The Role of Dismissal Protection in Personnel Management. From the Point of View of Personnel Managers**

Zusammenfassung

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This article concerns itself with the effects of dismissal protection on personnel management behavior within companies. The basis of the empirical analysis is 41 expert interviews conducted in 2006 as well as information available from a standardized survey of 750 personnel managers which was carried out in 2007. As a whole the effects of dismissal protection on personnel management are perceived by personnel managers to be insignificant. The judgments of those responsible for personnel are not to be explained with clear situational variables such as the business situation of the company or the development of the company's number of employees. There seems to be, rather, quite a lot of leeway regarding the understanding of Employment law and that this is dependent on the personnel managers' competence in this area as well as other factors.

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Auszug

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The Role of Dismissal Protection in Personnel Management. From the Point of View of Personnel Managers**

1. The discussion of dismissal protection and employment law

This article concerns itself with the effects of dismissal protection on personnel management behaviour within companies. Germany's relatively high level of dismissal protection - compared internationally - is often named as a reason for the high unemployment rate. Possible effects are created particularly with regard to a prohibitive effect of dismissal protection: Is the hiring of new employees postponed or cancelled as a result of employment law? Do companies resort to other forms of employment to avoid the effects of dismissal protection? Which effects does the economic framework have on behaviour? In addition, we have addressed the effects of dismissal protection within the company: What role does dismissal protection play in the employment relationship? This article does not undertake an analysis of the preventive effect - in the sense of the postponing of employee termination or decision to not terminate an employee altogether. Because dismissal protection makes up an important part of employment law, the perceived functionality of employment law is subsequently discussed.

Germany's labour law is considered comparatively rigid in international comparison and a special importance is attached to dismissal protection. Among other things, severance pay and notice periods play a role in this. With the help of an international comparative indicator system, a higher-than-average rigidity is shown in Germany (cp. Pierre / Scarpetta 2004: 10ff).

The article is based upon two empirical investigations: The first being 41 expert interviews conducted with personnel managers in 2006 and, secondly, a standardised questionnaire of 750 personnel managers asking about the usage of employment law in their organization. The aim of the survey was to find out how various laws are actually applied within organisations and which attitudes personnel managers have regarding employment law and its sub-categories.

The role that employment law plays within the economy is a controversial matter of debate in the media. A close connection between the commercial dynamic and the legal system is thereby created. Rights, jurisdiction, and possible legal reality are discussed in the specialized press and the legal system with a relative disregard for socioscientific and economical knowledge. These aspects alone are not enough for an assessment of the role of employment law in personnel management.

The roll of employment law in personnel management is discussed within expert circles with divergent points of view (cp. e.g. Weber/Kabst 2006, regarding theoretical self-determination in human resources teaching). In this context one should mention 'personnel economies' which is oriented towards the new institutional economics. The economical analysis of employment law as practiced in new institutional economics combines strictly legal rules and personnel policy behaviour on a theoretical level (cp. e.g. Richter/Furubotn 1999). As a result of the abstract level of the analyses, the organisations are often classified quasi as rational individuals set on maximizing their benefits ...

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