Rupturas y continuidades en el mundo del trabajo : Trayectorias laborales y valoraciones subjetivas en un estudio de caso

En las últimas décadas, el mundo del trabajo se ha modificado drásticamente. Considerando que dichos cambios no sólo modificaron las estrategias materiales de vida de los trabajadores, sino también sus valoraciones y percepciones con respecto al trabajo y a sí mismos, en este estudio pretendemos indagar sobre la forma en que los sujetos enfrentaron tales fenómenos y las consecuencias que los mismos produjeron en sus subjetividades. Presentamos aquí un estudio de caso que se propone describir y analizar las trayectorias laborales, a lo largo de los últimos quince años, de los ex trabajadores de la empresa O.F.A., una mediana fábrica metalúrgica del Gran La Plata que cerró por quiebra en el año 1993. Dados los objetivos de investigación, hemos adoptado una perspectiva metodológica cualitativa utilizando el concepto de trayectoria laboral, que intenta poner de manifiesto la relación dinámica que se establece entre las condiciones estructurales y las estrategias que ponen en juego los sujetos. En primer lugar, planteamos la descripción de las trayectorias laborales analizadas, dando cuenta del trabajo en la empresa, las búsquedas laborales emprendidas y las inserciones laborales actuales. En segundo lugar, nos centramos en el análisis de las valoraciones y percepciones que tienen los trabajadores con respecto al trabajo pasado, al actual y a las transformaciones ocurridas a lo largo de sus trayectorias. Finalmente señalamos los principales resultados, concluyendo que a pesar de producirse el quiebre de las trayectorias, el trabajo sigue siendo un eje identitario estructurante en la vida de los trabajadores estudiados

Rupturas y continuidades en el mundo del trabajo : Trayectorias laborales y valoraciones subjetivas en un estudio de caso

En las últimas décadas, el mundo del trabajo se ha modificado drásticamente. Considerando que dichos cambios no sólo modificaron las estrategias materiales de vida de los trabajadores, sino también sus valoraciones y percepciones con respecto al trabajo y a sí mismos, en este estudio pretendemos indagar sobre la forma en que los sujetos enfrentaron tales fenómenos y las consecuencias que los mismos produjeron en sus subjetividades. Presentamos aquí un estudio de caso que se propone describir y analizar las trayectorias laborales, a lo largo de los últimos quince años, de los ex trabajadores de la empresa O.F.A., una mediana fábrica metalúrgica del Gran La Plata que cerró por quiebra en el año 1993. Dados los objetivos de investigación, hemos adoptado una perspectiva metodológica cualitativa utilizando el concepto de trayectoria laboral, que intenta poner de manifiesto la relación dinámica que se establece entre las condiciones estructurales y las estrategias que ponen en juego los sujetos. En primer lugar, planteamos la descripción de las trayectorias laborales analizadas, dando cuenta del trabajo en la empresa, las búsquedas laborales emprendidas y las inserciones laborales actuales. En segundo lugar, nos centramos en el análisis de las valoraciones y percepciones que tienen los trabajadores con respecto al trabajo pasado, al actual y a las transformaciones ocurridas a lo largo de sus trayectorias. Finalmente señalamos los principales resultados, concluyendo que a pesar de producirse el quiebre de las trayectorias, el trabajo sigue siendo un eje identitario estructurante en la vida de los trabajadores estudiados

Revisando el uso de grupos focalizados en la investigación social

Las reflexiones metodológicas sobre grupos focalizados (GF) de este artículo tienen como punto de partida una investigación con sectores medios del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. El estudio de referencia aborda los discursos y prácticas de cuidado de la salud en el escenario contemporáneo caracterizado por la diversificación de especialistas, la creciente cobertura mediática de recomendaciones sobre la vida sana y el bienestar, la implementación de políticas públicas de promoción de la salud, y el crecimiento de la industria de productos y servicios vinculados con la temática. El objetivo del artículo es reflexionar, a partir de nuestra experiencia de investigación, sobre dos aspectos que han recibido especial atención en la literatura metodológica más reciente: los criterios para componer los grupos y sus consecuencias para la dinámica de las conversaciones grupales, y las estrategias para dar cuenta de la interacción grupal en el análisis de los datos. En este último eje exploramos el potencial de los GF para observar el trabajo identitario vinculado con el cuidado de la salud. Enmarcamos nuestro estudio y las decisiones metodológicas tomadas en los debates actuales sobre la variedad de usos de los GF.

A longitudinal investigation of coping processes during a merger: Implications for job satisfaction and organizational identification

This study tested the utility of a stress and coping model of employee adjustment to a merger Two hundred and twenty employees completed both questionnaires (Time 1: 3 months after merger implementation; Time 2: 2 years later). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that positive event characteristics predicted greater appraisals of self-efficacy and less stress at Time 1. Self-efficacy, in turn, predicted greater use of problem-focused coping at Time 2, whereas stress predicted a greater use of problem-focused and avoidance coping. Finally, problem-focused coping predicted higher levels of job satisfaction and identification with the merged organization (Time 2), whereas avoidance coping predicted lower identification.

Cultural impact of wireless networks:emerging experiences in the healthcare sector

Culture defines collective behavior and interactions among people in groups. In organizations, it shapes group identity, work pattern, communication schemes, and interpersonal relations. Any change in organizational culture will lead to changes in these elements of organizational factors, and vice versa. From a managerial standpoint, how to cultivate an organizational culture that would enhance these aforementioned elements in organizational workplace should thus be taken into serious consideration. Based on cases studies in two hospitals, this paper investigates how organizational culture is shaped by a particular type of information and communication technology, wireless networks, a topic that is generally overlooked by the mainstream research community, and in turn implicates how such cultural changes in organizations renovate their competitiveness in the marketplace. Lessons learned from these cases provide valuable insights to emerging IT management and culture studies in general and in wireless network management in the healthcare sector in particular.

A moral economy of whiteness:behaviours, belonging and Britishness

This article outlines the complex stories through which national belonging is made, and some ways in which class mediates the racialisation process. It is based on fieldwork on the ways in which white UK people in provincial cities construct identities based on positioning vis-a`-vis other groups, communities and the nation. I argue that this relational identity work revolves around fixing a moral-ethical location against which the behaviour and culture of Others is measured, and that this has a temporal and spatial specificity. First, attitudinal trends by social class emerge in our work as being to do with emphasis and life experience rather than constituting absolute distinctions in attitudes. Second, in an era supposedly marked by the hegemony of ‘new’ or ‘cultural’ racism, bloodlines and phenotypes are still frequently utilised in race-making discursive work. Third, in provincial urban England, there is a marked ambivalence towards Britishness (as compromised by Others) and an openness to Englishness as a more authentic source of identification.

Managing wireless networks in the healthcare sector:emerging experiences of cultural impacts

The existing body of knowledge has generally supported that organizational culture plays a significant role in shaping group identity, work pattern, communication schemes, and interpersonal relations; all of these cultural elements are important organizational factors that shape workplaces and operational routines. In the context of emerging information technology, it has also been suggested that organizational culture could affect IT implementation and management. However, little is known about how emerging information technology shapes organizational culture, which in turn helps reshape the organization as a whole. The purpose of this paper is thus to build empirical understanding of how IT in general and emerging wireless networks in particular reshapes organizational culture. Case studies conducted in two hospitals situated in southwest U.S.A. illustrated that the implementation of wireless networks indeed helped shape and/or reshape organizational culture in the healthcare sector and in turn enhance healthcare organizations’ competitiveness in the marketplace. For IT managers and practitioners in healthcare institutions, effective strategy to plan and manage emerging ITs such as wireless networks will thus have long-term implications on cultivating organizational culture that could eventually reshape workplace and competitiveness.

Revisando el uso de grupos focalizados en la investigación social

Las reflexiones metodológicas sobre grupos focalizados (GF) de este artículo tienen como punto de partida una investigación con sectores medios del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. El estudio de referencia aborda los discursos y prácticas de cuidado de la salud en el escenario contemporáneo caracterizado por la diversificación de especialistas, la creciente cobertura mediática de recomendaciones sobre la vida sana y el bienestar, la implementación de políticas públicas de promoción de la salud, y el crecimiento de la industria de productos y servicios vinculados con la temática. El objetivo del artículo es reflexionar, a partir de nuestra experiencia de investigación, sobre dos aspectos que han recibido especial atención en la literatura metodológica más reciente: los criterios para componer los grupos y sus consecuencias para la dinámica de las conversaciones grupales, y las estrategias para dar cuenta de la interacción grupal en el análisis de los datos. En este último eje exploramos el potencial de los GF para observar el trabajo identitario vinculado con el cuidado de la salud. Enmarcamos nuestro estudio y las decisiones metodológicas tomadas en los debates actuales sobre la variedad de usos de los GF.

Espiritualidad y política: una propuesta tibetana para la transformación del orden mundial

La Revolución Espiritual promovida por el Dalai Lama plantea una unión entre espiritualidad y política. El proyecto de una ética universal, que se inscribe dentro de dicha Revolución, busca impactar la manera en que las relaciones internacionales se desarrollan, dándole prevalencia a los valores humanos. Sin embargo, esa proposición se encuentra ligada al contexto de exilio en el marco del conflicto sino-tibetano que afecta al continente asiático. Por esto, en la presente monografía, haciendo uso de los conceptos de marco de acción colectiva e identidad inscritos en la corriente de los movimientos sociales en la disciplina de las Relaciones Internacionales, se pretende determinar la relación entre identidad tibetana, marco de acción colectiva y la propuesta de una ética universal. Para ello se recurre, metodológicamente, a textos y a trabajo de campo en Bogotá. Así, se pretende establecer la relación entre espiritualidad y política como propuesta tibetana atravesada por el conflicto sino-tibetano.

Examining the effects of work externalization through the lens of social identity theory

This study examines whether dissimilarity among employees that is based on their work status (i.e., whether they are temporary or internal workers) influences their organization-based self-esteem, their trust in and attraction toward their peers, and their altruism. A model that is based on social identity theory posits that work-status dissimilarity negatively influences each outcome variable and that the strength of this relationship varies depending on whether employees have temporary or internal status and the composition of their work groups. Results that are based on a survey of 326 employees (189 internal and 137 temporary) from 34 work groups, belonging to 2 organizations, indicate that work-status dissimilarity has a systematic negative effect only on outcomes related to internal workers when they work in temporary-worker-dominated groups.

Literature, translation and national identity: Christina Rossetti and Rosalía de Castro in the work of Plácido Castro

Plácido Castro‘s work has aroused our interest, because it evolves around the question of Galician personality and identity. While working as a journalist and a translator or while writing essays on different literary issues, Plácido Castro has never forgotten his roots or his nation. One could even say that his whole life turns around Galicia. Our purpose is to make a critical analysis of his work, especially as a translator, and try to show how he used translation in order to develop national conscience and identity and to see how far his ideology interfered in the interpretation and translation of Rossetti‘s poetry, in which he found a great similarity with Rosalìa de Castro‘s work.

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...

The construction of infant and primary school teachers’ identity during their initial professional development and first years of work (Identidoc). Summary, main results and contributions

Educators who are currently beginning their professional career at any level of the educationalsystem and who will likely have to work during the next thirty to forty years will be takingpart in the education of individuals who, with the permission of prophets and doomsayers,will live part of their lives in the 22nd century. That long but simple statement causes a bit ofvertigo as well as a good amount of reflection on the part of we educators who were trainedin the 20th century, are working in the 21st century, and are responsible for preparing peopleto build a tomorrow that is already today (Millán and Sancho, 1995). This is the starting pointof our research groups’ interest in exploring how men and women who have graduated fromteacher education programs with specializations in infant and primary education learn to beteachers, and how they establish and position themselves as teachers during their university studies and the first years of their professional life...