BETWEEN STRATEGY AND UNPREDICTABILITY: NEGOTIATED DECISION MAKING IN GERMAN UNION MERGERS

• Published in: Industrial & labor relations review Vol. 69; no. 3; pp. 579 - 604
• Main Authors: BEHRENS, MARTIN, PEKAREK, ANDREAS
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-05-2016; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Acquisitions & mergers; Bargaining; Case studies; Collective bargaining; Corporate mergers; Decision analysis; Decision making; Employee relations; Germany; Independent unions; Industrial unions; Information processing; Labor unions; Negotiation; Negotiations; Reorganization; Studies; Textile industry; Trade unions; Union contracts; Unpredictability; Germany; union strategy; union mergers; German industrial relations; negotiations; union revitalization; decision making
• ISSN: 0019-7939; 2162-271X
• DOI: 10.1177/0019793915614583

Restructuring through mergers has been a key strategy of union revitalization. In Germany, union merger activity has been extensive but seemingly unpredictable in its outcomes, with failed mergers outnumbering successful attempts by a ratio of 2:1. The authors use case studies of two attempted union mergers in Germany—one failed and one successful—to exemplify how these complex processes unfold. Drawing on Walton and McKersie's (1991) work on negotiation, the authors show how common decision-making processes involving key actors at various organizational levels shape the trajectory of merger attempts. Looking beyond mergers to broader questions of union strategy, the authors argue that the concept of negotiated decision making can help reveal the strategic and logical dimensions of apparently unpredictable processes.