EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT: REDUNDANCY AS A CRITICAL CASE

David Guest, Birkbeck College Riccardo Peccei, London School of Economics'

INTRODUCTION One of the features of industrial relations in the United Kingdom during the 1980s was the increased interest in employeeinvolvement and human resource management. This represented a marked contrast with the 1970s debate on the scope of union participation and control in industry. The assumptions underlying each approach reflected the dominant political ideology of the decade. Whereas in the 1970s the debate centred around the need for representativeparticipation of workers' interests at all levels of decision-makingand in all key decisions likely to affect workers, the 1980s debate was concerned with how best to involve individual workers in the implementation of decisions designed primarily to improve the performance of the organisation and thereby indirectly benefit the workforce. The contrast between pluralist and unitarist assumptions and between a collective and an individualisticorientation are neatly captured in the comparison. Employee involvement can take a variety of forms. These include job redesign, quality circles and related quality improvement programmes, suggestion schemes,communication programmes, and use of various forms of financial participation. Underlying employee involvement there appear to be two major objectives. The first is to create positive attitudes towards the organisation, to createa senseof identity with the organisation and its goals,and to do this through individual-organisationlinkages. The key goal is therefore a high level of organisational commitment. An implicit corollary is that this will occur at the expense of competing commitmentsto a union or a profession (Coopey and Hartley, 1991). A second objective is to use the commitment and involvement in the success of the enterprise to encourage suggestions for improvements in performance and to encourage acceptance of management initiatives for changes in working arrangements. Except within the narrow confines of a specific job, it is management that retains all the decision-making power; workers are encouraged to make suggestions and, with management permission, may sometimesbe encouragedto implement them. But management retains the ultimate control. This presents no problem for advocates of employee involvement since it is assumed that management and workers share essentially the same interests and management acts to protect and enhancethose interests.Thereare, therefore, superordinate goals that transcend the narrow sectional interests of any sub-group of workers. Since trade unions traditionally represent these sectional interests, in so far as they continue to do so, their role is marginalised. Employee involvement and its underlying philosophy, as promulgated by, for example, the Conservative Government and the CBI during the 1980s, emphasises individualism rather than subgroup identity. This individualism extends to advocacy of individual responsibility. Individual workers are expected to stand up for themselves rather than allowing the union to speak for them. This implies that when the opportunity arises, individuals should be able to take sensible decisions in their own interests. And since employee involvement is based upon a unitary view of organisations, such decisions will

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also be in the interests of the organisation. Both the underlying rationale for employeeinvolvement,including the nature and causes of employee commitment, and the success of its advocates in shifting the emphasis from collectiveactivity to individual employee-organisationlinkages are open to debate (see,for example, Guest, 1992; Kelly and Kelly, 1991). An alternative, advocated for example in the United Statesby Kochan, Katz and McKersie (1986),advocatesa new partnership with trade unions and active union collaboration in developing employee involvement.In the UK, one variant of this type of partnership may be found in some Japanese greenfield sites (see,for example, Oliver and Wilkinson, 1988;Wickens, 1987).There is good evidencethat in the UK management has taken steps to increase employee involvement through various of the mechanisms geared towards individual workers listed above (see Guest, 1989,and Ramsay, 1991, for reviews), but there is very little convincing evidence about the benefits either to individuals or organisationsof such steps. Despite some decline in trade union membership there is also evidencethat in most organisationsmanagement is content to continue to work with trade unions through collective agreements. As Storey (1987) has argued, it appears that traditional industrial relationsand the new formsof employeeinvolvement can co-exist in two parallel but largely separate systems. Probably over time, as the political and organisational climate changes, one or other is likely to predominate. To shed light on the impact of employee involvement there is clearly a need for carefully conducted research. The most typical research on employee involvement assesses the impact of a particular process. Examples of good longitudinal research include Wall et al. (1986)on job redesign, Griffin (1988)on quality circles, and Dunn,Richardson and Dewe (1991)on employee share ownership. An alternative starting point might be to study the achievement of particular goals and the extent to which they were inhibited or facilitated by use of employee involvementprocesses. One outcome which has been studied in this way is the introduction of new technology. Various authors have argued that this should be introduced with the fill involvement of those workers most directly affected (see, for example, Blackler, 1988), although Daniel (1987)has reported only limited employee involvement in a major survey linked to the 1984 WIRS. But what of the traditional areas of collective bargaining, those affectingpay, job securityand various aspectsof working conditions?It couldbe argued that these provide the critical test of any form of participation or involvement, since they lie at the heart of the traditional, pluralist industrial relations which employee involvement and its more unitarist perspective is sometimes intended to supersede. There is some evidence of growing individual employee involvement in pay, partly reflected in share ownership and profit sharing but perhaps more s i m c a n t l y in the trend in some sectors, and most notably the media, towards individual contracts of employment. Typically, however, such contracts are restricted to managerial and professional workers. Job security or the lack of security reflected in redundancy presents rather different challenges. REDUNDANCY AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT

Massive redundancies, particularly in the manufacturing sector, were one of the most depressing features of British industry in the 1980s. In some cases these resulted in prolonged and bitter industrial conflicts, with workers collectivelybut usually unsuccess-

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fully taking industrial action in an effort to save their jobs (see, for example, Dickson and Judge, 1987; Hartley, Kelly and Nicholson, 1983).In the majority of cases there has been a ritual protest from the unions but workers were enticed by generous severance payments into acceptingmanagement's terms. There was therefore not the turmoil on the streets that some had predicted at the start of the decade. Because selective redundancies and more notably plant closures involve loss of livelihood, redundancy is arguably the critical test of any scheme of workers' participation or employee involvement. If management can gain workers' involvementin and support for a particular redundancyprogramme, retainingthe goodwill of the workforce while their jobs disappear, then it should be feasible to involve them in most types of work-related issue. Increasing unemployment in the UK in the early 19909 shows that the problem of large-scale redundancies has not disappeared. There has been a debate among managersand legislatorsin many countries,including the UK, about how best to handle potential redundancies. These debates centre around the rights and the appropriaterole for workers in the process. Most countrieshave a legislative framework which provides workers with a floor of rights. In some European countries this extendsto rights in the decisionsaboutthe need for redundancy.In most Europeancountries there are requirementsfor management to consult the workers' representatives.In the UK, management must inform the workers' representatives well in advance of the planned redundancies and take part with these representatives in joint consultation. Given the absence of rigid procedural requirementsin the UK for handling redundancies, managers have a choice about how best to ensure that the redundancy proceeds smoothly. Greenhalgh, Lawrence and Sutton (1988) suggest that the central choice lies between protecting the well-being of employeesand achieving short-term savings for the company. However, there may be a further choice for those concerned for the well-being of workers. Some define well-being in financial terms, arguing that the key to workers' well-being is a generous severance payment. Others consider a second dimension of social responsibility, arguing that a company has a responsibility to its employees and to its local community to provide support and assistanceto ease the trauma of job loss and smooth the transition into new jobs or into other roles. Of course, financial generosity and social support are not mutually exclusive. A further concern for companies is what steps must be taken to ensure a 'successful' closure, one that is achieved on scheduleand without disruptive opposition. Hardy (19851, on the basis of a set of case studies, argues that the key factor is the creation of managerial credibility. In the 1970s and early 1980s this was achieved through consultation with the unions, generous redundancy payments and ability to legitimise the decision. Exactly how ' management achieves legitimacy will vary according to the circumstances. Legitimacymay be sought both in the short term, to allow the closure to proceed, but also in the longer term where other audiences may be involved. These include shareholders, workers in other plants owned by the company, and workers who survivethe redundancy. In this context, employee involvementcan have a role to play. Since it places the emphasis on individual responsibility and since workers are offered a number of choices, including which facilities to use, and also, perhaps, whether or not to opt for redundancy, transfer, early retirement or whatever other options are open, it should lead to greater commitment to the decision. This logic is derived from the research on behavioural commitment which

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suggests greater acceptance of decisionswhich are unambiguous, freely chosen, public and irreversible (Salancik, 1977). In practice it may be difficult to meet these criteria for commitment; for example Westergaard, Noble and Walker (19891, following u p a sample of volunteers for redundancy, found that 40 per cent subsequently felt coerced into leaving. Nevertheless they provide a theoretical case for employee involvement and point both to guidelines for management action and to criteria against which to judge the effectivenessof the involvement process. Three further issues arise from the use of employee involvement in this context. The first concerns the role of involvement in mitigating the effects of stress. It is both intuitively obvious and strongly supported by research that the prosped of job loss is stressful (Hartley et al., 1991).In the initial shock of the announcement of workforce reductions, a key means of limiting stress, as in any loss (eg bereavement),is to provide relevant activity and a sense of purpose for the future. To limit stress at this point, the availabilityof facilities to provide counselling and employmentassistance may be more important than their value in securing future employment. Employees may wish to ‘busy’ themselves and develop a sense of purpose to get over the shock. If this is the case, it leads to the prediction that such facilities will be extensively explored and utilised, even if the exploration is not always followed up. A second issue concerns the ability of workers to take care of themselves. The assumption that workers are willing or able to exert personal responsibility may appeal to managers, fitting with their personal perspectives, and there is evidence that change is less stressful if individuals have a sense of personal control over how it affects them (Sutton and Kahn, 1987). The difficultyarises for those with a high external locus of control and a high degree of learned helplessness(Seligman, 1975).This is more likely to occur among those with long servicein jobs with relatively low levels of responsibility.We would predid that they would be less likely to take up the opportunities for employee involvement and instead would adopt a more passive response. A third issue concernsthose who stay with the organisation. There is a temptation to pay much less attention to them. Yet there is evidence that survivors may experience increased job insecurityinduced by the feelingthat they are next inline. This may adversely affect their productivity and their attitude towards the company (Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt, 1984). There is also evidence of ’survivor guilt’ among those who stay with the organisation (Brockner et al., 1985,1986). This may extend to a sense of loss not only of work colleagues but of an opportunity to reshape and re- direct their own lives. If the employee involvement process ignores the survivors, who may feel more coercion and even less control than those made redundant, the whole process is likely to be more negatively evaluated by them and it may limit achievement of the managerial goal of enhancing their commitment to the organisation. Evaluation must therefore consider stayers’ reactions to the process and in particular their perceptions of choice, as well as their subsequent attitudes towards the company. These three issues point to important additional criteria for evaluating the impact of the employee involvement process. They also reinforce the importance of research which focuses on the processes as well as the outcomes and on the casualties as well as the survivors. The aim of this article is to report the evaluation of a redundancy programme which was considered to be innovative for the organisation in its use of a new approach to

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redundancy based on high employee involvement. The success of this endeavour will be evaluated from the perspectives of the various parties in the process. The whole evaluation exercise included analysis of documents and records and interviews with policy makers, various levels of management, those responsiblefor implementing the programme, trade union officials, and shop stewards and workers. In addition a questionnairewas sent to all 3,343 employees who had left the plant by June 1988.1,474or 44per cent returned completedquestionnairesin time for analysis.A seriesof carefulchecks revealed that this sample was broadly representative of the total plant population.

THE CLOSURE OF BRITISH AEROSPACE, WEYBRIDGE In July 1986, British Aerospace (BAe)announced the closure of part of their Weybridge site. Subsequently they decided to close the entire site. Although BAe had considerableexperience of workforce reductions and redundancy programmes, it was decided that in this case a new approach was required. There were several reasons for this. First, Weybridge was a busy site and the work had to be transferred to other busy sites. A major requirement was continuity of production and the smooth transfer of work and indeed of part of the workforce. This required the cooperationof the workforce. Second, a new main board personnel director had fairly recently been appointed. Coming from ICI, he was used to a different approach from that traditionally preferred by BAe. Third, Weybridgewas the first of severalsitesthat BAe was likelyto close.It was therefore intended to serve as a model and at the same time to disarm union opposition by providing no ammunition which could be used in opposing future closures. Finally, memories of the long-runningcoal dispute were strong. BAe was increasingly in the public eye and it was considered desirableto learn the lessons of avoiding a damaging public dispute. In this context it is worth emphasising that there were some people who thought that there might be a militant reaction at Weybridge.

THE BRITISH AEROSPACE STRATEGY The BAe strategy at Weybridge had four major components. Minimise any risk of collectiveunion disruption from the start. This was to be (i) achieved by offering generous severance terms, by very carefully planned communicationof the ‘rationalisationprogramme’so that the debate swiftly moved on from whether it would happen and could be prevented to a discussionof how it was to be managed, and by offering a package of ’special measures’ which individual members of the workforce could take up if they so chose. Management would therefore be seen to be behaving reasonably and fairly. (ii) Despite a fullplant closure, guarantee that no one need be compulsorilyout of work, at the same time allowingemployees the opportunity to choose the time when they wanted to stop working at Weybridge. (iii) Present the special measures as an opportunity for the workforce to exercise individual responsibility for their future by providing a menu from which they could select according to their tastes or requirements.

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Offer the opportunity to transfer to anyone who was interested. A specific aim of the programme was to retain a large number of skilled, professional and managerial workers by moving them to other sites. The main alternative was at Kingston which was only twelve miles away. Although this package can be presented as a coherent approach, in practice it evolved, entailing a lot of learning by the management team as the exercise unfolded. Opportunities for learning were provided by the time-scale; the work at Weybridge was intended to run down gradually over an 18-monthperiod. In this respect, this plant closure is different from many of those where a total closure follows swiftly upon the management decision to shut the plant. It is a policy which BAe have continued, for example at its Preston and Kingston plants. (iv)

EVALUATING THE BRITISH AEROSPACE STRATEGY AT WEYBRIDGE

The success of the involvement strategy and indeed of the redundancy programme as a whole can be evaluated in terms of outcomes, linked to specific objectives, and in terms of the process. In this case, the key stakeholders whose objectives should provide the main criteriafor evaluation are management and the workforce.Managementseemed to have five main objectives: (i) to achieve a smooth run-down of work at Weybridge and transfer of work to other sites; (ii) to avoid any damaging industrial relations by minimising the risk of any union reaction, partly by offering an attractive package which could be presented directly to the workforce; (iii) to transfer and therefore retain within the company a significant number of managerial, professional and skilled workers; (iv) to test, and hopefully demonstrate the value of, the new approach to redundancy management which utilised employeeinvolvement; and (v)to retain the goodwilltowards the company of those transferring within British Aerospace, those who have left the company, the Weybridge community and those employed at other British Aerospace plants. At the time when the process was being planned, the management team did not explicitly set out to develop a coherent employee involvement strategy. However, there was a genuine concern to act in a sociallyresponsibleway and this, combined with other influences,resulted in an approach which, with its elements of individual choice, individual responsibility and careful direct communication to the workforce, reflects some of the key characteristics of employee involvement. In retrospect this was acknowledged by some of those closely involved. Workers' objectives can be more briefly summarised. They are that each worker should feel at least as well off, whatever criteria workers may use to judge this, as when they were at Weybridge. In the p-esent context our central concern is with the effectiveness of the employee involvement process. This can be assessed by looking first at the achievement of outcomes and secondly at the role which employee involvement was perceived to play in shaping these outcomes. More specifically, this requires evidence on the extent to which the opportunity to select the time to leave Weybridge was genuinely permitted and valued; the extent to which the special measures were used and valued; whether management behaviour reflected the spirit of the involvement strategy, as evidenced in employee attitudes towards the closure itself and towards management's handling of the rationalisation

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process; and whether the use of special measures and the choice of time to leave had any influenceon the stressand anxiety of the redundancy process and on the eventual outcome. We were also able to explore the three subthemes emerging from previous research on redundancy which we might expect to be influenced by scope for employee involvement, namely: (i) Whether the process itself was appreciated even if it was not very helpful. Through this we can explore the question of whether a sense of activity is important in itself as a means of coming to terms with the new situation. (ii) Whether the casualties of the redundancy, who can be defined as those who feel worse off and those who remain unemployed, made less use of the employee involvement opportunities. This provides an opportunity to explore the ability of workers to exercise the kind of individual responsibility implied in the approach. (iii) Whether British Aerospace retained the goodwill of those who transferred.This is relevant in the context of the research which points to a sense of @t and loss among those who survive redundancy. In summary, there are different levels at which the employee involvement programme can be evaluatedand around which the followingevaluation of results is organised: (a)the takeup, ie the extent to which employees made use of the special measures and were able to choose their leaving date; (b) employee reactions to the programme and to the closure process as a whole, ie the extent to which the specialmeasures and the opportunity to select the time to leaveWeybridgewere valued by employees,and their attitudeboth to the closure of the site and to the way management handled the closure process; and (c) impact on outcomes (stress, current employment status, worker well-being and attitude towards the company after leaving Weybridge), ie the extent to which the involvement programme facilitated the achievement of the objectives of both management and workers. Beforeevaluating the employee involvementprocess, we turnbriefly to the achievement of management and worker objectives. Achievement of management objectives In most respects management felt that it had achieved its objectives. There was a smooth transfer of work without any industrial action and indeed without any strongly hostile union response.Although 68 per cent of the Weybridge workforcewas unionised, there was no tradition of strong militancy. Fortuitously for management, just prior to the closure announcement the most militant and effective of the shop stewards had asked for early retirement, and at the time of the announcement a second key shop steward was away on holiday. This left somethingof a vacuum in local organisation.In the event there were calls for an overtime ban in protest against the closure decision but this never amounted to anything and within a week it was clear that there was very little likelihood of collective action. Any subsequent role for the unions consisted of negotiating on small details of the redundancy proposals and pursuing individual grievances. One of the statements in the questionnaire asked respondents, on a five point scale, whether they agreed that 'the unions played a large part in ensuring a fair deal was negotiated'. 31.7 per cent agreed that they did, 35.9 per cent wereunsure or neutral and 32.4

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per cent disagreed, suggesting that less than a third thought the unions played any significant role in negotiating a fair deal. The second element in this part of management’s strategy concerns communication.This can be gauged through responsesto the statement, ’allthings considered, I feel management made the right decision to close Weybridge’. 80.3per cent agreed with this statement, 9.8 per cent were neutral and only 9.9 per cent disagreed. Although these responses may have the benefit of hindsight, they reinforce the view that management was successful in communicating the need for, and inevitability of closure. Taken together, these responses indicate that management was successful in disarming collective action. This view is reinforced by the shop stewards who confirm that there was no stomach for a fight. From a management perspective, there may be serious questions about the costs involved and the necessity of the approach. In other words, the judgements behind the strategy could be questioned and an argument made for a cheaper and swifter cost minimisation strategy, particularly in a context such as Weybridge with its traditional lack of militancy and its buoyant local economy and job opportunities. The third management objective was to transfer and thereby retain a large proportion of their key workers. At the time when they completed the questionnaire, the employment status of the sample was as follows: 34.5 per cent working at another British Aerospace’site 31.3 per cent permanently employed elsewhere 8.1 per cent unemployed 19.0 per cent retired 4.2 per cent self-employed 2.9 per cent other These figures provide preliminary evidence that the company met its objectivesin successfully transfemng over a third of the sample. Further analysis shows that this included the majority of the young professional and skilled workers. The figures also indicate that the numbers remaining unemployed were relatively low. The fourth and fifth management objectives,namely the test of the employeeinvolvement process and the retention of goodwill among all those affected, will be explored in later sections. Achievement of workers‘ objectives The key criterion from the workers’ perspective is whether their general well-being has changed as a result of the redundancy and plant closure. One of the questionnaire items asked for agreement or disagreement with the statement, ‘looking at things overall I feel I am better off now than I was at Weybridge’. 36.7 agreed with this statement, 21.O per cent gave a neutral response and 42.3 per cent disagreed. These results are clearly less encouraging since they indicate that while a majority of respondents feel they are at least as well off, a substantial minority feel worse off following the plant closure. The key issue in the present context, however, is whether these differences in self-reported well-being are in any way related to the employee involvement programme, a point we explore in the next sections.

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EVALUATION OF THE EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMME:TAKE-UP AND REACTIONS The choice of leaving date One of the most unusual featuresof this closure exercisewas the guarantee that no one need be compulsorilyout of work, coupled with the opportunity for individuals to choose their own leavingdate. Thesepromises were instrumentalin disarmingthe initial oppositionand therefore preventing collective union action. In the event, in response to a question on the opinion survey, only 55.2per cent felt they had in fact been able to choosetheir own leaving date.Three factorsmight help to explain this. Firstly, managementhad qualified its promise by reserving the right to insist that certain key individuals stay on if, in management’s judgement, this was essential. There were a few instances where this occurred. Secondly, thosewishing to transfer to other BAe sites sometimeshad to move when a suitablevacancy arose. Thirdly, it became apparent after a year that some of the workers were not going to leave voluntarily. Thereforein June 1987 management made a second,more generous offer which in effect was also presented as a final offer which had to be taken up immediately. Some of those affected by this may have felt that they were being coerced. A more detailed analysis of the figures confirms this. Only 29.8 per cent of those transferringto other BAe sites felt they could choose their leaving date, compared with 50.4 per cent of the unemployed, 72.9 per cent of the retired, and 85.3 per cent of those working in other organisations. Similarly, of those who left Weybridge after June 1987, only 41.3 per cent felt they could choose their leaving date, compared with 64.9 per cent of those who left before June. The loss of choice of leaving date after it had apparently been promised need not be a problem for employeeswho were indifferentto when they left. In practice, 58.1 per cent said it was important to them tobe able to choose when to leave, and the great majority of these were in fact able to choose their leaving date. This left just 14.5 per cent who felt it was important to be able to choose their leaving date but considered that they were unable to do so. This first element in the employee involvement strategy may therefore be judged to be a success. Use of the special measures

Extent of use of the special measures. Nine special services were provided for employees. These covered a fairly conventionalrange, including help with job search and preparation for job application, counselling, training, small business advice, financial advice, and retirement adviceand training.Many of these were provided by outside organisationshired by British Aerospace with the aim of providing independence from the company. If these specialfacilitiesare to be judged successful,then it might be argued that everyone should have used them. In practice this is unrealisticsince some people will have a firm idea ofwhat theywanttodoandthosetransferringmaynotseeanyneedtousethem.Intheevent, 65.9 per cent of those in the questionnairesample said they used at least one of the special measures and 22.6 per cent made use of three or more. In an attempt to confirm the assumption that those not using the special measures were

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sub-groups unlikely to need them, an analysis of variance was computed using a range of individual background and biographical factors as potential predictors of the use of the special measures. The results are summarised in Table 1, showing the factors which were found to be sigruficantlyrelated to the use of measures, in order of their importance, and the characteristic 'profile' of those who were most likely to use them.

TABLE 1

Factors Associated with Any Use of Special Measures

Independent Variables

a.

F

Most Likelv Users

Post-Weybridge employment status

40.6

.OOO

Unemployed or retired

Date of leaving

15.0

.Ooo

Late leavers

Gender

11.3

.001

Men

Wage earning status

5.2

.02

Sole wage earners

Type of work/grade

3.7

.001

Clerical, technical and supervisory staff

Age

2.7

NS

Education

2.4

NS

Trade union membership

1.3

NS

Able to choose leaving date

0.4

NS

Multiple R2= 0.23 NS = Not significant at .05 level

The results tend to confirmthe hypothesis.Employmentstatus immediatelyupon leaving Weybridge is by far the most important predictor of whether employees made any use of the specialmeasures; those who transferred were least likely to have used any of the services, while the unemployed and those who retired were most likely to have used at least one measure. A separate analysis reveals that the unemployed made more extensive use of the range of measures than those who retired. As might be expected, use of the measures is also positively related to date of leaving Weybridge, with those who stayed on longer tending to make significantlymore use of the facilitiesthan early leavers. Additionally,men rather than women and sole wage earners rather than joint wage earners were more likely to use the special measures. The only other variable having a si@cant influence is type of work. Professional staff and, to a lesser extent, those in managerial grades were least likely to have

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used any of the services. But contrary to what might be expected, it was clerical, technical and supervisory staff, rather than those in manual grades, who made most extensive use of the specialmeasures. Manual workers made only marginally greater use of the servicesthan did managerial staff.By and large, however, the analysissuggests that it was those who were most in need and least able to look after their own interests who were most likely to use the special measures, thereby providing further support for the success of the employee involvement programme in terms of its relevance and take-up.

The value of the special measures. Among the nine specialmeasures, those used most were job search, used by 38.7 per cent, followed by help in preparing applications and CVs, used by 27.9 per cent. At the other extreme only 4.0 per cent said they used either of the small business advisory services.With the exceptionof one of the smallbusiness advisory services, all the special measures were rated as helpful by a majority of those using them, the most positive rating being given to help with preparing application forms and CVs, judged helpful by 73.5 per cent. More generally, lookingat the average responses of each individual across the servicesthey used reveals that 68.9 per cent gave a positive rating, 16per cent gave a neutral response and only 15.1per cent gave a negative average evaluation of helpfulness, thereby confirming users’ generallypositive assessment of the practical value of the special measures. Respondents were also asked to rate the measures in terms of whether they made them feel more confident about leaving Weybridge. Here the reactions were rather less positive. Looking at the average responses of each individual across the various services they used, only 43.4 per cent said that the special measures made them feel more confident about leavingWeybridge, while 27.6 per cent were neutral and 28.8 per cent felt that the measures did not boost their confidence. As noted earlier, the special measures might also serve the function of keeping people busy and helping them to reorientate. This role may be at least as important, if not more so, than the specific help they provide in determining future employment. If the special measures fulfil this role they should be perceived as confidencebuilding even by those who did not necessarilyfind the s@c adviceuseful. At best, therefore,we would expect to find only a weak relationshipbetween the perceived helpfulness of the special measures and the extent to which respondents felt the measures made them feel more confidentabout leaving Weybridge. Instead we find a strong positive correlation between these two variables (n = 0.70; signihcance = O.OOO), suggesting that the special measures tended to boost confidence only to the extent that they were found to be of specific practical value by users. This interpretation is confirmed by the more detailed breakdown of the data presented in Table 2, showing that only a very small minority of those who used the servicesand did not find them helpful, felt that the measures made them feel more confident about leaving Weybridge.

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TABLE 2

Joint Frequency Distribution o Perceived Helpfulness and Confidence Building Rote of the Special ensures

Id

Helpful No

YeS

No

244

220

YeS

13

346

Confidence Building

More generally, in terms of the use and perceived value of the special services, the data suggest that the respondents in our sample can be divided into four main groups: 34per cent who did not use any of the specialmeasures; 20 per cent who used the measures but did not find them either helpful or confidencebuilding; 18 per cent who used them and found them helpful but not confidencebuilding; and 28 per cent who used the services and found them both helpful and confidence building. Although not wholly favourable, these figures provide a reasonably positive picture of this element of the employee involvement programme, at least in terms of take-up and reactions to the special measures. Attitudes towards management's handling of the rationalisation process One of the key indicators of a coherent and integrated policy is evidence that it is reflected in the practice not only of those who have initiated it or those who have a particular stake in its success, but of all managers. In this context, one of the key issues then becomes the helpfulness of management, and in particular line management, in easing the redundancy process. The questionnaire contained a set of statements seeking attitudes towards the handling of the whole process. To see if attitudes towards the role of management were evaluated consistently, a factor analysis of the statements was computed. The results, together with the descriptive responses on each item, are shown in the Appendix. Four factors, accounting for 61.1 per cent of the variance, emerged. The first and major factor contains 8 items almost all concerned with the way in which management, at various levels from supervision to top management, handled the process. This indicates that it is valid to view attitudes towards the management of the process as a whole. One of the most relevant responses is that 64per cent agreed that 'My supervisor was supportive during the closure period. This is the strongest indication that line managers kept to the spirit of the strategy. To gauge employee reactions to management's handling of the rationalisation process as a whole, an overall index of satisfactionwith the management of the processwas constructed by averaging the scoreson seven of the eight items in Factor 1.The one attitude item excluded was 'I would definitelyrecommend BAe as an employer', on the grounds that logicallyit can be seen as a consequence of the process rather than as a direct comment on it. The scores on this new index range from 1to 5; the higher the score, the more positive the attitudes towards the process of rationalisation.

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The mean score on this index for the sample as a whole is 3.04, suggesting a generally neutral evaluation of management‘s handling of the rationalisation process. However, considerablevariation is to be found around this mean, with scores tending to be related to views on other key aspects of the employee involvement strategy reviewed. Thus, a significantpositive correlationwas found between respondents’attitude towards management’s handling of the rationalisation process and the extent to which they felt (a) that management was right to close Weybridge (r = 0.28; significance= O.OOO), and (bf that they had been able to choosewhen to leaveWeybridgewhen choiceof leavingdate was important (r = 0.20; significance= O.OO0). Scores on the index were not related to use of measures, but they were significantlyhigher among those who used the measures and found them either helpful or confidence building. Taken together, these results suggest that the various elements of the employee involvement strategy tend to be interrelated and mutually supportive. We have examined views on the central features of the employee involvement strategy, namely, the extent to which the opportunityfor employeesto choosetheir own leaving date was genuinely permitted and valued, the extent to which the special measures were used and were valued, and respondents’ overall satisfactionwith management’shandlingof the rationalisation process. Each element lends at least partial support for the success of the employeeinvolvementprocess. Takentogether, the results of this initialevaluation provide a reasonablypositive picture of the programmeboth in terms of its take-up and of employee reactions to the process. The stronger test of the employee involvement process, however, is whether or not it had a significanteffect on outcomesand, in particular, whether it played a significant role in shaping and facilitating the achievement of the objectives of both management and workers. It is to this issue, therefore, that we now turn,by exploring the link between various aspects of the employee involvement strategy and different types of outcomes. EVALUATION OF THE EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMME:IMPACT ON

OUTCOMES The stress of the plant closure and redundancy process One of the key criteria in evaluating the employee involvement process is its ability to alleviate or minimise the stress and anxiety which previous research has often highlighted as a feature of job loss. A successfulset of supportivemeasures should help to minimise the amount of stress. In response to a statement on the questionnaire, 59.1 per cent of the respondents agreed that ‘I found leaving Weybridge to be a stressful experience’, 22.3 per cent disagreed and 18.7 per cent were neutral. While these results may not appear encouraging, the key question in the present context is whether employee involvement helped to reduce stress amongst the workforce.We can explore this by looking at whether individuals who used the specialmeasures and who were able to choose their leaving date, experienced less stress than those who did not make use of the employee involvement opportunities available. To test for this, an analysis of variance was carried out using the level of reported stress as the dependent variable, and use of the measures and possibility

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of choosing one‘s leaving date as predictor variables. In addition, a number of attitudinal background and biographical factors were included as independent variables in the analysis, thereby enabling us to test for the impact of the employee involvement variables on stress while controlling for the potential effect of other factors. The results are shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Factors Associated with Reported Stress at Leaving Weybridge Indewndent Variables

F

a.

Least Likelv to Reuort Stress

Attitude to management’s decision to close Weybridge 51.3

.Ooo

More positive attitude

Marital status

10.6

.001

Single

Current employment status

10.0

.Ooo

Retired or self-employed

Date of leaving

5.4

.02

Earlier leavers

Dependants

4.7

.03

No dependants

Education

1.8

NS

Used any special measures

1.6

NS

Able to choose leaving date

0.3

NS

Gender

0.1

NS

Attitude to management of the rationalisation process

0.1

NS

Multiple Rz = 0.12 NS = Not sigruficant at .05 level

Inspection of the table showsthat neither the possibilityof choosingone’s leavingdate nor use of the special measures is significantlyrelated to stress,suggestingthat individuals who made use of the opportunities for employee involvement did not necessarily find leaving Weybridge to be any less stressful than those who did not take fulladvantage of available opportunities. Instead, the key influence is employee attitudes towards BAe’s decision to close Weybridge;those who felt that management made the right decision to close the site were sigrufifantlyless likely to report that leaving Weybridge was a stressful experience.

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In this context it is important to remember that the employees who used the special measures tended to be those who were most in need and least able to look after their own interests and who might, therefore, be expected to find leaving Weybridge particularly stressful. The fact that no significant differences were found in the level of self-reported stress between those who did and did not use the special measures could, therefore,be said to reflect positively on the employeeinvolvementprogramme and be taken as an indication that the measures did indeed help to minimise stress amongst the most vulnerablesection of the workforce. In this case, however, we would expect to find that, amongst those who used the special measures, those who found them helpful and confidencebuilding experienced less stress.Separateanalysis of the data shows that this is not the case. No significant relationship was found between stress and users’ assessment of the measures, supporting the view that the employeeinvolvementprogramme did not play a major role in helping to reduce stress amongst the workforce. One findingto emerge from this analysis is the importanceof current employment status as a key explanatory variable. Those who found leaving Weybridge most stressful were those who transferred, the unemployed and those employed elsewhere. The least likely to report stress were the retired and the self-employed.Given the retrospective nature of the data, it is possible that recollectionof the transition is being clouded by current experiences. This possibility gains support from additional analysis showing that there is a significant negative relationship between self-reported stress and respondents’ relative satisfaction withtheir currentsituation;thosewhofeelworseoffnowthanwhentheywereat Weybridge were significantly more likely to say that they found the transition stressful. Stress also appears to be related, albeit more weakly, to a number of other background factors. Those who were single were likely to report less stress, as were those who left earlier and who had no dependants. In the present context, however, the key finding is that the involvement process does not appear to have had a significant impact on stress.

-

How workers fared final destination and worker well-being Perhaps the key criterion for evaluation of the employee involvement strategy is what happened to workers after they left Weybridgeand, in particular, whether the casualties of the redundancy made less use of the employeeinvolvementopportunities.As noted above, the casualtiesof the plant closure can be defined in two ways, those who feel they are now worse off than when they were at Weybridge, and those who remain unemployed. Each of these two outcome criteria will be examined in turn. Final destination. The figures for current employment status were given earlier. From the present point of view, the key group are the unemployed and perhaps the most appropriate comparison group are all those in employment. This excludes those who have retired and who may be considered a special category. The main question is whether current employmentstatus is in any way related to the use of the employee involvement opportunities. This would be indicated by any significantdifferencesbetweenthe employedand the unemployed in either their use of the special measures or in their ability to choose their leaving date. To test for this, an analysis of variance was computed using current

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employment status as the dependent variable (0 = unemployed, 1 = those in any form of employment)and use of the measures and ability to choose one’s leaving date, along with a number of other background and biographical factors, as the independent variables.The results are presented in Table 4, showing the factors which were found to be sigruficantly related to current employment status, in order of their importance, and the characteristic ’profile’of the unemployed. TABLE 4

Factors Associated with Current Employment Status

Independent Variables

F

a.

Features of the Unemploved

Age

97.7

.Ooo

Older

Dependants

22.3

.Ooo

No dependants

Date of leaving

20.1

.Ooo

Later leavers

Used measures

Used any special measures

5.8

.02

Type of work/grade

1.9

NS

Gender

0.6

NS

Able to choose leaving date

0.4

NS

Education

0.1

NS

Multiple R2=0.21 NS = Not sigruficant at .05 level. The table shows that current employment status is mainly related to background and biographicalfactors,with age being much the most important predictor,followed by having dependants and date of leaving Weybridge. In terms of the employee involvement variables, no significantrelationshipwas found between individuals’ability to choose their leavingdateand their eventualemploymentstatus - thosewho were ableto choosetheir own date were as likely to have been unemployed after they left Weybridge as those who were given no choice in the matter. The unemployed were, however, sigruficantlymore likely to have used the special measures than those in employment. This does not necessarily mean that there is a direct causal relationshipbetween use of the special services and unemployment, ie that use of the measures was actually counter-productive. Rather, as noted above, it is an indication that those most in need, and potentially most at risk, were most likely to use the available services. At the same time, there is no evidence that use of the special measures actually helped to improve individuals’ chances of employment after they left Weybridge.

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Workers‘ well-being. The second and more subjective indicator is workers‘ well-being, defined by their perception of whether they arenow better or worse off than when they were at Weybridge. As noted earlier, 42.3 per cent disagreed with the statement that ‘looking at things overall I feel I am better offnow than I was at Weybridge’. In the present context our interest lies in the relationshipbetween this more subjectiveindicator of worker well-being and use of the employee involvement opportunitiesand, in particular, in whether there is any evidence to suggest that, controlling for biographical and background factors, those who were able to choose their leaving date and who made use of the specialmeasures fared better than those who did not take advantage of available opportunities. The evidence, in this respect, is mixed. The results of the analysis of variance presented in Table 5 indicate that ability to choose when to leave Weybridge is significantly related to workers’ wellbeing. Those who were able to choose their own leaving date tended to feel better off now than those who were not given any choice in the matter. In contrast, no sigruficant relationshipwas found between workers’ well-being and use of the special measures.

TABLE 5

Factors Associated with Perceived Workr Well-Being

F

s&.

Features of the Better Off

Current employment status

15.5

.OOO

Retired or self-employed

Age

15.3

.OOO

Younger

Able to choose leaving date

6.9

.009

Able to choose

Type of work/grade

3.9

.Ooo

Professional,clerical and manual workers

Dependants

3.9

.05

No dependants

Date of leaving

3.0

NS

Education

2.4

NS

Gender

1.3

NS

Marital status

0.9

NS

Used any special measures

0.9

NS

Indeuendent Variables

Multiple R2= 0.12 NS = Not significant at .05 level

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More generally, inspection of Table 5 shows that workers’ well-being is more strongly related to some of the background and biographical factors included in the analysis than it is to the employee involvementvariables. In particular, age and current occupationalstatus emerge as key explanatory variables, with older workers and the unemployed being, predictably, the most likely to report that they are now worse off than when they were at Weybridge. Interestingly, the most positive responses are to be found amongst those who retired and the self-employed rather than amongst those who transferred within British Aerospace or those employed elsewhere. Apart from the unemployed, in fact, the transferees are the least satisfied with their present situation, a majority feeling worse off than when they were at Weybridge. In contrast, those employed elsewhereare more evenly divided on this point, while the retired and the self-employedtend, on the whole, to feel that they are now better off. Since these results imply that BAe may have neglected the well-being of the ’survivors’, namely those who transferred to other plants, we explored this point more fully by comparingtransferees’attitudes to their current job with the attitudes of those who gained employment elsewhere. A set of items in the questionnaire asked respondents to rate various aspectsof their job on a five point scalespeclfymg,in each case,whether their current job was better or worse than the one they had at Weybridge 11 = much worse, 3 = same, 5 = much better). Based on these data, T-tests were computed comparing the responses of those who transferred and those employed elsewhere.The results are shown in Table 6. TABLE 6

Current Satisfaction: Comparison of fob Reactions of Internal Transferees and Tkose Employed Elsewhere Transferees (TI vs. Employed Elsewhere (E)

Items

The More Positive Group Pay level Skill required Level of responsibility Interest and variety Co-workers Physical working conditions Overall job satisfaction Job in line with hopes Stress and personal pressure Convenienceof travel to work

Mean Score of Transferees

Sig.

T E E E E

.001 .OM

E

.059

E E E* E

.Ooo .Ooo .001 .Ooo

.Ooo .Ooo .001

3.375 3.106 3.030 3.009 2.976 2.861 2.827 2.803 2.633 2.103

* = on this item (but no others)those Employed Elsewherenow on averagefeelworse off than when they were at Weybridge.

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Theseresults show that transferees,as a group, feel considerablyworse off in many respects than when they were at Weybridge and are also much less satisfied than those who have obtained employmentin other organisations. The items on which dissatisfactionis greatest are to be found towards the bottom of the table and these include a variety of general evaluations about their current employment situation. In this context,it is important to note that, of the fivegroups classifiedaccording to current employment status, those who transferred, in addition to being amongst the most dissatisfied with the actual outcome of the closure, were also the most negative about the closure process itself. They used significantly fewer of the special measures than any of the other groups. And those transfereeswho did use them found them least useful, along with those now employed elsewhere.Turning to satisfaction with leaving date, a measure combining ability to choose and desire to choose, transferees were significantlymore dissatisfied than all the other groups. Finally, and perhaps not surprisingly,they were also the least satisfied with management‘s overall handling of the closure process. These results confirm the dissatisfactionof the transferees with the employee involvement process and at the same time, whether by choice or company-imposed constraints,indicate that they made less use of the process than the other groups, thereby raising some questions about management’s treatment of employees who stayed with the company. Worker goodwill The last and, from management’s point of view, arguably one of the most important outcome criteria for evaluation of the employee involvement programme, is whether the programme helped to minimise the loss of goodwill which previous research has highlighted as a feature of plant closures and redundancy exercises (Lee, 1987; Hardy, 1990). Worker goodwill towards the company was measured by asking respondents, on a five point agree-disagree scale, whether they ‘would definitely recommend BAe as an employer‘. Over half (52.4per cent) of the respondents agreed with the statement, a quarter (23.4per cent) disagreed and the rest were neutral. Our interest lies in whether those who made use of the employee involvement opportunities showed a more positive attitude towards the company. The results of the analysis presented in Table 7 suggest that this is not the case. No significantrelationshipwas found between our measure of worker goodwill and either use of the special measures or ability to choose one’s leaving date. Those who did not use the measures and were not able to choose when to leave were as likely to recommend BAe as an employer as those who did not make use of the available opportunities, suggesting that the employee involvement process did not necessarily help to generate a more positive attitudetowards the companyamongst the workforce. In this context,it is worth noting that separateanalysis of the data shows that, among those who used the special services, those who found them helpful and confidencebuilding also did not score significantlyhigher on our measure of goodwill. Similarly, satisfaction with leaving date was found not to be significantlyrelated to worker goodwill, further reinforcing the view that the involvement process had little or no impact on worker attitudes towards the company.

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TABLE 7

Factors Associated with Worker Goodwill

Indevendent Variables Attitude to management of the rationalisation process

F

a. Most Likely to Recommend BAe

407.2

.Ooo

More positive attitude

Trade union membership

5.5

.01

Union member

Education

4.1

.007

Lower educational qualifications

Current employment status

2.9

.02

Retired, employed elsewhere or self-employed

Type of work/grade

2.8

.006

Manual and clerical staff

Able to choose leaving date

3.0

NS

Used any special measures

0.6

NS

Date of leaving

0.3

NS

Tenure

0.3

NS

Attitude to management's decision to close Weybridge

0.1

NS

Multiple R2 = 0.42 NS = Not significant at .05 level As can be seen from the table, by far the most important predictor of goodwill is workers' attitude towards management's handling of the rationalisation process. Predictably, those who were most critical of management's handling of the rationalisationalso tended to show the most negative attitude towards the company. Worker goodwill also appears to be related, albeit more weakly, to a number of other factors, including trade union membership, education,current employmentstatus, and grade. Thosewho did not belong to a union and who had higher educational qualifications were least likely to recommend BAe as an employer, as were staff in engineering technical and supeMsory grades. Interestingly, of the fivegroups classifiedaccordingto current employment status, it was the transferees who were the least positive about the company, less positive even than the unemployed. Although not particularly surprising in view of our previous findings about the transferees, this result highlights further a potentially important shortcomingin the closure process, the fact that British Aerospace appears to have lost the goodwill of precisely those employees whom it decided to retain. In the present context, however, the key finding is that, as with

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the other outcomecriteria we have examined, the employee involvementprocess does not appear to have had a significant impact on worker goodwill. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS Taken as a whole, the results can be interpreted as a vindication of managemenl's decision to use an employee involvement strategy to handle the process of redundancy.It was both extensivelyused and highly valued by a large proportion of the workforce. Union opposition was effectively disarmed from the outset. The outcome was very satisfactory with a smooth rundown and transfer of work to other sites and only 8 per cent still unemployed after a year. These were predominantly older workers with limited skills. From an employees'perspective,the results are somewhatless positive. Although only 8 per cent are stillunemployed,42 per cent believe they are definitely not better off as a result of the closure and 59 per cent found leaving Weybridge a stressful experience. In the Introductionwe drew attentionto three additionalcriteriato considerin evaluating the successof employeeinvolvement in redundancy. The first was whether involvement in a range of purposive activities - the special measures - helped to minimise the shock and stress of job loss even if the activities were not in themselves very fruitful. In the event, no association was found which indicated that those using the special measures experienced any less stress. Furthermore, the special measures only had a value in building confidence among those who also found them helpful. There is thereforeno evidencethat we were able to detect to show that the process of employeeinvolvement helped to amelioratethe stress of job loss or to exert any independent influence to build confidence in handling the situation. The second issue concerns the ability of some workers to take responsibility for their own futures. It was anticipatedthat the responseof someof the older, long-servicebut relatively junior staff would be largely passive. This prediction was partly borne out by the results. A groupofworkersfallinginto thiscategorystayed at Weybridgeto theveryend. Initiallythey were slow to use the specialmeasures. Eventuallythey explored them but did not find them very useful; and these were disproportionatelythe workers who were still unemployed a year later. Their use of the specialmeasures appears to have been partly ritualisticand they had little faith in them. Employee involvement in the redundancy and job seeking process, based as it is on assumptions of individual responsibility, seems likely to produce its casualties in much the same way as other policies which seek to tackle the problems of the disadvantaged by throwing them a lifeline and then blaming as victims those who fail to catch it to save themselves. The final issue concerns the potential neglect of those who stay with the organisation. From a company perspective the largely unanticipated inability to retain the goodwill and commitment of many of those who transferred to other sites was arguably its biggest problem. Further analysis revealed that one site had become a particular problem, but interviews disclosed that the problem was more pervasive. What management had done was treat the closure of Weybridgetoo much as a local problem. There was little ownership of it throughout British Aerospace. In part this is a reflectionof the tradition of the company which is the product of an uneasy amalgamationof a number of companies with their own

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cultures, cultures which have not been eliminatedby the common ownership.One result is that Kingston, a plant traditionallyproducing military aircraft, was suspicious of workers from Weybridge, traditionally a civil aircraft manufacturer. In a slightly different way, northern plants felt they owed a greater loyalty to the local community with its high level of unemployment than to the needs of British Aerospace workers from the south. A related underlying problem raises questions about other strategies within British Aerospace and, in particular, questions about the handling of other plant closures. There was evidence of an integrated policy at Weybridge, with many local managers helping to make employee involvement work and trying to make life as easy as possible for their subordinatesasthey consideredtheir futures.But the integrationstopped at the factory gate. There was no such evidence of cooperation from other plants. Even personnel managers from other plants looked first at the needs of their plants and as a much lower priority at the corporate personnel strategy. Many of those who transferred felt coerced into moving, without time to reflect on whether they wanted to move, and then were made to feel unwelcome when they did move. Neither management, nor the workforce, nor the unions at the new sites made them feel welcome. Since the process and the outcome were unsatisfactory, it is hardly surprising that transferees were dissatisfied. What this study showsis that employeeinvolvementcan work as a strategy for easingthe processof plant closure. In particular,as this case illustrates,it can help, alongwith generous financialterms,to minimisecollectiveoppositionto the closureat the crucialperiod just after it is announced.If this is all that it achieves, it is a rather cynical use of unitarist techniques to eliminate the kind of union-led opposition that might be expected within a more traditional pluralist industrial relations framework. Yet it was viewed as more than this. Many workers, includinga number of those still unemployed,were surprisinglygratefulto the company for the way it treated them. The problems lie with those that management forgot about. The first group are those who were less able to look after themselves and who remained unemployed. The second are the transferees.Their problems appear to parallel those who have been left behind in major labour force reductions which stop short of total closure. For employee involvement to work, it must be properly integrated into a more coherent company-wide personnel strategy.

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APPENDIX FACTOR ANALYSIS OF A?TITUDFSTO RATIONALEATION

Item

Disagree Neutral Agree Factor Factor Factor Factor % 1 2 3 4 % %

On the whole everyone

was treated well

36.0

25.1

38.8

.799

Management handled the rationalisation programme very well

41.8

26.0

32.2

.788

BAe top management were genuinely concerned for those workers who were leaving the company

51.7

22.6

25.6

.771

BAe provided generous severance package

29.2

25.8

45.0

.677

I would definitely recommend BAe as an employer

25.5

22.2

52.4

.669

The Personnel Department responded quickly in giving the information I required to assess my situation

30.5

23.5

46.1

.645

I think the money spent on all the 'Special Measures' services was well spent

20.2

35.1

44.1

.626

My supervisor was supportiveduring the closure period

19.9

17.1

64.0

.417

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EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT:REDUNDANCY AS A CRITICAL CASE

Item

Disagree Neutral Agree Factor Factor Factor Factor % ?fa % 1 2 3 4

The unions could be relied on to ensure fair treatment of workers in individual cases

28.4

38.6

32.9

.897

The unions played a large part in ensuring that a fair deal was negotiated

31.7

35.9

32.4

394

Looking at things overall I feel I am better off now than I was at Weybridge

42.3

21.0

36.7

773

I found leaving Weybridge to be a stressful experience

22.3

18.7

59.1

.769

All things considered I feel management made the right decision to close Weybridge

80.3

9.8

9.9

.593

9.4

32.5

58.1

It was important to me to choose my own leaving date

.887

Factor Eigenvalue % of Variance

4.69 33.6

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTJOURNAL VOL 2 NO 3

1.55 11.1

1.23

1.07

8.8

7.7

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NOTE

1.

"he authorswould liketo thank the managementof British Aerospacefor permission to conductthe study and publish this article. They also thank all those who provided information and completed questionnaires. The research was undertaken as part of the London School of Economics' Nancy Seear Fellowship programme during a period when Margaret Brooks, then employed by British Aerospace but now PersonnelManager with ToucheRoss, was the visiting Fellow at LSE. Her contribution and that of a team of MSc students who played a vital role in the data collection are readily acknowledged.

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