Co-Manager (Works Council)

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As co-manager , a type of will, mainly by social scientists and business journalists, works of far beyond the designated Works Constitution Act granted co-determination is involved and participation rights addition to economic decisions of his company -. In this meaning the term goes back to Walther Müller-Jentsch .

Extended tasks for works councils

With the implementation of lean production and lean management ideas, combined with strong employee participation , works councils have increasingly been pushed into a new role since the 1980s. Instead of assessing and approving the plans submitted by management in matters requiring co-determination, they were asked to participate in their development. The right to timely and comprehensive information of the works councils about the operational plans resulted in a requirement for active participation. After an initially negative attitude of the unions and the majority of the works councils, especially towards participation instruments such as quality circles and the participatory elements of group work , some works councils went on the offensive and took on a role as co-creators.

An early example of this is provided by a short report by VW works councils in November 1983 on the challenge of introducing “ quality circles and workshop circles ” across the board in the Volkswagen factory. They complained that the trade union and works council run the risk of being "turned off or at least largely circumvented as a problem-solving authority" and asked themselves self-critically "whether we want to continue to wait and see how the corporate motivation policy literally takes the butter off our bread". By rejecting a “total negation strategy”, they presented a catalog of measures and demands for active intervention in this process, which then led to the conclusion of a company agreement on “VW circles” in 1986. These works councils, including Klaus Volkert , urged their union, IG Metall , to develop an offensive concept for the quality circles. A corresponding application for this complex was introduced and approved at the IG Metall trade union day in 1986 on the initiative of the Rüsselsheim Opel works council Klaus Franz .

At the beginning of the 21st century, actively involved works councils have become part of the corporate culture in many German companies . The term co-manager is used to highlight particularly successful and active works councils, which not only advise and sometimes even initiate issues of work organization, but also innovation policy and corporate strategy together with company management.

For example, the restructuring efforts at Opel are being actively promoted by works council chairman Klaus Franz, represented to the state and the public, and discussed with potential investors. The chairmen of the works council of both companies, Uwe Hück and Bernd Osterloh , were also actively involved in the talks about a merger between the car manufacturers Porsche Automobil Holding and Volkswagen AG .

Role conflicts

Assessments of the appropriateness of the role of the co-manager for the works council are not uniform. On the one hand, the risk is emphasized that works councils get caught up in a role conflict that increasingly leads them to lack legitimacy vis-à-vis the workforce. The case of the chairman of the works council of Volkswagen, Klaus Volkert , who was convicted of infidelity, showed in a spectacular way the temptations works councils in such positions of power are exposed to. He defended himself in court with the words: Me and the others, at VW we were much more than employee representatives. We have taken on the tasks of managers, and the Group's Executive Board encouraged us to do so. We brought in our experience as employee representatives on all issues that were important for the future of VW. On the other hand, it is stated that beyond these blatant but highly publicized cases of misconduct, there is a broad foundation of well-functioning cooperations, in which works councils acting as co-managers even profile themselves more than others as opponents of the management.

Typical co-managers in the automotive industry

literature

  • Rainer Dombois: The VW Affair - Lesson on the Risks of German Co-Management? In: Industrial Relations , Vol. 16/2009, H. 3, pp. 207-231.
  • Andreas Drinkuth: A social elite - the works councils. 20 portraits . Schüren, Marburg 2010 (Chapter Co-Management , pp. 65–87). ISBN 978-3-89472-230-2 .
  • Juri Hälker: Works council members in role conflicts. Business policy thinking between co-management and counterpower . Hampp, Munich / Mering 2004. ISBN 3-87988-800-0 .
  • Udo Klitzke / Heinrich Betz / Mathias Möreke (eds.): From class struggle to co-management? Perspectives of trade union company policy. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2000. ISBN 3-87975-790-9 .
  • Hermann Kotthoff: Works councils and citizen status. Change and continuity of employee participation . Hampp, Munich / Mering 1994. ISBN 3-87988-095-6 .
  • Heiner Minssen / Christian Riese: Professionalism of lobbying. Working conditions and organizational practice of works councils . edition sigma, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-8360-8683-7 .
  • Walther Müller-Jentsch: From Collective Voice to Co-management . In: Joel Rogers / Wolfgang Streeck (eds.): Works Councils. Consultation, Representation, and Cooperation in Industrial Relations . Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995, pp. 53-78. ISBN 0-226-72376-3 .
  • Britta Rehder: Co-management's legitimacy deficits . In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie 35th vol., H. 3, 2006, pp. 227–242.
  • Stefanie Hürtgen: transnational co-management, operational politics in global competition . Dampfboot-Verlag, Münster, 2008. ISBN 978-3-89691-749-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Co-managers are better than their reputation , press release of the Ruhr University Bochum of July 24, 2007
  2. ^ Head of the Daimler Group Works Council: More like co-manager than workers' leader , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of April 1, 2009.
  3. ↑ Walther Müller-Jentsch / Beate Seitz: Works councils are taking shape. Results of a works council survey in mechanical engineering . In: Industrial Relations , Vol. 5, H. 4, 1998, pp. 361-387 (here p. 383).
  4. ↑ See for example: Continuous improvement process , quality circles , new production concepts
  5. ↑ Horst Kern / Michael Schumann: The end of the division of labor? Rationalization in industrial production . CH Beck, Munich 1984.
  6. ^ Manfred Pusch / Klaus Volker / Hans-Jürgen Uhl: Quality Circle / Workshop Groups / Action Groups of Volkswagen AG . In: trade union monthly books, 34th vol., No.11, 1983, pp. 740–745.
  7. ^ IG Metall: Minutes of the 1986 trade union conference, motion 139.
  8. ^ Opel works council chief Klaus Franz: The Co-Manager , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of February 18, 2009.
  9. ↑ Headline in the Süddeutsche Zeitung on February 26th, 2009: "Mister Opel: Klaus Franz is chairman of the general works council of the car manufacturer - and some even believe that he is the boss".
  10. ↑ VW and Porsche - who will win the power struggle?
  11. ^ Britta Rehder: Legitimacy deficits of the co-management . In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie , vol. 35/2006, no. 3, p. 227ff.
  12. ^ Rainer Dombois: The VW Affair - Lesson on the risks of German co-management? In: Industrial Relations , Vol. 16/2009, H. 3, pp. 207-231.
  13. ↑ Braunschweiger Zeitung of November 16, 2007 [1]
  14. ^ Heiner Minssen / Christian Riese: Professionalism of the representation of interests. Working conditions and organizational practice of works councils . Edition sigma, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-8360-8683-7 . [2]