Search results

1 – 10 of over 10000
Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Niall Cullinane and Tony Dundon

This paper aims to examine the antecedent influences and merits of workplace occupations as a tactical response to employer redundancy initiatives.

1837

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the antecedent influences and merits of workplace occupations as a tactical response to employer redundancy initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

The data are based on analysis of secondary documentary material reporting on three workplace occupations in the Republic of Ireland during 2009.

Findings

Perceptions of both procedural (e.g. employer unilateral action) and substantive (e.g. pay and entitlements) justice appear pivotal influences. Spillover effects from other known occupations may also be influential. Workplace occupations were found to produce some modest substantive gains, such as enhancing redundancy payments. The tactic of workplace occupation was also found to transform unilateral employer action into scenarios based upon negotiated settlement supported by third‐party mediation. However the tactic of workplace occupation in response to redundancy runs the risks of potential judicial injunction and sanction.

Research limitations/implications

Although operationally difficult, future studies should strive to collect primary data workplace occupations as they occur.

Originality/value

The paper identifies conditions conducive to the genesis of workplace occupations and the extent to which the tactic may be of benefit in particular circumstances to workers facing redundancy. It also contextualises the tactic in relation to both collective mobilisation and bargaining theories in employment relations.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 July 2016

Linda Simon and Kira Clarke

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the issues affecting successful employment outcomes for young women in male-dominated careers, focusing on those generally accessed…

1654

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the issues affecting successful employment outcomes for young women in male-dominated careers, focusing on those generally accessed via a traditional Australian apprenticeship model. Current patterns of participation in trades-based fields of education and training reinforce the highly gender segregated nature of the Australian Labour Force. Women are particularly under-represented in the large industries of construction, mining and utilities, where female employees account for only around 12, 15 and 23 per cent of employees, respectively, an issue of concern both in terms of increased economic participation of women and girls, and gender equality more broadly. The foundations for transition from education and training to employment are established during school. It is during these formative years that young men and women have notions of what is possible for them, and what is not possible, reinforced. Unfortunately, gendered stereotypes and perceptions around certain career options for young women are still reinforced within schools and create barriers to widening young women’s participation in a range of careers, particularly in fields traditionally dominated by males. The paper discusses strategies supporting initial apprenticeship opportunities for young women, and supportive structures to help women and girls build careers in these industries.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws from a mixed method study, involving a national electronic survey of educators, industry and community groups, and a range of semi-structured interviews. Whilst the major study focused primarily on career exploration in relation to young women taking on careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and non-traditional industries, this paper focuses on one aspect of this study, young women taking up an apprenticeship in a male-dominated career. The research around career exploration was undertaken in 2014, and this paper has placed it in the current context of falling apprenticeships and increasing pressures to increase the number of women and girls employed in a wider range of careers.

Findings

The findings of this particular study consider the barriers to young women taking on apprenticeships and identify strategies that hopefully will produce more successful pathways. This paper can be seen as adding to the public discourse to address the Australian Government’s stated reform objective in vocational education and training (VET), that trade apprenticeships are appropriately valued and used as career pathways.

Originality/value

This paper can be seen as adding to the public discourse to address the Australian Government’s stated VET reform objective, that trade apprenticeships are appropriately valued and used as career pathways.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 58 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 November 2021

Ahmed M. Ibrahim and Mohammad A. Hassanain

This research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It…

Abstract

Purpose

This research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It provides insights towards a comprehensive understanding of office facilities relocation as organizational workplaces.

Design/methodology/approach

An investigation of the literature was conducted, to identify design aspects, drivers, challenges, and technical and functional considerations of the workplace relocation. A structured survey was utilized, as face-to-face interviews with 32 FM and 32 REM professionals, to explore and compare their perspectives and expertise.

Findings

The study identified key aspects for workplace relocation that were rarely focused on, holistically, in the literature. The research led to identifying the drivers, challenges, considerations, scenarios, and design needs pertaining to the implementation, acquisition, and occupation of the workplace in times of relocation. There is a dispersed view on workplace relocation between FM and REM, which requires alignment. FM and REM experts' perspectives were intrinsically discussed to ascertain the identified key areas.

Practical implications

Workplace relocation is a change that disturbs almost every workplace around the globe, at least once in its life cycle. This study enlists comprehension of the knowledge obtained from a review of the international literature, to provide a holistic guide for organizational decision makers, and interlink FM and REM professionals' perspectives, for enhanced decision-making.

Originality/value

This article reviews the literature on workplace relocation, covering FM and REM domains perspectives to advance the organizational workplace relocation practices.

Details

Property Management, vol. 40 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Sylvie Contrepois

This article aims to examine recent labour struggles against mass redundancies in France. It seeks to understand the well reported incidences of direct action within the terrain…

1060

Abstract

Purpose

This article aims to examine recent labour struggles against mass redundancies in France. It seeks to understand the well reported incidences of direct action within the terrain of how industrial relations operate and are governed.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary and secondary data sources are deployed to build and understand, in a grounded way, a case study of an industrial conflict.

Findings

The weakness of the regulation of employers, when allied to a number of considerations like union presence, has led to radical, direct actions. This highlights that overall the source of stimulus for action is worker weakness vis‐à‐vis the employer and not strength.

Social implications

To aid social peace in the workplace, further regulation of employer behaviour by the state is needed given the weakness of union regulation.

Originality/value

The article highlights that conflict takes place primarily in contexts where the institutions of the French republic are shown to be incapable of forcing employers to respect employment laws.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 November 2020

Yoonhee Park, Heajung Woo, Mi-Rae Oh and Sunyoung Park

The purpose of this study is to review the definition, perspective, measurement and context of workplace learning and explored workplace learning to identify its role in…

1332

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to review the definition, perspective, measurement and context of workplace learning and explored workplace learning to identify its role in quantitative research.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an integrative review of the literature, the following four roles that workplace learning has played in these studies were identified: workplace learning as an antecedent, a mediator, a moderator and an outcome.

Findings

This paper synthesized results for workplace learning in 45 studies. A total of 88 variables related to workplace learning were identified after four overlapped variables (autonomy, social support, work engagement and workload) in multiples areas were excluded from a total of 92 variables (56 antecedents, 8 mediators, 7 moderators and 21 outcomes).

Research limitations/implications

Because this study identified four roles of workplace learning (as antecedent, mediator, moderator and outcome), this study did not focus on the process of learning in the workplace. Additional study is needed to investigate how workplace learning can lead to outcomes and how this process can link workplace learning and its consequences.

Originality/value

This paper synthesized the antecedents, mediators, moderators and outcomes for workplace learning by integrating the findings in this study. This provided a comprehensive framework that could be used by researchers to continue the empirical research on this topic to develop the dynamics between individual, group, job and organizational variables on the one hand and workplace learning on the other.

Details

Industrial and Commercial Training, vol. 53 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0019-7858

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 May 2023

Merel T. Feenstra-Verschure, Dorien Kooij, Charissa Freese, Mandy van der Velde and Evgenia I. Lysova

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize job immobility concepts, e.g. staying in an unsatisfying job and perceiving limited opportunities to move and apply for another job…

1171

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize job immobility concepts, e.g. staying in an unsatisfying job and perceiving limited opportunities to move and apply for another job. The existing literature on this situation of job immobility in which the employee is experiencing stuckness in the job is scattered across research domains, limited in scope and existing constructs are not clearly defined or operationalized.

Design/methodology/approach

In this conceptual paper, the authors propose the construct “locked at the job,” by reviewing and building on the job immobility literature and the theory of control and self-regulation.

Findings

This study defines the concept that consists of two dimensions as feeling dissatisfied in the current job and inactivity due to perceived limited job opportunities. This study proposes a conceptual model of antecedents and consequences of locked at the job, based on the person-environment fit theory.

Practical implications

This conceptual paper allows value to be added in practice by the conceptualization of locked at the job, in addition to providing a preview with respect to conceptual causes and consequences of this phenomenon.

Originality/value

Research on this job immobility phenomenon is scattered across different research domains, limited in scope and the concept has not been clearly defined or operationalized.

Details

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2051-6614

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Gregor Gall

This paper aims to examine the more militant response of a minority of workers to collective redundancy and restructuring in Britain since 2007.

1759

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the more militant response of a minority of workers to collective redundancy and restructuring in Britain since 2007.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper deploys secondary sources to develop a series of grounded micro‐factors to help explain the presence and absence of the deployment of the occupation tactic.

Findings

Some headway is made in explaining why only a limited number of occupations took place against redundancy and restructuring.

Practical implications

The method of occupation was not shown to be as effective as might have been thought in opposing redundancies.

Social implications

These concern union strategies and tactics for resistance to redundancy and restructuring.

Originality/value

The paper provides a grounded explanation of the phenomenon and incidence of worker occupations against collective redundancy and closure.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 October 2011

Miguel Martínez Lucio

The relative absence of worker occupations in recent years in a context of major restructuring and unemployment has raised issues in Spain as to the changing nature of specific…

Abstract

Purpose

The relative absence of worker occupations in recent years in a context of major restructuring and unemployment has raised issues in Spain as to the changing nature of specific forms of direct action. This paper seeks to argue that it is important, in the case of Spain, to discuss how worker occupations have been changing and developing over time if the changing pattern, character and impact of worker unrest and direct action is to be understood.

Design/methodology/approach

The research materials for this paper are based on a series of meetings and interviews with union officers and activists that draw on various projects on union development in Spain during the years 1983‐1988, 2000‐2002 and 2009‐2010, and the study of a range of secondary texts.

Findings

The paper suggests that, as well as discussing questions of motives, whether economic or political, accounting for the socio‐economic context and the changing nature of the workforce in terms of its degree of concentration, the changing nature of labour market stability, and the relationship of workers to “stable” workplaces and work is required. Additionally, there is a need to account for how workers reference and recall (or not) previous modes of mobilising and actions.

Practical implications

Discussing worker occupations should involve issues of political purpose, economic context, the changing nature of work and workers, and the role of memory and historical framing if an appreciation of their varying nature and presence within the landscape of labour relations is to be made. Hence, a multi‐dimensional understanding of the context of worker action is required.

Social implications

The implications of the paper are that conflict of work needs to be understood in broader terms, and that worker related activities can be highly innovative.

Originality/value

The paper examines union and worker responses to the current recession in Spain and focuses on the role and context of unofficial approaches, especially worker occupations, to the changing workplace.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2021

Oxana Krutova, Tuuli Turja, Pertti Koistinen, Harri Melin and Tuomo Särkikoski

Existing research suggests that the competitive advantage provided by technological development depends to a large extent on the speed and coordination of the technology’s…

Abstract

Purpose

Existing research suggests that the competitive advantage provided by technological development depends to a large extent on the speed and coordination of the technology’s implementation, and on how adoptable the technological applications are considered. While accepting this argument, the authors consider the explanatory model to be inadequate. This study aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion by analysing institutionalised industrial relations and other organisation-level factors, which are important for workplace restructuring and societal change.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is based on a representative nation-wide work and working conditions survey (N = 4,100) from Finland, which includes a variety of themes, including practices, changes and well-being at work. Changes are understood as organisational changes, focusing on modern technologies such as robotisation and digitalisation.

Findings

The results indicate that occupational division at workplace (low-skilled vs high-skilled occupations) affects job insecurity and acceptance of technologies at work. The characteristics of workplaces, such as the employees’ participation and involvement in the development of the organisation, play a significant part in both the acceptance and the implementation and outcomes of the technological transformations in the workplace.

Practical implications

The research provides new and interesting insights into working life practices. Furthermore, it reveals how technology acceptance and employment perspectives relate to working conditions and lessons learned from past reforms.

Originality/value

The authors consider current theories such as technology acceptance model at the micro level and that way rationalise the need for this study. This study shows the importance of individual, organisational and wider contextual factors in technology acceptance.

Details

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, vol. 20 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-996X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 January 2020

Jean Elizabeth Wallace and Tom Buchanan

This study aims to explore how status differences relate to strained working relationships with co-workers and clients. Two statuses, gender and occupation, are examined using…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how status differences relate to strained working relationships with co-workers and clients. Two statuses, gender and occupation, are examined using data from veterinarians and animal health technologists (AHTs). Competing perspectives regarding exposure to stressful relationships and access and effectiveness of work-related resources are considered.

Design/methodology/approach

An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design is used that combines quantitative survey data with open-ended qualitative data. The survey data are used to examine how interpersonal strain and access to work-related resources vary by status. The qualitative data are used to illustrate how strain is experienced by these workers and aids in interpreting the quantitative findings.

Findings

Status is linked to interpersonal client strain and access to resources. Challenging work is widely available to all three groups, but is more beneficial in reducing higher status veterinarians’ client strain. Autonomy is a scarce resource for the lowest status group (female AHTs), yet appears effective in reducing co-worker strain for everyone. Unexpectedly, work overload and market concerns appear to aggravate work-related strain and greater numbers of the lowest status group exacerbates interpersonal tensions with clients.

Originality/value

This paper contributes by examining stressful interactions experienced by two occupations who work side-by-side in the same employment settings, but who vary significantly by gender representation and occupational status. The authors argue that in addition to gender and occupational status, the organizational health of employing clinics and the feminization of veterinary practice may offer insights into how status differences are related to interpersonal conflict experienced in these work places.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 31 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

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