H. Kosonen, K. Keskinen, P. Nikander, K. Lumme-Sandt
Population aging has prompted international governing bodies to recommend extending work careers and postponing retirement age. Retirement decisions cannot be fully reduced to either structural influences or individual agency. Older workers may face several limiting factors when continuing their careers beyond the official retirement age, including internalized attitudes towards aging at work. Our aim is to develop agency analysis that involves both structural and individual components to fully illustrate the heterogeneity of older workers and their retirement decisions. By studying qualitative interview data via thematic content analysis and a modality-based agency framework, we found that agency manifests in various different ways in older employees’ work exit accounts and that the relationship between individual agency and structures is complex. We conclude that agency analysis of aging employees offers insights into the complexity of the retirement process and may thus inform us about how to help extend work careers.
{"title":"Employment Exits Near Retirement Age: An Agency-analysis","authors":"H. Kosonen, K. Keskinen, P. Nikander, K. Lumme-Sandt","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122227","url":null,"abstract":"Population aging has prompted international governing bodies to recommend extending work careers and postponing retirement age. Retirement decisions cannot be fully reduced to either structural influences or individual agency. Older workers may face several limiting factors when continuing their careers beyond the official retirement age, including internalized attitudes towards aging at work. Our aim is to develop agency analysis that involves both structural and individual components to fully illustrate the heterogeneity of older workers and their retirement decisions. By studying qualitative interview data via thematic content analysis and a modality-based agency framework, we found that agency manifests in various different ways in older employees’ work exit accounts and that the relationship between individual agency and structures is complex. We conclude that agency analysis of aging employees offers insights into the complexity of the retirement process and may thus inform us about how to help extend work careers.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48505094","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Soila Lemmetty, Sara Keronen, T. Auvinen, K. Collin
In contemporary working life of Nordic countries, employee involvement and well-being are emphasized and organizational functions and demands are continuously changing. Thus, the study of human resource management (HRM) practices and their consequences for employees is relevant. This study examines conflicts related to HRM in Finnish project-based companies and provides new information on the implications of conflicts in HRM practices for theorists and practitioners. The research was conducted qualitatively using content and thematic analysis. The findings suggest that conflicts framed within HRM practices are generally the result of the practices and expectations of the organization and management not meeting the views and expectations of the employees. Moreover, the lack of transparency and deficient or even absent HRM practices generate conflicts. The consequences of conflicts range from motivational problems and individual employees’ fatigue to the deterioration of team and organizational performance.
{"title":"Conflicts related to Human Resource Management in Finnish Project-Based Companies","authors":"Soila Lemmetty, Sara Keronen, T. Auvinen, K. Collin","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122226","url":null,"abstract":"In contemporary working life of Nordic countries, employee involvement and well-being are emphasized and organizational functions and demands are continuously changing. Thus, the study of human resource management (HRM) practices and their consequences for employees is relevant. This study examines conflicts related to HRM in Finnish project-based companies and provides new information on the implications of conflicts in HRM practices for theorists and practitioners. The research was conducted qualitatively using content and thematic analysis. The findings suggest that conflicts framed within HRM practices are generally the result of the practices and expectations of the organization and management not meeting the views and expectations of the employees. Moreover, the lack of transparency and deficient or even absent HRM practices generate conflicts. The consequences of conflicts range from motivational problems and individual employees’ fatigue to the deterioration of team and organizational performance.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47333804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the post-industrial era, the service sector has been expanding and professional tasks have been transformed into service-oriented knowledge work, that is, the business consulting profession. The variety of employment patterns has increased with the deregulation of the labor market, and the employment pattern of those professionals working in the service sector has been characterized by short-term assignments and employment contracts. Despite this contingent employment, the position of the business consulting professionals in the labor market is not necessarily degrading, as they are highly-qualified and competent actors, who can deal with the challenges of the business world. Thus, their position and coping strategies relate not only to the precarious employment but also to their professional, independent work. The study deals with the dilemma of insecurity and freedom of business consulting professionals, which is recognized in the Nordic countries. The methodology is qualitative.
{"title":"Freedom but Insecurity: the Business Consulting Profession in the Post-Industrial Service Society","authors":"Arja Haapakorpi","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122225","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122225","url":null,"abstract":"In the post-industrial era, the service sector has been expanding and professional tasks have been transformed into service-oriented knowledge work, that is, the business consulting profession. The variety of employment patterns has increased with the deregulation of the labor market, and the employment pattern of those professionals working in the service sector has been characterized by short-term assignments and employment contracts. Despite this contingent employment, the position of the business consulting professionals in the labor market is not necessarily degrading, as they are highly-qualified and competent actors, who can deal with the challenges of the business world. Thus, their position and coping strategies relate not only to the precarious employment but also to their professional, independent work. The study deals with the dilemma of insecurity and freedom of business consulting professionals, which is recognized in the Nordic countries. The methodology is qualitative.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48496705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
When initiating its Norwegian operations, the transportation platform Uber adjusted its business model to the Norwegian regulation of the taxi market by focusing on its high-end offering, Uber Black, organized through limousine companies who employ the drivers and own the cars. The Uber Black drivers in Oslo are classified as employees and endowed with a substantially flexible work arrangement. Based on a ‘traveling ethnography’ among Uber Black drivers in Oslo, this article conceptualizes Uber’s digital platform as a technological work arrangement. The analysis shows that while the platform is experienced as an opaque form of management that limits the drivers’ formal flexibility, the effects of the technological work arrangement is contingent on the drivers’ formal work arrangement and the characteristics of the Uber Black market in Oslo.
{"title":"Regulating Flexibility: Uber’s Platform as a Technological Work Arrangement","authors":"S. Oppegaard","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122197","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 \u0000 \u0000When initiating its Norwegian operations, the transportation platform Uber adjusted its business model to the Norwegian regulation of the taxi market by focusing on its high-end offering, Uber Black, organized through limousine companies who employ the drivers and own the cars. The Uber Black drivers in Oslo are classified as employees and endowed with a substantially flexible work arrangement. Based on a ‘traveling ethnography’ among Uber Black drivers in Oslo, this article conceptualizes Uber’s digital platform as a technological work arrangement. The analysis shows that while the platform is experienced as an opaque form of management that limits the drivers’ formal flexibility, the effects of the technological work arrangement is contingent on the drivers’ formal work arrangement and the characteristics of the Uber Black market in Oslo. \u0000 \u0000 \u0000","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47099616","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
P. Virtanen, Arja Jolkkonen, Pertti Koistinen, Arja Kurvinen, L. Lipiäinen, T. Nummi
According to previous studies, major workforce downsizings are commonly preceded by increased employee turnover due to ‘early leavers’. There is a common belief that early leavers are winners in terms of re-employment. This seven-year follow-up study based on register data from Finland questions if this is a valid finding in the Nordic context. We set the hypothesis that early leavers are not undisputed winners compared with those who leave during the actual downsizing. Trajectory and sequence analyses were used to test the hypothesis. Six employment trajectories were identified, ranging from permanently strong to permanently weak labor market attachment. Supporting the hypothesis, the early leavers assumed more commonly the weak and less commonly the strong employment trajectory. However, within the weak employment group, the early leavers and ultimately displaced workers were equal in terms of unemployment and retiring, as well as within the strong employment group in terms
{"title":"Are the Early Leavers the Lucky Ones?","authors":"P. Virtanen, Arja Jolkkonen, Pertti Koistinen, Arja Kurvinen, L. Lipiäinen, T. Nummi","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122199","url":null,"abstract":"According to previous studies, major workforce downsizings are commonly preceded by increased employee turnover due to ‘early leavers’. There is a common belief that early leavers are winners in terms of re-employment. This seven-year follow-up study based on register data from Finland questions if this is a valid finding in the Nordic context. We set the hypothesis that early leavers are not undisputed winners compared with those who leave during the actual downsizing. Trajectory and sequence analyses were used to test the hypothesis. Six employment trajectories were identified, ranging from permanently strong to permanently weak labor market attachment. Supporting the hypothesis, the early leavers assumed more commonly the weak and less commonly the strong employment trajectory. However, within the weak employment group, the early leavers and ultimately displaced workers were equal in terms of unemployment and retiring, as well as within the strong employment group in terms","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48799221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the literature on labor market integration, there is growing recognition of the importance of employers. This article aims to contribute to this stream of research by investigating state employers’ engagement with a soft employment quota launched alongside a wider initiative in Norway, named the Inclusion Dugnad. An initial document analysis showed that only 3.1% of state employers fulfill the quota at the early stage. Analysis of 10 state employer interviews revealed that they appeared to be mostly passive and, to some degree, dismissive of the Inclusion Dugnad. They relied on passive measures where disabled job seekers are expected to actively seek out the employer and not the other way around. The main obstacles to achieving employer engagement seemed to be the apparent lack of disabled applicants and the reported conflict between the goals of the Inclusion Dugnad and the cost-cutting and productivity standards governing the state employer sector.
{"title":"Leading the Way? State Employers’ Engagement with a Disability Employment Policy","authors":"Kaja Larsen Østerud","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122196","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122196","url":null,"abstract":"In the literature on labor market integration, there is growing recognition of the importance of employers. This article aims to contribute to this stream of research by investigating state employers’ engagement with a soft employment quota launched alongside a wider initiative in Norway, named the Inclusion Dugnad. An initial document analysis showed that only 3.1% of state employers fulfill the quota at the early stage. Analysis of 10 state employer interviews revealed that they appeared to be mostly passive and, to some degree, dismissive of the Inclusion Dugnad. They relied on passive measures where disabled job seekers are expected to actively seek out the employer and not the other way around. The main obstacles to achieving employer engagement seemed to be the apparent lack of disabled applicants and the reported conflict between the goals of the Inclusion Dugnad and the cost-cutting and productivity standards governing the state employer sector.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48170830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the public administration role of university personnel who are state employees by analyzing female senior lecturers’ stories on working in Swedish universities, especially regarding how their role as a civil servant is narrated as part of their work. A performative narrative approach was used to analyze the in-depth interviews of four female senior lecturers at Swedish universities. Through the analysis, three shared storylines emerged: I don’t think of myself as a civil servant; You have to keep a certain level and It’s a solitary duty. The study revealed how the senior lecturer position was narrated by the interviewees in terms of duties to students and the public and the lack of efficient social support and knowledge. The findings are discussed as gendered expressions of working as a female senior lecturer in Sweden.
{"title":"The Invisible Civil Servant: How Female Senior Lecturers in Sweden Narrate Work","authors":"E. Wall","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122194","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the public administration role of university personnel who are state employees by analyzing female senior lecturers’ stories on working in Swedish universities, especially regarding how their role as a civil servant is narrated as part of their work. A performative narrative approach was used to analyze the in-depth interviews of four female senior lecturers at Swedish universities. Through the analysis, three shared storylines emerged: I don’t think of myself as a civil servant; You have to keep a certain level and It’s a solitary duty. The study revealed how the senior lecturer position was narrated by the interviewees in terms of duties to students and the public and the lack of efficient social support and knowledge. The findings are discussed as gendered expressions of working as a female senior lecturer in Sweden.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44302192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The role of unions as agents of professional knowledge is seldom addressed in studies on working life relations. This article investigates how unions with different degrees of professionalization conceptualize members’ interests and influence in the workplace. Two unions of professionals and one general union in the Norwegian public sector are compared. The data consist of union documents, speeches, and interviews with 12 workplace representatives. A ‘union logic’ and ‘professional association logic’ are developed and applied as analytical ideal types, and the unions’ conceptualizations and combinations of these institutional logics are analyzed. The article finds similarities and differences between the unions and interesting differences between the unions’ micro and macro levels. Further, a distinct hybrid logic is identified as a ‘union of professionals logic’, with professional influence and the agency of elected representatives as key aspects. Introducing perspectives from the study of professions, the article contributes to a reconceptualization of the study of unions within the Nordic model – and beyond.
{"title":"Unions’ Conceptualizations of Members’ Professional Interests and Influence in the Workplace","authors":"Arnhild Bie-Drivdal","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122188","url":null,"abstract":"The role of unions as agents of professional knowledge is seldom addressed in studies on working life relations. This article investigates how unions with different degrees of professionalization conceptualize members’ interests and influence in the workplace. Two unions of professionals and one general union in the Norwegian public sector are compared. The data consist of union documents, speeches, and interviews with 12 workplace representatives. A ‘union logic’ and ‘professional association logic’ are developed and applied as analytical ideal types, and the unions’ conceptualizations and combinations of these institutional logics are analyzed. The article finds similarities and differences between the unions and interesting differences between the unions’ micro and macro levels. Further, a distinct hybrid logic is identified as a ‘union of professionals logic’, with professional influence and the agency of elected representatives as key aspects. Introducing perspectives from the study of professions, the article contributes to a reconceptualization of the study of unions within the Nordic model – and beyond.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49301005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The steel industry has been one of the basic industries in both Sweden and Finland. It is in a process of change, where research and development play an increasingly prominent role. In Sweden in particular, there is also an ambition to increase the number of women in the industry. This study is based on interviews and workshops with 12 women working in researcher or managerial positions in the Swedish steel industry. Their experiences show that employing more women in the industry is not enough to make effective use of the female talent pool, nor to increase gender equality. Besides belonging to a gender minority, women often had different backgrounds and career paths from their male colleagues, and their organizations need to be able to recognize the value of untraditional characteristics. The organizational environment determined whether these women became just an improvement in gender statistics or real gains in the quest for competence.
{"title":"Women in the Steel Industry: Closed in Corners or Provided with Possibilities","authors":"Minna Salminen‐Karlsson","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122189","url":null,"abstract":"The steel industry has been one of the basic industries in both Sweden and Finland. It is in a process of change, where research and development play an increasingly prominent role. In Sweden in particular, there is also an ambition to increase the number of women in the industry. This study is based on interviews and workshops with 12 women working in researcher or managerial positions in the Swedish steel industry. Their experiences show that employing more women in the industry is not enough to make effective use of the female talent pool, nor to increase gender equality. Besides belonging to a gender minority, women often had different backgrounds and career paths from their male colleagues, and their organizations need to be able to recognize the value of untraditional characteristics. The organizational environment determined whether these women became just an improvement in gender statistics or real gains in the quest for competence.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47552767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The purpose of this article is to apply the method of the genre of studying chains of references to an instance of a secondary source of the contested concept of ‘resistance to change’ back to the primary source and thereby exercise criticism of the sources. This includes discussing whether the theory itself is empirically sustainable or sufficiently scientifically grounded. In the article, we adopt a theoretical lens of Critical Realist Discourse Analysis, mainly because it is sensitive to the importance of the influence of nondiscursive social positions on discourses. The primary source of the chain of theories of resistance to change turns out to be Kübler-Ross’s model of stages of dying patients’ reactions to their immanent death. We find that the model is systematically misinterpreted to fit the empirically false idea of resistance to change of the ideological discourses of management research.
{"title":"The Pursuit of the Source, or The Inevitability of Death","authors":"Mats R. Persson, J. Karlsson","doi":"10.18291/njwls.122195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18291/njwls.122195","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this article is to apply the method of the genre of studying chains of references to an instance of a secondary source of the contested concept of ‘resistance to change’ back to the primary source and thereby exercise criticism of the sources. This includes discussing whether the theory itself is empirically sustainable or sufficiently scientifically grounded. In the article, we adopt a theoretical lens of Critical Realist Discourse Analysis, mainly because it is sensitive to the importance of the influence of nondiscursive social positions on discourses. The primary source of the chain of theories of resistance to change turns out to be Kübler-Ross’s model of stages of dying patients’ reactions to their immanent death. We find that the model is systematically misinterpreted to fit the empirically false idea of resistance to change of the ideological discourses of management research.","PeriodicalId":45048,"journal":{"name":"Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48726246","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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