Assessing the inputs and outputs of partnership arrangements for health and safety management

Abstract

Partnerships have the potential to create significant benefits for all participants provided that there is a mutual understanding of and respect for the inputs required and the outputs sought from the arrangements by each party. The aim of this study was to explore the inputs required and the outputs achieved by partners as a function of the level of involvement required within the partnership arrangement. The study has investigated the extent to which the input criteria defined by the DTI and the output criteria defined by Kanter, within three health and safety initiatives involving homeworker‐employer, employee‐employer, and contractor‐employer partnerships varied, as a function of the level of partnership defined by Thompson and Sanders. The examination of the partnership arrangements within the three case studies demonstrated that the inputs were very similar whether the arrangements were classified as co‐operation, collaboration or coalescence, although the extent of the output criteria was greatest in the case of the coalescence partnership. The results illustrated the level of inputs required within a range of partnership arrangements in the context of health and safety management and the range of outputs that might be anticipated.

Citation

Vassie, L.H. and Fuller, C.W. (2003), "Assessing the inputs and outputs of partnership arrangements for health and safety management", Employee Relations, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 492-503. https://doi.org/10.1108/01425450310490183