Summaries
Organisational renewal of care institutions. Changes in a sector under pressure
Dutch care institutions like residential homes, home care organisations and geriatric hospi tals have to operate in an increasingly complex and turbulent environment. Especially the al most continuously changing government poli cies urge the managers of these institutions permanently to transform the organisational structure. An accumulation of mergers is an other consequence of the pressure the govern ment exerts on care organisations.
Up to now the interests of the care organisa tions determined the level of care facilities, but for the past few years the government aims at a fundamental restructuring of the care sector in order to ensure that the needs and wants of the 'clients'are paramount.
In this article the most important results are presented of five case studies of care insti tutions trying to renew their organisation in order to improve their efficiency and effective ness and to accommodate the demands of the government.
The conclusion is drawn that the manage ment of these five institutions indeed tries to change fundamentally the organisational structure and to improve their performance, but that the effects of its efforts are for the most part unforeseen and dysfunctional. The structure of the organisation becomes more in stead of less bureaucratic and the work process es of the operational core are more standardi zed. Also the elements of the formal structure are to a high degree decoupled from the prima ry processes. Nonetheless care institutions feel obliged to continue their reforms in order to se cure the necessary political support.
Equal payment for equal work? Labour conditions of permanent and temporary employees
This paper focuses on three questions: (1) are temporary and permanent employees, perfor ming similar jobs in similar organisations, paid equally in the Belgian labour market?; (2) does the wage gap between temps and perma nent employees vary according to the hierar chical level taken into consideration? (3) do temps and permanent employees participate equally in the benefits, services and allowan ces provided by the employer? The database used is taken from the 'Salary survey 2000' project (n=22.532 employees). The results show that (2) the nature of the employment re lationship (temporary versus permanent) is an important determinant of pay differences in the labour market; that (2) the wage gap is wide at lower levels and closes as the employee climbs the hierarchical ladder; that (3) temps to a far lesser extent participate in benefits, ser vices and allowances that companies grant to their permanent employees.
ICTand labour: new technology, different labour issues?
The relation between technology and labour is considered a classic topic in organisation studies. In this article we present a conceptual model that clarifies the mechanisms behind this relation. The core of the model is based on a clear understanding of job creation as a result of the mutual shaping between technology and organisational concepts. By the notion of how this 'task pool' is created we try to overcome the controversy between technological deter minism and organisational choice. We demon
Summaries strate the value of our conceptual model by ap
plying it to three types of ICT in organisa tions: industrial robots, workflow manage ment systems and knowledge systems. After this, we promote a discussion about the future research on technology and labour. With this article we want to launch a new regular section in Tijdschrift voor A rbeidsvraagstukken titled 'ICTand labour: new technology, different la bour issues ?' We invite scholars to submit their research in the field of the triangle technology- organisations-labour.
ICT, organisational change and increasing educational requirements
The introduction of ICT is often associated with changes both in the content and in the organisation of work and with a raise of the re quired level of education. Raised educational requirements can be a direct consequence of the use of ICT, but can also be the result of or ganisational changes related to the use of ICT. Based on a theoretical framework we show that the introduction of ICT can lead to organisati onal changes and a shift in educational requi rements in different ways. Using data from the UK we show which changes in the content and organisation of work can be associated with the implementation of ICT. We find that orga nisational changes are not the reason why firms increase their educational demands after the introduction of ICT. Although organisatio nal changes that are not related to ICT often lead to skill upgrading, it is shown that where ICT is introduced, organisational change is more likely to reduce the educational require ments.
The future of the Dutch Law on Disabled Workers ('W AO') in times of a ageing
population. More incentives for integration are needed.
For years a considerable part of the Dutch la bour force that fell ill ended up in the disabili ty scheme. Taking into account the demo graphic effect of a ageing population, and the way the nature of work is changing, this prob lem will continue to grow if a 'cultural reversal' cannot be achieved. Not solving the problem implies that a further increase in participation is impossible. However, we need such an in crease to be able to maintain the basis for our various collective financial arrangements such as the collective old age provision system. This article gives a number of suggestions to em phasize the prevention of illness and disability and the promotion of reintegration, supported by sufficient financial incentives for both em ployers and employees.
Women in management positions
Although the small number of women in ma nagement positions is often discussed, it seems there is a lack of general research in the Netherlands into the causes. Reasons for un derrepresentation of women in management positions lie in the lack of human capital, the choice between work and care, and organisati onal features. Hypotheses are tested with data from the OSA supply panel. An important out come is that part time jobs have a negative ef fect on career opportunities. Moreover, mar riage and children are a positive influence on career opportunities for men. Also, the sector in which people are employed has an impact on the inequality between male and female managers. Women are active in less sectors and therefore have fewer chances of obtaining a management position. Even when controlled for all these factors, women are still less suc cessful in getting a management position than men.
