December 3^rd, 1996 Summary

Sociology 31, Prof. Aldrich & Ms. Renzulli

1. Review: office work & its rationalization (see summary from last class) - be able to answer questions from the summary of November 26^th.
2. Participation by workers in the design of work & workplace tasks
   1. hierarchy of modes of participation, based on how many issues workers can be involved in
   2. worker ownership & self-management, cooperatives
   3. workers' councils & ESOPs
   4. self-managed teams
   5. employee representation in unions
   6. quality circles
   7. human relations approach
   8. suggestion box
   9. scientific management
3. What are self-managed teams?
   1. cross-functional groups of 3 to 30 employees who have been given responsibilities to schedule, plan, coordinate, etc. their work tasks
   2. hire & fire own members
   3. arrange own schedule & order materials
   4. set goals [within firm's policies]
4. When are they most appropriate?
   1. job entails a high level of dependency among people -- not organized as a linear assembly line, for example
   2. complex process, not simple
   3. generally: think of the conditions under which we do NOT find technical control!
   4. important role played by the way management has conceptualized the work - set up already as specialized division of labor with no allowance for group interactions?
5. How does organizing work in self-managed teams affect the 4 dimensions of work experience?
6. Why do some managers resist?
7. Three themes for our course:
   1. history of the separation of conception from execution, e.g. from craft to factory work; whose knowledge is used?
   2. employers' interest in controlling employees: different types of control systems
   3. employees' interest, insofar as possible, in satisfying & self-actualizing work: changes over time, in response to government's role, unions' roles, human resource management practices, etc.
   4. question for the future: what will be the relative balance of satisfying versus non-satisfying jobs?
8. Your term projects:
   1. how many would take the job on a temporary or part time basis? 18
   2. how many would take it as a permanent career? 1
   3. why not? Extrinsic versus intrinsic reasons
   4. How many of you concluded that the worker you studied was satisfied with his/her job? 26
   5. Why? What's the difference between your views and theirs?
      1. expectations
      2. education (and resulting expectations)
      3. has this course changed your view of the kind of job you want? How?