THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF WORK

1. THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF WORK • Dominant paradigm for how to structure work in much of 20th century was scientific management (also referred to as Taylorism). • Developed by Frederick Taylor and others, sought to maximize efficiency through carefully studying work tasks and scientifically determining ‘one best way’ of completing task. • As managers determine each job’s one best way, Taylorism creates divide between management and labor: • Management determines job content, optimal job processes, and does planning. • Labor is resource to implement management’s directions.

2. THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF WORK • Bureaucratic control of scientific management well-suited to mass production of standardized goods and services in stable economy. • Unstable economic markets in 1970s challenged dominance of mass manufacturing methods—companies could no longer sell large quantities of identical products, unable to react quickly to changing customer demands. • In addition, repetitive job tasks can cause boredom, alienation, and mental and physical fatigue which in turn cause absenteeism, turnover, shirking, and low quality output. • Both macroeconomic shocks and micro-level issues with employee satisfaction caused competitive crisis in U.S. business in 1970s, launched efforts at changing forms of work organization, HR practices, and business strategies.

3. NEW BUSINESS MODELS • Continuous process improvement: Japanese management style (kaizen) focusing on creating corporate culture of constant change and incremental improvements. • Total quality management (TQM) is example of continuous process improvement strategy. • Reengineering: reforming business processes, generating large one-time improvements. • Replacing narrowly focused tasks performed by individuals with generalists and teams that add value for the organization. • Workplace flexibility is critical in these new models.

4. Box 11.5: EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP FLEXIBILITY

5. JOB CONTROL UNIONISM • Starts with two management principles for first three-quarters of the 20th century: • Narrow, standardized jobs (recall scientific management). • Insistence on maintaining sole authority over traditional management functions such as hiring, firing, assigning work, determining job content, and deciding what to produce and how and where to make it. • Add in pragmatic union philosophy of business unionism focused on wages and working conditions. • What pattern of unionized practices and policies is likely to result?

6. JOB CONTROL UNIONISM • Resulting pattern of traditional unionized practices and policies in postwar period is called job control unionism. • Designed to provide industrial justice by protecting workers against managerial abuse by controlling rewards and allocation of jobs. • Replaces managerial subjectivity and favoritism with objective measure of seniority as primary method for determining layoffs, promotions, and transfers. • Subjectivity also removed from wage outcomes by closely linking wage rates to job classifications, not individuals. • Detailed work rules further control how work is performed and allocated.

7. JOB CONTROL UNIONISM • In mass manufacturing world, job control unionism serves both labor’s and management’s needs. • Supported mass-manufacturing requirements for stable and predictable production. • Fulfilled union leaders’ needs for countering managerial authority without having to resort to wildcat strikes which could undermine their own leadership positions. • Efficiency and equity were served through peaceful, quasi-legal application of workplace rules and contracts that fulfilled industrial justice; voice was provided through collective bargaining. • But the bureaucratic model of job control unionism under fire in 21st century business model emphasizing flexibility.

8. Box 11.8: JOB CONTROL UNIONISM UNDER FIRE

9. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT • Scientific management treats workers as cogs in machine. • But workers perform their job tasks over and over and therefore often have good ideas for improving productivity, increasing quality, and lowering costs. • Moreover, giving employees discretion in their work can increase job satisfaction and create better employees. • Thus, some new business models champion not only workplace flexibility, but also employee involvement in decision-making.

10. EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT • Approaches to employee involvement include: • Quality of working life programs (QWL) • Quality Circles • Joint labor-management committees • Labor representation on corporation’s board of directors. • The most extensive efforts to restructure workplace involve not only increasing employee involvement in the decision-making, but also changing how work is organized. • High performance work systems of mutually-supporting HR practices that combine flexibility with employee involvement in decision-making.

11. ALTERNATIVES TO SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT • Lean Production—Production by work teams with emphasis on quality through off-line quality circles rather than on-line worker decision-making. Just-in-time inventories and focus on smooth flow of materials. • Competitive advantage: price and mass scale quality. • Sociotechnical Systems—Formal, autonomous work teams have responsibilities for functional as well as routine maintenance tasks plus continuous improvement. • Competitive advantage: quality and customization. • Flexible Specialization—Small-scale production of diverse items using flexible networks of employers. • Competitive advantage: innovation. • Diversified Quality Production—Qualitythrough broadly-skilled, highly-trained crafts workers. • Competitive advantage: quality and customization.

12. DEBATES OVER HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS • Lean production • Method for continuous quality improvement . . . or management by stress and disguised old-fashioned speed-up? • Self-directed work teams • Unions as valuable business partners . . . or as shirking their primary role of advocacy for employees’ interests? • Do slimmer union contracts promote flexibility and increased employee discretion . . . • or provide opportunities for managerial manipulation in the absence of well-defined standards?

13. EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION:ARE UNIONS REQUIRED? • Nonunion employee representation plans involve group of employees meeting with management to discuss employment conditions and to provide employee voice. • Note: established by management, management determines structure, management defines issues covered • But some plans able to influence management decision-making and employees’ terms and conditions of employment. • Significant number of nonunion employee representation plans were part of welfare capitalism package of HR practices designed to create motivated, loyal, and efficient workforce.

14. THE ELECTROMATION CONTROVERSY • But other plans were manipulated by management with primary purpose of preventing employees from forming independent labor unions. • As such, the NLRA’s section 8(a)(2) prohibits employer domination of labor organizations. • “… any organization of any kind … or Ee representation committee or plan … in which Ees participate and which exists, in whole or in part, for dealing with Ers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work.” • Unilateral mechanisms such as suggestion boxes by which individual Ees make proposals are not at issue • Committees acting with authority delegated by management do not “deal with” management

15. False Employee Empowerment • As illustrated by Dilbert

16. THE ELECTROMATION CONTROVERSY • U.S. business now argues that section 8(a)(2) prevents legitimate efforts to increase competitiveness and quality through employee involvement. • 1992 NLRB ruling has received great attention. • In Electromation, several committees ruled to be illegal company-dominated labor organizations even though established for legitimate business reasons (not union avoidance).

17. THE ELECTROMATION CONTROVERSY • Polaroid, 329 NLRB No. 47 (1999) • Decided (3-1) that Employee-Owners Influence Council was a labor organization dominated by Er • Co. selected the 30 members, chose topics for input • Family/medical leave, termination policy, medical benefits, ESOP • Co. made presentation, Council discussed w/presenter, then were polled to determine majority sentiment; Co. would later announce decision • Co. argued that Council’s activities limited to brainstorming and information sharing, expressing individuals’ views • Found that Council functioned as bilateral mechanism – in effect group proposals were made, responded to • Dissent held that if Council served Er’s purpose of obtaining ideas upon which to make mngt decision, was not a labor org; was not presented to Ees as surrogate for U.; did not interfere w/Ees’ sec.7 rights to organize

18. THE TEAMWORK FOR EMPLOYEES AND MANAGERS (TEAM) ACT • Vetoed by President Clinton in 1996

19. THREE UNIONIZED CHANGE STRATEGIES • Escape • Escaping from company’s bargaining obligation by relocating operations to nonunion site, subcontracting, or decertifying union. • Force • Pressuring union and employees to accept changes like wage and work rule concessions through hard bargaining. • Foster • Developing new labor-management partnership based on recognition of both labor and management goals and opportunities for mutual gain. (e.g., IAM’s High Performance Work Organization course)