Transcript TITLE

Competence development in work organisations
and relation to HRM and knowledge management
Changes in work organisations and
required skills as related to global
value chain restructuring
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
6FP – Citizens and Governance in the KBS
2.1.3 Changes in work in the knowledge society
2005-2009
HIVA-K.U.LEUVEN – Belgium: co-ordination
FORBA – Austria
LONDONMET - UK
FTU – Belgium
UPSPS – Greece
UT – Netherlands
UESSEX - UK
ISB – Hungary
Austria
Belgium
IT
Logistics
ISF MUNCHEN - Germany
FZK – Germany
IET – Portugal
IRES - Italy
SINTEF - Norway
ATK – Sweden
CEE-CNRS – France
IS - Bulgaria
AMI - Denmark
Bulgaria
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Sweden
UK
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
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Global value chain restructuring
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Offshoring
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
WORKS: changes in work
Business functions investigated:
Production
R&D, ICT services
Logistics, customer services
Sectors investigated:
Food, Clothing, IT
Services of general interest (post, railways)
Public sector administration
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
WORKS - Empirical data
58 organisational case studies:
Selected out of matrix combining: (5)business
functionsX(5) sectorsX(13)countries
Restructuring event past 5 years (2002+)
Workplace level interviews
30 occupational case studies
Occupational groups in the business functions
Analysis of EU databases from establishment and
employee surveys:
CLFS, EWCS, CHP
EU and national establishment surveys
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Corporate strategies and changes in
work
1. Are work organisations adapting as a
response to:
...changed knowledge requirements related to restructuring
implying the externalisation of codified work
...increased competitiviness and the need for more
innovation capabilities
...increased speed and shorter business cycles which are
reported in all businesses and sectors
► These (contradictory) requirements puts high
demands on acquisition, development and use of
knowledge and skills
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Corporate strategies and changes
in work
2. New organisational responses and
practices facilitating a learning
organisation
Changing work organisations
Eg.:‘reconversion’ of sewing machine operators to prototype
and design
Teamwork across company boundaries
Moving up the value chain
Eg.: the learning organisation in high-end IT
Training and access to training: GVR may give
access to new internal labour markets
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Corporate strategies and changes
in work?
3. New organisational responses and
practices threathening this
Loss of knowledge because of fragmentation and
VC lengthening: eg. food
Restructuring is preceeded by codification &
standardisation
General trends of standardisation and formalisation
eg. Software development
Formalisation related to work over distance and
M&A
Internal tendering >< collaboration: eg. IT
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Innovating companies and
competent employees?
1. Indications of upskilling
Lowskilled work ‘disappears’: new task
composition for the remaining workforce
Shift of core business in restructuring
companies eg. clothing
Access to new knowledge and learning
opportunities in the chain eg. IT
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Innovating companies and
competent employees?
2. New skill needs emerging
Related to organisational and technological
changes accompanying the restructuring eg. clothing
Growing importance of non-professional skills, not
necessarily strengthening these eg. Clothing, software
development, R&D
“Skill-intensification” related to required
combination and integration of (conflicting)
competences and speeding-up of business
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Innovating companies and
competent employees?
2. BUT upskilling seems:
Highly determined by the position of the firm in the
value chain
Closely related to work intensification, not
necessarily beneficial for QoW
Growing importance of non-professional skills may
jeopardise development eg. Clothing, software
development, R&D
“Organisational flexibility” is shifted to workers’
skills and informal capabilities to compensate for
dysfunctional rigidities
These capabilities are under pressure due to
overall work intensification and speeded-up
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
businesses
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Innovating companies and
competent employees?
Survey data show (Comparative analysis EWCS data,
EU15 in 1995, 2000, 2005)
Jobs offer less learning opportunities
Significant DECREASE in work complexity between
1995 and 2000, and between 2000 and 2005 even after
controlling for micro and macro characteristics
Work intensification all over Europe
Significant INCREASE in intensity of
technical/bureaucratic constraints
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Innovating companies and
competent employees?
“Do
you feel that you have skills
or qualifications to do a more
demanding job than the one
you now have?”
(ECHP)
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
Percentage overqualified
70
60
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40
30
20
10
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Denmark
Holland
Belgium
France
Ireland
Italy
Greece
Spain
Portugal
Austria
Finland
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
The role of labour markets in skill
development: erosion or new paths?
1. New internal labour markets may emerge
Increased knowledge-intensity requires training
This may be at the level of the VC
Changes depend on the situation in the ‘destination’
company
2. Others may erode
Directly related to the relocation of jobs
Or related to fragmentation of employment conditions
esp. the lower-skilled seem at risk
3. Still others develop ‘paradoxically’
increased skill requirements combined with insecurity
and more flexibility
Or with ‘outsourcing’ of the training responsibilities
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
The role of labour markets in skill
development: erosion or new paths?
4. Existing VETsystems at regional or company level
under pressure and in deep transition
Both the company...
...and the individual become the prime actors
Growing job insecurity/flexibility may threathen
individual employability
5. This may be bad in the longer run
For bottom up innovation strategies
Related to ‘marketisation’ and growing
competition
6. Some new ‘germs’ of coordination are observed too
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
The role of labour markets in skill
development: erosion or new paths?
Will ‘chain’-coordination replace firm- or industrycoordination?
=> There are no simple causalities between economic
rationalities, production strategies, welfare regimes
and VET systems.
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009
The WORKS project
www.worksproject.be
Monique Ramioul
DECOWE
Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009