Reconfiguration Of Work Research Articles

The Challenges of Human Capital Management in the VUCA Era

The global crisis caused by the sudden onset of COVID 19 has put emphasis on the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity) phenomenon. The COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the extremely unstable environment in which our world is evolving. Overnight, organizations around the world found themselves switching to teleworking mode, several people suddenly found themselves unemployed and several companies have gone bankrupt. The VUCA phenomenon, linked to rapid and unpredictable changes, makes us wonder how organizations deal with the issue of human capital management. Indeed, questions are emerging regarding a new paradigm for the management of human capital in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 that must take into consideration the question of technological singularity and its consequences on man-machine balance, skills instability, job design, career management, generational and cultural gaps and reconfiguration of work (reengineering, telework, crowdsourcing, etc.). In this article, we aim to highlight the challenges and stakes of human capital management in the era of disruptions and “black swans” caused by the VUCA phenomenon. Our article aims to present the VUCA model, specify its components and expose the state of knowledge concerning its effects on the ethos of human capital management. The results of our research demonstrate that VUCA factors have deleterious effects on human capital unless serious accompanying measures are established.

After the Long Boom: The Reconfiguration of Work and Labour in the Public Sector

This response to Huw Beynon’s paper, ‘After the Long Boom: Living with Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century’ in HSIR 40 (2019), offers a parallel analysis of the fortunes of labour in the public sector. Among Beynon’s central observations, drawing on Karl Marx and Harry Braverman, was the continued reproduction of ‘unskilled’ and degraded labour. A parallel process, de-professionalizing occupations through the separation of conception and execution, has been a feature of the almost continual restructuring of state and local authority organizations and their work practices since the 1960s. This has accelerated in the era of governments committed to neoliberal values and policies. Despite public-sector trade unions having been largely conservative and defensive in their values and practice, a number of factors, both structural and conjunctural, have compelled them to face this new reality and make them the most likely organizations to challenge the expanding reach of neoliberalism. Recognizing these factors provides a possible remedy to the implied pessimism that follows the largely private-sector focus of Beynon’s contribution.

Going private: Clinicians’ experience of working in UK Independent Sector Treatment Centres

ObjectivesWith increased possibility that public healthcare services in the UK will be out-sourced to the private sector, this study investigates how clinicians working in Independent Sector Treatment Centres perceive the differences between public and private sectors. MethodsQualitative interviews with 35 clinicians recruited from two ISTCs. All participants were transferred to the independent sector from the public National Health Service. Interview data were analysed to identify shared experience about the variable organisation and delivery of services. ResultsClinicians perceived differences between public and independent sectors in the areas of ‘environment and facilities’, ‘management’, ‘work organisation and care delivery’, and ‘patient experience’. The independent sector was described as offering a positive alternative to public services in regard to service environment and patient experience, but there were concerns about management priorities and the reconfiguration of work. ConclusionsClinicians’ experience of moving between sectors reveals mixed experiences. Although some improvements might legitimise the growing role of the independent sector, there remain doubts about the commercialisation of services, the motives of managers and the impact of clinical roles and capabilities. With policies looking to expand the mixed economy of public healthcare services, the study suggests clinicians will not automatically embrace a move between sectors.

Rosemary Crompton(著)Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Rosemary Crompton(著)Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Book Review: Rosemary Crompton Employment and the Family. The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 252 pp

Book Review: Rosemary Crompton Employment and the Family. The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 252 pp

Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies – By Rosemary Crompton

Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies – By Rosemary Crompton

Book Review: Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Book Review: Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Book Review: Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Book Review: Employment and the Family: The Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies

Rosemary Crompton, Employment and the Family: the Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 252 pp.

Rosemary Crompton, Employment and the Family: the Reconfiguration of Work and Family Life in Contemporary Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 252 pp.