Current context
The evolution of work organisations is at the heart of current concerns. Eurofound, created in 1975, plays a crucial role by providing knowledge on social and work-related policies. Today, four forms of work organisation stand out in Europe:
- Simple organisation :
- Low worker autonomy
- Highly repetitive tasks
- Little organisational innovation
- Concerns around 16% of the European population, mainly in the service sector and among manual workers.
- Taylorist organisation :
- Strong hierarchical intervention
- Teamwork without autonomy
- Task rotation
- Represents around 18% of salaried jobs, especially in the industrial sector.
- Learning organisation :
- Few repetitive tasks, versatility
- Participatory organisational practices
- Strong procedural autonomy
- Around 37% of European employees, especially in management and intermediate professions.
- Lean organisation :
- High cognitive content of work
- Versatile and multidisciplinary teams
- Dissemination of quality management standards
- Concerns 20% of employees, mainly skilled manual and clerical workers.
Evolution and outlook for 2030
France Stratégie envisages four future forms of work organisation by 2030:
- Learning organisation :
- Emphasis on upskilling and the quality of relationships at work.
- Integration into multidisciplinary teams
- Better ongoing training and opportunities for upward mobility
- Greater job stability
- Virtual collaborative platform :
- Desacralisation and virtualisation of work
- Increase in the number of self-employed workers
- Increased flexibility of forms of employment
- Intensification of work pace and stress
- Super temping :
- Ultra-flexibility of the labour market
- Reduction in undeclared work and unemployment
- Growing inequalities between the “techno proletariat” and “techno elites”
- Financial insecurity and economic dependence
- Neo-Taylorism :
- Instant matching of labour supply and demand
- Flexibilisation of work, as main or supplementary remuneration
- Low added-value tasks and micro-tasks
- Increased social fragmentation
Drivers of change
The main factors influencing these developments are:
- Economic instability
- Social and societal changes
- Changes in qualifications and skills
- Digitisation of the economy and of work
Digitisation, in particular, will have significant effects on employment and working conditions, notably in terms of flexibility, the virtualisation of social relations, and the changing role of managers.
Conclusion
The future of work organisations will probably be a hybrid of current and prospective models. Traditional salaried employment and companies will have to evolve under the pressure of new technologies and societal changes. Increased flexibility and the ability to mobilise complex knowledge will be essential to navigate this constantly changing future.
Xavier Schuster
Consultant chez SXE Consulting. Cabinet de conseil industriel base au Luxembourg, 25 ans d'experience en excellence operationnelle.
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