Search results

Contends that predictions of the end of work as we know it, and a bleak jobless future, as we head into the twenty‐first century, derive from a modernist paradigm of work ‐ a paradigm that has been the prevailing paradigm for the past 100 years. Seeks to provide a more hopeful and humane paradigm for the future of work ‐ a model based on spiritual guidelines and principles. Describes characteristics of each paradigm and then contrasts them on both the individual manager and organization levels. Explores how these principles could be applied to produce power in organizational settings.

THERE are signs that are only too welcome that the workers of the world, tired of or fearful of continual depression, are at last prepared to take positive steps towards their solution.

This research contributes to current debates on automation and the future of work, a much-hyped but under researched area, in emerging economies through a particular focus on India. It assesses the national strategy on artificial intelligence and explores the impact of automation on the Indian labour market, work and employment to inform policy.

The article critically assesses the National Strategy on AI, promulgated by NITI Aayog (a national policy think tank), supported by the government of India and top industry associations, through a sectoral analysis. The key dimensions of the national strategy are examined against scholarship on the political economy of work in India to better understand the possible impact of automation on work.

The study shows that technology is not free from the wider dynamics that surround the world of work. The adoption of new technologies is likely to occur in niches in the manufacturing and services sectors, while its impact on employment and the labour market more broadly, and in addressing societal inequalities will be limited. The national strategy, however, does not take into account the nature of capital accumulation and structural inequalities that stem from a large informal economy and surplus labour context with limited upskilling opportunities. This raises doubts about the effectiveness of the current policy.

The critical assessment of new technologies and work has two implications: first, it underscores the need for situated analyses of social and material relations of work in formulating and assessing strategies and policies; second, it highlights the necessity of qualitative workplace studies that examine the relationship between technology and the future of work.

The article assesses an influential state policy in a key aspect of future of work–automation.

The policy assessed in this study would have significant social and economic outcomes for labour, work and employment in India. The study highlights the limitations of the state policy in addressing key labour market dimensions and work and employment relations in its formulation and implementation.

This study is the first to examine the impact of automation on work and employment in India. It provides a critical intervention in current debates on future of work from the point of view of an important emerging economy defined by labour surplus and a large informal economy.

The academic literature is currently placing significant attention on the study of the socio-economic consequences of the observable fast automation of all sectors of economic activity. The purpose of this paper is to systematize meaningful ideas on the economic impact of the rise of the robots.

With the goal of evaluating the channels through which the current wave of fast technological change affects the organization and performance of the economy and the behavior of agents, the paper is structured into two parts. The first part assesses the state of knowledge regarding the potential revolutionary role of robot use in production. The second part designs a model aimed at exposing the interplay between the most prominent features associated with the new economic reality.

The current wave of innovation has implications that escape conventional economic thinking. The evaluation and prediction of what the new phenomena brings is fundamental to design policies that prevent income inequality to widen and growth to slow down.

The full macroeconomic impact of the fast, pervasive and irreversible automation of production is far from being completely assimilated. At this level, no benchmark model should be interpreted as a definitive framework of analysis, and economic thought should evolve alongside with empirically observed evidence.

We are facing an automation convulsion that replaces humans by machines at an unprecedented fast rate. This paper systematizes ideas about this process and offers a novel conceptual model to better understand what really is at stake.

The purpose of this conceptual study is to reflect on “career” and consider the ways in which its meaning and structure have changed and will continue to change during the era of Industry 4.0. It contends that career advice to students and soon-to-be graduates is an integral part of the educational process and that an understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by career should be initiated within academia.

The study is a critical reflection on the literature and the present author’s experience and practice in student career advisement, particularly in the management and business sectors. The methodology used is essentially phenomenological, and the central approach is to make sense of the changing construct of career and the ways in which those changes impact relevant stakeholders. The work is not empirically based and may well have limited generalizability. Nevertheless, it is hoped that it will be of particular interest, value and relevancy to students, graduates and those engaged in career-related issues.

This study contends that the ongoing evolution of career is best understood as a shift from a progressive sequences of “doing” towards a more expansive and meaningful narrative of “being” and becoming. Recognition of this shift, especially for those studying business-centered subjects, will provide graduates with a better map and direction as they embark on their career trajectories.

Graduation success is critically important for individuals, educational institutions and society at large. A fundamental aspect of perceived success, particularly for business school graduates, is the ability to develop a rewarding career trajectory. This study offers original perspectives on career and presents suggestions that may be of value to those who are about to graduate, to their educational institutions and to those who will deal with them in their work and professional futures.

The purpose of this paper is to present some scenarios about a possible future evolution of the labour market in the knowledge economy.

The author used the literature to describe the historical evolution of the technology unemployment.

Digital technology does not directly generate unemployment, as the balance between jobs destroyed and created has historically always been positive. Indeed, technological unemployment in such a context can manifest itself in the form of frictional unemployment.

The study enriches the literature on the relationship between digital technologies and unemployment rate.

Aims to shed some light on the modalities and the need for human resources planning in Swaziland libraries. Systematic forecasts of the libraries′ future demand for, and supply of labour should be meticulously undertaken so that Swaziland libraries can put themselves in a better position to plan for the recruitment, selection, training, and career paths of staff. Swaziland′s lack of trained personnel with sufficient knowledge to handle the intricacies of automation has necessitated the external recruitment of expatriate staff, with serious implications for the budget. Swaziland assumed the chairmanship of the SADC Regional Training Council (RTC) which now controls the affairs of the Human Resources Development Sector. One of the projects of this sector has been to create a Regional Human Resource Information System (RHRIS). This project has provided guiding principles to those in the region whose responsibility is human resources planning and development. It is essential that SWALA should develop a human resources database for the library profession through its Sub‐Committee for Human Resources. The development of a human resources audit in Swaziland libraries will help to determine what skills, knowledge, and abilities are required for particular vacancies or jobs. The idea is to collect enough information which will enable library managers to match their employees to the available jobs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine new directions for diversity scholarship in the context of future of work or advanced technological shifts that are impacting organizations and society. It proposes that both new opportunities and challenges are likely to emerge for individuals and offers considerations around ethics, inequalities and global dimensions as relevant conversations within this domain.

The paper provides an overview of new technological advances in the domains of artificial intelligence, automation and the gig economy. It then layers considerations related to diversity within this context, focusing on issues of relevance to mainstream, critical and transnational traditions within diversity scholarship.

It is likely that technological shifts will impact several domains of diversity scholarship including how we define “diversity,” and the value and appropriateness of using advanced technologies to replace certain jobs that are predominantly held by underrepresented groups. Furthermore, the paper outlines ways in which bias, ethical considerations and emergent digital inequalities will become important conversations within diversity research in the context of future of work.

This paper brings together diversity scholarship and future of work conversations in assessing the ways such research and trends will intersect and provides insights about future directions that diversity-focused research should take to address and understand the consequences of rapid technological advances for inclusion.

Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available.

The paper aims to respond conceptually, rather then empirically, to policy ignorance. It seeks to examine certain aspects of whistleblower protection offered in the common law countries of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.

The paper provides a four‐country comparison of whistleblower protection laws against 13 characteristics gleaned from the international literature on whistleblower legislation. This analysis is informed by considerations of the common law and corruption and critical state theory.

The conclusion reached is that the whistleblower laws established in the common law countries of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK variously contain serious structural deficiencies, particularly with respect to the scope of protection and the construction of corruption. The concern is that whistleblowers seeking protection under these inadequate programs will be hurt and there will be negligible impact on the profile of corruption.

The major weakness in the analysis was the subjective and arbitrary way the disclosure management characteristics were selected to assess the disclosure laws of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK. Future research should seek more objective indictors of performance as well as a consideration of exterior indicators such as the impact of disclosure policies on corruption.

If the findings here are validated in subsequent research, then governments should urgently review their current whistleblower policies in order to improve disclosure protection.

A conceptual framework informed by considerations of corruption, the common law and critical state theory was used to put whistleblower protection in a wider context where state interest competed with the needs of whistleblowers.