This paper presents some results of the project carried out by the research team of the University of Ferrara on Organisational Innovations, Industrial Relations, and Economic Performances. The core of the program is the analysis of the interactions between various forms of flexibility that characterise both managerial styles and industrial relations within a large sample of manufacturing firms, with 50 employees and more, located in the province of Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna.
The main objective of the study is to highlight the organisational features and the models of human resources management accompanying direct and indirect worker participation and leading to improved economic performances. Within this framework, the aim is to investigate the role of industrial relations in affecting the organisational configuration of the firm. Moreover, the work enquires the relationship between quality of industrial relations, particularly in the field of worker and representative participation, and innovative processes within the firm.
The econometric section focuses on the determinants of techno-organisational innovations. Past firm performance indicators, industrial relations indexes, labour flexibility and structural features of the firms are used as regressors to determine what factors favour different kind of innovation processes. A set of variables emerge with distinctive and significant effects: firm size, flat hierarchical structure, flexibility of labour contracts for new hiring, quality of industrial relations, past profitability of the firm and access to capital markets, low level of labour productivity, are key factors associated to innovation intensity, with different significance and robustness with respect to the various kinds of techno-organizational innovations.