the institute for employment studies

Work Organisation and Innovation

Dr Annette Cox Brussels, 30 November 2012

Contact: annette.cox@employment-studies.co.uk

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?

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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