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Work Organisation (work + organisation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting62%

Selected Abstracts

Workplace learning and the employment relationship in the public sector

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2003
Helen Rainbird
Training that is relevant to employers is not necessarily enriching for employees, especially those on the lower salary scales. The authors argue that the analysis of training and development needs to be understood in the context of the employment relationship. Drawing on reasearch evidence from six case studies in the public sector, the article examines the impact of changes in work organisation on workplace learning, managers' and employees' own strategies towards it and the limitations of tools such as appraisal. Since employees' existing qualifications are poorly utilised and their development needs often frustrated, issues concerning job design, occupational progression routes and employee entitlements need to be addressed. [source]

The decline of incentive pay in British manufacturing

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2010
James Arrowsmith
ABSTRACT Motivation theories and the strategic pay literature envisage that the management of employees can be well-served by financial incentives and other forms of pay flexibility. Traditionally, UK manufacturing has made extensive use of variable payments systems (VPS), notably piece-work and bonuses, but these have declined at the same time as managerial control over pay-setting has increased. Evidence from six case studies suggests that a focus on pay is only part of the picture. Increased competition and change makes the design of VPS more complex, and new forms of work organisation become the focus of performance. In this context, firms have (i) abandoned individual incentive pay and (ii) aggregated VPS in support of broader objectives. [source]

International competition and pay, working time and employment: exploring the processes of adjustment

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001
James Arrowsmith
The internationalisation of markets, competition and regulation is increasingly recognised. So far, however, debate about the effects has been largely speculative. This article examines the UK engineering industry. Survey evidence suggests that international comparisons are relatively unimportant, little benchmarking is going on and that stability characterises pay and working time arrangements. Further interview evidence explains that this is because pay and working time are set with employee expectations in mind, whereas it is the treatment of unit costs that reflects international pressures. As a consequence there has been substantial reductions in employment as well as some important changes in work organisation, even if there has been little change in pay or working time systems. In effect, it suggests that there is a form of ,implicit contract' taking place. A wider implication is that the main impetus for the ,Europeanisation' of industrial relations is likely to come from the growing convergence of costs rather than pressures for wage parity. [source]

Services innovation and the transformation of work: the case of UK telecommunications

NEW TECHNOLOGY, WORK AND EMPLOYMENT, Issue 1 2003
Marcela Miozzo
Current transformations in technologies and industrial structure of UK telecommunications have important implications for skills and work organisation. This is examined in different divisions of a large UK telecommunications firm: call centres, customer service centres, engineering sectors and the R&D department. The effect of these transformations on the development of firm competences is discussed. [source]

Working in East German Socialism in 1980 and in Capitalism 15 Years Later: A Trend Analysis of a Transitional Economy's Working Conditions

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2000
Doris Fay
Many studies document the changes that have taken place in the new German states, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), since the end of socialism. Most research looks at the changes that took place after the unification of East and West Germany, but little is known about the differences between the present, somewhat settled situation in the new German states and the stable situation in the GDR before the system change. The goal of this study was to enlarge our knowledge on these differences. With a trend analysis, aspects of work in the GDR in 1980 (n=337) were compared with the new German states in 1995 (n=168). Results showed that there was more job control and complexity, more activity in work improvement and better work organisation in the new German states than in the GDR. There was no difference in stress variables and social support by colleagues between both groups. Relationships with supervisors and appreciation for suggestions for work improvement were better in the GDR than after the introduction of capitalism. Beaucoup d'e´tudes portent sur les changements qui ont eu lieu depuis la fin du socialisme dans les nouveaux La¨nder allemands, à savoir l'ancienne Re´publique De´mocratique d'Allemagne (R.D.A.). La plupart des recherches s'occupent des changements apparus après la re´unification, mais on sait peu de choses des diffe´rences entre la situation actuelle, plus ou moins stabilise´e, et la situation telle qu'elle e´tait avant l'effondrement du système. Ce travail avait pour objectif d'approfondir nos connaissances sur ces diffe´rences. On a compare´ des dimensions du travail en R.D.A. en 1980 (N=337) et dans les nouveaux Länder en 1995 (N=168). Les re´sultats montrent qu'en R.D.A. le travail e´tait moins complexe, moins contrôle, moins bien organise´ avec un moindre souci d'ame´lioration. Aucune diffe´rence n'est apparue entre les deux groupes quant à la tension nerveuse et au soutien social apporte´ par les collègues. Les relations avec le supe´rieur et la reconnaissance pour les suggestions concernant les am¨eliorations à apporter au travail étaient moins satisfaisantes après l'introduction du capitalisme qu'elles ne l'e´taient antérieurement en R.D.A. [source]

Effects of a Psychologically Based Management System on Work Motivation and Productivity

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2000
Uwe Kleinbeck
Introducing group work as a principle of work organisation to increase productivity in organisations operating in a globalising economy requires new methods of measuring performance in groups. This study describes the introduction of a measurement instrument as part of a participative productivity management (PPM) system in a medium sized factory producing rubber compounds. Using a simple quasi-experimental design, the PPM intervention was found to produce an increase in productivity and was also related to goal clarity, but not to higher group cohesion. It is concluded that PPM helps to increase productivity mainly by increasing task and goal clarity, and that increases in productivity can only be reached reliably when no competing system of performance appraisal exists besides PPM. L'introduction du travail en groupe comme principe de structuration du travail pour ame´liorer la productivite´ d'organisations e´voluant dans une e´conomie globalise´e impose de nouvelles me´thodes pour mesurer la performance dans les groupes. Cet article de´crit l'application d'un instrument de mesure comme e´tant un e´le´ment du syste`me de gestion participative de la productivite´ (PPM) dans une usine de taille moyenne produisant des composants en caoutchouc. En faisant appel a` un plan quasi expe´rimental, l'intervention PPM a ame´liore´ la productivite´ tout en e´tant relie´e a` la clarte´ des objectifs, mais pas a` une meilleure cohe´sion des groupes. On en conclut que la PPM accroit la productivite´ surtout grâce a` une meilleure transparence des objectifs et des tâches, mais que ces gains de productivite´ ne peuvent être obtenus avec certitude si un syste`me concurrent d'e´valuation de la performance fonctionne en paralle`le avec la PPM. [source]

Personnel Discipline and Industrial Relations on the Railways of Republican China

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 1 2001
Stephen L. Morgan
The Chinese National Railways of Republican China (1912-37) had a personnel administration the equal of any of the major railway systems of the period. Railways require a sophisticated personnel bureaucracy to train, monitor and enforce codes of conduct which would ensure the safety of passengers, freight and the huge investment in rolling stock and fixed capital. Only the military had previously administrative structures approaching the modern railway companies, the first modern business to organise on such a scale large numbers of employees over vast geographic areas. In China the railway introduced not only a new transport technology but also played a major role in creating the new industrial working class through the regimes of work and discipline their administration created. Drawing on neglected railway personnel archives, this paper examines the work organisation and structures of discipline that governed the working day of Chinese railway employees. [source]

The impact of workplace support and identity on training transfer: a case study of drug and alcohol safety training in Australia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2004
Ken Pidd
Previous research has indicated that the transfer climate of work organisations is an important factor in determining the degree to which knowledge, skills and abilities gained in training transfer to the workplace. In particular, workplace social support from supervisors and coworkers is consistently cited as an important factor that can facilitate or inhibit training transfer. However, research evidence regarding the impact of workplace social support on training transfer is mixed. In order to address this issue a study was conducted to identify under what conditions workplace social support impacts on training transfer. This study evaluated a workplace drug and alcohol training programme, to examine the impact of workplace social support and identification with workplace groups on training transfer. Results indicated that the influence of workplace social support on training transfer was moderated by the degree to which trainees identified with workplace groups that provided this support. This study supports the proposition that in order to fully understand training transfer, and to design effective training programmes, training research and practice needs to focus on both the personal and situational factors that may interact to influence learning and transfer. [source]