Low-autonomy work and bad jobs in postfordist capitalism

Vidal, Matt

doi:10.1177/0018726712471406

Cited by 74 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Analyses of large-scale data sets from the US (Vidal, 2013), Australia and Asian countries (Kawakami, Park, Dollard & Dai, 2014) similarly conclude that poor quality work designs are relatively common. In addition, across the US and many large European economies over the past twenty to thirty years, work load and physical load has intensified, while cognitive demands and job discretion have declined (Eurofound, 2015;Green & McIntosh, 2001;Kalleberg, 2011;Wegman, Hoffman, Carter, Twenge, & Guenole, in press).…”

Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs

Parker

Broeck

Holman

2017

ANNALS

164

154

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High quality work design is a key determinant of employee well-being, positive work attitudes, and job/organizational performance. Yet many job incumbents continue to experience deskilled and demotivating work. We argue that there is a need to understand better where work designs come from. We review research that investigates the factors that influence work design, noting that this research is only a small fragment of the work design literature. The research base is also rather disparate, spanning distinct theoretical perspectives according to the level of analysis. To help integrate this literature, we use a framework that summarizes the direct and indirect ways in which work design is shaped by the higher-level external context (global/ international, national and occupational factors), the organizational context, the local work context (work group factors), and individual factors. We highlight two key indirect effects: first, factors affect formal decisionmaking processes via influencing managers' work design-related motivation, knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and opportunities; and second, factors shape informal and emergent work design processes via influencing employees' work design-related motivation, KSAs and opportunities. By reviewing the literature according to this framework, we set the stage for more comprehensive theoretical development and empirical studies on the factors that influence work design. 3Work Design Influences A Synthesis of Multi-Level Factors that Affect The Design of WorkWork design refers to "the content and organization of one's work tasks, activities, relationships, and responsibilities" (Parker, 2014, p. 662). When work is designed so that it has motivating characteristics like job autonomy and social support, as well as reasonable levels of job demands, multiple positive individual and organizational outcomes arise. A vast amount of research shows that work design affects work stress, job satisfaction, performance, absenteeism, accidents, team innovation, company financial revenue, and more (e.g. see the meta analysis by Humphrey, Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007).Yet, despite extensive evidence about the benefits of well-designed work, there are still many poorly designed jobs in both advanced and developing economies. For example, in Europe, Lorenz and Valeyre (2005) reported that one third of workers had jobs that were deskilled or that involved excessive demands. Significant technological and societal change is also affecting work and organizing, yet we know little about how this change might affect people's work design (Parker, 2014). Both of these forces -the continued prevalence of poor quality work designs and the vast change occurring in work -highlight the importance of having a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of the forces that affect work design.Such an understanding is currently lacking. In most theory and research pertaining to the design of jobs, work design is modeled at the start of a causal chain leading to outcomes via intermediary pr...

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Section: Implications For Practicementioning

confidence: 98%

Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs

Parker

Broeck

Holman

2017

ANNALS

164

154

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“…While nuanced disagreements across disciplines remain as to what constitutes a good job, the conversation has progressed from subjective measures of job satisfaction to efforts by I/O psychologists (e.g., Hammer and Zimmerman, 2011) and vocational psychologists (e.g., Blustein, 2013; Lent and Brown, 2013), economists (e.g., Burchell et al, 2013), business management scholars (e.g., Vidal, 2013), and others (e.g., Deranty and MacMillan, 2012) to develop a consensus on the defining dimensions of high quality work. The use of a consensually agreed upon definition of decent work as fair, dignified, stable, and secure has the potential to drive research, policy initiatives, and potential solutions to the growing crisis in work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decent Work: A Psychological Perspective

Blustein¹,

Olle²,

et al. 2016

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This contribution, which serves as the lead article for the Research Topic entitled “From Meaning of Working to Meaningful Lives: The Challenges of Expanding Decent Work,” explores current challenges in the development and operationalization of decent work. Based on an initiative from the International Labor Organization [ILO] (1999) decent work represents an aspirational statement about the quality of work that should be available to all people who seek to work around the globe. Within recent years, several critiques have been raised about decent work from various disciplines, highlighting concerns about a retreat from the social justice ethos that had initially defined the concept. In addition, other scholars have observed that decent work has not included a focus on the role of meaning and purpose at work. To address these concerns, we propose that a psychological perspective can help to revitalize the decent work agenda by infusing a more specific focus on individual experiences and by reconnecting decent work to its social justice origins. As an illustration of the advantages of a psychological perspective, we explore the rise of precarious work and also connect the decent work agenda to the Psychology-of-Working Framework and Theory (Blustein, 2006; Duffy et al., 2016).

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“…Job quality consists of several dimensions. A sample of dimensions supported by empirical research includes pay, job security, work demands such as work intensity and long work hours, autonomy and discretion, and safe working conditions (Green, 2006;Kalleberg, 2011;Smith and DeJoy, 2012;Vidal, 2013). How does job quality affect well-being?…”

Section: Job Quality and Subjective Well-beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work and well-being

Burke¹

2017

Research Handbook on Work and Well-Being

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This chapter is about work and well-being, setting the stage for those that follow. It examines factors at work that diminish or enhance well-being and what can be done to increase levels of employee well-being at work. THE EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WORKINGThis book, being about work, is, by its very nature about violence -to the spirit as well as to the body. It is about ulcers as well as accidents. About shouting matches as well as fist fights, about nervous breakdowns as well as kicking the dog around. It is above all (or beneath all) about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us. . . It is about a search, too, for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. (Terkel, 1974, p. xiii) Adults will spend over one-third of their waking hours at work. The average person will spend about 70 000 of their hours working, with some people spending more than 120 000 of their hours working. Some individuals find satisfaction in their work, even continuing to work following their retirement. Others find little satisfaction in their work, some counting the days until they can retire from their work. Some individuals work for free in voluntary organizations, their work often costing them their own money, picking up and distributing food for the poor, building homes for the needy, or planting trees to save the planet.Work does not exist in a vacuum; it takes place in the context of particular labour market policies, employment conditions and work conditions. These factors contribute to health and health disparities. Labour market factors include income levels and income-level disparities; the rich are generally healthier than the poor. Employment conditions include the nature of one's employment -whether one has full-time permanent employment, part-time or temporary employment, precarious employment or no employment.

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Low-autonomy work and bad jobs in postfordist capitalism

Cited by 74 publications

References 34 publications

Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs

Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs

Decent Work: A Psychological Perspective

Work and well-being

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