Trust and justice in the formation of joint consultative committees

Abstract

The paper identifies six phases in the creation of new joint staff–management consultative arrangements such as works councils or staff forums. Trust and justice theories are used to analyse the processes involved in initiating, designing, setting up and maintaining such a forum. The resulting framework considers both institutional and interpersonal aspects, and is intended to present researchers with a structure and an agenda for investigating the nature and consequences of the processes involved. The framework also provides initial guidelines to practitioners involved with establishing new consultative arrangements.