Industrial sociology
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Industrial sociology (also known as "sociology of industrial relations" or sociology of work) is both a study of the interaction of people within industry (e.g. boss-subordinate, inter-departmental, and management-union relations) and, on a macrosociological scale, the study of the impact of industrialization on whole societies.
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[edit] Labor Process Theory
One branch of industrial sociology is Labor Process Theory (LPT). In 1974, Harry Braverman wrote Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century, which provided a critical analysis of scientific management. This book analyzed capitalist productive relations from a Marxist perspective. After Marx, Braverman argued that work within capitalist organisations was exploitative and alienating, and therefore workers had to be coerced into servitude. For Braverman the pursuit of capitalist interests throughout time ultimately leads to deskilling and routinisation of the worker, and it is the taylorist (see Frederick Taylor, Scientific Managementwork) design that is the ultimate embodiment of this tendency.
Braverman demonstrated several mechanisms of control in both the factory blue collar and clerical white collar labor force.
Braverman's key contribution was in his "deskilling" thesis. Braverman argued that capitalist owners and managers were incessantly driven to deskill the labor force to lower production costs and ensure higher productivity. Deskilled labour is cheap and above all easy to control due to the workers lack of direct engagement in the production process. In turn work becomes intellectually or emotionally unfulfilling; the lack of capitalist reliance on human skill reduces the need of employers to reward workers in anything but a minimal economic way.
Braverman's contribution to the sociology of work and industry (i.e., industrial sociology) has been important and his theories of the labor process continue to inform teaching and research. Braverman's thesis has however been contested, notably by Andrew Freidman in his work "Industry and Labour" (1977). In it, Freidman suggests that whilst the direct control of labour is beneficial for the capitalist under certain circumstances, a degree of 'responsible autonomy' can be granted to unionised or 'core' workers, in order to harness their skill under controlled conditions. Also, Richard Edwards showed in 1979 that although hierarchy in organisations has remained constant, additional forms of control (such as technical control via email monitoring, call monitoring; bureaucratic control via procedures for leave, sickness etc) has been added to gain the interests of the capitalist class versus the workers.
[edit] Human resource management theory
Questions are how employer exploit and develop the human resources. There might be static models putting pressure on people or trials to search for the right job for the right person.
[edit] Organisational misbehaviour
The misbehaviour may be internal or external. Economic crises often lead to an increase of pressure leading to decrease of productivity. Lacking openness and willingness to incorporate external resources and ideas is a major reason for economical problems. A good behaviour includes the aim to match the job profile with the employees skills - fine tune it and develop the skills. For the external relations it is important to develop the ability to analyse and assess the competitors and the Intellectual property market and to integrate external resources if needed or offer own IP to the external. But often there is a misconception about the technological lead, companies do not develop benchmarks for their position amongst competitors. On the other end of the scale for misbehaviour technological escalation might overburden the market and lead to bad economy.
[edit] Postmodernism
[edit] See also
- Economic sociology
- Industrial and organizational psychology
- Important publications in industrial Sociologyar:علم الاجتماع الصناعي
de:Industrie- und Betriebssoziologie pl:Socjologia pracy pt:Sociologia industrial sr:Социологија рада
