Reorganization Of Work Research Articles

Hermann Cohen’s Neo-Kantian Ethical Socialism

Abstract Hermann Cohen, the founding father of Marburg neo-Kantianism, is known for criticising capitalism from a Kantian ethical perspective. Thus far, the role of the notion of humanity in this critique has been viewed as grounding what I shall call the ‘purposive labour reading’. This reading takes Cohen’s primary interest to lie in a reorganisation of work so that our humanity, which requires us to be treated as ends, remains intact. With the aim to better understand the relevant notion of humanity, I contextualise the discussion within the overall framework of Cohens’ neo-Kantian account of ethical cognition and situate his ideas in the context of his contemporary interlocutors. Revisiting Cohen’s remarks on socialism and capitalism against this backdrop reveals that his discussion of labour serves as an exemplar, showcasing how ethical rationality manifests in the liberal socialists’ demands. I argue that his primary aim was not to prepare the ground for a prescriptive labour theory – though this is likely to follow – but to argue for a framework alternative to historical materialism, allowing us to perceive and interpret social practices in an ethical light.

Are New Technologies Empowering Workers? Digital Lean Production and the Reorganization of Work in Manufacturing

Are New Technologies Empowering Workers? Digital Lean Production and the Reorganization of Work in Manufacturing

A taxonomy of business models of digital care platforms in Spain

AbstractIn the last few years, the proliferation of digital labour platforms has led to the transformation of business models and labour relations in an increasing number of economic activities, including highly feminized and informal traditional sectors, such as care and domestic work. Drawing on an analysis of 37 digital care platforms in Spain, this research compares the distinctive features and structural power dynamics they engender, and it constructs a taxonomy of business models of these care platforms. By analysing the main features of their operational models, we are capable of distinguishing three main types of platforms: marketplace, on‐demand, and digital placement agencies. First, the paper argues that the distinctive features of each digital platform business model have differentiated impacts on working conditions in terms of access to tasks, remuneration, flexibility and means of control. This differentiation allows us to understand what is transformative and what is continuous in platforms' precarization or formalisation of care work and working conditions of carers, mainly women and migrants. Each business model has its differentiated outcomes in terms of labour control and reorganization of women's and migrants' reproductive work. Second, more broadly, while digital care platforms may have contributed to facilitating workers' access to jobs, reducing transaction costs and standardising processes, this has often been through the creation of more flexible and insecure forms of work and to increased market pressures. Therefore, this study contributes to existing research addressing the degree of formalization of labour relations in digital platform work through a nuanced analysis of their business models.

Theorising Digital Dispossession: An Enquiry into the Datafication of Accumulation by Dispossession

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question of work and labour was being deeply pondered upon. The demarcations that emerged out of this juncture led to a bifurcation of labour into ‘essential workers’, who are pushed into precarity from the threat of disease and contractual uncertainty in employment, and those who ‘work from home’. While geo-spatial segregation of these distinctions is contingent upon the specific relation of the nature of work with datafication, we are impelled to ponder upon the role that the accumulation of surplus value plays in this process. More specifically we must ask, what role does digital labour play in the datafication and datafied reorganization of work and workplaces? The inadequateness of data colonialism as a theoretical tool that accounts for the historical-materialist and dialectical roots of extraction and accumulation of user data requires a retheorization of the process. In this paper, I shall examine the ontological inadequacies of the metaphors of colonialism, and its extractivist logic, being transposed and mapped onto the studies of datafication. Following this I shall explore ‘digital dispossession’ as a convergence of Digital Capitalism and the neoliberal reorganization of digitized social labour, alongside its necropolitical implications. Drawing upon David Harvey’s theorization of ‘Accumulation by Dispossession’, I argue for a classical Marxist interpretation of datafication as a new reorganization of capitalist accumulation that acts and appropriates surplus generated by prosumers through the unpaid and discursive digital labour performed on digital platforms.

BAKU STATE UNIVERSITY DURING THE HARD TRIALS OF 1920S-1930S: CRITICAL ADMINISTRATIVE CHALLENGES AND RED TERROR

This paper focuses on the higher education reforms carried out in the Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s and 1930s and their impact on Baku State University. Beginning from the first years of the Soviet rule, the People’s Commissariat of Education in the Azerbaijan SSR concentrated the authority to lead all cultural and educational affairs. The main areas of the spiritual life of the newly established Soviet republic, its education, science, literature, and art, were actually brought under the control of the party and state leadership. The conducted research shows that by putting an end to the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic with the April invasion of 1920 and establishing their regime in Azerbaijan, the new authorities radically changed the conditions for the operation of Baku State University. Party and state bodies of the Azerbaijan SSR initiated immediate reorganization of the university's work in accordance with the new ideological and political realities. The main directions of education and scientific activity at the university began to be restructured on the principles of class and party affiliation. All these issues, related to the development of the university, are considered on the basis of archival documents in order to reveal the historical realities of the period under study.

The Digital Transformation of the HR Function: A New Chapter in the Era of Covid-19:

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, companies have had to urgently adapt to this unexpected crisis. The major changes brought about by the pandemic forced companies to accelerate the transition to digital processes. At the heart of these transformations, the HR function was at the front line, managing an unprecedented reorganization of work to ensure business continuity. In this context of uncertainty, where an increasingly alarming atmosphere prevails due to an unstable future, companies are still trying to survive in order to ensure their sustainability. The Covid-19 pandemic compelled HR services to swiftly transform their processes in record time, giving an unprecedented boost to the digital transformation of the HR function and raising awareness of the benefits of digital solutions.

Exploring Chinese Students’ Learning Burden Reduction Policy: a Historical Policy Analysis

Abstract The student learning burden reduction policy has always been a key field concerning national education development and it is also a highly debated field in recent years. For the period of improving physical fitness, since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Directive on Reducing the Excessive Burden on Primary and Secondary Schools, which was the first policy document specifically aimed at reducing the burden on students, marked that the formulation of the policy of reducing the burden in China was on the right track. For the one-sided pursuit of enrollment rate period, the comprehensive restoration and reorganization of educational work was gradually carried out. To boost economic development with talents, the country has focused on improving the teaching level and quality of schools at all levels. For period for improving the quality of education, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that schools at all levels should improve the quality of education. For the period of curriculum reform of basic education, the international situation was changing rapidly, science and technology were constantly iterating, and knowledge economy became the hot spot.

Customer Experience (Cx) Design in the View of Managers: An Analysis of the Impact of Pandemic in the Local Hospitality and Tourism Industry

Hospitality and tourism are among the worst-affected industries during this pandemic, with a global drop in demand. These industries are operating under strict restrictions, and a “new normal” needs to be defined. Because of its disruptive effects, hospitality and tourism providers must redesign the customer experience (CX), which is considered the core of the tourism and hospitality sector. Thus, this study sought to measure the views of the managers on customer experience (CX) design as an analysis of the impact of the pandemic in the local hospitality and tourism industry. This study emploa yed a descriptive method to identify the different variables of the study and presents quantitative research that utilized online survey method to gather data information from the respondents. Top-level managers from different hotels, resorts, restaurants and tourism sites in the prime hospitality and tourism towns in the province of Oriental Mindoro were the respondents (n=26) of this study. Results showed that the view of the managers on the measures designed to create safe customer experiences in terms of hygiene and protection, internal work reorganization, services cape reorganization, technology and digital innovations, customer wait time reduction, staff training and communication were all positively affirmative. As a result, these measures positively affected the intended experience in terms of reassurance, quickness and intimacy. It is recommended that the managers adopt and implement the proposed CX framework to enhance the customers’ experience in various hospitality and tourism service providers despite the threats of the pandemic and to guide the managers to transition to post-pandemic situations.

FROM EVENTS TO ASSEMBLAGES:

This paper recalls the shift, starting in the 1980s, from seeing literacy as a mental process to understanding it as constitutive of the social world, researchable through an ethnographic approach, focussed on situated texts, practices and events. How we had to re-think the study of literacy since then? Two changes have challenged literacy researchers: firstly the proliferation of on-line and social media and the consequent re-organization of work and daily life; secondly the increase in global mobility, now countered around the world by a securitization of borders, particularly against the poor, as a consequence of paranoid nationalism. Transborder literacy mediation and advocacy shows how literacy activity functions as an assemblage across time/space, involving mediation.

Experiences of health professionals in EU institutions during the Covid crisis

We performed a quantitative and a qualitative study, addressing the experiences of health services of 16 European Union institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the 165 eligible subjects, 114 (69%) participated in the survey. The biggest problem reported was limitation of social contacts (53%). At work, the biggest problems were workload (50%) and shortage of staff (37%). The majority were positive about teamwork. Teleworking was seen positively by 81%. Most participants felt better prepared for future situations by their recent experience (94%). Participants underlined the importance of strengthening the collaboration with the local health systems (80%), as well as with medical services and internal services within their own institution (75%). The qualitative analysis also reported participants’ fear of becoming infected, and of their family members getting sick. Similarly reported were the sense of isolation and anxiety, the excessive workload and work complexity, shortage of staff, and the benefits of teleworking. Study findings highlight: i) the need to strengthen mental health support to health personnel, not only during crisis situations; ii) the need for sufficient health workers, with swift recruitment strategies in times of crisis; iii) the importance of clear protocols to ensure no shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE); iv) the importance of teleworking, which represents an opportunity for major reorganisation of work within EU medical services; v) the need to strengthen collaboration with local health systems and the medical services of EU institutions.

A Modern Approach to the Selection and Implementation of an ERP System at an Enterprise as an Effective IT Solution in Business Management

Relevance. A modern enterprise as a complex socio-economic system exists today in the mode of constant changes to adequately respond to the challenges of the external environment. The development of production and personnel potential, the growth of profitability, and the improvement of competitiveness are the key objectives of the strategic development of the enterprise, which requires the optimization of its business processes, the reorganization of work with business partners, customers, and employees. Hence, there is a need for systematic business renewal through the introduction of new IT products.The purpose is a theoretical and methodological justification of the need to integrate an ERP system into the current activities of a modern enterprise in the face of environmental challenges. The objectives: to consider the possibilities and mechanism of implementing an ERP system for the functioning and development of enterprises; to investigate the key elements of an ERP system for building a modern IT architecture of an enterprise in accordance with the principles of digitalization; to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of classical and flexible approaches in the ERP-system implementation project.Methodology. Methods of statistical and comparative analysis, illustrative-graphical method, methods of generalization and logic based on a systematic approach are used in the work.Results. In the course of the study, it was found that the problems of implementing an ERP system in the activities of a modern enterprise must be solved on the basis of a project approach involving the use of mechanisms of both the traditional Waterfall methodology and the Agile methodology. The main thing is to understand the potential opportunities and assess the expected risks when making decisions about the implementation of an IT product.Conclusions. The introduction of an ERP system in an enterprise will improve and optimize business processes, focus on the competence abilities of line managers and employees. This is important in order to get the most out of the potential of an ERP system. The starting point is the process of developing and implementing standards of work with a clear description of the desired result. At the same time, the project team should pay considerable attention to changing the mentality and behavior of employees with ongoing changes in the motivation system and organizational culture.

All the good care: Valuation and task differentiation in older person care.

Task reallocation is increasingly foregrounded as a promising solution for capacity problems. Numerous studies show, however, that task reallocation between medical professionals is a highly contested issue and difficult to institutionalise. Conflicts are omnipresent and often arise from 'intraprofessional competition': Zero-sum games between professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds where one party's gains require another party's losses. In this article, we build on calls to enrich the sociology of professions with new concepts and theories. We analyse a case of task reallocation between medical professionals in a nursing home using concepts from empirical ethics and valuation studies. We argue that modes of good care offer a valuable framework for analysing the reorganisation of professional work because they provide an empirically grounded and fine-grained conceptual toolkit for understanding the dynamics among professionals and between professionals and managers. Enactment of different modes of good care inspires innovation in service provision but at the same time creates new tensions between those involved. We show how, in times of scarcity, a dynamic emerges between professionals attempting to stave off and reallocate work, thereby restricting their professional domains.

Adapting Hospital Work During COVID-19 in Quebec (Canada)

ABSTRACT Among hospital responses to the COVID19 pandemic worldwide, service reorganization and staff reassignment have been some of the most prominent ways of adapting hospital work to the expected influx of patients. In this article, we examine work reorganization induced by the pandemic by identifying the operational strategies implemented by two hospitals and their staff to contend with the crisis and then analyzing the implications of those strategies. We base our description and analysis on two hospital case studies in Quebec. We used a multiple case study approach, wherein each hospital is considered a unique case. In both cases, work adaptation through staff reassignment was one of the critical measures undertaken to ensure absorption of the influx of patients into the hospitals. Our results showed that this general strategy was designed and applied differently in the two cases. More specifically, the reassignment strategies revealed numerous healthcare resource disparities not only between health territories, but also between different types of facilities within those territories. Comparing the two hospitals’ adaptation strategies showed that past reforms in Quebec determined what these reorganizations could achieve, as well as how they would affect workers and the meaning they gave to their work.

Unpromising Futures: Early-Career GPs’ Narrative Accounts of Meaningful Work during a Professional Workforce Crisis

Over the past few decades, the intensification and reorganisation of work have led to growing precarity, insecurity and uncertainty for employees, affecting even professionals tied to traditionally model employers. Doctors, in particular, have seen substantial changes to their work: having to work harder, longer and more intensely with reductions in expected autonomy, deference and respect. This article focuses on how early-career GPs make sense of and navigate meaningful work in the context of a current workforce crisis. Drawing on 15 narrative interviews and 10 focus groups with early-career GPs, the findings show that meaningful work during a crisis is understood temporally, with imagined futures perceived as increasingly impossible due to changes to the structure and orientation of medical work, leading to different career plans. Utilising Adam and Groves’ approach to futures as a conceptual lens, the article focuses on how multiple, often clashing, future orientations impact meaningful work.

Determinants of union strategies towards the twin digital and green transitions in the German and Belgian automotive industry

This article examines union strategies towards the twin digital and green transitions, comparing the German and Belgian automotive industries. The drive towards net-zero and more digital economies is manifested through the move from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars, engendering a reorganisation of production, work and employment among car manufacturers. We identified two strategic union response patterns. While German unions are developing proactive strategies and proposals to influence and shape the ongoing transition of the automotive industry, Belgian unions are more passive, reacting primarily to management proposals and focusing narrowly on employment and working conditions without a broader strategy on how to influence the transformation of the automotive industry. We explain the observed cross-national differences by two factors: the importance of national institutions, i.e., the varying integration of labour into management decision-making, and the role of union knowledge regimes. The latter refers to internal union organisations and structures such as research departments, research institutes and foundations tasked with providing own research and funding external research on change topics from a union perspective, publishing studies and developing programmatic agendas, and disseminating the knowledge to union members through training, workshops and conferences.

Analisis Risiko Penyebaran Covid-19 Melalui Fasilitas dan Kegiatan di Universitas Sahid Menggunakan Metode HIRADC

Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Facilities and activities at Sahid University Jakarta have the potential to spread Covid-19, so an assessment of the risk and hazard control level is carried out. This study aims to identify activities that have the potential to spread COVID-19, assess the level of risk of spreading COVID-19, and determine controls for the risk of spread and transmission at Sahid University. The probability and impact assessment method for 16 activities with 34 variables uses the Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment, and Determining Control (HIRADC) method. Processing the data to obtain results, variable risk 15%, high, low risk 6%, and 79% moderately high risk. The study's conclusion found that the main activities that potentially spread the Covid-19 virus are face-to-face lectures, administration, finance, and laboratory learning. Measures to control the risk of transmission through engineering and reorganization of work, administrative controls, and use of PPE. The research suggests that each need be aware to remind each other and carry out obligations in the health protocol for the sake of realizing a Covid-19 free environment at Sahid University Jakarta and its surroundings.

Navigating the Intersection of COVID-19 and (Re)new(ed) Calls for Racial Justice: A Qualitative Examination of the Experiences of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Professionals in College Athletics During A Year of “Social Justice Awakening”

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professionals in the NCAA athletics governance structure. The specific focus was centered on the multiple crises of summer 2020, including both the COVID-19 pandemic and calls for social injustices and its effects on DEI work and the impacts on DEI professionals within college athletics. In total, 23 semi-structured interviews were completed with the DEI professionals, with five major themes emerging from the results, including: (1) Reorganization of Priorities, (2) Reactive vs. Proactive Work, (3) Challenges of Virtual DEI Engagement, (4) Emotional Fatigue, and (5) Validation of DEI work. The implications for future research and practitioners will be further explored.

White Shirts and Stopwatches: The Emerson Efficiency Engineers and Work Reorganization within Pennsylvania Firms, 1900–1920

Harrington Emerson, a pioneer in early industrial engineering, formulated "efficiency engineering" to distinguish his work reorganization methods from those of Frederick W. Taylor's principles of scientific management. His company—the Emerson Efficiency Engineers—functioned as a prototype management consultancy, giving rise to a new business and profession. Pennsylvania's rapid industrial expansion and key industries became a proving ground for the development and application of Emerson's innovations in the fields of work reorganization and personnel management. His experience in the commonwealth provided the foundation for a successful business model in marketing efficiency to a diverse clientele. Pennsylvania became contested terrain in the rivalry between Taylor and Emerson for ascendancy in the industrial consulting field. Emerson promoted his philosophy of efficiency in numerous published works, speaking tours, and efficiency clubs, diffusing the concept of efficiency beyond its industrial context to a wider public audience and application in the Progressive Era's drive for rationalization.

Il lavoro da remoto alla prova dell’emergenza. Implicazioni sociali e organizzative

Remote work entered the lives of many workers since the first months of 2020, when the pandemic spread around the world. The use of remote work then gave rise to what has been defined as "a great social experiment". In the situation of general uncertainty that the pandemic has produced, the usual work regulation and negotiation processes in the workplace have been suspended and replaced by quick and one-sided decisions. The article, on the one hand, explores the modes and times with which organizational transformations have been absorbed by organizations and workers; on the other hand, it investigates the reactions of workers to the messages sent by their companies about the urgent reorganization imposed by the spread of pandemic. While government-level measures were often fragmented and difficult to understand, companies have often been providing a “filter to uncertainty”, through the reorganization of work and the introduction of rules for health safety. In our opinion this is the key to explain the rapidity of the adaptation observed in the transition and its substantial acceptance by the employees, who tended to give up not only conflict, but even “voice” strategies. The metaphor of war and of the presence of a common enemy, combined with the desire to feel useful, have pushed workers to do everything possible to enhance their contribution, including self-training and voluntary working overtime.

Difficulties and successes of a teacher supporting a student with diagnosed autism in an autoethnographic narrative

The author of this paper presents the successes and failures of a teacher co-organizing education for students with autism and Asperger's syndrome with the use of autoethnographic narrative. On the basis of research involving a student of Primary School No. 5, he provides recommendations for further work after the implementation of some changes and reorganization of work in the school. The article discusses the methodological aspects of research and autoethnographic description. The perspective necessary to appeal to the participant's feelings was also presented. The use of this type of research in the work of teachers will result in their broader awareness of the problems arising from the organization of work in schools with students affected by autism and Asperger’s syndrome.