CCT 205 Work and the New Economy

‘New Economy’: How New? Castells: the present economic and social situation is a new age, rather than a continuation of industrial capitalism Barney: network society = development of industrial society leaving capitalism intact. Barney: network society = supercharged version of capitalism; extension of Taylorism What are the continuities & discontinuities between network economy and its predecessor?

Networks & Restructuring of Work “Digitization has affected the nature of work performed in the economy as much as the quantity of employment.” Crow and Langford, in Citizenship Studies, 2000 Organization of work and labour: flexibility versus security

Non-Standard Employment #1 Flexible workers Non-standard forms of employment –Part-time work –Temporary work –‘Rented worker’ – temp work = one of fastest growing categories of employment in North America & Europe (Naomi Klein, 2000)

Taylorism & Scientific Management Industrial capitalism & rise of factory system associated with introduction in scientific management Scientific management = direction by engineers, factory planning, time and motion study, standardization, intensive division of labour Efficiency in factory production; control over workforce; ‘automatic perfection of routine’ Information collection and surveillance

Non-Standard Work: #2 Self Employment Contracts, consulting, free lance work Professionals, small business owners, independent crafts people, trades people “Organization man is out. Flexible woman is in.” (Castells, 2001) Contingent employment relationships

Non-standard Work: #3 Temporal & Spatial Dislocation Temporal dislocation = work not confined to 8 hour day, Monday – Friday work week More flex time geared to flow of demands Shift work Diversification of work time Spatial dislocation = home work, call centres, telecommuting

Non-Standard Work #4 End of Single Occupational Trajectory or Firm Decrease in long term job stability in a single firm for entire career Projection that in 40 year career, people will revamp skill sets 3 times and change jobs 11 times Portfolio workers – people who move from 1 task, contract or project to next developing a network of portable skills, contacts, experiences

Non-standard Work: #5 Lifelong Learning Need for constant upgrading Maximize flexibility and mobility Ensure technological, skill and organizational compatibility with demands of new economy Self programmable versus generic labor

Changing Labour Market From jobs available to work available From job security to work security From postsecondary education to life long learning From career path of climbing ladder to spiral or lateral paths From specialization to multi- skilling From hierarchical to flatter organizations

New Employment Trends Fewer full time jobs; more contracts, temporary, part-time opportunities Expanded team work; more responsibility and accountability at all levels More self directed job seekers selling services on job to job basis Performance pay; softening in salaries Expectation that employees will relocate; more global work environments

Pros/Cons of Non-Standard Work? What are the benefits and drawbacks of non-standard work?

Benefits of Non-Standard Work Increased work flexibility Increased mobility, autonomy & work satisfaction Flexibility = condition of job security Facilitated increase of women into workplace

Drawbacks to Non-Standard Work Uncoupling of work from stable employment and steady income; fewer non-wage benefits Job insecurity; hard work + loyalty = ? Periodic under or unemployment Increased competition rather than solidarity between workers; polarization of workforce Social and economic isolation for those working at home Shifting of costs of technology, work facilities from firm to individual worker

What’s Missing in New Economy? Vertical promotion Annual increases Long term commitment Traditional benefits

Case: High Tech Industries Silicon Valley, California “People need to look at themselves as self employed, as vendors who come to this company to sell their skills…In AT&T, jobs are being replaced by projects and fields of work, giving rise to a society that is increasingly jobless but not workless” (Vice President of AT&T, 1996)

Apple Computer’s Employment Approach “We’re not interested in employing you for a lifetime; that’s not the way we are thinking about this. It’s a good opportunity for both us that is probably finite.”

Pace of Change “We estimate that 70% of Intel’s profits in 1997 will come from products that were not on the market as of January 1 of this year.” Chairman of Board, Intel, 1997

Growth in Nonstandard Work Santa Clara California 1984 to 1998 –Temporary workers 12,000 – 33,000 –Part-time workers 136,000 – 180,000 –Self employed 45,000 – 76,000

Challenges Unstable markets, unstable demand for work Pace of change in skill requirements Deskilling and skill upgrading tendencies Need for continuous improvement, learning & innovation to remain competitive Need for reflexivity – workers examine and improve their own work processes to meet changing consumer demands

Changes in IT Employment Growth in use of the internet and wireless communications Services component of IT increased Changes in the manufacturing component. Globalization of the IT supply chain has shifted IT manufacturing production to new locations, often overseas, where labor is relatively inexpensive