Uber misbehaviour

Uber drivers team up in gangs to force higher prices before they pick up passengers, research has revealed.

Researchers at the University of Warwick found Uber drivers in London and New York have been tricking the app into thinking there is a shortage of cars in order to raise surge prices...

See Uber drivers gang up to cause surge pricing, research says (Cara McGoogan, The Telegraph) for more details.

Social media and employee voice

This report examines the extent to which employers are making use of social media to promote and access employee voice.

 

Social media describes online platforms that allow for user-generated content, interaction and collaboration.

 

It is a relatively new phenomenon, linked to the emergence of ‘web 2.0’ and the move from a static to an interactive internet.

 

This report is largely focused on enterprise social networks.

 

These have the common features of other social media platforms, but they are closed and exclusive, with membership restricted to an individual organisation...

 

For more information see Going digital? Harnessing social media for employee voice (Joe Dromey, ACAS).

"Negative" work blogging can be good for employers

I've just come across a paper that suggests employee who post negative comments about their employer can lead to positive outcomes.

There is a catch of course in that the ratio of "negative" postings to more positive postings should not generally exceed 15 to 20 per cent.

For more information about this paper - Blog, Blogger, and the Firm: Can Negative Posts by Employees Lead to Positive Outcomes? by Rohit Aggarwal - click here.

New work-related blog research

A new research article by Abigail Schoneboom on work-related blogs has just come out.

It has been published in the New Technology, Work and Employment journal.

It is entitled: Sleeping giants? Fired workbloggers and labour organisation.

The abstract reads as follows:

This paper argues that the Waterstone's fired blogger incident performed a labour organising function in terms of garnering pro-labour media attention and encouraging critical discourse.

Looking at the blog's distinctive features and evolution, it evaluates the strengths, limitations and potential for recurrence of similar high-profile incidents.

For more details click here.

HR practioners and Web 2.0

I've just come across a research report that looks at whether HR professionals have grasped opportunities afforded by Web 2.0 technologies, such as social networking forums.

For more details see Conversations at your fingertips by CHA.

New book on Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and Web X.o

It's finally arrived!

It's called the Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications (IGI Global) and edited by San Murugesan of Multimedia University, Malaysia & University of Western Sydney, Australia.

The Handbook of Research on Web 2.0, 3.0, and X.0: Technologies, Business, and Social Applications is a comprehensive reference source on next-generation Web technologies and their applications.

This in-depth collection covers the latest aspects and applications of Web technologies including the emergence of virtual reality commerce systems, the importance of social bookmarking, cross-language data retrieval, image searching, cutting-edge Web security technologies, and innovative healthcare and finance applications on the Web.

Examining the social, cultural, and ethical issues these applications present, this Handbook of Research discusses real-world examples and case studies valuable to academicians, researchers, and practitioners.

My chapter is number 49 - How employees can leverage Web 2.0 in new ways to reflect on employment and employers.

For far more details click here.

Be wary of promotion!

According to a BBC News (Health) article earlier this week, getting promoted at work may be bad for a person's mental health.

More details:

- after promotion the quality of an individual's mental health deteriorated by 10 per cent on average.

- being given extra responsibility could lead to more stress, anxiety and depression.

- problems could be exacerbated by workers who were promoted having less time to access health services.

The research on which the article is based is said to contradict previous research in this area that suggests a person's job status directly results in better health.

See Promotion 'bad for mental health' for more details.

Doctor of work blogging

Abigail Schoneboom has put her PhD on-line.

The subject is work blogging.

The title and abstract:

Hiding Out: Creative Resistance Among Anonymous Workbloggers

Anonymous workbloggers -- employees who write online diaries about their work -- are often simultaneously productive workers and savage critics of the organizational cultures in which they toil.

Looking at how bloggers indulge their creative and political aspirations while "hiding out" in office jobs, this research assesses the potential of blogging to transcend individualized cynicism and contribute to the critical transformation of work.

Broadly surveying media and organizational responses to the workblogging phenomenon, and engaging in ethnographic study of anonymous workbloggers on both sides of the Atlantic, my dissertation explores the relationship between emerging networked technologies and resistance.

Considering workers as authors, it documents the diversion of significant creative and intellectual resources away from the labor process.

Situating workbloggers within a rich tradition of iconoclastic literary and artistic responses to work, it explores whether embedded writers, in spite of their ambivalence about the alternative, can constitute an effective counter-hegemonic force.

From the following link you can access the full PhD as well as three papers based around the doctoral thesis.

Web 2.0, engaging workplaces and high-performing organisations

The CIPD has just produced a very interesting report on how web 2.0 communication technologies can make work more engaging and improve organisational performance.

The report is entitled: Innovation in the workplace: how are organisations responding to Generation Y employees and Web 2.0 technologies? and is by Julian Birkinshaw and Sarah Pass.

Click on this link to download it from the CIPD website (might require a password).

Some details:

Changes in technology, employee expectations and the working environment are placing new challenges on organisations.

This paper reports on a survey, carried out by London Business School in conjunction with the CIPD, which explored how these changes are affecting our basic assumptions about how we get work done and how we can create engaging workplaces and high-performing organisations.

It examines:

- The different types of innovation that organisations are focusing on, how important they are perceived to be and where they come from
- How organisations are responding to the distinct values and expectations of Generation Y employees
- The opportunities presented by the newer generation of interactive internet technologies – Web 2.0

A copy can also be downloaded here.

Sickness absence related to early death

A rather grim, yet interesting article on the subject of long-term absence appeared on the BBC News website the other day.

The study identified a ling between absence from work on psychiatric grounds and premature death!

It was found that:

"...30 per cent of people who had one or more stints of at least seven days off work had a 66 per cent increased risk of premature death compared to those who had not had any long periods of sick leave".

The study was based on 6,500 civil servants, and sickness records were assessed from London-based employees in 20 Whitehall departments between 1985 and 1988 and compared with mortality up until 2004.

To see the BBC News article click here.

The original study - Diagnosis-specific sickness absence as a predictor of mortality: the Whitehall II prospective cohort study by Jenny Head, Jane E Ferrie, Kristina Alexanderson, Hugo Westerlund, Jussi Vahtera, and Mika Kivimäki - can be downloaded for free here.

Does sexism pay?

I was struck by really interesting article published on the BBC News website the other day that "men who grow up thinking women should stay at home...could end up well ahead in the salary stakes."

The findings are based on recently published research article where the main conclusion is that 'traditional' men will consistently out-earn more 'modern-thinking' men.

So, how does this happen?

Well, two theories are put forward to explain this phenomenon...

1) More traditionally-minded men are interested in power, both in terms of access to resources - money in this case - and also in terms of a woman who is submissive.

2) Employers are more likely to promote men who are the sole earner in preference to those who do not - they recognise that they need more support for their families, because they are the breadwinner.

Discuss!

See Men with sexist views 'earn more' for more details.

An agenda for the workplace from the workplace?

What to workers want?

Not an easy question to answer by anyone's standards and level of expectation.

The TUC has attempted to do this, however, and presented it's findings in a downloadable report entitled, funnily enough: "What do workers want?"

Some highlights from a survey of almost 3,000 workers:

1) Most people are satisfied with their jobs, but around one in four (6 million) is neither satisfied with their job, nor would speak highly about their organisation as an employer.

2) Almost one in three workers (30 per cent) say their organisation does not fully engage them and less than half (46 per cent) the workforce agree that their employer deserves their loyalty.

3) The top attributes that people look for in a job are fair pay, working with great people and the chance to learn new skills.

The biggest gaps between aspiration and reality are for promotion opportunities, fair pay and the chance to learn new skills.

No great surprise there except to comment on how old problems remain a feature of modern work organizations despite the claims of corporate HR initiatives and practices.

To see the report and summary for yourself see - What do workers want?

Download a copy of the report directly here.

Work blog paper

An earlier copy of my work blog-based research can be downloaded or read on-line here.

Work blog research

I finally managed to get something formally published from my research on work blogs.

It is based on an on-line questionnaire that I distributed through the Internet around 2 or so years ago.

It's called - 'Because I need somewhere to vent': the expression of conflict through work blogs.

It's published courtesy of the New Technology, Work and Employment journal.

The abstract reads:

Employee resistance has traditionally been analysed as an activity that occurs in the work organisation.

In recent years, new Internet communication technologies, such as blogs, have expanded the possibilities for employees to express conflict.

This paper explores how these developments can add to our understandings of employee resistance to the labour process.

I'll be posting an earlier draft of my paper on my blog very soon.

If Web 2.0 and work is a subject that interests you then please complete the following on-line questionnaire and pass on the Web address to friends and colleagues, etc.

Web 2.0 and HRM

The CIPD has just published a discussion paper on the subject of Web 2.0 and human resource management.

The paper is entitled - Web 2.0 and HR (by Graeme Martin, Martin Reddington and Mary Beth Kneafsey).

The basis for the paper is that such technologies appear to have created 'more heat than light', mainly because Web 2.0 in organizations has until now been explored mainly through descriptive accounts, and that there has been little analysis of what is actually going on inside many organizations.

The conclusion from the initial report suggests what is required now is:

- An understanding of the extent that Web 2.0 represents a new idea. Is it different?

- The development of a clear vocabulary and terminology

- A serious consideration of the potential for and drawbacks of the use of Web 2.0 in today’s organisations.

A more detailed report is expected later in the year.

This is are I am also interested in - see my questionnaire on Web 2.0 and work.

Cyberslacking can benefit employers

According to an article from The Telegraph, "Checking your personal emails in the office and even researching your next holiday on company time can actually make employees happier and more productive at work".

The article itself - 'Cyberslacking' at work has benefits, claims study by Claudine Beaumont - is based on the findings (requires subscription) of two American academics.

Some more details:

Many people use the internet at work to help balance their personal and professional responsibilities, such as carrying out online banking tasks or researching large purchases.

With personal worries taken care of, the employee can concentrate on their job, without dreading the stack of tasks and issues they will have to deal with when they leave the office.

The ultimate conclusion is: "company policies restricting access to websites and email services could backfire, and actually undermine staff productivity by reducing job satisfaction."

What health workers want...

The Department of Health has just published some research on what motivates and engages employees of the British National Health Service.

Ten major themes were identified in the research:

1. I’ve got the knowledge, skills and equipment to do a good job
2. I feel trusted, listened to and valued at work
3. My manager (or supervisor) supports me when I need it
4. I’ve got a worthwhile job that makes a difference to patients
5. I understand my role and where it fits in
6. I help provide high quality patient care
7. I have the opportunity to develop my potential
8. I am able to improve the way we work in my team
9. Senior managers are involved with our work
10. I feel fairly treated with pay, benefits and staff facilities

For more details (summary, full report, etc.) see What Matters to Staff in the NHS: Research Study Conducted for Department of Health - June 2008.

Social networking research

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has just published (video summary) some interesting research on social networking.

The report is entitled Social Networking: A quantitative and qualitative research report into attitudes, behaviours and use.

It's a full of very interesting statistics and qualitative data, but at 72 pages it's a hefty document!

The objectives of this report are as follows:

- to set social networking sites in the wider media literacy, online and communications context;
- to profile the use of sites;
- to understand people’s use of sites; and
- to investigate concerns about privacy and safety

The executive summary suggests:

- Social networking sites are most popular with teenagers and young adults
- Some under-13s are by-passing the age restrictions on social networking sites
- The average adult social networker has profiles on 1.6 sites, and most users
check their profile at least every other day

If you are interested in researching social networking you may want also see a report on the methodological approach.

Revised paper on workers and Web 2.0

I've recently revised a paper I wrote last year on workers and Web 2.0 communication technologies.

Instead of outlining and describing new trends I have linked such activities to self-organization, or what workers may do when denied access to trade unions or when worker grievances fall outside employer-trade union bargaining arrangements.

A title and abstract:

‘Doing good and useful things’: Web 2.0, self-organized workers and Cyberspace.

The paper assesses how new Internet communication technologies (associated with the term ‘Web 2.0’), and the (Cyber) spaces associated with Web 2.0, can augment the powers of self-organized labour.

In the first instance, evidence of workers’ organizing activities in Cyberspace are explored and compared to the activities associated with a conventional framework for self-organization (Ackroyd and Thompson, 1999).

In a wider sense, the paper engages with debates that surround the tightening of management control over the labour process, and the long-term decline of professionally organized labour, by discussing the possibilities for action, and identity formation, to occur in Cyberspace.

The findings indicate self-organized workers are currently exploring a wide range of employment interests, through an array of joined-up activities, in Cyberspace.

The findings also suggest employers are increasingly concerned with the threat such activities pose for an industrial relations climate broadly based on sophisticated organizational control initiatives designed to reduce physical spaces for counter or apposite identities to take root.

However, only a partial assessment was possible with the methods applied, and it is not appropriate at this moment to judge whether or not such activities are becoming more common or effective.

The paper ends with a call for all existing debates that surround the labour process and organized labour to be revised to include opportunities for labour in Cyberspace.

A range of suggestions on this matter is included in the conclusion.

Comments are encouraged and welcome!

Revised research paper on organizational misbehaviour

I've recently revised a paper I wrote last year on organizational misbehaviour.

It is now set out to map misbehaviour and outline how it may be researched in the future.

A title and abstract:

The many approaches to organisational misbehaviour: A review, map and research agenda

The purpose of the paper is to review extant literature on misbehaviour, re-map its many forms, and provide an up-date research agenda.

What is unique about the paper is that it approaches the main subject from four different perspectives and attempts are made to reconcile incongruous paradigms.

The mapping exercise identifies three core features of misbehaviour: micro-resistance and sabotage; fiddles, pilferage and crime, and, gender and sexuality.

Further emergent features of misbehaviour are identified: humour, management misbehaviour, identity misbehaviour, Internet misbehaviour, and informal survival strategies.

Further recommendations are made in relation to conceptualising and researching misbehaviour.