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WBS Research Projects MNC employment practices

MNC employment practices

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Employment Practices of Multinational Companies in Organisational Context

This is the website of the British part of the INTREPID research group, an international research collaboration which is examining the employment policies and practices of multinational companies (MNCs) in a series of countries. The research was motivated by a shared feeling across our team that the analysis of multinational companies (MNCs) has been limited by the lack of systematic data on employment practices and how these are influenced by organisational characteristics.

Consequently, each national team carried out a survey which is the first based on a representative sample of MNCs operating in each country. They provide a picture of employment practice within MNCs, focusing on four key areas of employment practice:

  1. Performance management and reward systems
  2. Organisational learning
  3. Employee involvement and communication
  4. Employee representation

The survey findings have been used to test propositions about the relationship between a company's employment practices and such organisational factors as structure, degree of internationalisation, nationality of ownership, and sector. The UK survey was carried out in 2005 and 2006 and was funded by an award from the Economic and Research Council (RES-000-23-0305). It was undertaken by a team based at Leicester Business School (De Montfort University), Warwick Business School and King's College, London. The main report of findings of the UK study can accessed by clicking here.

The current phase of the research involves the creation of an integrated international dataset. This is allowing analysis of data across a growing number of countries, permitting the ways in which MNCs interact with nation states to be explored in ways that have been impossible hitherto. It is funded by a fresh grant from ESRC (RES-062-23-2080).

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