Can there be nonunion forms of workplace partnership

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a number of issues pertaining to the conceptualisation, operationalisation, feasibility and effectiveness of workplace partnership arrangements in a nonunionised setting. Designmethodologyapproach The paper discusses the most common definitions of partnership to discern whether scope exists for nonunionised forms. It then presents a detailed case study, based on 38 semistructured interviews with 29 interviewees, inside a nonunionised company to analyse whether its people management arrangements conform with the definitions presented, and to examine the employees experience of those arrangements. Findings The paper notes that most partnership definitions can accommodate nonunionised forms, if the arrangements for people management inside such firms meet certain standards on employee voice mechanisms and the exchange of mutual gains. The evidence from the case study suggests that its unusual policies and practices do conform with a viable model of nonunionised partnership albeit with some reservations. The benefits and concerns are discussed in the paper. Research implicationslimitations The paper presents a credible definition and observable operationalisation of partnership for researchers to adopt. It encourages future research on the extent to which socalled partnership organisations, including nonunion enterprises, comply and suggests comparative research between paired unionised and nonunionised cases. However, it is limited to one case study. Originalityvalue The paper's primary value is in its extension of the partnership debate beyond its current uniononly ghetto into examining nonunionised forms, as well. The case study is also unique in the literature as an example of nonunionised partnership.