The present communication analyses the relationships between work organisation and quality systems. The analysis is based on results from a study funded by the "Specific Programme for the Development of Portuguese Industry" (PEDIP). The main issues which have been currently associated with work organisation and quality control in the Portuguese industry are characterized. Critical features related to the implementation of quality systems and new methods of work organisation for industrial development are also discussed. A few recommendations are given in order to promote appropriate methods of work organisation for quality improvement within Portuguese industry.

In this paper it is analysed the relationships between work organisation and quality systems in firms that uses some forms of advanced automation. Are characterised the existing quality control structures in the Portuguese industry, and the main factors that hidden or fosters the development of sociotechnical methods of quality control organisation strategies. Are analysed some industrial cases that explains more clearly the critical issues of the implementation of quality systems and work organisation systems. A few recommendations are given about the possibilities for the development of new forms of work organisation and the quality systems associated to automated manufacturing systems.

With the emergence of a global division of labour, the internationalisation of markets and cultures, the growing power of supranational organisations and the spread of new information technologies to every field of life, it starts to appear a different kind of society, different from the industrial society, and called by many as ‘the knowledge-based economy’, emphasizing the importance of information and knowledge in many areas of work and organisation of societies. Despite the common trends of evolution, these transformations do not necessarily produce a convergence of national and regional social and economic structures, but a diversity of realities emerging from the relations between economic and political context on one hand and the companies and their strategies on the other. In this sense, which future can we expect to the knowledge economy? How can we measure it and why is it important? This paper will present some results from the European project WORKS – Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society (6th Framework Programme), focusing the future visions and possible future trends in different countries, sectors and industries, given empirical evidences of the case studies applied in several European countries, underling the importance of foresight exercises to design policies, prevent uncontrolled risks and anticipate alternatives, leading to different ‘knowledge economies’ and not to the ‘knowledge economy’.

1st ISA Forum report

With the emergence of a global division of labour, the internationalisation of markets and cultures, the growing power of supranational organisations and the spread of new information technologies to every field of life, it starts to appear a different kind of society, different from the industrial society, and called by many as ‘the knowledge-based economy’, emphasizing the importance of information and knowledge in many areas of work and organisation of societies. Despite the common trends of evolution, these transformations do not necessarily produce a convergence of national and regional social and economic structures, but a diversity of realities emerging from the relations between economic and political context on one hand and the companies and their strategies on the other. In this sense, which future can we expect to the knowledge economy? How can we measure it and why is it important? This paper will present some results from the European project WORKS – Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society (6th Framework Programme), focusing the future visions and possible future trends in different countries, sectors and industries, given empirical evidences of the case studies applied in several European countries, underling the importance of foresight exercises to design policies, prevent uncontrolled risks and anticipate alternatives, leading to different ‘knowledge economies’ and not to the ‘knowledge economy’.

WORKS final conference report

1st ISA Forum report

WORKS final conference report

Starting from theoretical perspectives on globalisation, the following article analyses how current working conditions are affected by globalisation processes. For this purpose, recent developments in the German clothing sector are traced back to the power of economic globalisation processes. Characterising the German clothing sector as pioneer in economic globalisation, we use empirical findings to illustrate how current processes of globalisation influence the work place: At organisational level, corporate strategies aim at rationalisation, standardisation and flexibilisation of work in order to response to the economic pressure of global markets. At individual level these strategies, in turn, speed up working processes and intensify working processes for the employees. Although these developments form strong trends, we conclude that the local embeddedness of companies is still of high importance with regard to organisational and individual consequences of globalisation.

In Europe, the technology development of high-speed trains is increasingly exposed to societal needs, driven by ICT advancements, external to traditional design. Together with the liberalisation of the rail markets and increase pressures from other transport modes leads to an unprecedented situation where planers, operators and suppliers of high-speed have to take decision in this complex and competitive environment.
In such broadening of elements influencing design and, thus, product development process, from the survey here to be presented, it was not observed technology options assessment or strategic agenda setting from visions shifting in the same way.
For the high-speed train industry this new trend requires going beyond the visions of the past 15 to 20 years’ practices of “sector endogenous” and structurally closed strategic methods approaches to a broader interaction with the widening of societal actors now capable of being active contributors to innovation from digitalization.
This way to understand the European industry readiness for undertaking such supra systemic challenge, this paper presents the results from a survey conducted by the authors to 74 representatives of the high-speed train innovation chain regarding to which extent societal embedding is considered in the drafting of their visions and technology development projects.
This work becomes even more pertinent if considered that the debate is now open in the railway industry (not exclusive to high-speed trains) as they are launching the joint initiative SHIFT2RAIL, revise ERRAC (the European Rail Research Advisory Council) mandate and enter in a new research cycle with the European research framework Horizon 2020.

The present article posits constructive technology assessment as the dominant perspective of societal embedding practices in the technical development process by the high-speed train manufacturing industry, resulting from a research study conducted in 2011 (Moretto 2011). The article covers the main elements of the study, being the high-speed train manufacturing industry’s strategic intelligence, technology pattern, knowledge exchange, technology trajectories; and finally presents the arguments justifying constructive technology assessment as the dominant approach.

In Europe, the technology development of high-speed trains is increasingly exposed to societal needs, driven by ICT advancements, external to traditional design. Together with the liberalisation of the rail markets and increase pressures from other transport modes leads to an unprecedented situation where planers, operators and suppliers of high-speed have to take decision in this complex and competitive environment.
In such broadening of elements influencing design and, thus, product development process, from the survey here to be presented, it was not observed technology options assessment or strategic agenda setting from visions shifting in the same way.
For the high-speed train industry this new trend requires going beyond the visions of the past 15 to 20 years’ practices of “sector endogenous” and structurally closed strategic methods approaches to a broader interaction with the widening of societal actors now capable of being active contributors to innovation from digitalization.
This way to understand the European industry readiness for undertaking such supra systemic challenge, this paper presents the results from a survey conducted by the authors to 74 representatives of the high-speed train innovation chain regarding to which extent societal embedding is considered in the drafting of their visions and technology development projects.
This work becomes even more pertinent if considered that the debate is now open in the railway industry (not exclusive to high-speed trains) as they are launching the joint initiative SHIFT2RAIL, revise ERRAC (the European Rail Research Advisory Council) mandate and enter in a new research cycle with the European research framework Horizon 2020.

The relation between work organisation and technological practices in auto industry is analysed in this article. The concept of “technological practice” in this sector is used to describe the specific ways of embedding information and communication technology applications into the organizational forms and cultural patterns. This concept was developed with the Sowing project (TSER, DG XII) and that approach included either the shop floor co-operation up to the regionally based networks of companies and supporting institutions. The authors studied different sectors in the automotive firms of different European countries (Germany, Belgium and Portugal): shopfloor and production lines, design and management and the local inter-relationships. It was underlined some evidencies of the different alternatives in terms of technological practices for the same sector. Much of the litterature try to disseminate an idea of a single (and optimum) organisational model for the same type of product. And here, even with the same type of technology, and of product (medium-high range), one can find different models, different cultures, different ways of organising the industrial structure (firms, regional institutions, R&D centres) in the same sector (auto industry).

On 19 and 20 October 2006, the Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Organisation (IET) organised the first international conference on “Foresight Studies on Work in the Knowledge Society”. It took place at the auditorium of the new Library of FCT-UNL and had the support of the research project “CodeWork@VO” (financed by FCT-MCTES and co-ordinated by INESC, Porto). The conference related to the European research project “Work Organisation and Restructuring in the Knowledge Society” (WORKS), which is financed by the European Commission. The main objective of the conference was to analyse and discuss research findings on the trends of work structures in the knowledge society, and to debate on new work organisation models and new forms of work supported by ICT.

The interest to study this factory of GM group in Portugal is due to the facto of being one of the oldest assembly lines of the automotive sector still operating in Portugal (it was founded in 1963). Besides that, it went recently across a very intensive technological change, and then would be interesting to know the organisation of work model chose. The Opel factory occupies at the moment the former one that belonged to Ford Lusitana. There it has being under production some modules that feed the assembly line on JIT and in sequence. Although there were severe difficulties to implement the case study at Opel, this report could be done using secondary information and several interviews at the factory and initial visits. This Opel factory was recently closed down in the frame of a GM European strategy for re-structuring.

This paper is based on a study about the Setúbal region, included in the internacional project “The Future of Industry in Europe” for the programme FAST-MONITOR of the European Community (1992-94). There were some information on the project VW/Ford for this region and those that are connected with research networks on industrial sectors (specially, on the automobile industry), and the network on the spatial and regional factors of regional development. Those studies allowed the scenario development on evolution trends of European industry and, specifically, on the automobile sector, and on the Setúbal region that was studied by the Portuguese team.

In this working paper is presented information on the Portuguese labour market developed with the support of the European project WORKS-“Work organisation and restructuring in the knowledge society”. Is still a on the process article and thus commentaries are welcome. The structure is based on the following topics: a) The employment policy (Time regimes - time use, flexibility, part-time work, work-life balance -, and the work contracts regimes – wages, contract types, diversity); b) Education and training (skilling outcomes, rules on retraining and further training, employability schemes, transferability of skills); c) Equal opportunities (relevance of equal opportunity regulation for restructuring outcomes, the role of gender and age regulation); d) Restructuring effects (policy on transfer of personnel, policy on redundancies, and participation or voice in restructuring).

Some programs and research networks are dealing with topics associated to the automtive sector and they observe one of the most significative sectores of modern economies. Because of that is so interesting to forecast some possible changes in an horizon of 10 to 20 years. But this exercse must not be centred only on technical aspects of automobile construction, or on the design, or even on the mobility systems. How one can face these problems, and how it can be so decisivelly important, is what we will try to answer in this paper that resumes some of the debates on the foresight exercises in Germany (Futur) and on the automotive sector in Portugal (WorTiS).

Portugal had only very few foresight exercises on the automobile sector, and the most recent one was a survey held in a project on work organisation systems in the automobile industry, its recent historical paths and the special strategies of location of companies (the WorTiS project). This involved several teams with different disciplinary backgrounds and from two Portuguese universities. The provisional main results of the first round of a Delphi survey held in Portugal on the automotive sector were already published, but a further analysis was not yet done. This foresight survey was done under the WorTiS project, developed in 2004 by IET – Research Centre on Enterprise and Work Innovation (at FCT-UNL), and financed by the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology. Some of this experience on foresight analysis is also been transferred to other projects, namely the WORKS project on work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society that received the support from EC and still is running. The majority of experts considered having an average of less knowledge in almost all the scenario topics presented. This means that information on the automotive industry is not spread enough among academics or experts in related fields (regional scientists, innovation economists, engineers, sociologists). Some have a good knowledge but in very specialised fields. Others have expertise on foresight, or macroeconomics, or management sciences, but feel insecure on issues related with futures of automobile sector. Nevertheless, we considered specially the topics where the experts considered themselves to have some knowledge. There were no “irrelevant” topics considered as such by the expert panel. There are also no topics that are not considered a need for co-operation. The lack of technological infrastructures was not considered as a hindered factor for the accomplishment of any scenario. The experts’ panel considered no other international competence besides US, Japan or Ge

The majority of papers published in the last decades on European Union policy strongly stress the importance of the so-called Lisbon Strategy approved in the year 2000. The same applies to studies and reports on the shift of the European countries towards modernisation and restructuring policy in recent years. This EU development strategy defines a new direction for the coordination of national policies. But why has it become so important? One of the reasons is the fact that many of the papers are based on the concept of “knowledge society” as the key driver for an increased competitiveness of all political and economic regions of Europe. In this context, the term “knowledge” means the inter-linkage of education (including training, qualification, skills) and innovation (including research, information and communication). The use of the concept represents an important shift in the European strategy: further development would not only be based on investment in material infrastructures, but also more on the immaterial ground. However, this Lisbon Strategy was criticised by many politicians and opinion-makers in the first years of this century because the European structures were not prepared for such a quick change. At the same time, the focus for investment moved away from the traditional support of industrial sectors (manufacturing, agriculture and fisheries, construction) towards the “new economy” sectors. The vision of a knowledge society remained appealing also in a changing international context: the Middle East wars (Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel-Palestine) and the fast growth of the Chinese economy. However, the shadows of new recessions have strongly questioned the options made by the European Council. New challenges have emerged with the need to redefine collective strategies in terms of European development as set by the Lisbon strategy. “Europe 2020” is one more attempt to define a new strategy. But at present no clear path has been identified. Whether the

Taking into account the global trends towards vertical de-integration and functional integration, the WorTiS project is expected to be able to determine to what extent the Portuguese automobile industry is experiencing far-reaching changes as far as innovative (post-fordist) work systems are concerned. One of the objectives is to reach wider conclusions regarding the sector under analysis within a new multi-disciplinary approach, in connection with other research networks (namely, GERPISA and IMVP-MIT). It will recover relevant information in automobile companies located in Portugal (like, Toyota, Citröen, FIAT, Renault, Ford, VW, UMM), in order to understand how concrete practices have being developed in time, and update the scientific knowledge with the development of new case studies (Mitsubishi, AutoEuropa, Opel-GM, and other sub-contracting firms). is intended to present a new fieldwork methodology in order to analyse the variety, and contradictory character, of changes in work practices. The analysis would focus on the cases of automotive firms that operated, and are still operating, in Portugal. The effectiveness of such a tool will last far beyond the project itself.

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The relation between work organisation and technological practices in auto industry is analysed in this article. The concept of “technological practice” in this sector is used to describe the specific ways of embedding information and communication technology applications into the organizational forms and cultural patterns. This concept was developed with the Sowing project (TSER, DG XII) and that approach included either the shop floor co-operation up to the regionally based networks of companies and supporting institutions. The authors studied different sectors in the automotive firms of different European countries (Germany, Belgium and Portugal): shopfloor and production lines, design and management and the local inter-relationships. It was underlined some evidencies of the different alternatives in terms of technological practices for the same sector. Much of the litterature try to disseminate an idea of a single (and optimum) organisational model for the same type of product. And here, even with the same type of technology, and of product (medium-high range), one can find different models, different cultures, different ways of organising the industrial structure (firms, regional institutions, R&D centres) in the same sector (auto industry).

Some of the phenomena where the “globalization” concept is applied include the internationalization of markets, globalization of culture, polítical hegemony of world by some states, or groups of states, the increasing power of supranational institutions, and the development of a global division of labour. A starting point to understand the global division of work is the study of how companies are re-structuring, once they are the key-actors in the decision on which work should be found and where. The “value chains” describe each step in the productive process of a final product or service. Separated units of value chains can be in the same company (in-house) or in different companies (outsourced). Similarly they can be in a same local, or in other location. Normalization of business processes, combined with digitalization of information and the development of telecommunication networks made possible the tele-mediated work. This paper presents results from the European WORKS project, where are studied Portuguese cases of firms that integrate globalized value chain, and are analized the implications on work organization models and the (new) professional structures.