This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are perf... more This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are performing innovation projects. It discusses the methodology and methods of case selection, data-collection and fieldwork procedure. The reliability, validity, generalisability and consistency are being reviewed to assess the rigour of this case study design. The contribution closes with some implications for the study's continuing field work and data–analysis.
This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are perf... more This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are performing innovation projects. It discusses the methodology and methods of case selection, data-collection and fieldwork procedure. The reliability, validity, generalisability and consistency are being reviewed to assess the rigour of this case study design. The contribution closes with some implications for the study's continuing field work and data-analysis.
Social innovation is becoming a core value of the EU flagship initiative Innovation Union, but it... more Social innovation is becoming a core value of the EU flagship initiative Innovation Union, but it is not clearly demarcated as it covers a wide field of topics. To understand social innovation within European policymaking a brief outline is given of EC policy developments on innovation and on workplace innovation. Definitions of social innovation formulated at the societal level and the organizational or workplace level are discussed. Empirical research findings of workplace innovation in the Netherlands are presented as examples showing that workplace innovation activities boost organizational performance. The article explores the relation between workplace innovation and social innovation, and concludes that policy developments in the EU can be studied with the theory of social quality, provided that the latter in its empirical approach focuses on how individuals together constitute innovations.
Social innovation of work and employment is a prerequisite to achieve the EU2020 objectives of sm... more Social innovation of work and employment is a prerequisite to achieve the EU2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It covers labor market innovation on societal level and workplace innovation on organizational level. This chapter focuses on the latter. Workplace innovations are social both in their ends (quality of working life, well-being and development of talents together with organizational performance) and in their means (
This article develops and examines the idea that internal labour flexibility practices are benefi... more This article develops and examines the idea that internal labour flexibility practices are beneficial for labour productivity and innovation performance of companies. This is tested in two studies using unique company level datasets. In Study 1, results obtained from 377 independent companies revealed that internal labour flexibility practices are positively related to objective labour productivity and its growth in the year following, also when controlled for objective labour productivity and objective external labour flexibility from the year before. In Study 2, results obtained from 4271 companies indicated that internal labour flexibility practices were positively related to product innovation and labour productivity. Findings suggest that internal labour flexibility practices benefit both labour productivity and innovation performance of companies. If innovation and labour productivity are considered key to long-term survival, firms and policymakers should consider internal labour flexibility practices.
Complexity of projects is hotly debated and a factor which affects innovativeness of team perform... more Complexity of projects is hotly debated and a factor which affects innovativeness of team performance. Much attention in the past is paid to technical complexity and many issues are related to natural and physical sciences. A growing awareness of the importance of socio-organisational issues is announced by researchers and consultants which is much less investigated. The failure of projects may be due partly to overlooking these issues. In this study within a single organization an exploratory framework was developed to research relations between group dynamics (team mindfulness, safety, learning and defensive behaviour, complexity of projects and the outcomes of team performance. Combining data from face-to-face interviews, a survey and a team observation lead to the recommendation that greater attention for group dynamics is beneficial for the output of project teams who are managing and executing complex innovative projects.
Social innovation of work and employment are prerequisites to achieve the EU2020 objectives of sm... more Social innovation of work and employment are prerequisites to achieve the EU2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It covers labour market innovation on societal level and workplace innovation on organisational level. This paper focuses on the latter. Workplace innovations are social both in their ends (quality of working life, well-being and development of talents together with organisational performance) and in their means (employee participation and empowerment). Complementary to technological innovations they regard innovations in social aspects of organisations such as work organisation, HRM and work relations. Workplace innovation -or innovative workplaces as it is sometimes called -deserves to be better incorporated in EU policies, as also has been recommended by the European Economic and Social Committee and the OECD. Some countries have experienced the benefits of national campaigns already.
The European situation of new forms of work organisation and stress risks in jobs are described a... more The European situation of new forms of work organisation and stress risks in jobs are described against the 'decentralisationhuman factor orientation model', which discerns types of work organisation. 'Flexible firms' based on lean production have the highest probability of high strain jobs, predicting negative health effects. Among European employees, those working in high strain work organisations report the highest number of complaints with musculoskeletal problems, allergies and asthma and stress-related problems. Although new forms of work organisation are limited in occurrence, most of them tend towards lean production, indicating growing stress risks for employees. The authors suggest to reduce stress risks in jobs by redesigning those organisational conditions labelled as sources for these risks into work situations with a better balance in job demands and job control.
Based on ‘Netherlands Employer Work Survey’(NEWS) data this paper investigates the consequences o... more Based on ‘Netherlands Employer Work Survey’(NEWS) data this paper investigates the consequences of workplace innovation for employee and organisational performance in The Netherlands. The NEWS is a unique, two-yearly held survey among 5.000 establishments of public and private organisations on policies and practices of Dutch employers, concerning work related issues, such as working conditions, employment relations, HR and innovation management. Workplace innovation is defined by Pot (2011) as “the implementation of new and combined interventions in the fields of work organisation, HRM and supportive technologies. Workplace innovation is considered to be complementary to technological innovation”. Taking this definition, which is rooted in the ‘theory of modern sociotechnology’ (De Sitter) and ‘the job demands - control model’ (Karasek), as a point of departure, we constructed a Workplace Innovation Index (WPI-index) that consists of the following characteristics: ‘active jobs’ (fle...
This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are perf... more This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are performing innovation projects. It discusses the methodology and methods of case selection, data-collection and fieldwork procedure. The reliability, validity, generalisability and consistency are being reviewed to assess the rigour of this case study design. The contribution closes with some implications for the study's continuing field work and data–analysis.
This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are perf... more This paper informs on the design of a study on team behaviour of project-based teams who are performing innovation projects. It discusses the methodology and methods of case selection, data-collection and fieldwork procedure. The reliability, validity, generalisability and consistency are being reviewed to assess the rigour of this case study design. The contribution closes with some implications for the study's continuing field work and data-analysis.
Social innovation is becoming a core value of the EU flagship initiative Innovation Union, but it... more Social innovation is becoming a core value of the EU flagship initiative Innovation Union, but it is not clearly demarcated as it covers a wide field of topics. To understand social innovation within European policymaking a brief outline is given of EC policy developments on innovation and on workplace innovation. Definitions of social innovation formulated at the societal level and the organizational or workplace level are discussed. Empirical research findings of workplace innovation in the Netherlands are presented as examples showing that workplace innovation activities boost organizational performance. The article explores the relation between workplace innovation and social innovation, and concludes that policy developments in the EU can be studied with the theory of social quality, provided that the latter in its empirical approach focuses on how individuals together constitute innovations.
Social innovation of work and employment is a prerequisite to achieve the EU2020 objectives of sm... more Social innovation of work and employment is a prerequisite to achieve the EU2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It covers labor market innovation on societal level and workplace innovation on organizational level. This chapter focuses on the latter. Workplace innovations are social both in their ends (quality of working life, well-being and development of talents together with organizational performance) and in their means (
This article develops and examines the idea that internal labour flexibility practices are benefi... more This article develops and examines the idea that internal labour flexibility practices are beneficial for labour productivity and innovation performance of companies. This is tested in two studies using unique company level datasets. In Study 1, results obtained from 377 independent companies revealed that internal labour flexibility practices are positively related to objective labour productivity and its growth in the year following, also when controlled for objective labour productivity and objective external labour flexibility from the year before. In Study 2, results obtained from 4271 companies indicated that internal labour flexibility practices were positively related to product innovation and labour productivity. Findings suggest that internal labour flexibility practices benefit both labour productivity and innovation performance of companies. If innovation and labour productivity are considered key to long-term survival, firms and policymakers should consider internal labour flexibility practices.
Complexity of projects is hotly debated and a factor which affects innovativeness of team perform... more Complexity of projects is hotly debated and a factor which affects innovativeness of team performance. Much attention in the past is paid to technical complexity and many issues are related to natural and physical sciences. A growing awareness of the importance of socio-organisational issues is announced by researchers and consultants which is much less investigated. The failure of projects may be due partly to overlooking these issues. In this study within a single organization an exploratory framework was developed to research relations between group dynamics (team mindfulness, safety, learning and defensive behaviour, complexity of projects and the outcomes of team performance. Combining data from face-to-face interviews, a survey and a team observation lead to the recommendation that greater attention for group dynamics is beneficial for the output of project teams who are managing and executing complex innovative projects.
Social innovation of work and employment are prerequisites to achieve the EU2020 objectives of sm... more Social innovation of work and employment are prerequisites to achieve the EU2020 objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It covers labour market innovation on societal level and workplace innovation on organisational level. This paper focuses on the latter. Workplace innovations are social both in their ends (quality of working life, well-being and development of talents together with organisational performance) and in their means (employee participation and empowerment). Complementary to technological innovations they regard innovations in social aspects of organisations such as work organisation, HRM and work relations. Workplace innovation -or innovative workplaces as it is sometimes called -deserves to be better incorporated in EU policies, as also has been recommended by the European Economic and Social Committee and the OECD. Some countries have experienced the benefits of national campaigns already.
The European situation of new forms of work organisation and stress risks in jobs are described a... more The European situation of new forms of work organisation and stress risks in jobs are described against the 'decentralisationhuman factor orientation model', which discerns types of work organisation. 'Flexible firms' based on lean production have the highest probability of high strain jobs, predicting negative health effects. Among European employees, those working in high strain work organisations report the highest number of complaints with musculoskeletal problems, allergies and asthma and stress-related problems. Although new forms of work organisation are limited in occurrence, most of them tend towards lean production, indicating growing stress risks for employees. The authors suggest to reduce stress risks in jobs by redesigning those organisational conditions labelled as sources for these risks into work situations with a better balance in job demands and job control.
Based on ‘Netherlands Employer Work Survey’(NEWS) data this paper investigates the consequences o... more Based on ‘Netherlands Employer Work Survey’(NEWS) data this paper investigates the consequences of workplace innovation for employee and organisational performance in The Netherlands. The NEWS is a unique, two-yearly held survey among 5.000 establishments of public and private organisations on policies and practices of Dutch employers, concerning work related issues, such as working conditions, employment relations, HR and innovation management. Workplace innovation is defined by Pot (2011) as “the implementation of new and combined interventions in the fields of work organisation, HRM and supportive technologies. Workplace innovation is considered to be complementary to technological innovation”. Taking this definition, which is rooted in the ‘theory of modern sociotechnology’ (De Sitter) and ‘the job demands - control model’ (Karasek), as a point of departure, we constructed a Workplace Innovation Index (WPI-index) that consists of the following characteristics: ‘active jobs’ (fle...
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