What is work organisation?
Emerging forms of work organisation present a considerable challenge in the UK, not just for employers who are demonstrably finding it difficult to keep up with their peers in other parts of Europe but for policy makers, business support organisations and researchers who must become increasingly focussed on the growing gap between leading edge practice and common practice.
The need is to recognise that individual competence is not enough. Work organisation is about creating the environment which enables people, collectively and individually, to use and develop their competencies to the full and to maximise their creative potential. Organisations need people who can learn and be creative; people need work to be organised in ways which actively foster learning and innovation.
Above all, new forms of work organisation need to create a Win-Win environment for both management and employees, simultaneously enhancing competitive advantage and quality of working life.
There is a body of evidence linking the adoption of new forms of work organisation to sustainable competitiveness, innovation and performance in the volatile conditions of the early 21st Century. But if this evidence exists, why are so few UK employers committed to real change in organisational structures, practices and cultures? And why do many employers fail to manage and sustain change successfully?
UKWON grew from a concern that Britain was falling behind its European neighbours in building partnership-based approaches to work organisation.
