Documents Benders, Jos 10 results

"Comments on the quality of working life (QWL) under lean production have varied from devastating criticism on the one hand, to eulogistic praise on the other. These contrasting positions can be related to researchers' opposing societal stances and resulting interpretations, which are reinforced by the methodologies used and the absence of an external framework to judge QWL. Using Karasek's job demand–job control model, the authors investigate a Dutch plant operating under a lean production (LP) regime in an attempt to resolve the controversy. The jobs in this plant can be placed in Karasek's quadrant of low job demands and low job control, which means that antagonists of LP are right in claiming that the work is monotonous and repetitive, while the advocates' claim that workers have sufficient job decision latitude also holds."

"In the 1990s, Dutch employers started adopting individualized pay systems, commonly called ‘cafeteria systems'. Reports on their use by employers and employees suggest a bewildering variety in their adoption, design and use (by employees). This paper presents an analytical framework to analyse this variety. We distinguish as the main explanatory factor whether there has been voluntary or coerced adoption. The latter refers to introduction as part of sectoral collective labour agreements. Different adoption drivers are argued to have consequences for the design and employee use of cafeteria systems."

"In recent years European employers, unions and governments have developed initiatives that offer employees the right to exchange certain items within an agreed package of employment conditions. So far, the available evidence on the use of such 'cafeteria systems' is largely based on survey data rather than on actual choices. We analyse the actual choices made by the employees of Radboud University Nijmegen in the years 2002–2004. The results cast doubt on the efficiency and the effectiveness of employee choices within collective agreements, contradict the unions' push for working time reduction and question wage moderation and policies on work–life balance."