*Identify the benefits and/or challenges workers confront in the article, and how these connect with the course readings for the topic;
*Reflect as a manager or policy maker and explain how appreciating worker interests as identified in the media report might contribute to certain actions by you to address it.
Assessment criteria will be:
Ability to identify the main issues/arguments presented in the media articles
Ability to identify the different concepts and perspectives on the changing future of work and how they can be applied to understand the issues raised in the media article.
Ability to clearly and concisely respond to the questions presented in the assignment template.
Ability to reflect as a manager or policy maker and explain how appreciating worker interests as identified in the media report might contribute to certain actions to address it.
Workin Global Society Assessment Three: Analysis of Contemporary Media Reporting on the World of Work
Assessment details:
Choose Four Media Articles discussed in four different tutorials between week 2-12 and complete the following template for each individual article
Student Details
· I declare that this is my own original work and that it has not been submitted by someone else or for any other subject.
What are the key ideas presented in the media article as they relate to concepts of work and employment raised in course readings? (max 200 word):
What are the benefits and/or challenges workers confront in the article, and how does this connect with the course readings? (max 200 words):
Reflecting on the issues identified in the media article and relevant readings, what actions do you think managers or policy makers should take to resolve them? (max 200 word):
What are the key ideas presented in the media article as they relate to concepts of work and employment raised in course readings? (max 200 word):
What are the benefits and/or challenges workers confront in the article, and how does this connect with the course readings? (max 200 words):
Reflecting on the issues identified in the media article and relevant readings, what actions do you think managers or policy makers should take to resolve them? (max 200 word):
What are the key ideas presented in the media article as they relate to concepts of work and employment raised in course readings? (max 200 word):
What are the benefits and/or challenges workers confront in the article, and how does this connect with the course readings? (max 200 words):
Reflecting on the issues identified in the media article and relevant readings, what actions do you think managers or policy makers should take to resolve them? (max 200 word):
What are the key ideas presented in the media article as they relate to concepts of work and employment raised in course readings? (max 200 word):
What are the benefits and/or challenges workers confront in the article, and how does this connect with the course readings? (max 200 words):
Reflecting on the issues identified in the media article and relevant readings, what actions do you think managers or policy makers should take to resolve them? (max 200 word):
References
Note: include full references to all media articles and academic articles referred to in your assignment
Work in a Global Society
Week 12 Management and the Future of Work
The Questions We Looked at in Week 1
Does management practice have any relationship to the type of society we have become?
Why is it important for management students to gain an appreciation of worker experiences?
How has business contributed to global instability?
Can workers, business and community prosper in this turbulent world order?
RMIT University
Slide 2
What Have We Seen?
Death of democratic capitalism
Fragmentation of the firm
Outsourcing/offshoring/franchising
Deindustrialisation
Fragmentation of employment
Unease over technological change
Seeming widespread exploitation
Enhanced managerial control
CSR/labour standards
RMIT University
Slide 3
3
How should Business School’s Respond?
Contrasting views:
Destroy the Business School (Parker)
Reform the Business School (Admati)
RMIT University
Slide 4
The Business School Needs to Be Bulldozed – Martin Parker
Business Schools a dangerous institution
Influential but regarded as intellectually fraudulent, fostering a culture of short-termism and greed
RMIT University
Slide 5
5
The Business School Needs to Be Bulldozed – Martin Parker
Assumes that some people need to be managed and that others have to manage them
It teaches market managerialism and acts as an apologist for immoral business practices and sells ideology as if it were a science
RMIT University
Slide 6
6
The Business School Needs to Be Bulldozed – Martin Parker
‘Virtues of capitalist market managerialism are told and sold as if there are no other ways of seeing the world’
Message is capitalism is inevitable and that the techniques for running it are a form of science
Concludes that this combination of ideology and technocracy make the business school such an effective and dangerous institution
RMIT University
Slide 7
Message is that there is a science of management that can be learned and make organisations work better in capitalist society
7
But has this always been the case?
Barnard (1938: xi) The Functions of the Executive
Though I early found out how to behave effectively in organisations, not until much later relegated economic theory and economic interests to a secondary though indispensable place, did I begin to understand organisations or human behaviour in them’
RMIT University
Slide 8
8
In Some Ways, Yes
The Chicago School and Friedman
‘Few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society than the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility to make as much money as possible for their shareholders as possible’
RMIT University
Slide 9
9
Human Resource Management as an Example
Applies theories of rational egoism to the management of people in organisations
Human beings akin to technological or financial resources
HR uninterested in what it is like to be a human being
The part of the organisation most likely to deal with organised resistance to managerial strategies
RMIT University
Slide 10
10
Common Assumptions in Business Schools
Market managerial forms of social order are desirable
Human behaviour seen through lens of rational egotism
Parker concludes that business ethics and CSR taught in Business Schools are a form of window dressing.
What is needed is to radically reimagine the Business School and social and economic relations
RMIT University
Slide 11
11
Parker’s Solution?
Parker argues students need to critically evaluate their ethical and political prejudices and understand ‘management’ as a historically and spatially specific form of organisation
RMIT University
Slide 12
12
The Crises of Democratic Capitalism
Collapse of the settlement between capital and labour
Attacks on trade unions
Rising inequality caused by cuts in public spending and deunionisation
Privatised Keynesianism’ ie replacement of public with private debt
Financial sector makes huge profits
Democratic crisis – ‘the markets’ dictate what states can and can’t do for their citizens
Voters see they no effective choice – Economic power has become political power
13
Parker’s Solution?
We need to think critically and pay attention to the global division of labour, what it is like to work on the minimum wage, inequality, the environment and the unaccountable powers of the corporation
RMIT University
Slide 14
An Alternative?
Conceptualise the company not merely as a vehicle for extracting shareholder value but as a social organisation where most people spend the greater part of their working lives and management has a duty to make it and environment in which people at all levels can develop their capabilities
Ask ourselves what forms of leadership and organisation are less likely to produce the inequality and damage which capitalism routinely produces
RMIT University
Slide 15
15
Don’t Destroy But Reform the Business School
“Business schools, especially in the U.S., have placed themselves at the center of the market capitalism system, teaching management and valuation techniques that determine key outcomes for the global economy. If we want to help restore trust in capitalism, we must think beyond the private sector and recognize the role of governments in making a capitalistic system work” Admati, 2019).
RMIT University
Slide 16
Don’t Destroy But Reform the Business School
“It’s time for business schools to do more – to think beyond the private sector, to acknowledge the role of government, and to emphasize the importance of good governance everywhere. As many are already rethinking the doctrine of shareholder primacy and advocating that corporations care for a broader set of stakeholders, it is also important to remember that protecting citizens is precisely what governments are supposed to do” (Admati, 2019).
RMIT University
Slide 17
What Can Business Schools Do?
Promote big-picture thinking about the broad and long-term impact of business practices.
Emphasize the importance of good governance mechanisms and actively discourage irresponsible use of power.
Set expectations for leaders to support democratic institutions and the democratic process.
Promote engagement with areas such as law, policy, and media.
Create opportunities to engage across social and economic groups.
Encourage civic engagement (Admati, 2019)
RMIT University
Slide 18
Detonate or Renovate?
RMIT University
Slide 19
Business Schools
Training Tomorrow’s Managers
The Future of Work
References
Parker, M and Pearson, G (2013) ‘What Should Business Schools Teach Managers?’, Business and Society Review, 118(1): 1-22.
Parker, M (2018) Why we should bulldoze the business school’, The Guardian , 27 April
Admati, A. (2019) ‘How Business Schools Can Help Restore Trust in Capitalism’ Harvard Business Review September 03
RMIT University
Slide 20
BUSM4559 Work in a Global Society
Topic 2 – Globalisation, Outsourcing and Offshoring
Last Week
Post War rise of democratic capitalism
Break up of settlement between capital and labour
Privatised Keynesianism
Rise of the market
Rising inequality
Political outcomes
Outcomes for workers, business and community
Objectives
Examine the corporation’s changing shape in the 20th and 21st century
Analyse the relationship between this and outsourcing and offshoring and the impact on work and jobs
Case study: Zara
Case study: Pyramid subcontracting in Singapore
The 20th Century Corporation
Davis (2013) argues that many of our problems the result of the collapse of the large corporation
Large corporation a 20th century phenomenon that had four functions
Production of goods and services
US 1930 top 200 corporations controlled 49% of corporate wealth
Employment
1970 10% US workers employed by 25 largest corporations
Social welfare
US corporations provided health and income security
Savings
Corporations provided pensions/superannuation
4
The 20th Century Corporation
Outcome was that in the US households were heavily dependent on the public corporation – other countries eg Australia, Britain less dependent
1960/70s mergers – corporations heavily diversified and large employers
1980s Wall St decided conglomerates undervalued and would be worth more if split up
Eg GE lost 25% of its 400,000 workforce between 1980-1985
Outcome – corporate economy less concentrated (Davis, 2013)
5
The 20th Century Corporation
1990s – further disaggregation of the corporation
Through disaggregation companies hope to reduce costs and risks and benefit from the ideas of their contractors or alliance partners
Outsourcing – the transfer of activities and processes previously conducted internally to an external party. It can be done both domestically and internationally (Hatonen and Eriksson, 2009)
Initially in 1980s done to reduce costs – usually domestically – managed through contracts – usually low level service work eg call centres
6
The 20th Century Corporation
1990s strategic outsourcing – strategic functions outsourced – closer relationships built with vendors to take advantage of their skills, knowledge and competences
Off shoring – the transfer of activities across national borders either through offshoring or FDI
Initially in the US jobs such as textile and car manufacturing
2000s had become the norm – improved ICT means global access pool available to all companies (Hatonen and Eriksson, 2009)
China – manufacturing
India – IT
7
The 20th Century Corporation
Companies, eg Apple, Ericsson, Sony sold their factories to concentrate on their “core competence” of design and brand management
Outcome is that the corporations owning the brand employ relatively few people
Growth of pension (superannuation) funds and retails investment has seen financial institutions become owners of corporations (financialisation or finance capitalism)
8
The 21st Century Corporation
BlackRock has $3.5 trillion in assets under management and was the single largest shareholder of 20% of US corporations
These included Exxon Mobil, Chevron, AT&T, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, GE and 800 others
Number of corporations reduced as mergers and acquisitions greater than initial public offerings
Many of the most powerful US corporations have disappeared or have stopped being American
9
The 21st Century Corporation
Franchising – a business relationship grounded in a licensing agreement between two firms
Business format franchising is defined as a continuing relationship between two parties that provides a full set of services and in which one party, the franchisee, sells goods or services supplied by or approved by the other party, the franchisor
Reasons for franchising
Access to capital
Access to managerial talent
Access to local market knowledge
Economies of scale in promotion, production and coordination (Gillis and Castrogiovanni, 2012)
10
What’s Happening to Work and Jobs?
Long term corporate employment largely obsolete
International division of labour
Outsourcing/offshoring
weakens labour’s bargaining power
Increases disparities in employment and working conditions (Fleck, 2009)
Outcomes
Precarious work eg casual work, short term contracts, seasonal and temporary work, subcontracting
Uberisation (week 6)
Underpayment evidence from franchises and horticulture
11
Social Costs
Increased inequality
Economies with small companies are more unequal
Decreased mobility
Job progression flat rather than linked to job ladders
Linked to rise of retail and decline of manufacturing
Uncertain employment
Pathways to employment increasingly obscure
Increasingly difficult to obtain jobs
Bleak finances
Student loans
Housing, retirement (Davis, 2013)
12
Zara – A Case Study
International retailers key driver of globalisation of the clothing industry
Zara unusual in that it owns 17 manufacturing subsidiaries in Spain. Most fast fashion retailers do not own manufacturing facilities and network with suppliers located in partially industrialised countries
Zara assisted by low wages costs
Introduced 11,000 items annually
But supply lines for Zara’s production chain extend into many of these partially industrialised countries
13
Manufacturing Specialisation
14
Zara – A Case Study
But has outsourced some design to Japan, South Korea etc and manufacture to China, Turkey and Bangladesh
Products with greater fashion component manufactured in its own factories
But as more countries able to manufacture high quality clothes it is increasingly shifting production there
Evidence that Zara’s distinctiveness fading and it is moving towards the industry norm
15
The Future
Reshoring – jobs being returned to US This has been brought about by
Customer dissatisfaction with offshored call centres
US wages declining
Long delivery times and shipping costs
Quality control
Physical separation of design and production workers
Intellectual property concerns (Levine, 2012)
Converge of countries – wealthy countries becoming less wealthy and poorer countries more wealthy?
16
Pyramid subcontracting
From British Columbia Law Institute, 2017
Pyramid subcontracting in Singapore
Amanda Wise (2013) notes that many of Singapore’s foreign workers are employed under ‘pyramid subcontracting’ arrangements:
“Almost all foreign workers are thought to pay agents embedded in transnational broking chains to help them come to Singapore and to secure work for them (Lindquist et al., 2012). These fees can sometimes amount to a year’s salary, which is typically borrowed from money lenders or family and friends at home, to be paid back with interest. A large proportion are employed by labour hire firms – some large but many more consisting of one-man operations, quite often in ‘partnerships’ with the recruiting agent in the home country. These firms subcontract the workers to other organisations, who are in turn often in a subcontracting relationship with a firm further up the supply chain. There is a high degree of precarity in these arrangements, and each layer in the chain ‘skims’ dollars off the top of the worker’s salary. There is also a great deal of ambiguity around who exactly is the employer, responsible for payment of salary and for issues like emergency medical care” (437).
Non-Resident Foreigners in Singapore
Singapore Government, 2017)
“This essentially means that majority of non-resident foreign workers in Singapore
are not here to compete with Singaporeans for high-paying professional
or managerial jobs. Rather they are here to help build our homes, keep
our roads clean, and make our lives just a little more comfortable”
(Singapore Government, 2017).
What are the implications for Singapore’s foreign workers?
Agent fees (reduction is income)
Difficulties in knowing who is their employer
Often expected to perform work and jobs that they had not agreed to (e.g. construction, office work, cleaning, general labouring).
Insecurity of pay and working conditions
Occupational health and safety concerns
Threats of ‘repatriation’ and denigration
Despair and disempowerment.
What are the implications for employers?
Moral detachment:
“Singaporeans are frequently shocked at media exposés of foreign worker abuse, which often involve labourers on construction sites for high-end office buildings, glossy central business district (CBD) shopping centres or more recently the famous Marina Bay Sands Casino complex (Chan, 2011). These multi-million-dollar (sometimes billion) projects are built by major international developers who have legitimate contractual arrangements with subcontractors, yet the most appalling exploitation takes place under the radar, hidden under multilayered subcontracting arrangements. Such arrangements have the effect of detaching and morally distancing the high end (multinationals) from the bottom of the supply chain (precariously employed low-wage labourers)” (Wise, 2013: 442).
Key Concepts and Essay Questions
Concepts
Outsourcing
Offshoring
Pyramid sub-contracting
Financialisation
Franchising
Questions
Are there alternatives to the corporation?
Are outsourcing and offshoring sustainable for corporations and society?
How has outsourcing and offshoring impacted on workers and employment?
Is franchising a sustainable business model?
References
Davis, G (2013) ‘After the Corporation’, Politics &Society, 41(2): 283-308.
Flecker, J (2009) ‘Outsourcing, Spatial Relocation and the Fragmentation of Employment’, Competition & Change, 13(3): 251-66.
Gillis, W and Castrogiovanni, G (2012) ‘The franchising business model: an entrepreneurial growth opportunity’, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 8(1): 75-98.
Hatonen, J and Eriksson, T (2009) ’30+ years of research and practice of outsourcing – Exploring the past and anticipating the future’, Journal of International Business, 15: 142-55.
References
Levine, L (2012) ‘Offshoring (or Offshore Outsourcing) and Job Loss Among US Workers, Cornell University ILR School
Peetz, D (2015) ‘Why franchises care more about their coffee than their people, The Conversation, 4 September, http://
theconversation.com/why-franchises-care-more-about-their-coffee-than-their-people-46948
Peetz, D (2016) ‘Why the death of employment is a dead idea’, The Conversation, 13 May, http://theconversation.com/why-the-death-of-employment-is-a-dead-idea-58736
References
Teicher, J and Veen, A (2015) ‘Are some franchises more likely to expolit their workers?’, The Conversation, 26 October, http://theconversation.com/are-some-franchises-more-likely-to-exploit-their-workers-49444
Tokatli, N (2008) ‘Global Sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry – the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer, Journal of Economic Geography, 8: 21-38.
Weil, D (2014) The Fissured Workplace, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
References
Wise, A (2013) ‘Pyramid sub-contracting and moral detachment: Down-sourcing risk and responsibility in the management of transnational labour in Asia’, Economic and Labour Relations Review, 24(3): 433-55.
Work in a Global Society
Topic 7 – Flexibility: A win-win?
1
Lecture & readings Recap
Individually:
Write a paragraph that summarises what this week’s topic is about. In doing so, it should answer:
What are the key themes/concepts for week 7?
We will then share some paragraphs as a class.
2
Precariat debate activity
The statement up for debate is as follows:
Guy Standing is correct in calling the Precariat a ‘dangerous’ new class.
If you are on the FOR side, you need to explain how/why the Precariat is significant, why it’s dangerous (and in what sense – dangerous to themselves? To the elite? To society in general? Etc).
If you are on the AGAINST side you need to explain how/why the precariat is not so significant, not so dangerous, perhaps it’s not really that ‘new’ a development under capitalism etc.
Each side will have 1 minute to make a short opening statement giving your overall argument directly responding to the statement and explaining why, referring to at least 1 of the required readings for this week and any other supporting evidence you can find as a group.
This will be followed by rebuttal from both sides – so take notes and listen actively and carefully to plan this, don’t just wait for your turn to speak.
Finally the floor will be opened to Q&A, one speaker at a time.
Several ‘judges’ will be pulled away from each team to help me choose the debate’s winner. Each of them will represent the interests of one particular group: either the Transnational Capitalist Class, the middle class, the Proletariat, or the Precariat.
8
Flexibility: A win-win?
7.30 – Casualisation
In this clip from 7.30, we hear from workers about their experience in casual employment, and how different groups view these trends.
Make sure you note down any key points made in the video.
9
This video is a bit older (2011), so optional if you wish to use it.
9
How is the COVID-19 response impacting on the workforce?
Divide into four groups. Each group will consider how the COVID-19 response has impacted on the workers in their category. The categories are:
Full-time workers
Part-time workers
Migrant workers
Unemployed workers
The precariat and gig workers
10
Analysing your data
Once each group member has conducted their interview, you will need to begin analysing the data to determine what you will discuss in your final report.
It might be easier for you to think about the body of your report in terms of 3-4 themes that you then discuss the data in relation to those themes.
13
Coding
Coding is the process of organising and sorting your data. Coding can be done in any number of ways, but it usually involves assigning a word, phrase, number or symbol to different statements in your interviews.
You might like to code with these questions in mind:
What is this saying? What does it represent?
What is this an example of?
What do I see is going on here?
What is happening?
What kind of events are at issue here?
What is trying to be conveyed?
14
Work in a Global Society
Week 6 ‘Flexibility’: a ‘win-win’?
Objectives:
Introduce definitions of different forms of employment (standard and non-standard) and relation to flexibility
Outline the historical context for the push towards increased flexibility
Explain how different forms of employment and flexibility are related
Introduce concepts of employer-orientated and worker-orientated flexibility; contingent work; and the precariat
Discuss the debates surrounding labour market ‘flexibility’
Highlight the tensions between flexibility and security
Highlight the gendered nature of workplace flexibility
RMIT University
Slide 2
2
Unemployment is low only because ‘involuntary’ part-time work is high
Business Insider 27 January 2019
A ‘third way’: the controversial push for a new type of worker
The Sydney Morning Herald 15 February 2019
Research confirms working mums are ‘up to 40% more stressed’
Women’s Agenda February 2019
For this generation, work is not all about money
Human Capital, 15 February 2019
RMIT University
Slide 3
The Rise of Flexible Work…
3
RMIT University
Slide 4
Source: Stanford (2016)
Who has a Good Job Anymore, Anyway?
(Australia 2015)
4
Standard vs Non-standard Work
Zeytinoglu’s (1999) typology of employment contracts distinguishes between standard and non-standard forms of employment. The typology is based on two criteria:
Regularity (or continuity) of employment
Hours of work
RMIT University
Slide 5
Standard
Employment Non-Standard Employment
Full-time work Part-time work
Temporary agency work
Contract company employment
Short-term employment
Contingent work
Independent contracting
‘Gig’ work
5
RMIT University
Slide 6
ILO 2016
6
Context and Drivers of Non-Standard Work
Why is non standard employment on the rise?
International Labour Organisation (2019)
RMIT University
Slide 7
7
Linking Non-Standard Work, Job Security & Flexibility
Non-standard work contracts may be linked with job insecurity & working time insecurity
Great heterogeneity between different forms of NSE within & between countries (Hipp et al 2015; Zeytinoglu & Webber 2002)
Permanent part-time work (generally) more secure than casual work
Job security depends on employment regulation protections for non-standard workers
Non-standard work provides flexibility to employers & some workers
But ‘hides the costs to the state and families that stem from freeing employers from responsibilities to guarantee wage income, employment continuity and working hours and provide social contributions’ (Rubery et al 2016)
RMIT University
Slide 8
.
8
Flexible Work: Whose Flexibility?
National labour market level:
Industry practice: construction, horticulture, retail (Reilly et al 2018)
Employment regulation: greater protections for permanent /standard workers (de Stefano & Aloisi 2018)
Cohort ‘preferences’, constraints & trade offs: young people, women, migrants, long hours work (Tomlinson 2007; Campbell & van Wanrooy 2013)
Organisational level:
Occupation & place in workplace hierarchy shapes access to worker-orientated flexibility
The ‘price’ of flexibility: low-paid non-career flexible ‘ghettos’ eg banking
Organisational culture – highly significant factor in facilitating or blocking flexibility & influencing if workers request flexibility (Skinner et al 2016)
“Flexibility that enables working carers to exert some control over their working time or place is a crucial basis for good-quality employment over the life course” (Pocock and Charlesworth 2017: 36)
RMIT University
Slide 9
9
Different Forms of Flexibility: Worker & Employer Centric Forms of Flexibility
Flexibility as demand-driven:
“Strategic initiative of employers to enhance the business requirements of the firm”
Employer perspective – flexibility by employees
Flexibility as supply-driven:
“Where employees have the ability to influence decisions about the nature of their work schedules for work-life balance”
Worker perspective – flexibility for workers
Sources: Zeytinoglu, Cooke & Mann (2009, p. 555); Peetz (2014)
RMIT University
Slide 10
10
Forms of Employer Flexibilities: Managerial perspective
RMIT University
Slide 11
Type of Flexibility Definition
Functional “How is labour used?”
Numerical “How much labour is used?”
Spatial “Where can labour be used?”
Temporal “When can labour be used?”
Technological “What technology can labour be made to use?”
Remuneration “How is labour remunerated?”
Based on Cooper et al. (2009) and Kuruvilla and Erickson (2002)
Flexibility is (often) about Managerial Prerogative & Control
11
The Rise of the Flexible Firm:
Core vs. Periphery model
RMIT University
Slide 12
Atkinson (1984), Manpower Strategies for Flexible Organisations
Pfeffer & Barron (1998) explain that firms decide to “externalize activities” for the following rationales:
Buffer for core workforce
(numerical flexibility)
Budgetary constraints
Focus on ’core activities’
Reduce pressures for ‘homogenization of wages’
Cost reduction – poorer conditions for peripheral worker
Pressuring ‘core’ workers
Resist ‘unionization’
12
Non-Standard/Flexible work: Part-time Work
Part-time work is regular wage employment in which the hours are less than full-time work (In Australia full-time work is 38 hours per week)
Changes in the extent & nature of part-time work
Before 1970s part-time work undertaken by women & young people who wanted to work part-time
Shift since 1970 there have been an increasing number of people in part-time work who would prefer to work full-time – rising underemployment
Shifts from supply driven (worker preference) to demand driven (employer preference) flexibility
RMIT University
Slide 13
Voluntary Involuntary
Part-timers Part-timers
13
Rise of Part-Time Work
In Australia, 8.3% of workers (mainly part-time) underemployed (ABS 2018)
Of male employees 6.7% are underemployed vs 10.7% female employees
Community & personal service workers = 21% underemployed
Worker reasons for part-time work (Reserve Bank 2017)
So why do some employers prefer part-timers?
Cost-containment (less wages, less fringe benefits)
Meet staffing needs (‘temporal & numerical flexibility’)
Yet for part-time workers often a ‘part-time penalty’ (i.e. less pay for similar work) (e.g. Manning & Petrongolo 2008; Bardasi & Gornick 2008)
Most developed countries part-timers earn less per hour than full-timers, even when relevant factors taken into account
Australia a notable exception? (Booth & Wood 2008) – Preston & Yu (2014) find part-time wage gap for women affected by ’casual’ status
Workers may experience ‘part-time stigma’ (e.g. Fuchs Epstein et al. 1999)
Part-time work can have a ‘scaring’ effect on women workers careers (Biewen et al 2018)
RMIT University
Slide 14
Part-time Employment Figures across the OECD
14
Rise of ‘Contingent’ /Precarious Work
Contingent/precarious work may be defined as “any job in which an individual does not have an explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment or one in which the minimum hours worked can vary in a nonsystematic manner” (Polivka & Nardone 1989, p. 11 emphasis added).
The characteristics of contingent work:
Short-term
Unstable employment
Job-insecurity
Varies not only by form of employment but by occupation, gender & race (Vosko & Cranford 2008)
“I’m simply like a cover, weekend cover, that’s what they say and my contract is like that. I can tell them I don’t want to work. I don’t have to give them any notice, but they can also terminate my contract at any time.”
Source: McDowell, Batnitzky & Dyer (2009, p. 17)
RMIT University
Slide 15
15
Non-Standard/Flexible work: Casual Work
In Australia casual employees are those who are not entitled to paid holiday or sick leave but who are entitled to a casual loading (25%)
“While many casual employees value the flexibility of arrangements which enable them to balance work with family, study or other non-work activities, others may find themselves in less than favourable employment arrangements.” (ABS 2010)
In 2018 casual employees made up around 24% (ABS 2018) of all employees – casual employment relatively static over last 20 years
RMIT University
Slide 16
16
Casual Work in Australia
Screen Shot
RMIT University
Slide 17
Non-Stndard/Flexible work: Casual Work
Source: Parliamentary Library 2018
17
Gendered Face of Casual Work in Australia
RMIT University
Slide 18
Source: Parliamentary Library 2018
Contract Employment
Subcontractors provide a product or service. Organizations’ rationales for ‘contracting out’ work include:
Meet increased demand
Reduce costs
Source external expertise
Generally contractors supervise their own employees (in contrast to ‘temporary agency work’). However, contractor status can give rise to:
Safety issues on site
Reduced training opportunities employees
Trend of contracting out ‘non-core’ functions
E.g. cleaning, catering services
Concern about increasing trend of ’sham contracting’ / ‘false-self employment
’
RMIT University
Slide 19
19
Definition: (1) Not employed by company and (2) responsible for own taxes
(for more detailed criteria in Australia see Fair Work Ombudsman’s website
Generally given specific instructions for final product or result of work
Genuine contractors have a considerable level of discretion and control
how work is performed
Advantages of ‘independent contractors’ for companies include:
Buying in specific service, knowledge, task
Contracting out of risk
Not vicariously liable for actions contractors
Potential cost advantages, such as Reduction tax
& employment contributions
(incl. payroll taxes, WorkCover, Super Annuation, etc.)
Independent Contractors
RMIT University
Slide 20
‘Dependent’ contractors ‘Independent’ contractors
See Kalleberg (2000)
20
Temporary Agency Work:
Employment through Intermediaries
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Employment contract
Employees work under supervision of the organisation
Labour hire contract
’Triangular Employment Relationship’
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Temporary Agency Worker
Firm
Agency
Temporary Agency Work:
Employment through Intermediaries
Exponential growth since the 1980s in temping & staffing
Functions as a “reserve labor army” (Kalleberg 2000)
Agencies employ workers and send them to customers on an hourly basis at the client’s premises and direction
Rise of long-term temping contracts. Temping becomes part of the HR strategy, creating a fragmentation of workforce
At times deliberately used to undermine existing labour standards and underpay workers – see e.g. Four Corners ‘Slaving Away’
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Fragmentation caused by ‘temping’ in the German Care Manufacturing Industry
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Temporary Agency Work:
‘Temps’ as “Managerial ‘Weapons”
Hatton (2014) analyzed how US employer used ‘temp’ workers to restructure their relations with their existing workforces and found that ‘temps’ could be used as a ‘management weapon’ in four ways:
To prevent existing worker from unionizing
To weaken existing unions in workplaces
To put pressure on unions and workers during collective bargaining
To intimidate or harass striking workers
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Why Workers opt for Non-Standard ‘Flexible’ Forms of Employment?
Heterogeneous group, hence differing motivations, including:
Work-family responsibilities
Search for permanent position
Temp-to-permanent conversion
Develop skills to transition to permanent job
Flexible work-practices suit lifestyle needs
e.g. older workers reducing # hours
rather than retiring
Lack of alternative employment options
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The Rise of the Precariat
Professor Guy Standing discusses The Precariat
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Source: Standing (2010, 10)
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Supply Driven Flexibility
Flexibility for Workers
Worker-centric flexibility revolves
around temporal and spatial form of flexibility.
(e.g. part-time work, flexi-time)
Why do people make requests for more flexible work arrangements?
Family-caring responsibilities, e.g. childcare
Study
Leisure
Work-life balance
Motivations are, however, gendered (Skinner & Pocock 2011, p. 74):
Women mainly seek flexibility for childcare and study needs
Men are more likely to be seek more interesting work or more pay or more hours.
Almost 1 in 3 Australian workers would like more flexible work arrangements (AWALI 2014)
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Work-Life Conflict
Lack of flexible work can result in work-life conflict (AWALI 2014)
Work-Life Conflict is the intersection of individual’s working and personal lives and potential conflicts between them. The quality/characteristics of (family/personal) “life” and work impact on each other. (Kirby et al. 2013, p. 377)
Henly & Lamber (2014) conducted research on work-life conflict in the retail industry and found that unpredictable work schedules are related to:
General work-life conflict
Time-based conflict
Strain-based conflict (employee stress).
Employees ability to influence work schedules, on the other hand, had a negative association with these outcomes.
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Right to Request
Flexible Working Arrangements
What is it?
Procedural right. Adopted by number of countries, incl. UK and Australia
Workers can request management to consider flexible schedules, work hours, or alternative places of work to facilitate caring responsibilities.
Goal is that employee can engage in paid work & undertake family roles
Employer, however, has the ”right to refuse”
Research found that problems with existing provisions in Australia are that (Cooper & Baird 2015; Skinner & Pocock 2014; AWALI 2014) :
Certain workers are excluded because of the nature of their work
Because the right is procedural rather than substantive, there is only limited enforceability
“[The] provision has had absolutely no discernible effect on flexibility request-making by Australian workers: basically those who feel secure about asking, ask – and mostly get what they ask for. They have reciprocal respectful arrangements with their supervisor/employers – and they ask from a place of relative power. Those who do not, do not ask.” (Pocock 2016, p. 157)
Workplace flexibilities can result in increased levels of job satisfaction (Cotti, Haley & Miller 2014, p. 403).
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Is Flexicurity an Alternative ‘Win’-’Win’ Model?
From a societal perspective ‘flexibility’ and ‘security’ do not inherently have to be contradictory concepts, if properly designed they can be mutually supportive policies
It requires, however, complex and multidimensional political strategy to enhance both labour market flexibility and social security (aiming for ‘win’-’win’ approach) – rethinking the concepts of both and integration various policy areas.
Flexicurity model (simplified):
Easier to ‘hire-and-fire’ for employers
In return, generous welfare provisions
for workers, including retraining
opportunities
Crucial role for the State as facilitator
Countries that adopted aspects of flexicurity:
Denmark and the Netherlands
Flexicurity under austerity?
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See e.g. Madsen (2006); Wilthagen & Tross (2004), Hastings & Heyes 2018
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Conclusion
Rise in non-standard forms of employment since the 1980s.
These non-standard forms have direct implications for job security, and can pose a threat, to standard forms of employment because they are less protected or unprotected by labour laws
Growth of non-standard work increases pressure on core workers to accept more flexibility
Affects different groups of workers differently, worker-carers, young people, migrants
The trend towards these non-standard forms of employment should be considered in light of changing organisational strategies adopted in response to increased competitive pressures (incl. market liberalization, privatizations, and globalization) as well as new management theorizing.
Not all non-standard jobs low-quality jobs, but a large proportion of them are
Tensions between employment ‘security’ and workplace ‘flexibility’ (from a managerial perspective) nothing new
Need to distinguish between different forms of flexibility
Demand Driven Flexibilities: Employer centric
Supply Driven Flexibilities: Worker centric
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Key concepts and questions:
Concepts:
Types and forms of standard and non standard employment :
Employer and worker-orientated flexibility
The Flexible Firm
Contingent work
The Precariat
Questions:
Is flexibility a win for workers and a win for employers? Discuss drawing upon the debates raised in class and in the readings.
In what ways is non-standard work and precariousness becoming the ‘new normal’ in globalised labour markets and what are the implications of this development for workers and workers rights?
What are the challenges for different groups of workers, businesses, and society in relation to the rise of non-standard forms of work?
How might worker preferences for flexibility be accommodated while meeting the flexibilities sought by employers?
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Key Readings Week 6
Atkinson (1984), ‘Manpower Strategies for Flexible Organisations’, Personnel management, 16(8), p. 28-31.
AWALI (2014), ‘Australian Work and Life Index: The Persistent Challenge: Living, Working and Caring in Australia in 2014’, Centre for Work+Life.
International Labour Organization [ILO] (2016) Non-standard employment around the world: Understanding challenges, shaping prospectsKalleberg, A.L. (2000) ‘Non-standard employment relations: part-time, temporary and contract work’, Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 341-365,
Kalleberg, A. (2000) ‘Non-standard employment relations: part-time, temporary and contract work’, Annual Review of Sociology, p. 26, 341-365
Rubery, J., Keizer, A., & Grimshaw, D. (2016). Flexibility bites back: the multiple and hidden costs of flexible employment policies. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(3), 235-251
Standing, G. (2011) ‘Chapter 1. The Precariat’, in G. Standing, The Precariat: The New dangerous Class, Bloomsbury Academic, p. 1-25
Wooden, M. & Warren, D. (2004) ‘Non-standard employment and job satisfaction: evidence from the HILDA Survey’, Journal of Industrial Relations, 46, p. 275-297
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Lecture References
Atkinson (1984), ‘Manpower Strategies for Flexible Organisations’, Personnel management, 16(8), p. 28-31.
AWALI (2014), ‘Australian Work and Life Index: The Persistent Challenge: Living, Working and Caring in Australia in 2014’, Centre for Work+Life https://www.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/episerver-6-files/documents/eass/cwl/publications/awali_2014_national_report_final
Bardasi, E., & Gornick, J. C. (2008). Working for less? Women’s part-time wage penalties across countries. Feminist economics, 14(1), 37-72.
Biewen, M., Fitzenberger, B., & de Lazzer, J. (2018). The role of employment interruptions and part-time work for the rise in wage inequality. IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 7(1), 10.
Booth, A. & Wood, M. (2006) ‘Back-to-front Down-under? Part-time/Full-time Wage differentials in Australia’. IZA DP No. 2268, Institute for the Study of Labor, p. 1-30
Campbell, I., & van Wanrooy, B. (2013). Long working hours and working-time preferences: Between desirability and feasibility. Human Relations, 66(8), 1131-1155.
Cranford, C. J., & Vosko, L. F. (2006). Conceptualizing precarious employment: Mapping wage work across social location and occupational context. Precarious employment: Understanding labour market insecurity in Canada, 43-66.
Fuchs Eptsein, C., Serron, C., Oglensky, B. & Sauté, R. (1999) ‘The Part-time Paradox: Time Norms, Professional Life, Family and Gender’, London, Routledge
Hastings, T., & Heyes, J. (2018). Farewell to flexicurity? Austerity and labour policies in the European Union. Economic and Industrial democracy, 39(3), 458-480.
Henly, J.R. & Lambert, S.J. (2014). Unpredictable work timing in retail jobs: Implications for employee work–life conflict. ILR Review, 67(3), p. 986-1016.
Hipp, L., Bernhardt, J., & Allmendinger, J. (2015). Institutions and the prevalence of nonstandard employment. Socio-Economic Review, 13(2), 351-377.
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Lecture References
International Labour Organization [ILO] (2016) Non-standard employment around the world: Understanding challenges, shaping prospects https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_534326
Kalleberg, A. (2000) ‘Non-standard employment relations: part-time, temporary and contract work’, Annual Review of Sociology, p. 26, 341-365
Kirby, E., Wieland, S. & McBride, M. (2013). Work–life conflict. In J. G. Oetzel & S. Ting-Toomey The SAGE handbook of conflict communication (pp. 377-402). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781452281988.n16
Madsen, P.K. (2006) ‘Flexicurity – a new perspective on labour markets and welfare states in Europe’ http://docs.minszw.nl/pdf/35/2006/35_2006_3_8623
Manning, A. & Petrongolo, B. (2008) ‘The Part-Time Pay Penalty for Women in Britain’, The Economic Journal, 11 (526), F28-F51
McDowell, L., Batnitzky, A., & Dyer, S. (2009). Precarious work and economic migration: emerging immigrant divisions of labour in Greater London’s service sector. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33(1), 3-25.
Parliamentary Library (2018) Characteristics and use of casual employees in Australia https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1718/CasualEmployeesAustralia
Peetz, D (2014) ‘The Choices We Make: A ‘sliding doors moment’, Griffith Review, 45: 44-58.
Pocock, B., & Charlesworth, S. (2017). Multilevel work–family interventions: Creating good-quality employment over the life course. Work and Occupations, 44(1), 23-46.
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Lecture References
Polivka A.E. (1996) ‘Contingent and alternative work arrangments, defined’, Monthly Labor Review, 119 (10), p. 3-9
Preston, A. (2003). Gender earnings and part‐time pay in Australia, 1990–1998. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(3), 417-433.
Reserve Bank (2017) The Rising Share of Part-time Employment Bulletin September Quarter 2017 https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/sep/3.html.
Rubery, J., Keizer, A., & Grimshaw, D. (2016). Flexibility bites back: the multiple and hidden costs of flexible employment policies. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(3), 235-251.
Skinner, N. & Pocock, B. (2011) ‘Flexibility and Work-Life Interference in Australia’, Journal of Industrial Relations, 53(1), p. 65-82
Standing, G. (2011) ‘Chapter 1. The Precariat’, in G. Standing, The Precariat: The New dangerous Class, Bloomsbury Academic, p. 1-25.
Stanford, J. (2016) ‘A Portrait of Employment Insecurity in Australia: Infographic’, http://www.futurework.org.au/a_portrait_of_employment_insecurity_in_australia_infographic
Tomlinson, J. (2006). Women’s work-life balance trajectories in the UK: Reformulating choice and constraint in transitions through part-time work across the life-course. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 34(3), 365-382.
Wilthagen, T. & Tros, F. (2004) ‘The concept of ‘flexicurity’: a new approach to regulating employment and labour markets’, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, Vol 10 (2), p. 166 – 186
Zeytinoglu, I. U. & C. Weber (2002). “Heterogeneity in the Periphery: An Analysis of Non-standard Employment Contracts.” Flexible Work Arrangements: Conceptualizations and International Experiences. I. U. Zeytinoglu, ed. The Hague, The Netherlands: Kluwer Law International, 13–24.
Zeytinoglu, I.U. (1999) ‘Flexible Work arrangements: An Overview of Developments in Canada’, in I.U. Zeytinogle, Changing Work Relationships in Industrialized Economies, Amsterda, John Benjamins Publishing Company, p.41-58
Zeytinoglu, I.U., Cooke, G.B. & Mann, S.L. (2009). ‘Flexibility: Whose choice is it anyway?’ Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 555-574.
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Work in a Global Society
Topic 12 Tutorial – Management and the Future of Work
Week 12: Reflecting on Course Learnings
The Emergence of a global capitalist society
challenges to democratic capitalism
the characteristics of waged labour and employment
Fragmentation of the firm
Outsourcing/offshoring/franchising
Deindustrialisation
Fragmentation of employment
The ‘gig’ economy
Casualisation
Rapid technological change and uncertainty
Seeming widespread exploitation
Migrant workers
International students
Enhanced managerial control
The rise of corporate social responsibility and opportunities to improve labour standards?
Changing skill requirements and the ‘enterprising-self’
What have you taken away from this course?
What have you acquired by doing this course?
Knowledge?
Skills?
Other?
Are there areas we could do better? Other topics we should cover?
Knowledge?
Skills?
Other?
What should be the role of the business school and management education?
Let’s compare two contrasting views:
Parker, M (2018) Why we should bulldoze the business school’, The Guardian , 27 April
Admati, A. (2019) ‘How Business Schools Can Help Restore Trust in Capitalism’ Harvard Business Review September 03
Interview with Martin Parker:
Do you agree with Martin Parker’s assessment of business schools?
According to Admati, business schools can help restore trust in capitalism
Do you agree with this argument?
Should this be the role of the business school?
Lecture Recap
In groups, discuss:
What was the weeks 4 lecture about?
What were the major themes/ideas that you got out of it?
How are the weeks linked?
Is there anything you didn’t understand/would like clarity on?
I want each group to write their key points on the whiteboard.
2
2
Key concepts and essay questions:
Concepts:
Technological determinism
Technocracy
Technological imperative
Questions:
How has technology impacted on the changing nature of work?
Is technology a job killer? What jobs are most at risk?
When should workers embrace or resist new technology?
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Slide 3
Readings
Penny, L (2015) ‘The Robots are Coming for Your Job. That might not be bad news.’, New Statesman, 9-15 October, http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/10/robots-are-coming-your-job-might-not-be-bad-news
Healy, J., Nicholson, D., & Parker, J. (2017). Guest editors’ introduction: technological disruption and the future of employment relations. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 27(3): 157-64
Volti, R (2012) An Introduction to the Sociology of Work and Occupation, Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp. 77-94, , https://primo-direct-apac.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=RMIT_ALMA11136534530001341&context=L&vid=RMITU&search_scope=Books_articles_and_more&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US
Will technological change make your job obsolete?
Will technological change only impact unskilled labour intensive jobs?
See: Furman reading ‘Is this time different?’; Smith ‘Public predictions for the future of workforce automation’ (2016)
Which occupations are most vulnerable to technological change?
See: Penny ‘The robots are coming for your jobs’ (2015); Ehrenreich ‘Rise of the robots and ‘shadow work’’ (2015)
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Four Corners – Future Proof – Technology and Job Destruction and Creation
Four Corners – Future Proof Technology, job creation and
destructionLinks
to an external site.
In this Four Corners clip, a number of commentators explore the impact of technology in the past on the number and types of jobs and make predictions about the impact of technology on the number and types of jobs in the future.
As we watch the clip I want you to make notes about the numbers and types of jobs that will disappear and evaluate their arguments. Do you agree or disagree?
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Technology and the Trade Union
The trade union for warehouse workers, The National Union for Workers, has been receiving call from members concerned that over the next 10 years their jobs will be both lesser in number and deskilled. They have you as an expert in this area to tell them if they should be concerned and what if anything they should do.
In groups of no more than 5, produce a table that provides reasons why the union members should and should not be concerned about their jobs.
You should do some research about this issue and can use the lecture, the Four Corners clip, the readings for week 4 and your own research.
Once you have created your table, I would like you to discuss the following questions as a group (we will then discuss as a class):
If technology has created jobs in the past, need it do so in the future?
Which jobs are most at risk of being replaced by technology in the next 20 years?
How has technology impacted people’s working conditions?
When should members resist technological change?
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When you form your groups, you should do the following:
Develop a timeline for completing the assignment (factoring in the due date of the assignment in week 10)
Think about the weekly topic(s) from the unit that you will focus your study on
Discuss who you have available to interview (friends or family) who may have relevant experience to your chosen topic
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The COVID-19 Context
Will COVID-19 make a difference to young worker experiences and their experience of dignity at work?
Watch this very short ILO video on the COVID-19 youth employment crisis
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/multimedia/video/institutional-videos/WCMS_747250/lang–en/index.htm
Topic 4 -Technological Change and the Future of Work
Technology
Objectives:
Introduce the concept of technology and technological change
Discuss some of the common assumptions about technology and the contrasting views about the impact of technology on the world of work
Identify which jobs and occupations might be at most risk to automation.
Analyse the relationship between technology, management and employees.
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Key concepts and essay questions:
Concepts:
Technological determinism
Technocracy
Technological imperative
Questions:
How has technology impacted on the changing nature of work?
Is technology a job killer? What jobs are most at risk?
When should workers embrace or resist new technology?
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Slide 3
Readings
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Slide 4
Volti
, R., (2012),
An Introduction to the Sociology of Work and Occupations,
Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp.77-94
Corbett, J (2009) ‘Technology’ in Spicer A and Hancock, P (eds) Understanding Corporate Life, Warwick: Warwick Organisation Theory Network: Sage Publications: London
Healy, J., Nicholson, D., & Parker, J. (2017). Guest editors’ introduction: technological disruption and the future of employment relations. Labour & Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work, 27(3): 157-64
Thinking about Technology
A critical exploration of the claims and counterclaims of the relationship between technology and progress and technology’s impact on the world of work.
‘Why do we take so little for granted in the social sciences and so much for granted in the natural sciences?…what happens when you apply the scepticism normally reserved for social relations to technology?’ (Grint and Woolgar, 1997, 37).
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Thinking Point:
Technology does not emerge from an objective exercise in problem solving.
Technology should not be thought of as an “end point”
If we focus on capturing technology as the end of a process, then we miss out on the human interactions, resistance and expertise!!
Please remember this when you become a consultant
Defining Technology
‘Technology’ is a fairly new word—coined by Jacob Bigelow, Harvard professor, in the 1820s.
Roots of the word are much older:
Techne (Greek): art, craft or skill
Teks (Indo-Euro): weave or fabricate
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Defining Technology
Knowledge that is produced or articulated:
‘A system based on the application of knowledge, manifested in physical objects and organisational forms for the attainment of specific goals which maybe for practical reasons, symbolic reasons or for reasons of generating profit’.
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Do we take these definitions for granted?
Or are these definitions underpinned by a analytical tradition?
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Technology and Progress
Our lives are intertwined with technologies from simple tools to large technical systems.
Some common assumptions about technology are:
Technological change is usually one of continuous improvements of existing technologies.
‘We’ can always make things better and faster.
The progressive element of technology makes it a unique human endeavour.
Advances in technology bring positive advances to an organisation and the world of work
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Technology and Progress
An organisation’s level of progress can be measured in its advances in technology.
It determines organisational design and the nature of work
is developed according to a particular ‘logic’, process or universal law.
Does evidence support these claims? Totally? Partially? Not at all?
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Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technological Determinism:
‘The assumption that technology determines—that is leads directly to—a particular form of society or organisation’ Grint and Case (1998)
We are the ‘servants’ of technology rather than its ‘master’ (‘Frankenstein Monster’)
Robert Blauner concludes in his research on work in American industries that:
‘technology more than any other factor determines the nature of the job tasks performed by blue collar employees and has an important effect upon a number of aspects of alienation’ ? (Blauner 1964).
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Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technocracy
That organisations can be governed by engineers and technical experts (scientific managers) who attempt to solve workplace problems’ based on technical/scientific principles.
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Technocrats believe technology can ‘fix’ all problems:
Car accidents seat belts, air-bags
Hyper active kids Retalin (prescription drugs)
Heroine addiction methadone
Graffiti resistant paints
Dangerous jobs robotics
Global warming carbon capture and storage/geosequestration
‘Ugly people’ cosmetics/cosmetic surgery
‘Lazy’ workers surveillance equipment robots
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Technology Driven Organisations?: Key Concepts
Technological Imperative:
The view that the development of new technologies are inevitable, essential and must be embraced for the betterment of workers, organisations and broader society.
It is a dominant (hegemonic view) but should we accept such a view:
“Western society has accepted as unquestionable a technological imperative that is quite as arbitrary as the most primitive taboo: not merely the duty to foster invention and constantly to create technological novelties, but equally the duty to surrender to these novelties unconditionally, just because they are offered, without respect to their human consequences” (Lewis Mumford) (Philosopher of technology 1895-1990)
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While some embrace technology
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……………………..
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others question the technological imperative.
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Technology as Socially Determined
Technologies are not neutral:
They are designed, consciously or unconsciously, to open up certain social options and close others
Not only are some design features of technology political in nature but some technologies in their entirety are political (e.g. development of the internet).
Mackenzie and Wajcman (1999) argue that this promotes a passive attitude to technological change (i.e. that we should adapt to it rather than shape it).
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Technology as socially determined
Technology as socially determined
Technological changes are themselves socially engineered and all human relationships (including organisational relationships) are derived from and ultimately determined by cultural and/or social relationships rather than technological aspects.
Technologies have different meanings to different groups
“..technology is not a pure application of science; it is co-determined by social, cultural, economic and technical factors in the environment that contextualizes it”
(Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006: 155).
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Two Divergent Theoretical Perspectives:
Is the impact of technology determined by characteristics of the technology itself (technological determinism) or by the choices made by the adapting social organisation and its powerful actors (social determinism)?
Is technology a ‘good thing (positive social impact) or a ‘bad’ thing (negative social impact)? (Corbett, 2009)
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Theories of Technology
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Source: Corbett (2009)
Theories of Technology
Corbett (2009) argues technology is written about from four perspectives
Futurism – technology brings positive benefits for all eg freedom from the drudgery of work, better communications etc
Managerialism –behaviour is oriented towards efficiency and economy and the control of employee behaviour by managers
Romanticism – technology undermines ‘natural’ human values and abilities ie ideological choices are made by designers and these constrain choices available to organisational members
Marxism – capitalists employ technology to control and deskill labour ie it is used to exploit and degrade workers
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What is this?
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Slide 22
Freeing workers from boring repetitive jobs (Futurism),
enhancing company efficiency (Managerialist) or
the mass destruction of workers jobs (Marxism)?
Critical Perspectives about Technology’s Impact on the World of Work
Harry Braverman’s Labor and Monopoly Capitalism (1974)
Key arguments:
Technology is used as a tool by management for ‘technical control’
Through the process of deskilling and work degradation, all employees are finding themselves in a similar disempowered and alienated position.
All work is becoming the same and workers are becoming extensions of machines.
Under the ‘logic’ of capitalism ‘deskilling’ is a universal process and the skilled craft worker is becoming extinct.
Through ‘deskilling’ workers have lost control over the production process and are largely powerless to stop any workplace changes (e.g. technological change, the hiring and firing of workers, managerial decision-making, shift rosters, speedup, etc.)
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Technology and Job Design
Cockburn (1983) and Wajcman (1991) found that gender related to the social construction of technology and skills development
‘men selectively design tools and machinery to match their technical skills. Machinery is designed with men in mind. Industrial technology thus reflects male power as well as capitalist domination’ (Wajcman, 1991: 41)
Managerialist researchers (e.g. Mathews, 1989) argue workers are often ‘upskilled’ when technologies are introduced
But most managerialist researchers (e.g. Hackman and Oldham, 1980) confess that technological design choices may constrain job design choices.
Other researchers (e.g. Wilkinson, 1983; Wood, 1989) found that employees were often able to resist management’s deskilling strategies
.
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Slide 24
Technology and Organisational Culture
Technology and corporate culture only studied from 1990s as eg email and intranets appeared
Managerialists eg Grant et al (2006) suggests a complex picture where technologies bring both benefits eg faster work rate and workflow efficiency gains and costs to organisations eg increased stress
But the managerial narrative about this defines the ‘costs’ as affecting business efficiency and performance rather than in social or psychological terms
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Slide 25
Technology and Organisational Culture
Romanticists eg Zuboff (1988) see problems in the electronic surveillance of workforces by management (electronic panopticon).
Other Romanticists eg Mann and Holdsworth (2003) argue that choices such as teleworking create impersonality and isolation.
Marxists eg Bain et al (2002) suggest that management’s use of surveillance in call centres enables the continuation of Taylorist methods into the 21C
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Slide 26
Technology and the Future of Jobs
Four main propositions:
Workers are being displaced by ever more advanced machines resulting in rising levels of technological unemployment
This is a sign we are on the verge of achieving a largely automated society
This should entail people’s liberation from toil but could turn into a nightmare
Only way to prevent this is to provide a Universal basic Income (UBI) (Benanav, 2019)
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Slide 27
Technology and Future of Jobs
What is different about this time?
We need to understand two concepts:
Labour augmenting technologies – jobs continue to exist but the workers are more productive ie a labour saving innovation
Automation technologies – fully substitute for human labour rather than just increasing productivity ie the jobs cease to exist
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Slide 28
Technology and the Future of Jobs
This argument is put forward by a number of self-described futurists:
Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014) The Second Machine Age – they argue new technology offers enormous potential. Many jobs from across the spectrum will disappear
Ford (2015) The Rise of the Machines – we are coming to a tipping point where less labour needed
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Slide 29
Frey and Osborne (2017) – 47% of US jobs are susceptible to automation.
But does this represent a change from the past? (e.g. 57% of the jobs workers did in the 1960s do not exist today).
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Technology and the Future of Jobs
Autor (2015) argues that the fears that technology will wipe out large numbers of jobs has been a recurrent theme
He suggests that while it does substitute for labour, it raises demand for labour
But it does alter the type of jobs available and what they pay
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Slide 31
Technology and the Future of Jobs
But Spencer (2017) disagrees and argues that Brynjolfsson and McAfee (2014):
‘fail to uncover the linkages between the politics of production and digital technologies. Rather than being some neutral force … digital technologies are deeply connected to relations of power. These relations … influence the form, direction and outcomes digital technologies including in the work realm’ (p. 142)
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Technology and the Future of Jobs
“digital technologies are themselves products of unequal power – they are not neutral as such, but are created harnessed and reproduced under conditions where power resides with capital, not labour. This means that what kinds of digital technologies get produced, how they are used and what outcomes they yield, are at least partly dependent on the interests of capital and its representatives” (Spencer, 2017: 145).
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Technology and the Future of Jobs
Automation dictated by the price of labour
Indian sewage pipe diver – paid $6.30 a day and a bottle of alcohol
Australia – task performed mechanically – if required to be performed by a person they are skilled and dressed in a protective suit.
It is a question of not only is it possible to automate a job but is it economically worthwhile if there is cheap labour (Fleming, 2019).
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Technology and the Future of Jobs
There have also been debates about the quality of jobs in the future – technology has been responsible for people who have insufficient work (underemployment) and those who are working excessive hours.
Spencer (2018) argues that work needs to be redistributed more evenly and allow people to have fulfilling work but this can only occur if there are new patterns of ownership.
RMIT University
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Technology and the Future of Jobs
“The bias towards the use of technology for profit making … means that workers cannot rely on technology to reduce the burden of work and to enhance the qualitative content of work …. It is not utopian to imagine an automated future where work is diminished and also enhanced in qualitative terms; however, to realise this society must undergo radical change” (Spencer, 2018: 11)
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Slide 36
Conclusion
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Slide 37
Thinking Point:
Technology does not emerge from an objective exercise in problem solving.
Technology should not be thought of as an “end point”
If we focus on capturing technology as the end of a process, then we miss out on the human interpretations, resistant and expertise!!
Please remember this when you become a consultant, because we often fail to think about the intended and unintended consequences of technology for workers.
References
Autor, D (2015) ‘Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3): 3-30.
Benanav, A (2010) ‘Automation and the Future of Work’, New Left Review, 119: 5-38
Blauner, R. (1964). Alienation and freedom: The factory worker and his industry.
Corbett, J (2009) ‘Technology’ in Spicer A and Hancock, P (eds) Understanding Corporate Life, Warwick: Warwick Organisation Theory Network
Dorling, D (2013) ‘Generation Jobless’, New Statesman, 16-22 August, http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2013/08/generation-jobless-worst-youth-unemployment-crisis-european-history-should-be-blam
Fleming, P (2019) ‘Robots and Organization Studies: Why Robots Might Not Want to Steal Your Job’, Organization Studies, 40(1): 23-37.
Furman, J (2016) ‘Is This Time Different? The Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence’, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/20160707_cea_ai_furman
Grint, K., & Woolgar, S. (2013). The machine at work: Technology, work and organization. John Wiley & Sons.
Hatch, M. J., & Cunliffe, A. L. (2012). Organization theory: modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university press.
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References
MacKenzie, D and Wajcman, J eds (1999) The Social Shaping of Technology, 2nd ed, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Padulla, M. (2016) ‘Could we be underestimating the human condition when we think about the future of work?’ http://staffingamericalatina.com/en/no-estaremos-subestimando-lo-humano-cuando-pensamos-en-el-futuro-del-trabajo/?platform=hootsuite
Penny, L (2015) ‘The Robots are Coming for Your Job. That might not be bad news.’, New Statesman, 9-15 October, http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2015/10/robots-are-coming-your-job-might-not-be-bad-news
Skidelsky, R (2013) ‘The Rise of the Robots’, The Centre for Global Studies, 22 February, http://globalstudies.org.uk/the-rise-of-the-robots/
Smith, A. (2016) ‘Public Predictions for the Future of Workforce Automation’ Pew Research Centre http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/03/10/public-predictions-for-the-future-of-workforce-automation/
Spencer, D (2016) ‘Work in and beyond the Second Machine Age: the politics of production and digital technologies’, Work Employment and Society, 1-11.
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References
Spencer, D (2017) ‘Work in and beyond the Second Machine Age: the politics of production and digital technologies’, Work Employment and Society, 31(1): 142-152.
Spencer, D (2018) ‘Fear and hope in the age of mass automation: debating the future of work’, New Technology, Work and Employment, 33(1): 1-12.
Thompson, C (2016) ‘We have reached the tipping point where technology is destroying more jobs than it creates, researcher warns’, Business Insider Australia, 4 June, http://www.businessinsider.com.au/technology-is-destroying-jobs-and-it-could-spur-a-global-crisis-2015-6?r=US&IR=T
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