Flexibility and Control: New Challenges for Working-Time Policy in the European Union

Lehndorff, Steffen

doi:10.1080/10301763.2007.10669349

“…17 In some European countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, there is an ongoing political debate on this question (e.g., Lehndorff, 2007;Singe and Croucher, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence

Beckmann

¹

,

Cornelißen

²

,

Kräkel

³

2017

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. Abstract: This paper theoretically and empirically examines the impact of self-managed working time (SMWT) on employee effort. As a means of increased worker autonomy, SMWT can theoretically increase effort via intrinsic motivation and reciprocal behaviour, but can lead to a decrease of effort due to a loss of control. Based on German individual-level panel data, we find that SMWT employees exert higher effort levels than employees with fixed working hours. Even after accounting for observed and unobserved characteristics there remains a modest positive effect. This effect is mainly driven by employees who are intrinsically motivated, suggesting that intrinsic motivation is complementary to SMWT. However, reciprocal work intensification does not seem to be an important channel of providing extra effort.JEL Classification: J24; J81; M50

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“…17 In some European countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, there is an ongoing political debate on this question (e.g., Lehndorff, 2007;Singe and Croucher, 2003). 18 Some practitioners, such as employer and employee representatives, seem to be split on this question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Managed Working Time and Employee Effort: Theory and Evidence

Beckmann

¹

,

Cornelißen

²

,

Kräkel

³

2015

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research at DIW BerlinThis series presents research findings based either directly on data from the German SocioEconomic Panel study (SOEP) or using SOEP data as part of an internationally comparable data set (e.g. CNEF, ECHP, LIS, LWS, CHER/PACO). SOEP is a truly multidisciplinary household panel study covering a wide range of social and behavioral sciences: economics, sociology, psychology, survey methodology, econometrics and applied statistics, educational science, political science, public health, behavioral genetics, demography, geography, and sport science.The decision to publish a submission in SOEPpapers is made by a board of editors chosen by the DIW Berlin to represent the wide range of disciplines covered by SOEP. There is no external referee process and papers are either accepted or rejected without revision. Papers appear in this series as works in progress and may also appear elsewhere. They often represent preliminary studies and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be requested from the author directly.Any opinions expressed in this series are those of the author(s) and not those of DIW Berlin.Research disseminated by DIW Berlin may include views on public policy issues, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. Abstract: This paper theoretically and empirically examines the impact of self-managed working time (SMWT) on employee effort. As a means of increased worker autonomy, SMWT can theoretically increase effort via intrinsic motivation and reciprocal behaviour, but can lead to a decrease of effort due to a loss of control. Based on German individual-level panel data, we find that SMWT employees exert higher effort levels than employees with fixed working hours. Even after accounting for observed and unobserved characteristics there remains a modest positive effect. This effect is mainly driven by employees who are intrinsically motivated, suggesting that intrinsic motivation is complementary to SMWT. However, reciprocal work intensification does not seem to be an important channel of providing extra effort.JEL Classification: J24; J81; M50

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“…In the case of the public administration, these conflicts ended with staggered compromises about working-time extensions to different degrees by region in West Germany, whereas in metalworking it was primarily a series of various local derogations from multi-employer agreements stipulating extensions of up to 40 hours that pushed the average upwards. In interaction with these institutional changes, basic trends in the organization of work and working time geared to flexibilizing working hours on an individual basis have given way to a 'grey zone' of weakly regulated working times which affect, if not exclusively, growing parts of the white-collar workforce (Lehndorff, 2007(Lehndorff, , 2010. Thus, a great deal of leeway had evolved for an overtly political pressure on sector-level working-time agreements.…”

Section: Contested Architecturementioning

confidence: 99%

Before the crisis, in the crisis, and beyond: the upheaval of collective bargaining in Germany

Lehndorff

¹

2011

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research

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The explanation of what has been called the ‘German employment miracle’ has much to do with the broad turn in German collective bargaining towards emergency coalitions at firm level, embedded in a larger environment of ‘crisis corporatism’. To understand this recent move, including its lessons and its limits, and to assess potential changes in the near future, it is useful to take into account the upheaval that took place within the collective bargaining system in the pre-crisis period. This article argues that there are good reasons to believe that very soon German collective bargaining will be at the crossroads again. The choice for unions and works councils will be either to return to traditional mixtures of concession bargaining and bargaining on retrenchment measures, or to revitalize their membership base in pursuit of ‘high road’ deals. A corner-stone for any revitalization strategy will include political pressure for a reformed back-up for collective bargaining by a renewal of statutory collective agreement extension procedures.

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Flexibility and Control: New Challenges for Working-Time Policy in the European Union

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence

Self-managed working time and employee effort: Theory and evidence

Self-Managed Working Time and Employee Effort: Theory and Evidence

Before the crisis, in the crisis, and beyond: the upheaval of collective bargaining in Germany

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