Competence development in work organisations and relation to HRM and knowledge management

1. Changes in work organisations and required skills as related to global value chain restructuring Competence development in work organisations and relation to HRM and knowledge management Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

2. 6FP – Citizens and Governance in the KBS 2.1.3 Changes in work in the knowledge society 2005-2009 HIVA-K.U.LEUVEN – Belgium: co-ordination FORBA – Austria LONDONMET- UK FTU –Belgium UPSPS – Greece UT – Netherlands UESSEX - UK ISB –Hungary ISF MUNCHEN - Germany FZK – Germany IET –Portugal IRES - Italy SINTEF - Norway ATK– Sweden CEE-CNRS – France IS - Bulgaria AMI - Denmark IT Logistics Austria Belgium Bulgaria Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Netherlands Norway Portugal Sweden UK Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

3. Re-search and develop-ment engeneering Adminis-trative services PRO-DUCTION ICT Distribution/ lo-gistics custo-merservice Relocation Outsourcing Offshoring Global value chain restructuring Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

4. WORKS: changes in work • Business functions investigated: • Production • R&D, ICT services • Logistics, customer services • Sectors investigated: • Food, Clothing, IT • Services of general interest (post, railways) • Public sector administration Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

5. WORKS - Empirical data • 58 organisational case studies: • Selected out of matrix combining: (5)business functionsX(5) sectorsX(13)countries • Restructuring event past 5 years (2002+) • Workplace level interviews • 30 occupational case studies • Occupational groups in the business functions • Analysis of EU databases from establishment and employee surveys: • CLFS, EWCS, CHP • EU and national establishment surveys Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

6. Corporate strategies and changes in work • 1. Are work organisations adapting as a response to: • ...changed knowledge requirements related to restructuring implying the externalisation of codified work • ...increased competitiviness and the need for more innovation capabilities • ...increased speed and shorter business cycles which are reported in all businesses and sectors • ► These (contradictory) requirements puts high demands on acquisition, development and use of knowledge and skills Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

7. Corporate strategies and changes in work • 2. New organisational responses and practices facilitating a learning organisation • Changing work organisations • Eg.:‘reconversion’ of sewing machine operators to prototype and design • Teamwork across company boundaries • Moving up the value chain • Eg.: the learning organisation in high-end IT • Training and access to training: GVR may give access to new internal labour markets Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

8. Corporate strategies and changes in work? • 3. New organisational responses and practices threathening this • Loss of knowledge because of fragmentation and VC lengthening: eg. food • Restructuring is preceeded by codification & standardisation • General trends of standardisation and formalisation eg. Software development • Formalisation related to work over distance and M&A • Internal tendering >< collaboration: eg. IT Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

9. Innovating companies and competent employees? • Indications of upskilling • Lowskilled work ‘disappears’: new task composition for the remaining workforce • Shift of core business in restructuring companies eg. clothing • Access to new knowledge and learning opportunities in the chain eg. IT Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

10. Innovating companies and competent employees? • 2. New skill needs emerging • Related to organisational and technological changes accompanying the restructuring eg. clothing • Growing importance of non-professional skills, not necessarily strengthening these eg. Clothing, software development, R&D • “Skill-intensification” related to required combination and integration of (conflicting) competences and speeding-up of business Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

11. Innovating companies and competent employees? • 2. BUT upskilling seems: • Highly determined by the position of the firm in the value chain • Closely related to work intensification, not necessarily beneficial for QoW • Growing importance of non-professional skills may jeopardise development eg. Clothing, software development, R&D • “Organisational flexibility” is shifted to workers’ skills and informal capabilities to compensate for dysfunctional rigidities • These capabilities are under pressure due to overall work intensification and speeded-up businesses Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

12. Innovating companies and competent employees? • Survey data show (Comparative analysis EWCS data, EU15 in 1995, 2000, 2005) • Jobs offer less learning opportunities • Significant DECREASE in work complexity between 1995 and 2000, and between 2000 and 2005 even after controlling for micro and macro characteristics • Work intensification all over Europe • Significant INCREASE in intensity of technical/bureaucratic constraints Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

13. Innovating companies and competent employees? “Do you feel that you have skills or qualifications to do a more demanding job than the one you now have?” (ECHP) Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

14. Percentage overqualified Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

15. The role of labour markets in skill development: erosion or new paths? • New internal labour markets may emerge • Increased knowledge-intensity requires training • This may be at the level of the VC • Changes depend on the situation in the ‘destination’ company • Others may erode • Directly related to the relocation of jobs • Or related to fragmentation of employment conditions • esp. the lower-skilled seem at risk • Still others develop ‘paradoxically’ • increased skill requirements combined with insecurity and more flexibility • Or with ‘outsourcing’ of the training responsibilities Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

16. The role of labour markets in skill development: erosion or new paths? • Existing VETsystems at regional or company level under pressure and in deep transition • Both the company... • ...and the individual become the prime actors • Growing job insecurity/flexibility may threathen individual employability • This may be bad in the longer run • For bottom up innovation strategies • Related to ‘marketisation’ and growing competition • Some new ‘germs’ of coordination are observed too Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

17. The role of labour markets in skill development: erosion or new paths? Will ‘chain’-coordination replace firm- or industry- coordination? => There are no simple causalities between economic rationalities, production strategies, welfare regimes and VET systems. Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009

18. The WORKS project www.worksproject.be Monique Ramioul DECOWE Ljubljana,24-25/9/2009