A holistic approach to the productivity paradox
2007 (English)In: Human Systems Management, ISSN 0167-2533, E-ISSN 1875-8703, Vol. 26, no 2, p. 85-97Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Both the public and private sectors have since the 1980s relentlessly cut the size of their workforces. The downsizing has regularly been reported to lead to closure of a whole or a part of a corporation or organization. Some studies which have analyzed the closures have reported that remarkable, counterintuitive improvements in labor productivity occurred during the time-period between the closure announcement and the final working day. Testing an elaborated cybernetic model on a Swedish case study, and on an exploratory basis, this paper proposes a holistic approach to generate a better understanding of this phenomenon. The main holistic pattern is a new order where management control is replaced by more “Self-management” on the plant level, and very strong psychological reactions based on feelings of unfairness.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Amsterdam: IOS Press , 2007. Vol. 26, no 2, p. 85-97
Keywords [en]
Closedown, cybernetics, downsizing, industrial relations, productivity
National Category
Economics and Business
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-2913OAI: oai:dalea.du.se:2913DiVA, id: diva2:519866
2007-08-212007-08-212017-12-07Bibliographically approved