In a global
context, however, an alternative perspective on the transferability
of best practices across national and cultural
boundaries focuses on issues
of labor power and public policy, as well as efficiency,
within national industrial relations systems. According to this
view, there are important national and cultural differences in the
- relative
power of labor and management
- public policies
used to regulate the workplace
These two factors
can impede the transferability
of best practices and lead to persistent national differences in
the types of practices that are adopted by employers even where
technologies and markets are similar.
Comparative
studies of national industrial relations systems provide considerable
support for best practices being contingent upon the following:
- strength
of unions
- extent of
governmental regulation of the employment
relationship
- education
and training
policies
Even where technologies
are similar - Japan, the United States, the UK, and France have
developed substantially different sets of workplace best practices
that are closely linked to the power of trade unions and public
policies that affect labor markets.
From this perspective,
national differences in industrial relations systems may constrain
the transfer of best practices from one country to another where
there are differences in union power and public policy. These constraints
may block the transfer of best practices, or they may
force modifications in best practices to make them compatible in
another country/culture. In short, what is efficient
under one country's industrial relations arrangement may not be
efficient under another.
A Best Practice
is a transferable activity across
divisions, enterprises, industries, or with necessary modification,
even across countries/cultures.
Executive Performance
defines Best Practices
as those characterized by partnership,
impact,
sustainability,
and transferability.
