Creating Sustainable Work Systems

Submitted by WorkCreatively on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 06:25

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Title	Creating Sustainable Work Systems
Publication Type	Book
Pub Year	2002
Authors	Docherty, P., Forslin J., & Shani A. B.
Publisher	Routledge
City	New York
Keywords	administrative slack, antipathy, neo-Taylorism
Notes	antipathyIf one is to believe history, intensity of work has been a central issue in management science ever since the start of industrialization and a problematic one at that, as it captures the essence of the antagonism between the person who does the work and the person who wants it done; sometimes formulated as a conflict between capital and labour, inherent in the capitalistic industrial system. This perspective does not indicate many remedies apart from a proletarian revolution--still there would be conflicting interest." (p. 15) administrative slack"Organizational slack offers opportunities for reflection and learning, and also for dialogue. Further change and development demand slack, including the presence of fitness scouts who explore alternative solutions to organizational problems." (p. 71) neo-Taylorism"Recent international statistics on stress, burnout and healthy work organizations have indicated that many modern work organizations are consuming, rather than regenerating, their human resources. The brave new world of work envisaged to emerge from the ashes of Taylorism has not, in many cases, arrived and, where it has arrived, it has not been what it was expected to be. We have witnessed the persistence of Tayloristic organizations (Schumann et al. 1995) and the emergence of neo-Tayloristic organizations (Babson 1995; Landsbergis et al. 1999; Taylor and Bain 1999). At the same time, the post-bureaucratic organizations have not automatically created possibilities for mature adults to grow and develop (Argyris 1964); and where bureaucratic structures and rules have disappeared, they have rather left the mature adult lost, lonely and increasingly stressed." (p. 3)
URL	http://books.google.com/books?id=8AurjRjvH50C

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