1st Edition

The Meaning of Work Papers on Work Organization and the Design of Jobs

By Lisl Klein Copyright 2008
    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    Lisl Klein has spent forty years working on the twin themes of the practice of social science in organizations and the importance of work and work organization. Papers on the first of these were published as Working Across the Gap. This volume brings together papers covering the second theme, the meaning and organization of work.

    Preface -- Introduction: the context -- Making the Case -- The function of work in human life -- The meaning of work -- Luddism for the twenty-first century -- Research Studies -- The human implications of rationalizing work -- Living and working in hospital wards. Using electronic patient records -- Consulting and Action Research -- The “Humanization of Work” programme in Germany: some cultural influences in the design and re-design of work -- A contribution to the design of a new confectionery factory -- Work organization in the design of a new canning plant: plant design, job design, and industrial relations -- Work organization in branch banking -- Putting information and communications technology to work in the construction industry: testing a model -- The Boundaries with Other Professions -- The production engineer's role in industrial relations -- "Satisfactions in work design": some problems of theory and method -- The management of innovation: from platitudes to reality in job design -- On the collaboration between social scientists and engineers -- and Finally . . . -- And finally—some reflections on institutions and policy -- Checklist for implementation issues

    Biography

    Lisl Klein Ph.D. worked in industry, on the shop floor and in personnel management, before moving into organization research. From 1965 to 1970 she was Social Sciences Adviser in Esso Petroleum Company Ltd and, from 1971 to 1989, senior social scientist in the Tavistock Institute. She founded the Bayswater Institute in 1990. Lisl passed away peacefully in December 2015.