Reorganization Of Work Research Articles

Management and Empowerment Programmes

This paper addresses the divergence between the widespread rhetoric of empowerment and limited reality of empowerment programmes. Having demonstrated the ambiguities and contradictions in the concept of empowerment to be found in the management literature and, hence, the amenability of the concept to a variety of interpretations, the paper considers evidence from studies of hotel companies, a theme park and chemicals and telecommunications manufacturing plants which shows that the interpretation of empowerment which senior managers enthusiastically promote is rather different from the one which junior managers reluctantly accept and that empowerment programmes are as much about the putative reorganisation of junior managers' work as any substantive increase in worker autonomy. An interpretation of these findings is then offered in terms of how the ideological space opened up by ambiguities in the empowerment concept presents senior managers with a convenient ideological justification for the reorganisation of managerial work but also presents junior managers with a set of ideas with which to justify their continued existence, at a time when the managerial labour process is being rationalised and the raison d'être of junior line managers, in terms of responsibility for a labour process, is becoming problematic. The rhetoric of empowerment is an ideological terrain on which the conflict between senior and junior managers over attempts to reconstitute managerial work is conducted.

Multitask Learning and the Reorganization of Work: From Tayloristic to Holistic Organization

This article analyzes an important aspect of the contemporary reorganization of work within firms: the shift from “Tayloristic” organization (characterized by specialization by tasks) to “holistic” organization (featuring job rotation, integration of tasks, and learning across tasks). We examine four driving forces behind this restructuring process: advances in production technologies promoting technological task complementarities, advances in information technologies promoting informational task complementarities, changes in worker preferences in favor of versatile work, and advances in human capital that make workers more versatile. Our analysis also helps explain the recent widening of wage differentials and disparities in job opportunities within narrowly defined groups.

More with Less: Work Reorganization in the Canadian Mining Industry. By Bob Russell. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Pp. xiii+251. $55.00 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).

More with Less: Work Reorganization in the Canadian Mining Industry. By Bob Russell. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Pp. xiii+251. $55.00 (cloth); $21.95 (paper).

Is Germany's Dual System Still a Model for Canadian Youth Apprenticeship Initiatives?

Many Canadian provinces have introduced youth apprenticeship initiatives to facilitate transitions into the labour market. As the German dual system is often considered a model for such initiatives, this paper attempts to introduce a critical perspective on issues affecting the system's future. Economic restructuring, work reorganization, changing hiring practices, and young people's increasing preference toward higher education form the main challenges for the dual system. The review of recent debates about the German dual system suggests that youth apprenticeship initiatives in Canada need to provide students with career options that are more transparent while at the same time maintaining or increasing flexibility in the transition process.

The Agrarian Origins of the Knitwear Industrial Cluster in Tiruppur, India

The reorganization of work in Tiruppur into small-firm networks has propelled it to the center of India’s cotton knitwear exports. Industrial studies explanations remain unresolved in reconciling informalized, insecure labor alongside the possibility of an innovative “industrial district.” An analysis of the industrial present reveals that not only are the majority of owners of the agrarian Gounder caste but they are also predominantly ex-industrial workers. This paper investigates the regional and agrarian processes through which Gounders of worker-peasant origins forged their class mobility through their “toil,” while also remaking the knitwear industrial cluster into dynamic small-firm networks.

Work Reorganization in an Era of Restructuring: Trends in Diffusion and Effects on Employee Welfare

High Performance Work Organizations (HPWOs) took root in the early 1990s but then faced an environment of organizational turmoil and restructuring. This paper, drawing on a second-round survey of employers that replicated and extended a 1992 survey, addresses two questions: whether HPWO practices continued to spread, and whether their productivity and quality gains redounded to employees' benefit. The results show that HPWO practices continued to diffuse at a rapid rate between the 1992 and 1997 survey dates, although more slowly for self-managed teams than for other practices. With regard to the second question, however, the author finds that adoption of HPWO practices in 1992 was associated with increased layoff rates in subsequent years and no compensation gains. In addition, HPWO practices are linked to employment reorganization, such as reductions in contingent and managerial employment.

Work Reorganization in an Era of Restructuring: Trends in Diffusion and Effects on Employee Welfare

High Performance Work Organizations (HPWOs) took root in the early 1990s but then faced an environment of organizational turmoil and restructuring. This paper, drawing on a second-round survey of employers that replicated and extended a 1992 survey, addresses two questions: whether HPWO practices continued to spread, and whether their productivity and quality gains redounded to employees' benefit. The results show that HPWO practices continued to diffuse at a rapid rate between the 1992 and 1997 survey dates, although more slowly for self-managed teams than for other practices. With regard to the second question, however, the author finds that adoption of HPWO practices in 1992 was associated with increased layoff rates in subsequent years and no compensation gains--patterns that appear to result largely because HPWO practices are linked to employment reorganization, such as reductions in contingent and managerial employment.

E-medicine and e-work: the new international division of medical labour?

AbstractThe application of new Information Communications Technologies (ICT) to the reorganisation and international relocation of service related work is becoming increasingly evident. There has been a good deal of attention given to this process of relocation in the literature in relation to customer service and high technology service industries such as software production. Despite the increasing body of evidence that e-medicine sites are proliferating on the world wide web there seems to be little discussion of this in terms of the implications for medical labour. This paper argues that medical labour is far from impervious to the possibilities of relocation. It uses a case study of international relocation of work in the health sector to illustrate the argument.

'Eczema school' to improve compliance in an occupational dermatology clinic.

From the beginning of 1990 a trained nurse has been employed at our Department of Dermatology to give information about skin care, allergen avoidance and skin protection to the patients. To find out the possible benefit obtained by this patient education, a questionnaire was sent out to 540 patients who had been diagnosed with an occupational skin disease established at the Department of Dermatology between 1985 and 1992. It is evident that direct comparison in this kind of longitudinal follow-up must be carried out with great criticism, since changes in patients' work exposure and socioeconomical situation during the follow-up time will also affect the prognosis. In this study, 424 patients returned the questionnaire, 252 who had been examined before 1990 and 172 later. According to the answers, it appeared that during the last 12 months, the majority (65%) had suffered from dermatitis, 13% from constant and 52% from periodic symptoms. However, when the diagnosis had been irritant contact dermatitis without allergens found, the prognosis was significantly better (p<0.008) among those who had received "extra education" and none had persistent dermatitis. Patients with contact allergy to metals or synthetic resins had also managed better, as compared to those who had received traditional treatment (p<0.002, p<0.003). Other factors such as personal motivation and possibilities for work reorganization were also important for the prognosis. 60% of patients were not initially aware of the decision given by the insurance companies, although 94% of their skin diseases had been accepted as occupational dermatoses. Generally, the patients were satisfied with the extra information given by the nurse.

A Team Approach to Clinical Dietitian Work Assignments Increases Productivity and Enhances Teamwork

As one of the top 100 cardiovascular hospitals in the United States, as well as the largest cardiovascular program in the state of Illinois, the demand for nutrition services, in particular counseling, is high. In order to more equally divide workload, to provide more diversity in clinical tasks, and to minimize burnout, a team approach to dietitian work assignments was implemented. Four teams were formed: Team 1 maternal child; Team 2 cardiac medical which includes cardiac, critical care, orthopedics, oncology, neurology, surgical intermediate care; Team 3 also cardiac medical which includes general medicine with another intermediate care area, short stay area, psychiatry, and remaining areas of surgery and cardiac; Team 4 is a specialty group of renal, nutrition support team, transitional care and hospice. From a statistical standpoint, the reorganization has increased clinical units of work by 15% while average daily census for the month has been unchanged and clinical dietitian full time equivalents (FTEs) have decreased by 12% due to attrition, while units of work per FTE have increased by 26%. Another benefit of the change is that staff seem more eager to complete the workload as a member of a team. A further advantage is the heightened sense of teamwork, both within and between team members. Yet an additional benefit is more cross-trained staff. Overall staff acceptance of the team approach has been quite positive. By using this method of clinical dietitian work reorganization, productivity can be maintained and perhaps increased while FTE levels are maintained.

Global Flexibility—Shop Floor Flexibility: What's a Worker to do?

For several years new forms of work organization have been introduced by U.S. management to cut labor costs, improve productivity, and increase their shop floor control. Corporations have also invested in computer-controlled machinery in an effort to eliminate large numbers of skilled blue-collar workers and to decrease their reliance on the tacit knowledge of such workers. Once seemingly secure jobs in diverse industries like airplanes, jet engines, machine tools, and computer chips, are no longer so stable. In an effort to expand their global reach and reorganize the workplace, managers are able to capitalize on two conflicted and conflicting attitudes among the workforce: the first, workers most deep-seated fear, the loss of a permanent job; the second, their aspirations to contribute their knowledge and skills in a positive way on the shop floor. In this article the reorganization of work at two western Massachusetts metalworking companies is described. What distinguishes these cases is the central role that the union played in the organized plant and the workers played in both plants to improve production and at least for now preserve jobs.

The End of New Production Concepts? Rationalization and Labour Policy in the German Auto Industry

In the German auto industry, group-based new production concepts started to become a strategic factor in the reorganization of work in the mid-1980s. This new strategy relied on an ongoing competition between the companies in the labour market and increasing competition in the product market. Since the crisis of 1992/3 the economic situation has changed dramatically. High unemployment combined with increasing competition in the global product market had led to a new change in work policy, which is criticized by many researchers and works councils as a roll-back to Taylorism. Indeed, most of the companies reinvent the classical assembly line with standardized, short work cycles. But in contradiction to the Tayloristic work organization, the assembly workers are enabled to participate in the process of reorganization of work by doing their own time and motion studies. An important element of new production concepts, namely the participation of workers, is even intensified. Nevertheless, the German car manufacturers are step by step adopting the Toyota production system, and therefore withdraw from new production concepts in order to develop their own version of lean production.

In times of transition: an organizational change from a family systems perspective.

This article reports on observations of the implementation of a patient-centered care (PCC) work reorganization model in a community hospital setting. Analysis of videotape, direct observation, and interviews with key informants demonstrated the similarities between organizations and families in times of change. We propose a family systems framework for understanding some of the complex relationships and transitional experiences we observed.

The new workplace: change at work in Ireland

This paper examines new forms of work organization in Ireland, their incidence, shape and origins. Using data from a recently conducted national workplace survey it is timely on two counts: it provides for the first time reliable data on key dimensions of work reorganization. Previous research findings, which have relied on company listings for their sampling frames, have been of questionable statistical provenance. Second, from this more reliable statistical base, the paper seeks to question the popularly held contention that the radical shift in fortunes enjoyed by the Irish economy in recent years is, in no small measure, due to workplace innovation. In addition, the paper examines the factors associated with new work practices. Three variables stand out as exercising particularly robust effects: establishments in 'high-tech' sectors of the economy, financial services and competitive strategies that give emphasis to product and service customization. Finally, the paper attempts to locate patterns of workplace change in Ireland within the wider international literature.

In Times of Transition: An Organizational Change from a Family Systems Perspective

This article reports on observations of the implementation of a patient-centered care (PCC) work reorganization model in a community hospital setting. Analysis of videotape, direct observation, and interviews with key informants demonstrated the similarities between organizations and families in times of change. We propose a family systems framework for understanding some of the complex relationships and transitional experiences we observed.

Degendering Work Time in Comparative Perspective: Alternative Policy Frameworks

Policy initiatives providing for alternative working time arrangements as well as a shortened standard work week have become prevalent in recent years, especially among the highly industrialized countries of northern Europe. We find that despite institutional differences, Germany, France, and Sweden have adopted policies that explicitly or implicitly contribute to the gendering of work time. Increasingly, what differentiates gender roles is not whetherindividuals have a job, but the amount of timespent in paid employment. The expansion of overtime for men and part-time jobs for women reinforces the skewed division of domestic labor and occupational segregation. European unions are acquiescing to work reorganization policies that promote the expansion of both part-time and overtime as long as these policies are coupled with measures facilitating work redistribution to save jobs. Broader visions of work reduction as a means to gender equity have been shunted to the background.

Work content and satisfaction before and after a reorganisation of data entry work

The aim of the study was to analyse the psychosocial and physical effects of a reorganisation of data entry work at a data processing unit with 153 employees. The reorganisation was planned to redistribute the repetitive work and improve health and satisfaction as well as efficiency. Methods used were questionnaires and, for a sub-group of 22 participants, interviews, diaries and video recordings. During the one-and-a-half-year study period the data processing unit was closed down and the employees transferred to units with more varied tasks. The reorganisation gave opportunities to improve working conditions. The results of this study show that important improvements were achieved. The majority of the 22 participants got less data entry work and the changes permitted a better work-load distribution. However, the work content after the reorganisation still did not provide satisfactory mental variation for most of the subjects, and the changes did not seem to affect health complaints.

The teleradiology system and changes in work practices

After the design and development of the teleradiology system, a work practice oriented approach was used to gain a more holistic understanding of the relationship between the emerging work practice and the newly implemented technology, and to provide information for redesigning the system. The approach which utilized ethnographically informed fieldwork and cooperative workshops was introduced. Cooperation, the chain of tasks, and articulation work of teleradiology work practice were described, with the focus on image interpretation in particular. From the point of view of radiologists' image interpretation work, a report was made on how these findings influenced the evaluation and redesign of the system. Furthermore, the problematics of distributed collaboration, reorganization of work, and education are emphasized.

Some recent trends in industrial accidents and failures involving machinery

Industrial accidents and failures involving machinery were analysed by appropriate literature and loss records of insurers. While serious machinery accidents have decreased for many types of machinery, thanks to developments in technologies and safety engineering together with more advanced user practices, there are areas where surprising increases of machine-related fatalities still occur. Traditional machinery accidents with grinding tools, cranes, winches, etc., seem to recur often in connection with reorganization of work in industry. Losses due to machinery breakdown failures are dominated by power generation, i.e. boilers and pressure vessels, turbines and electrical machinery, but mainly there are no casualties. However, prevention of failures is of crucial importance in order to reduce the potential of catastrophic incidents. Both for failures and casualties, indications of epidemic-type patterns of losses are found, which too often are encountered, surprisingly, in industry and among insurers ali...

Work transitions.

The healthcare environment is changing rapidly. Work reorganization and redesign can lead to department and unit closures, resulting in work transitions for many staff members. The authors describe the findings of focus groups held with staff and management on units that have closed. These interviews highlight the difficulties encountered with change and provide suggestions to reduce uncertainty during department or unit closures.