Projects / Programmes
Work, Education and Employment Analyses
January 1, 2004
- December 31, 2008
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.03.00 |
Social sciences |
Sociology |
|
| 5.04.00 |
Social sciences |
Administrative and organisational sciences |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S212 |
Social sciences |
Sociology of labour, sociology of enterprise |
work, education, employment, organisation, organisation policy, human resource management, knowledge management, industrial relations, participation and employees' ownership, quality of life, socio-economics
Researchers (16)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The framework of the research is the process of transition to the knowledge-based economy and society and related flexibilisation of work, employment, education and private life directed towards social sustainability of life. Our research interest is analytical in terms of examination of social conditions for and social consequences of the transition to the knowledge-based economy and society, as well as developmental in terms of identification of relevant policies and management practices, which will enable this transition and diminish its undesirable social effects. The research activities on the macro level are focused on the labour market, employment and education system, industrial relations and social partnership; on the micro level we are focused on the for-profit and non-profit organisations; special acent is on the interference of the two levels: macro-systemic and micro-organisational.
The knowledge-based society and economy are most frequently understood as a cyclical process of knoweldge creation, transfer and utilisation (OECD, 2001; Nonaka, 1994; Wei Choo and Bontis, 2002).
The creation of knowledge is examined on the level of organisations primarily from the perspective of human resources management, which is expected to promote the creation of intellectual (human, innovative, organisational, relational, social) capital (Bontis, 2002; Nahapiet and Bhosal, 2002) as an intangible organisational asset. Special attention is paid to the social capital, the innoavtion process and factors enhancing social sustainability of working life (Weber, 2003). On the macro level the issues of idustrial property and patents are dealt with.
The transfer of knowledge on the organisational level is related to the intake of knowledge by means of recruitment of new employees and by training of the existing ones outside organisatios, as well as by the development of learning organisations (Senge, 1995), in terms of the mechanisms of internal knowledge transfer, such as integration of work and learning (Grootings et al, 2001), communities of practice (Hackett, 2002) and transfer of good practices between organisations. On the macro level the transfer of knowledge is related to the educational system with the accent on its links with the sphere of work. Primarily it concerns vocational education and training, the development of (new) occupations, occupational standards and qualifications, the developemtn of competencies, adult education, knowledge and skills certification and similar.
The utilisation of knowledge in the organisations highly depends on human resources management, i.e. various organisational and management strategies and practices (Brewster et al, 2003), which lead to the mobilisation of labour and intellectual capital. The accent is on the impacts of increasing flexibility and technological change on the structure and management of organisations, and in particular on the soft factors ranging from the work place participation, social relations, leadership practices, co-ordination between work and life activities, commitment to and identification with the organisation to the corporate identity, internal marketing, organisational culture and business ethics. On the macro level the utilisation of knowledge appears as the issue of employment, which depends on the structure and dynamics of the labour market as well as on the state employment policy and functioning of the employment services. Equally important role is played by the other institutional arrangements, such as social partnership, participation in the organisations, collective bargaining, social responsibilities of the firms, e.g. equal opportunities of men and women.
In short: the core of our research is work, education and employment in Slovenia, which has finished its transition to capitalism and traces its way to the knowledge society.
Significance for science
In our research so far we have established that the successful development of Slovenia was based primarily on increasing flexibility of work and employment as well as on increasing work intensity. It was our assessment that the continuation of the successful development urgently calls for change in the developmental paradigm, especially the production market strategies and the corresponding skills formation. Until now, the Slovenian welfare production regime was capable of successful adaptation. Our research has partially answered the question of limits of the current arrangements that are visible in increasing social cleavages, contrasts and conflicts. In part, it has shown the alternative developmental possibilities as well.
Significance for the country
Based on the numerous researches, Slovenian organisations are characterised by strong orientation to their internal markets. They favour internal candidates, make efforts to decrease employee turnover and to save jobs, and seldom use external HR services. This goes hand in hand with low employment flexibility in terms of labour turnover and low usage of spatial and temporal flexibility. On the other hand, when utilised, the accent of employee flexibility is mainly on unfriendly forms of flexible employment such as weekend work, shift work, overtime, temporary and casual work, which as a rule demand greater intensification of work and increase insecurity. Organisations rarely use individual- and family-friendly forms of flexibility such as annualised work contracts, part-time work, job sharing, flexible working hours, home-working and tele-working. The heaviest burden of unfriendly flexibility is being put on the shoulders of the young generation, which could erode social and demographic reproduction of the population and increase dualisation and segmentation of the labour market in Slovenia. This burden can not be released by means of public services and relatively rare programmes for balancing work and family provided by organisations. Furthermore, there is real threat that social policy would be subordinated to the needs of the labour market, and thus would lose its key proactive role in development of the knowledge society, where equal accession to knowledge for all is necessary condition for social inclusion and social cohesion.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
