Democratic dialogue and collective learning in the context of self-managed teams

This paper provides a longitudinal, empirical view of the multifaceted and reciprocal processes of organizational learning in a context of self-managed teams. Organizational learning is seen as a social construction between people and actions in a work setting. The notion of learning as situated (Brown & Duguid 1989, Lave& Wenger 1991, Gherardi & al. 1998, Easterby-Smith & Araujo 1999, Abma 2003) opens up the possibility for placing the focus of research on learning in the community rather than in individual learning processes. Further, in studying processes in their social context, we cannot avoid taking power relations into consideration (Contu & Willmott 2003). The study is based on an action research with a methodology close to the ‘democratic dialogue’ presented by Gustavsen (2001). This gives a ground for research into how the learning discourse developed in the case study organization over a period of 5 years, during which time the company abandoned a middle management level of hierarchy and the teams had to figure out how to work as self-managed units. This paper discusses the (re)construction of power relations and its role in organizational learning. Power relations are discussed both in vertical and horizontal work relations. A special emphasis is placed on the dialectic between managerial aims and the space for reflection on the side of employees. I argue that learning is crucial in the search for the limits for empowerment and that these limits are negotiated both in actions and speech. This study unfolds a purpose-oriented learning process, constructing an open dialogue, and describes a favourable context for creative, knowledge building communities.

The Gap Between Knowledge and Action: Obstacles, Restraints and Deficits During the Execution of Refurbishments

This article outlines the initial draft of a PhD project which investigates refurbishment or rehabilitation projects in two German cities. The study focuses on obstacles, restraints and deficits as well as factors of success, which can be identified during the execution of the refurbishments. Moreover the study examines the process of the refurbishment itself, the general conditions under which the refurbishments are being executed as well as the implementation of sustainability criteria. First the article gives a short summary of the theoretical considerations of the study. In this respect it shortly outlines the global conditions of urban development and conducting challenges for cities in the 21st century, guiding principles of a sustainable urban development as well as goals of sustainable refurbishments. Finally the article shortly describes the case studies and presents the initial results of the empirical work.

The sociological perspective on the knowledge-based society: assumptions, facts and visions

The paper will present the central discourse of the knowledge-based society. Already in the 1960s the debate of the industrial society already raised the question whether there can be considered a paradigm shift towards a knowledge-based society. Some prominent authors already foreseen ‘knowledge’ as the main indicator in order to displace ‘labour’ and ‘capital’ as the main driving forces of the capitalistic development. Today on the political level and also in many scientific disciplines the assumption that we are already living in a knowledge-based society seems obvious. Although we still do not have a theory of the knowledge-based society and there still exist a methodological gap about the empirical indicators, the vision of a knowledge-based society determines at least the perception of the Western societies. In a first step the author will pinpoint the assumptions about the knowledge-based society on three levels: on the societal, on the organisational and on the individual level. These assumptions are relied on the following topics: a) The role of the information and communication technologies; b) The dynamic development of globalisation as an ‘evolutionary’ process; c) The increasing importance of knowledge management within organisations; d) The changing role of the state within the economic processes. Not only the differentiation between the levels but also the revision of the assumptions of a knowledge-based society will show that the ‘topics raised in the debates’ cannot be considered as the results of a profound societal paradigm shift. However what seems very impressive is the normative and virtual shift towards a concept of modernity, which strongly focuses on the role of technology as a driving force as well as on the global economic markets, which has to be accepted. Therefore – according to the official debate - the successful adaptation of these processes seems the only way to meet the knowledge-based society. Analysing the societal changes on the three levels, the label ‘knowledge-based society’ can be seen critically. Therefore the main question of Theodor W. Adorno during the 16th Congress of Sociology in 1968 did not loose its actuality. Facing the societal changes he asked whether we are still living in the industrial society or already in a post-industrial state. Thinking about the knowledge-based society according to these two options, this exercise would enrich the whole debate in terms of social inequality, political, economic exclusion processes and at least the power relationship between social groups.

Foresight methodologies to understand changes in the labour process. Experience from Portugal

The foresight and scenario building methods can be an interesting reference for social sciences, especially in terms of innovative methods for labour process analysis. A scenario – as a central concept for the prospective analysis – can be considered as a rich and detailed portrait of a plausible future world. It can be a useful tool for policy-makers to grasp problems clearly and comprehensively, and to better pinpoint challenges as well as opportunities in an overall framework. The features of the foresight methods are being used in some labour policy making experiences. Case studies developed in Portugal will be presented, and some conclusions will be drawn in order to organise a set of principles for foresight analysis applied to the European project WORKS on the work organisation re-structuring in the knowledge society, and on the work design methods for new management structures of virtual organisations.

Change Processes and Future Perspectives in the Knowledge Society. The Example of Clothing and Textile Industry

The paper examines change processes und future perspectives in the knowledge society. It presents the clothing and textile industry as an example for a transforming industry in a global economy. The paper reviews existing future studies, which have surveyed change processes and future developments in the clothing and textile industry. Main goals of the review are the identification of changes in work and the description of the restructuring of global value chains within the clothing and textile sector. The paper also highlights major current trends, drivers of change and future prospects in this sector.

The First WORKS Conference on Transformation of Work in a Global Knowledge Economy

The relationship between the changes of the global economy and individual working conditions formed the background of the first WORKS conference “The transformation of work in a global knowledge economy: towards a conceptual framework”, held in Chania, Greece from 21st – 22nd September, 2006 and attended by around 50 European researchers. Experts from academia and trade unions from all over the world were invited to give insights into their field of research, contributing to one of the main topics of the conference: (i) globalisation and organisational restructuring, (ii) workers’ organisation, the quality of working life and the gender dimension and (iii) global experiences and recommendations.

An approach to health and safety in E.U. forestry operations – Hazards and preventive measures

Forestry in general and logging in particular continue to be among the three most hazardous sectors in European countries. The aim of this article is to characterize health and safety problems and solutions in E.U. forestry operations, and particularly in Portuguese operations. Forest types, production, employment and ownership are used to characterize the forest sector. Forestry accidents and health problems data are mentioned. Typical hazards associated to the nature of logging operations are systematized. Preventive measures, focused on a wide spectrum of measures, making safety considerations an integral feature of all operational activities from planning to organization to execution and supervision of work are emphasized in this article.

The recognition of work

The following article argues that recognition structures in work relations differ significantly in the sphere of paid work in contrast to unpaid work in private spheres. According to the systematic approach on recognition of Axel Honneth three different levels of recognition are identified: the interpersonal recognition, organisational recognition and societal recognition. Based on this framework it can be stated that recognition structures in the sphere of paid work and in private spheres differ very much. Whereas recognition in private spheres depends very much on personal relations, thus on the interpersonal level, recognition in employment relationships can be moreover built on organisational structures. Comparing recognition structures in both fields it becomes apparent, that recognition in field of employment can be characterised as much more concrete, comparable and measurable. Therefore, it can be concluded that the structural differences of recognition contribute to the high societal and individual importance of employment in contrast to unpaid work in private spheres.

Into a new phase of the research on restructuring of work in the knowledge society: the Third WORKS General Assembly in Sofia (Bulgaria)

The WORKS Project started two years ago (2005), involving the efforts of research institutes of 13 European countries with the main purpose of improving the understanding of the major changes in work in the knowledge-based society, taking account both of global forces and the regional diversity within Europe. This research meeting in Sofia (Bulgaria) aimed to present synthetically the massive amount of data collected in the case studies (occupational and organisational) and with the quantitative research during last year.

Flexicurity: Core Features of Portuguese Debate

According to the OECD, Portugal is an example of a country with a very high rigidity in the labour market. At the same time, Portugal is an example of a country with a high percentage or workers with short-term contracts. These conditions have led to an ongoing public discussion concerning the nee to introduce more flexibility while maintaining work security. In this paper we analyze the current situation concerning security and rigidity in the labour market and discuss the flexicurity in the Portuguese context.

Occupational Musculoskeletal Disorders in Europe: Impact, Risk factors and Preventive Regulations

The aim of this article is to characterize musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in EU working population according to available Eurostat data, to identify relevant risk factors and to refer existing legislation and standards to prevent MSDs. The following questions will be answered: How often do MSDs occur in EU? What are the risk factors? Do legislation and standards exist to prevent these disorders?

International Conference on “Foresight Studies on Work in the Knowledge Society“ in Monte de Caparica (FCT-UNL) on 19-20 October 2006

On 19 and 20 October 2006, the Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Organisation (IET) organised the first international conference on “Foresight Studies on Work in the Knowledge Society”. It took place at the auditorium of the new Library of FCT-UNL and had the support of the research project “CodeWork@VO” (financed by FCT-MCTES and co-ordinated by INESC, Porto). The conference related to the European research project “Work Organisation and Restructuring in the Knowledge Society” (WORKS), which is financed by the European Commission. The main objective of the conference was to analyse and discuss research findings on the trends of work structures in the knowledge society, and to debate on new work organisation models and new forms of work supported by ICT.

The quest for a balanced manpower capacity: different flexibility strategies examined

To cope with permanent fluctuations in demand, organizations are challenged to organize their manpower capacity in a flexible way. Different strategies of manpower planning are being used for this purpose. Using data from the 2002 Panel Survey of Organisations Flanders, we first verify to what extent temporal, contractual and functional flexibility strategies are applied in Flemish organizations. Subsequently, logistic regression is used to analyse the link between these flexible work strategies and a ‘fitting manpower capacity’. While the results show a negative association between the use of temporal or contractual flexibility measures and a balanced manpower capacity, functional flexibility seems to be positively related. The different logics in which numerical and functional flexibility proceed can be labeled as ‘curative’ versus ‘preventive’ strategies of flexibility. Further analyses discern between various interpretations of functional flexibility and assess whether different team types make a contribution to a fitting manpower capacity.

Editorial Note

Editorial note

Management Structure and Work Team Processes; Responsibilities and Responsiveness

This paper explores the management structure of the team-based organization. First it provides a theoretical model of structures and processes of work teams. The structure determines the team’s responsibilities in terms of authority and expertise about specific regulation tasks. The responsiveness of teams to these responsibilities are the processes of teamwork, in terms of three dimensions, indicating to what extent teams indeed use the space provided to them. The research question that this paper addresses is to what extent the position of responsibilities in the team-based organization affect team responsiveness. This is done by two hypotheses. First, the effect of the so-called proximity of regulation tasks is tested. It is expected that the responsibility for tasks positioned higher in the organization (i.e. further from the team) generally has a negative effect on team responsiveness, whereas tasks positioned lower in the organization (i.e. closer to the team) will have a positive effect on the way in which teams respond. Second, the relationship between the number of tasks for which the team is responsible with team responsiveness is tested. Theory suggests that teams being responsible for a larger number of tasks perform better, i.e. show higher responsiveness. These hypotheses are tested by a study of 109 production teams in the automotive industry. The results show that, as the theory predicts, increasing numbers of responsibilities have positive effects on team responsiveness. However, the delegation of expertise to teams seems to be the most important predictor of responsiveness. Also, not all regulation tasks show to have effects on team responsiveness. Most tasks do not show to have any significant effect at all. A number of tasks affects team responsiveness positively, when their responsibility is positioned lower in the organization, but also a number of tasks affects team responsiveness positively when located higher in the organization, i.e. further from the teams in the production. The results indicate that more attention can be paid to the distribution of responsibilities, in particular expertise, to teams. Indeed delegating more expertise improve team responsiveness, however some tasks might be located better at higher organizational levels, indicating that there are limitations to what responsibilities teams can handle.