Projects / Programmes
Work, Education and Employment Analyses
January 1, 2009
- December 31, 2014
| 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 |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
work, education, employment, organisation, organisation policy, human resource management, knowledge management, industrial relations, participation and employees' ownership, quality of life, socio-economics
Researchers (21)
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
The research group deals with the wide topic of transition to post-Fordism. According to the Slovenia’s relatively successful development during the transition to the market economy (and the accession to the EU) and its recent responses to the crisis, there is considerable interest within the international research community for the Slovenian developmental pattern explanation. The main potential results of the research are developmental peculiarities that mark small transformational society. Presentation of these results – comparative advantages as well as the imperfections of the Slovenian system, could attract additional attention of the wider international research community.
Significance for the country
The analyses we have undertaken reveal that the Slovenia’s economic development was mostly based on the growing employment flexibility and work intensification. According to these findings we suggested that the key precondition for the Slovenia’s further successful development is a change of its production and market strategies and theirs institutional environment. The Slovenian system has been accommodated successfully to the changing environment (and growing competitive pressures) until now. The research group is trying to explain limits of the actual system obviously manifesting in the recently growing social divisions, cleavages and conflicts expecting that the research would outline some alternative developmental possibilities.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
