Over the last decade, the notion of labour-management cooperation and partnership has been central to debates around the future of employee representation. In this insightful analysis of the partnership process in the dynamic UK financial services sector, Stewart Johnstone focuses on the meaning of partnership, the processes involved, the different contexts in which events are played out, and on how we should assess the outcomes. Using detailed case studies, conducted in three diverse banking organisations, to understand more about the process, and employing the analytical 'efficiency, equity, voice' framework from the US that has never before been employed in a study of UK employment relations, Dr Johnstone presents a new way of evaluating the outcomes of a variety of partnership approaches. Labour and Management Co-operation provides a level of understanding that transcends the stalemate of recent times in which the advocates and critics of different approaches seem to have been locked. It will appeal to those with an interest in the current debate about 'voice and representation' and 'mutual gains' taking place amongst those involved with HRM and employee relations in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere.

Stewart Johnstone is a Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Loughborough University Business School, UK. His research interests include employee participation and representation, and he has published several articles on these themes.