| Volume 23 Number 3 | October 1998 |
The Elasticity of Endurance: Work Intensification and Workplace Flexibility in the Queensland Public Hospital System
(Winning Essay - 1997 Industrial Relations Student Research Paper Competition)
Cameron Allan
The Elasticity of Endurance: Work Intensification and Workplace Flexibility in the Queensland Public Hospital System (Winning Essay - 1997 Industrial Relations Student Research Paper Competition) Cameron Allan |
|
In recent years, Australian governments have sought to improve the economic performance of the public sector, including hospital provision. Mr Allan's paper argues that often these initiatives have focused on achieving short-term efficiency gains that are likely to shift the burden of adjustment directly onto employees in the form of work intensification. However, it is argued that the labour flexibility model which has been commonly used to assess the character of workplace change does not adequately capture this important dimension of workplace reform. The article draws on research of a case study into a large Queensland public hospital to show the extent to which work has been intensified and the negative effects this has had on the health and well-being of employees. Mr Allan concludes that work intensification needs to be recognised as an entirely separate and important form of labour adjustment within labour utilisation models.
Ms Corby's article examines the work of the Employment Tribunal and Employment Court through a British lens, concentrating on unjustified dismissal and drawing comparisons from filing to appeal. The main strengths of Great Britain's Tribunals are their cost-free nature and lesser reliance on written documentation. Furthermore, Great Britain's provision whereby appeals from a Tribunal can only be made on a point of law serves to reinforce the objectives of having a speedy procedure. Although Great Britain's settlement rate of employment disputes through conciliation compares unfavourably with New Zealand's rate through mediation, there is an advisory service which Ms Corby suggests could usefully be adopted in New Zealand.
The findings presented in Messrs Gilson and Wagers' article are based on responses from New Zealand respondents to their 1995 study on human resource management and labour relations practices in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. After establishing a conceptual distinction between collective "bargaining" and "contracting" the authors' empirical goal was to examine the relationship between the presence of collective contracts (the primary independent variable) and a number of potential outcomes. Dependent variables included the incidence of strikes, concessions relating to wages, seniority, job assignments and job classifications, labour-management climate, and perceptions of efficiency. Messrs Gilson and Wager found that establishments engaging in collective contracts were more likely to report having a strike and to have secured concessions on wages, seniority, job assignments and job flexibility. The authors also found modest evidence that collective contracts were associated with a more positive labour-management climate but little support for major changes in firm performance.
Nurses are one of the core occupational groups involved in the production of health and sickness care in New Zealand. Yet despite their importance in the production of health and sickness care and the oft stated ambition of nursing elites to professionalise, Mr Pye argues that nurses as an occupational group have not been able to establish the exclusive control over any specific aspects of the health and sickness care labour process that would enable them to be defined as anything other than a partially autonomous, semi-profession. Mr Pye's article concentrates on two current debates: first, the matter of who should perform the lower order tasks of patient care, that is hygiene care; and secondly, the matter of the rights of nurses to prescribe restricted medications. The article goes on to explore the argument that within these debates there are examples of the contradictions which, unless resolved, will continue to prevent nurses from clearly establishing their place in the division of health and sickness care labour. Mr Pye's article further argues that these contradictions make nursing significantly more vulnerable to managerial manipulation and control, particularly during periods of cost constraint and reform.
Unions and Union Membership in New Zealand: Annual Review for 1997
Aaron Crawford, Raymond Harbridge and Kevin Hince
This paper reports the results of the authors' most recent survey of union membership in New Zealand for the year ended 31 December 1997, and builds on their earlier surveys for the years 31 December 1991 to 1996. The broad trends which the authors have reported on in previous years - declining levels of union membership, declining trade union density, and organisational changes - have continued and are reflected in the 1997 data.
The Role of OHSM in HRM
John Wren
Mr Wren's paper argues that three key inter-related reasons exist which both justify and explain occupational health and safety management's (OHSM) role in human resource management (HRM). Firstly, a congruency in objectives between the two subjects exists. Secondly, HRM without an OHSM component is incapacitated academically and practically. Finally, an OHSM component in HRM education can positively contribute by providing another perspective on the problem of managing people at work, paricularly in an area that is of increasing concern to management, workers, and the public. The article considers each of these arguments in turn and concludes that a greater emphasis should be given to OHSM by New Zealand tertiary institutions teaching management and industrial relations.
April - July 1998
Erling Rasmussen and Ian McIntosh
A round-up of recent New Zealand industrial relations events from April to July 1998.
Information on recent, non-indexed NZJIR issues can be found by clicking on the appropriate links below.
Volume 23, Number 2 - June 1998
Volume 23, Number 3 - October 1998
Volume 24, Number 1 - February 1999
Volume 24, Number 2 - June 1999
Volume 24, Number 3 - October 1999
Volume 25, Number 1 - February 2000
Volume 25, Number 2 - June 2000
Volume 25, Number 3 - October 2000
Volume 26, Number 1 - February 2001
Volume 26, Number 2 - June 2001
Volume 26, Number 3 - October 2001
Volume 27, Number 1- February 2002
Volume 27, Number 2- June 2002
Volume 27, Number 3 - October 2002
Volume 28, Number 1- February 2003
Volume 28, Number 2- June 2003
Volume 28, Number 3- October 2003
|