Changing work organisation in America: what has happened and who has benefited?

Paul Osterman
Additional contact information
Paul Osterman: Sloan School, MIT

Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 1998, vol. 4, issue 2, 246-263

Abstract: In the USA, with a strong economy and falling unemployment, a large number of firms are still restructuring the workplace, including laying off workers. Coupled with this is a change in the employment relationship, giving some workers opportunities to use their knowledge and skills, while other workers are experiencing a deterioration in their working conditions. This paper, resulting from a survey carried out by the Sloan School of Management, MIT, in 1997, examines the spread of High Performance Work Systems and shows that managers accept that these innovations lead to higher productivity and quality. The survey also shows that workers welcome the higher levels of responsibility these work systems give. However, it also indicates that the balance of power within these firms is shifting away from employees to managers, resulting in higher possibilities of layoff and higher levels of income inequality.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/102425899800400207 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:treure:v:4:y:1998:i:2:p:246-263

DOI: 10.1177/102425899800400207

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().