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Presentation by Annette Cox, Associate Director, Institute for Employment Studies on the occasion of the EESC conference Boosting Europe: Innovative work practices can make it happen! in Brussels on 30 November 2012.
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the institute for employment studies
Work Organisation and Innovation
Dr Annette Cox Brussels, 30 November 2012
Contact: [email protected]
Context to work organisation innovation
Product/service
Production processes
New forms of organisation
New market strategy/alliances
Social innovation
Work organisation innovations● Sit under the umbrella of
High Performance Work Practices, High Commitment or High Involvement Management
● Wide range of practices: e.g. teamworking/autonomy, flexible working time, training, social dialogue, employee involvement, pay for performance, health and safety practices
Overall conceptual framework
Drivers of innovation
National innovation context
Business contextOrganisational
context
Internal facilitating conditions
Employee supportOrganisational
cultureLeadership
Organisational change orientation
Behavioural outcomes
Increased number of suggestions
Increased flexibilityIncreased
knowledge sharingAttitudes to risk
and failureWillingness to
experiment and engage with
changeOrganisational commitment
Organisational Citizenship Behaviours including
motivation and engagement
Organisational outcomes
Service qualityComplaints/
reworkEfficiency
ProductivityGVA
Profit marginMarket share
Increased turnover
Employee outcomes
Job satisfactionLabour turnover and absence
Wellbeing indicators eg job strain, work life balance
Control over pace/volume/work tasks
Discipline and grievance cases
Work organisation innovationsTraining and
personal development
Teamwork/Autonomy
Knowledge sharing and communication
Rewards and performance management
Social dialogueFlexible working
practices and contracts
Recruitment and selection
Health promotion initiatives
Process innovation
Product/ service
innovation
Market innovation
Organisation structural innovation
Why do firms introduce Work Organisation Innovations? (WOIs)
Single focus – organisational performance
Parallel focus – multiple practices aimed at organisation AND employee benefit
Hybrid focus – practice aimed at employee benefit
Anticipation of clear commercial gain, even where innovation focussed on employee outcomes
How are innovations implemented? Managers take overall decision to innovate Employees contribute to process for implementation
(and sometimes selection) of innovations Scope for employee choice – eg working
time/location Experiments and advocates: pilot projects
(sometimes with managers), project champions and working groups
Use of external expertise – academics, other firms Relatively sophisticated approach, high investment
and ambitious scale of change
Method of implementation – employee v management driven?
Det
erm
ine
d by
em
ploy
ees
Co-
dete
rmin
ed b
y
empl
oyee
s/m
anag
ers
Prop
osed
by
man
ager
s,
negot
iate
d w
ith
empl
oyee
sPr
opos
ed b
y
man
ager
s w
ith
emplo
yee
consu
ltat
ion
Prop
osed
by
man
ager
s an
d
emplo
yees
in
form
ed
Det
erm
ined
by
man
agers
and n
o
info
rmat
ion p
rovi
ded
to e
mplo
yees
Radiometer, Lufthansa,
Bombardier, Rabobank
NHS, VW, Elica, Care, Retail, Favi
ROFF, Abbott, Kellogg
Core conceptual framework
Behavioural outcomes
Increased number of suggestions
Increased flexibilityIncreased
knowledge sharingAttitudes to risk
and failureWillingness to
experiment and engage with
changeOrganisational commitment
Organisational Citizenship Behaviours including
motivation and engagement
Organisational outcomes
Service qualityComplaints/
reworkEfficiency
ProductivityGVA
Profit marginMarket share
Increased turnover
Employee outcomes
Job satisfactionLabour turnover and absence
Wellbeing indicators eg job strain, work life balance
Control over pace/volume/work tasks
Discipline and grievance cases
Work organisation innovationsTraining and
personal development
Teamwork/Autonomy
Knowledge sharing and communication
Rewards and performance management
Social dialogueFlexible working
practices and contracts
Recruitment and selection
Health promotion initiatives
How do innovations affect employee behaviours?
Lean management, team working, employee wellbeing and employee involvement practices increase number of suggestions
Job rotation and multi-skilling lead to flexibility and job enrichment raises understanding of organisational goals
HPWPs encourage workers to share information, share and solve problems together
Lean production and job enrichment increase organisational commitment
How do innovations affect employee wellbeing and working conditions?
Job enrichment, variety, job security, new skill development, increased trust and support, opportunities for challenge job satisfaction
Better working conditions/quality of working life through improved work organisation and health promotion initiatives
Some evidence of increased job strain – effects of lean management practices
How do innovations affect organisational performance?
Lean management, flexible working, team working, employee involvement quality, efficiency and productivity
Team working, lean work systems, flexible working, employee involvement and work redesign service quality improvement
Team working, lean work systems and flexible working lower operational costs
Mixed impact on employment levels – some positive effects in difficult economic context
Limited evidence of impact on profit margins – challenge of measurement
What factors help make innovations successful?
Employee support: training focussed on skills AND attitudes
Senior management commitment ●with corporate support in larger firms,
dependent on management style
Organisational culture:●focus of change on managing culture
Social partner involvement and intensive communication
What are the barriers to adopting and implementing WOI?
Absence of market pressures, lack of strategic fit
Lack of understanding of benefits
Lack of HR expertise and (line) management skills
Opposition from employees if benefits unclear
Knowing where to start – which innovations and in which order?
Time and money
Policy pointers and recommendations (1)
Raise understanding of WOI among policy makers
Get support from cross-sector EU level social partners to diffuse WOI, including EU level sector social dialogue committees
Benchmark diffusion of WOI across EU through European Employment Strategy
Policy pointers and recommendations (2)
Build funding eligibility for WOI projects into existing policy programmes eg ESF
Common labour standards across sectors eg via supply chains and multi-national companies
Support management learning about work organisation innovation
Embed study of WOI in management qualifications eg MBAs
Acknowledgements
With thanks to our international partners in this research:
Aarhus University, DenmarkKU Leuven, BelgiumWork Research Centre, University of Tampere, FinlandWilke, Maack und Partner, GermanyPoznan University of Economics, PolandNovancia, Paris, FranceTechnopolis, UKLamers ICM Consultancy, NetherlandsUniversity of Ljubljana, Slovenia
www.employment-studies.co.uk