Indflydelse i vidensarbejdet — kan man få for meget af det gode?

Abstract

Det rapporteres stadig oftere, at veluddannede lider af alvorlig stress. Dette forekommer paradoksalt, fordi de ifølge den meget benyttede krav-kontrolmodel ikke burde befinde sig i risiko.zonen. De har udviklende job med høj grad af indflydelse. Det tyder på, at stressforståelsen og krav-kontrolmodellen trænger til at blive diskuteret. Artiklen viser gennem en historisk beskrivelse, at stressbegrebet er til stadig genfortolkning, og at dette ikke alene skyldes akademisk definitionsarbejde. Stressbegrebet afspejler mange forskellige samfundsmæssige interesser, og de konkrete modeller og stressforståelser har stor betydning for, hvilke jobgrupper der betragtes som udsatte, og for hvilke forbyggende tiltag som kan anbefales. Artiklen argumenterer specielt for, at der er problemer med forståelsen af indflydelse i krav-kontrolmodellen, idet den leder til uhensigtsmæssige anbefalinger til forbedringer af vidensarbejdet.

The transformation of employee participation: Consequences for the work environment

“…Research shows that job autonomy and task variation at a high level may be accompanied by role conflicts and the experience of borderless demands Hvid, 2007a, 2007b;Sørensen et al, 2007;Visholm, 2005). The attraction of flexible work arrangements could turn into 'a voracious work life' (Nielsen and Nielsen, 2006: 38) and teamwork with delegated responsibilities may lead to a loss of solidarity among colleagues (Navrbjerg, 2001).…”

“…It can also be limited in more subtle ways, as found in research on flexible forms of organizations: the power to decide the extent and content of the job is only seemingly delegated, but in reality is more concentrated and obscured (Bovbjerg, 2001;Sennett, 1999). Experiences of borderless demands and internalized management expectations are increasingly found within knowledge-based workplaces and in service work (Lund and Hvid, 2007a;Sørensen et al, 2007;Tynell, 2002). • How does the interplay between delegated forms of management and individual strategies of self-realization that cause loss of solidarity and preparedness to confront management contribute to the experience of insecurity and insufficiency among employees?…”

“…As others have already pointed out (Sørensen et al, 2007;Wainwright and Calnan, 2002), the demand-control model, although building on and later further substantiated by empirical findings (Hvid, 2009), was developed in a culture of industrial work and framed by a certain normative position that involved a possible win-win scenario uniting interests of increased productivity and interests of increased health and well-being. This discourse is not unlike the ideas that later on emerged in the European Commission's Green Paper on 'Partnership' and in decisions from the Lisbon summit (Wiezer et al, 2001).…”

“…An intention to democratize and humanize working life is common to the early research into workers' or employee participation ('industrial democracy') and to the research that Karasek's model engendered. We believe, therefore, that research into employee participation -aside from producing results on the concept of participation per se -may contribute to the ongoing discussion on the validity of the demand-control model in light of the contemporary labour market and its work environment problems (see, for example, Hvid, 2009;Sørensen et al, 2007;Wainwright and Calnan, 2002).…”

“…According to Karasek and Theorell's theory, this form of influence was presupposed to be taken care of through collective bargaining (Sørensen et al, 2007). This is of course not a fault in the model itself, but reflects a changed context.…”