Impact of social capital on flexible work organisation models: comparative study of european countries

Ferreira, Pedro; Vieira, Elvira and Neira, Isabel (2009): Impact of social capital on flexible work organisation models: comparative study of european countries. Published in: Investigaciones de Economia de la Educación No. 4 (2009): pp. 171-180.

Abstract

The present economic context is heavily marked by a global crisis without precedents. Facing this constraint, companies feel pressured to undertake even greater efforts in order to optimize available resources. Work organisation is one of the mechanisms that managers use to align human resources with that kind of constraints and, thus, develop a better response to the market. Organisational literature shows that flexible and decentralized work organisation models are better suited to this need. These models stress the importance of human resources in promoting a flexible organization capable of change and adapt to market contingencies. This perspective can be seen on the adoption of participation, decentralization of the decision process and information, cooperation among workers through the implementation of working teams. The characteristics of human resources, namely their social and technical skills, knowledge and their ability to learn new things, are frequently pointed out as a key factor for the success of these models. The main goal of this paper is to understand the role of human and social capital for the success of flexible organisation practices. In order to accomplish this goal, it is developed an analysis of European countries from 1990 to 2005, using data from World Values Survey (WVS) and European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Work Organisation; HPWS; Social Capital; Europe
• Subjects: L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L23 - Organization of Production; M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting > M5 - Personnel Economics > M54 - Labor Management (team formation, worker empowerment, job design, tasks and authority, work arrangemetns, job satisfaction); O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O52 - Europe

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