Direct participation and organizational change

Eurofound — European Foundation For The Improvement Of Living And Working Conditions

Description

Fashionable but misunderstood? : An analysis of recent research in Europe, Japan and the USA
Working conditions

Sujets

• Workers' control
• Member state of the European Union
• Japan (manga)
• United States
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROFOUND-EUROPEAN-FOUNDATION-FOR-THE-IMPROVEMENT-OF-LIVING-AND-WORKING-CONDITIO
• Nombre de lectures: 46
• EAN13: 928276673
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

* *^ European Foundation
* for the Improvement of
* * • Living and Working Conditions
Direct Participation and
Organisational Change
Fashionable but Misunderstood?
An Analysis of Recent
Research in Europe,
Japan and the USA
Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland Direct Participation and
Organisational Change
Fashionable but Misunderstood?
An Analysis of Recent Research in
Europe, Japan and the USA
EF/96/38/EN • * • European Foundation
CX] * for the Improvement of
* + ** Living and Working Conditions
Direct Participation and
Organisational Change
Fashionable but Misunderstood?
An Analysis of Recent Research in
Europe, Japan and the USA
Dieter Fröhlich and Ulrich Pekruhl
ISO Institute, Cologne and
Institut Arbeit und Technik, Gelsenkirchen
Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland
Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1996
ISBN 92-827-6673-X
© European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, 1996
For rights of translation or reproduction, applications should be made to the Director,
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions,
Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Printed in Ireland Content
Foreword
Preface
Summary 1
1 Direct Participation as an International Concern of
Organisations and of Social Science 17
1.1 What is New About Direct Participation?
1.2 Direct Participation as a Research Concern
of the European Foundation9
1.3 Different Social Science Approaches Towards
Direct Participation 24
'Classical' Industrial Sociology: The Impact of Automation 2
Political Sciences and Industrial Sociology:
Participation and Industrial Democracy6
Human Resource Management: Motivation by Participation 27
Organisational Research: Structure, Functionality
and Development of Organisations 28
New Production Concepts: Direct Participation and Productivity 29
1.4 The Organisation of the Literature Study 30
1.5 The Potential and the Structure of the Report3
2 Individual Participation 36
2.1 Upward Communication as Consultative Participation 3
Suggestion Schemes7
Workforce Attitude Surveys8
Employee Appraisal and Development 39
2.2 Job Enrichment as Delegative Participation - the Older Approach 41
Management and Job Enrichment in the QWL Phase 43
Employees and Job 45
Summary 4
2.3 Job Enrichment and New Information Technology
Effects on Employees 53
Summary6 VI
3 Group Consultation: The Experience of Quality Circles 58
3.1 Management's Motives for Quality Circle Introduction
3.2 Quality Circle Implementation 60
3.3 Training for Circle Work2
3.4 The Effects of Quality Circles4
3.5 Problems of Quality Circles7
The Management Perspective
The Workforce9
3.6 The Role of Quality Circles in Integrated Management Strategies 73
Summary 76
4 Group Work Between 'Volvoism' and 'Toyotoism' 7
4.1 Two Contrasting Types of Group Work 81
The Scandinavian Concept of Group Work
Group Work in Lean Production3
The QWL and the Productivity Aspects of Both Types 8
Japanese Inspired Production Systems8
4.2 Problems of Group Work 91
Introducing Group Work
Selection of Employees6
Personnel Training7
The Pay Issue9
Economic Effects of Group Work 102
A Note on Labour Market Effects
4.3 Workforce Reactions to Group Work
The State of Research 110
General Evaluation of Group Work1
Social Pressure and Social Control
Skill Protection - the 'Inner Segmentation' of Work Groups 114
What do Employees Expect From Group Work? 115
Summary8
5. The Debate Over the Role of Middle Managers 122
5.1 Middle Management Problems With Various
Types of Direct Participation 123
5.2 Middle Managers as Supporters of Organisational Change 127
5.3 Training for a New Role9
Summary 131 VII
6 The Impact on Employee Representation 132
6.1 Direct Participation - a Union-Avoidance Strategy? 134
6.2 The Attitude of Employee Representatives
Towards Direct Participation at Establishment Level 141
6.3 Direct Participation as a Potential Source of
Conflict Between Workforce Representatives 147
6.4 Does Direct Participation Endanger Representative Participation? 150
6.5 The New Workplaces: Improved or Deteriorated? 155
General Assessment of Direct Participation
Assessments of Group Work 156
Additional Merits and Demerits8
Summary 160
7 An Overview Of Direct Participation in Europe, Japan and the USA 163
7.1 The Separate Countries4
Austria
Belgium5
Denmark 166
Finland8
France9
Germany 171
Greece3
Ireland
Italy4
Netherlands5
Portugal7
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom 181
USA3
Japan6
7.2 The Countries in Comparative Perspective 188 VIII
8 Conclusions 193
Results and Problems from a Management Perspective 19
Direct Participation: Between Profitabilty and Work Humanization 195
Union Concerns6
Research Gaps7
References 200