The application of the conceptual framework on key dimensions in industrial relations to European social dialogue and national industrial relations  employment quality, autonomy, participation, representation, equality, equity, influence, fundamental rights, social cohesion, entrepreneurship, market, capitalism, non-discrimination, HRM, strategic choice, industrial relations in Europe, labour relations, employment relations, social dialogue, trade, unions, crisis, cross-sector, employers, european company, european framework agreements, european works council, industrial action, industrial action, industrial relations, law, minimum wage, sectoral social dialogue, social dialogue, trade unions, wages, working time, bargaining in the shadow of the law, collective agreements, European commission, EU law, EU treaties, decentralization of collective bargaining, single employer bargaining, multi-employer bargaining, extension of collective agreements, favourability principle, opt-out, opening clause, erga omnes, commodity, ILO, dispute settlement, varieties of capitalism, coordinated market economy, liberal market economy, bi-partite, tri-partite, Val Duchesse, macro-economic dialogue, tri-partite social summit, social dialogue committee, working time, labor productivity, labor cost, trade union density, collective bargaining coverage, pay, autonomous agreements, telework, parental leave, BUSINESSEUROPE, ETUC, CEEP, UEAPME, mega trends, information and consultation, open method of coordination, mutual learning,

1. The application of the conceptual framework on
key dimensions in industrial relations to
European social dialogue and national industrial
relations
Maria Caprile , NOTUS (ES),
Christian Welz, Ricardo Rodriguez, Eurofound
Advisory Committee Meeting for Industrial relations 4.10.2017

2. 2
Background and objectives
Dashboard
Mapping national IR systems
Moving forward
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Background and objectives1
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4. 4
Follow-up of previous work Mapping key dimensions of
industrial relations (Eurofound, 2016): conceptual framework
and preselected indicators
Objectives
• Further fine-tune the set of indicators
• Assess how and to what extent the conceptual framework on
key dimensions of industrial relations can be applied to the
national level (CAR)

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Dashboard
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• Dashboard of 45 indicators
• European and international data sources (Eurofound, Eurostat,
ILO, OECD, WEF, ICTWSS and Transparency International)
• Database with annual data for the period 2008-2015
• Strict conceptual and statistical criteria
• Results are found reasonably accurate by a large majority of
national correspondents

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• key conceptual criteria have been intelligibility and easy
interpretation
assess whether an indicator is sufficiently simple to be
unambiguously interpreted in practice and intuitive in the sense
that it is obvious what it is measuring. Indicators should have a
clear meaning with respect to industrial relations, either “positive”
or “negative”
• allows indicators to be aggregated in terms of subdimensions,
dimensions and industrial relations systems
• aggregation has been used as an analytical tool to select and test the
most relevant indicators - although results are far from being final
results in the process of computing a composite indicator

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Mapping national IR systems
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• The application of the conceptual framework shows substantial
differences across countries
• Results are relatively consistent with the typology of industrial relations
regimes developed by Visser (2009) - specificities for some countries
• Results in the dimensions of Social Justice and Industrial
Competitiveness are broadly in line with other indices (Global
Competitiveness Index, WEF; EU Social Justice Index, Bertelsmann
Stiftung)
• Divergent evolving trends across countries and, to some extent, within
the different industrial relations clusters – limitations for the availability
of time series
• In a context of growing debates on the impact of the crisis on the
industrial relations in Europe, further cross-country analysis is needed –
helping to refresh and improve existing IR typologies

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• Standardised and aggregated results obtained for each dimension,
including the EU average as a reference
• Useful tool for mapping the national industrial system against the
four dimensions, namely regarding the extent to which the
industrial system is encompassing the four dimensions in a
balanced way

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13. • study has tested the application of the conceptual framework
elaborated by Eurofound for the analysis of the national IR
systems
• the CAR shows the consistency of this framework and relative
agreement among experts
• the dashboard and the preliminary aggregation results have
proven reasonable accuracy to map the predominant features and
trends of the national industrial relations system
• Yet, it has to be considered as a provisional exercise, which needs
further discussion and fine-tuning
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Moving forward
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15. • Complexity of gathering a comprehensive picture of an
IR system through the four dimensions
• Difficulties of relating the IR actors and processes to
the outcomes of dimensions which are also affected by
other complex and varied factors (industrial
competitiveness, social justice and job and
employment quality)
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16. • Improve the current dashboard – critical review of the
set of indicators
• Replace indicators in some of the dimensions or sub-
dimensions by another set of indicators or composite
indicators which have already been built by other
institutions – (industrial competitiveness, job and
employment quality or social justice)
• Develop a composite indicator (for key dimensions and
IR system)
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17. • Critical review of the indicators
• are there important gaps?
• any conceptually problematic indicators?
• any relevant source not included?
• Pros and cons of using other indices for some dimensions
• Should Eurofound concentrate on industrial democracy?
• Pros and cons of a dashboard / composite indices
Preliminary aggregation results have been useful for
selecting indicators and mapping
• Should Eurofound build composite indices?
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