Give Me the Room to Learn: Associations Between Job Control and Work-Related Learning

Societal rhetoric claims that the intellectual capital of workplaces must be leveraged if Canada is to compete in the "knowledge economy". To achieve this, however, employers must create work environments that are favorable to workers and conducive to learning. This paper uses a sample of 5800 Canadian workers from the Work and Lifelong Learning Survey and twenty interviews with Information Technology workers from the Education-Job Requirement Matching Project to focus on the relationship between worker control and learning engagement. The data show that increased levels of social and technical control are associated with increased worker engagement in formal courses, informal education (mentoring) and non-taught learning. This research has implications for job design that includes real and meaningful opportunities for worker input and agency into their own tasks and broader organizational decision-making. These results provide important information for future research regarding the inclusion and conceptualization of learning and job control constructs

Worker control as a facilitator in the match between education and jobs

This article examines the relationship between worker control and subjective underemployment among workers who have more education than is needed for entry into their jobs (credential underemployment). Results indicate that social and technical controls are related to a greater sense of education–job matching. Workers who have credential underemployment are less likely to report subjective underemployment (underutilization and lack of fit between education and job) if they have higher levels of workplace control. This article contains implications for job design and the role of employers and managers in fostering the utilization of their workforces

Worker control and workplace learning: Expansion of the Job Demand-Control Model

This paper uses a sub-sample (N= 5,800) of a unique data set on work and life-long learning to develop the learning dimension of the Job Demand-Control model (Administrative Science Quarterly[1979] 24:285). The model is expanded by including three distinct learning behaviors to allow for a complete assessment of workplace learning. Worker control is also expanded to include often con-founded dimensions of Social and Technical Control. The results confirm that different types of learning are related to different determinants and that Social and Technical Control are key factors in learning participation

The recruitment and selection of pension trustees:an integrative approach

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain-specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour's goals in pension governance

Negotiating in silence: Experiences with parental leave in academia

This paper presents a case study of pregnancy/parental leave arrangements among faculty members at a mid-sized Canadian University from 2000-2010. The data show that leave arrangements were very inconsistent across faculties, across and within departments, and even for individual faculty members who had taken more than one leave. The majority of problematic cases were instances where a faculty member began or ended a leave in the middle of an academic term. Without specific language in their collective agreement, these faculty members often negotiated circumstances that carried individual penalties for duties that were unassigned in light of the leave. This research has implications for unions who must be particularly vigilant and active in professional environments where individual negotiation takes place and union consciousness is lower. It also emphasizes the burden placed on parents when the bearing and rearing of children is framed as an individual right rather than an issue of social reproduction. The paper uses data from a sample of collective agreements across Canadian universities to make recommendations to clarify the procedures for pregnancy and parental leave

What Makes for Effective Labor Representation on Pension Boards?

This article examines the efficacy of labor representation on pension boards. Using existing literature and interviews with labor trustees, this article develops a model where a more formal approach to recruitment and selection, skill acquisition, and accountability is hypothesized to aid labor trustees in achieving effective integration and representation on pension boards. Data indicate that labor trustees are placed in a challenging environment with insufficient support from their union, other trustees, or the board. These findings have important implications for the selection, training, and integration of labor trustees and the success of a labor agenda on pension issues

Token presence or substantive participation? A study of labor trustees on pension boards

In contrast to their absence from corporate boards in North America, labor representatives do have a seat on many pension boards. Given the lack of research on the role of labor participation in these fora, this study reports findings from a survey of labor trustees. We find that labor trustees make greater contributions to procedure-oriented processes such as information sharing, rule-making and rule interpretation; and, fewer contributions to investment-oriented processes such as investment decisions, fund performance and manager selection. Gender does not seem to matter in explaining participation in board activities. Accountability in terms of a requirement to report back to their union did increase labor trustee contribution but only to procedural issues, not investment issues. Short board tenure, lack of multiple labor seats and lack of training appear to limit labor trustees’ contribution to investment-based issues. Prior exposure to pension issues, and longer tenure appear to increase contributions to procedure-based issues. Exclusionary board dynamics hinder both types of contributions by labor trustees. These findings suggest that labor trustees do take advantage of their position to make procedural contributions but they find it hard to expand into newer, non-traditional roles such as investment-related activities of the Board

Peering inside the ‘black box’: The impact of management-side representatives on the industrial relations climate of organizations

The labor climate of an organization can have a great impact on productivity and efficiency. Managing this climate is often left to union stewards and management-side labor relations representatives. While there is a large literature on the role of union stewards, little is written about the role that management-side labor relations representatives play in establishing or maintaining positive labor-management relations. Building from a series of interviews with labor relations representatives in Canada and a nationwide pilot study of frontline industrial relations workers, we model the role of the labor relations representatives and their specific job actions in the established model of labor climate. Considering personal, structural, and attitudinal antecedents and measures of individual effectiveness, the study reveals that flexibility and informality matter more than formal education in industrial relations for creating positive labor climate. The study results indicate that labor relations representatives have the potential to play an important role in maintaining positive labor climate, if given more opportunity to take a proactive approach

The Capacity for Mobilization in Project-Based Cultural Work: A Case of the Video Game Industry

Though dissatisfied with some management practices and working conditions, like most high-tech knowledge workers, videogame developers remain reluctant towards unionization. This article examines the factors of collective action among developers as an example, using data gathered from an international survey and interviews. We conclude that developers meet some conditions conducive to collective action but face many obstacles as well, both to collective action and to unionization proper. This does not lead us to share the belief of a decline in collective action, but rather raises the issue of conflating union action and collective action. Our study reveals how unsuited the general North American trade union system is to their situation, as it is to project-based environments and knowledge workers in general

Videogame developers among \u27extreme workers\u27: Are death marches over?

Purpose: The videogame industry is a work environment that is emblematic of O’Carroll’s (2015) encompassing model of a 24/7/365 working time model of flexibility. We use O’Carroll’s model to challenge two myths about videogame developers (VGDs): the long hours of work are in fact unpredictable hours, and flextime HR programs do not allow for real control over working hours. Design/methodology/approach: We use a mixed methods approach (international online survey and 100 Canadian interviews) to analyse the case of VGDs - a different, but similar type of worker to the IT workers analysed by O’Carroll. Findings: We can generalize O’Carroll’s model based on the IT case to the VGD case. Based on these two cases, we propose that the rise of project-based work environments is a major explanatory factor of this raising trend in the 24/7/365 model of flexibility. Research limitations/implications: More research examining project based regimes in other sectors and settings is required to generalize further. Originality/value: Though this model can appear to fit the reality of knowledge work in general, it more accurately describes project-based work in creative environments, which is nearly always knowledge work, but the reverse cannot be inferred