activity shifts from productive toward non-productive activities, leading to changes in market regulation that are insulated from public scrutiny.
This study examines how different participation rights and structures
affect employee control ove... more This study examines how different participation rights and structures
affect employee control over working time. The analysis is
based on a comparison of matched call center and technician workplaces in two major telecommunications firms in Germany and
Denmark. It draws on data from semi-structured interviews with
managers, supervisors, and employee representatives between 2010
and 2016. Unions and works councils in both firms agreed to a
series of concessions on working time policies in the early 2010s in
exchange for agreements to halt or reverse outsourcing. The
authors use Lukes’ concepts of decision-making and agenda-setting
power to explain these common trends, as well as later divergence
in outcomes. Germany’s stronger formal co-determination rights
over working time proved a critical power resource for employee
representatives as they sought to re-establish employee control in
new, more flexible working time models.
This article compares performance management practices in call centres from four telecommunicatio... more This article compares performance management practices in call centres from four telecommunications firms in the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, and Germany. Findings show that different combinations of institutional constraints , such as strong job security protections, and participation resources supporting worker voice were influential in shaping choices among policies to motivate and discipline workers. Performance management most closely approached a high‐involvement model where both constraints and resources were high, where worker representatives were able both to restrict management's use of sanctions and to establish procedures that improved the perceived fairness of incentives. Findings contribute to debates concerning the role of contextual factors in the design and effectiveness of HRM.
This article develops and applies a framework for analyzing the relationship among institutions, ... more This article develops and applies a framework for analyzing the relationship among institutions, cost structures, and patterns of labor–management contestation over organizational boundaries. Collective negotiations related to the externalization of call center jobs are compared across 10 incumbent telecommunications firms located in Europe and the United States. All 10 firms moved call center work to dedicated subsidiaries, temporary agencies, and domestic and offshore subcontractors. A subset of the firms, however, later re-internalized call center jobs, in some cases following negotiated concessions on pay and working conditions for internal workers. Findings are based on 147 interviews with management and union representatives, archival data on restructuring measures and associated collective agreements, and wage data gathered through collective agreements and surveys. The authors argue that variation in outcomes can be explained by both the extent of the cost differentials between internal and external labor and the ease of exiting internal employment relationships, which in turn affected patterns of contestation associated with externalization measures.
This article develops and applies a framework for analyzing the relationship among institutions, ... more This article develops and applies a framework for analyzing the relationship among institutions, cost structures, and patterns of labor–management contestation over organizational boundaries. Collective negotiations related to the externalization of call center jobs are compared across 10 incumbent telecommunications firms located in Europe and the United States. All 10 firms moved call center work to dedicated subsidiaries, temporary agencies, and domestic and offshore subcontractors. A subset of the firms, however, later re-internalized call center jobs, in some cases following negotiated concessions on pay and working conditions for internal workers. Findings are based on 147 interviews with management and union representatives, archival data on restructuring measures and associated collective agreements, and wage data gathered through collective agreements and surveys. The authors argue that variation in outcomes can be explained by both the extent of the cost differentials between internal and external labor and the ease of exiting internal employment relationships, which in turn affected patterns of contestation associated with externalization measures.
This paper examines cross-national differences in the development of sectoral collective bargaini... more This paper examines cross-national differences in the development of sectoral collective bargaining in the European telecommunications industry following comparable changes in market regulations. We seek to explain why centralized, coordinated bargaining institutions were established in Austria and Sweden, both within incumbent telecommunications firms and at the sector level, while Germany and Denmark experienced decentralization and disorganization of bargaining at both levels. We argue that these outcomes were the result of differences in institutional loopholes that employers were able to exploit to avoid centralized bargaining and past union structures that influenced patterns of inter-union cooperation. These two explanatory factors were interrelated: the presence or absence of institutional loopholes affected the basis for cooperation between unions, while labor cooperation was an important power resource that unions could draw on to close emerging loopholes. Findings demonstrate the importance of sector-level political dynamics for the construction or erosion of solidaristic bargaining structures under pressure from market liberalization.
Scandinavian countries are known for having high adoption of cooperative models of work design. ... more Scandinavian countries are known for having high adoption of cooperative models of work design. This article investigates the role of parity labour market associations, termed intermediary cooperative associations, in the dissemination of these models. Findings are based on an examination of the Centre for the Development of Human Resources and Quality Management (SCKK), a social partnership-based organization that funds workplace development projects at state workplaces, and of nine participative development projects that received financial and logistical support from the centre. Activities supported by the SCKK increased union and management commitment to partnership-based approaches to problem-solving, despite their ambiguous results for both groups. This suggests that intermediary cooperative associations help to enhance the normative legitimacy of participative work practices through the provision of resources and ‘best practice’ management approaches.
This report presents the findings of a three-year study comparing the different approaches that i... more This report presents the findings of a three-year study comparing the different approaches that incumbent telecommunications firms in Europe and the USA have taken to restructuring service jobs over the past two decades. The study was motivated by a concern with the conditions under which mutual gains that benefit both employers and employees can be achieved when management is under increased pressure to reduce labour costs and downsize employment. In an industry where markets are rapidly becoming more competitive and internationalized, have incumbent firms adopted different restructuring strategies – and if so, what explains these differences? Under what conditions are employers more likely to adopt ‘high road’ practices, investing in high pay, skills, and opportunities for employees to participate in decision-making? To what extent do these kinds of high road practices benefit both a broad cross-section of employees and their employers – and what factors make it more difficult to realize mutual gains? Is there any evidence to suggest that certain best practice models can be sustained or replicated in other settings?
To answer these questions, we compared approaches to employment restructuring in ten major incumbent telecommunications firms in Europe and the USA. Case study companies were chosen from countries representing different national ‘models’, recognized for having distinctive sets of labour market and corporate governance institutions. These included:
1) Nordic: TDC (Denmark) and TeliaSonera (Sweden)
2) Centre European: Deutsche Telekom (Germany) and Telekom Austria/ A1 (Austria)
3) Mediterranean: France Telecom/ Orange (France) and Telecom Italia (Italy)
4) Anglo-American: BT (UK) and AT&T (USA)
5) Central and Eastern European (CEE): Telekomunikacja Polska/ Orange Polska (Poland) and Český Telecom/ O2 Telefónica Czech Republic (Czech Republic)
In order to trace differences in employment practices and outcomes, we focused on two major employee groups: technicians and call centre employees. These two groups were chosen because they represent a large share of service employment at our case study companies, and have been the target of restructuring and work reorganization.
In this chapter, we first present an overview of different forms of collective bargaining, lookin... more In this chapter, we first present an overview of different forms of collective bargaining, looking at how institutions and models differ across countries. This is the basis for a review of research examining the integrative or efficiency-enhancing role of collective bargaining – which typically emphasizes strategic choice and mutual gains, and studies focusing on the distributional consequences of these institutions – which place more emphasis on the role of power and conflict in shaping bargaining processes and outcomes. We argue that research focusing on performance outcomes provides a useful but incomplete set of tools to analyze the form and consequences of collective bargaining institutions. These institutions have historically played a central role in redistributing political and economic power within workplaces, industries, and societies. Attention to contemporary changes in labor power can help to explain why and how this distinctive form of employee voice has been weakened within different national contexts.
In this report, we review academic research that has analyzed empirically how different approache... more In this report, we review academic research that has analyzed empirically how different approaches to call center management are related to measures of employee well-being and performance. We conclude with a series of recommendations for practices associated with a professional model of call center management, which increase employee control over their work and ability to use and develop skills.
This article examines union responses to the reorganization of call centre work in Germany, drawi... more This article examines union responses to the reorganization of call centre work in Germany, drawing on case studies from the telecommunications, financial services and subcontractor industries. Service unions initially adopted innovative strategies to organize these workplaces, in response to threats and opportunities presented by the rapid growth of a new ‘sector’. However, the new conglomerate service union, ver.di, has been unable to sustain these alternative strategies due to both institutional and organizational factors. The increasingly fragmented character of the German industrial relations system provides growing exit options for employers, while the union is disadvantaged by declining membership, resource scarcity and an organizational structure reflecting past industry (and union) boundaries. Ver.di thus finds itself in an institutionally enhanced innovation dilemma. Sustaining innovations necessary to organize new workplaces would require organizational slack and redundant resources. However, environmental pressures of changing employer strategies and institutional erosion limit the possibilities for mobilizing these resources.
![Research paper thumbnail of Service Management and Employment Systems in US and Indian Call Centers [with Comment and Discussion]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/19451453/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Brookings Trade Forum, Jan 1, 2005
The explosive growth of call centers in India has gained widespread attention because of its pote... more The explosive growth of call centers in India has gained widespread attention because of its potential impact on employment in the United States and other advanced economies. Media accounts report that Indian operations are more likely to use college-educated workers while paying one-tenth of U.S. wages. Some argue that these advantages may allow Indian centers to outcompete U.S. centers on both cost and quality. Nonetheless, complaints about poor quality and security, as well as consumer backlash, have led some firms to pull out of India, while leaders in the offshoring business such as General Electric have sold their Indian operations altogether. High turnover rates have become a particularly serious problem in recent years as an expanding number of employers compete for a small pool of educated employees, a trend that both increases costs and undermines service quality."
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Books by Virginia Doellgast
Doellgast's conclusions are based on a comparative study of the changes that occurred in the organization of call center jobs in the United States and Germany following the liberalization of telecommunications markets. Based on survey data and interviews with workers, managers, and union representatives, she found that German managers more often took the "high road" than those in the United States, investing in skills and giving employees more control over their work. Doellgast traces the difference to stronger institutional supports for workplace democracy in Germany. However, these democratic structures were increasingly precarious, as managers in both countries used outsourcing strategies to move jobs to workplaces with lower pay and weaker or no union representation. Doellgast’s comparative findings show the importance of policy choices in closing off these escape routes, promoting broad access to good jobs in expanding service industries.
Papers by Virginia Doellgast
This report summarizes research findings from a survey administered to 2100 call center workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), with the aim of investigating the causes and consequences of well-being and stress in these workplaces. In this executive summary, we summarize our findings and recommendations based on those findings.
Introduction to a special symposium on Corporate Social Responsibility and Labor Standards – British Journal of Industrial Relations: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678543/2018/56/1
affect employee control over working time. The analysis is
based on a comparison of matched call center and technician workplaces in two major telecommunications firms in Germany and
Denmark. It draws on data from semi-structured interviews with
managers, supervisors, and employee representatives between 2010
and 2016. Unions and works councils in both firms agreed to a
series of concessions on working time policies in the early 2010s in
exchange for agreements to halt or reverse outsourcing. The
authors use Lukes’ concepts of decision-making and agenda-setting
power to explain these common trends, as well as later divergence
in outcomes. Germany’s stronger formal co-determination rights
over working time proved a critical power resource for employee
representatives as they sought to re-establish employee control in
new, more flexible working time models.
To answer these questions, we compared approaches to employment restructuring in ten major incumbent telecommunications firms in Europe and the USA. Case study companies were chosen from countries representing different national ‘models’, recognized for having distinctive sets of labour market and corporate governance institutions. These included:
1) Nordic: TDC (Denmark) and TeliaSonera (Sweden)
2) Centre European: Deutsche Telekom (Germany) and Telekom Austria/ A1 (Austria)
3) Mediterranean: France Telecom/ Orange (France) and Telecom Italia (Italy)
4) Anglo-American: BT (UK) and AT&T (USA)
5) Central and Eastern European (CEE): Telekomunikacja Polska/ Orange Polska (Poland) and Český Telecom/ O2 Telefónica Czech Republic (Czech Republic)
In order to trace differences in employment practices and outcomes, we focused on two major employee groups: technicians and call centre employees. These two groups were chosen because they represent a large share of service employment at our case study companies, and have been the target of restructuring and work reorganization.
Doellgast's conclusions are based on a comparative study of the changes that occurred in the organization of call center jobs in the United States and Germany following the liberalization of telecommunications markets. Based on survey data and interviews with workers, managers, and union representatives, she found that German managers more often took the "high road" than those in the United States, investing in skills and giving employees more control over their work. Doellgast traces the difference to stronger institutional supports for workplace democracy in Germany. However, these democratic structures were increasingly precarious, as managers in both countries used outsourcing strategies to move jobs to workplaces with lower pay and weaker or no union representation. Doellgast’s comparative findings show the importance of policy choices in closing off these escape routes, promoting broad access to good jobs in expanding service industries.
This report summarizes research findings from a survey administered to 2100 call center workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), with the aim of investigating the causes and consequences of well-being and stress in these workplaces. In this executive summary, we summarize our findings and recommendations based on those findings.
Introduction to a special symposium on Corporate Social Responsibility and Labor Standards – British Journal of Industrial Relations: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14678543/2018/56/1
affect employee control over working time. The analysis is
based on a comparison of matched call center and technician workplaces in two major telecommunications firms in Germany and
Denmark. It draws on data from semi-structured interviews with
managers, supervisors, and employee representatives between 2010
and 2016. Unions and works councils in both firms agreed to a
series of concessions on working time policies in the early 2010s in
exchange for agreements to halt or reverse outsourcing. The
authors use Lukes’ concepts of decision-making and agenda-setting
power to explain these common trends, as well as later divergence
in outcomes. Germany’s stronger formal co-determination rights
over working time proved a critical power resource for employee
representatives as they sought to re-establish employee control in
new, more flexible working time models.
To answer these questions, we compared approaches to employment restructuring in ten major incumbent telecommunications firms in Europe and the USA. Case study companies were chosen from countries representing different national ‘models’, recognized for having distinctive sets of labour market and corporate governance institutions. These included:
1) Nordic: TDC (Denmark) and TeliaSonera (Sweden)
2) Centre European: Deutsche Telekom (Germany) and Telekom Austria/ A1 (Austria)
3) Mediterranean: France Telecom/ Orange (France) and Telecom Italia (Italy)
4) Anglo-American: BT (UK) and AT&T (USA)
5) Central and Eastern European (CEE): Telekomunikacja Polska/ Orange Polska (Poland) and Český Telecom/ O2 Telefónica Czech Republic (Czech Republic)
In order to trace differences in employment practices and outcomes, we focused on two major employee groups: technicians and call centre employees. These two groups were chosen because they represent a large share of service employment at our case study companies, and have been the target of restructuring and work reorganization.