| 11. |
- Carter, B., et al.
(författare)
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'All they lack is a chain' : Lean and the new performance management in the British civil service
- 2011
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Ingår i: New technology, work and employment. - 0268-1072 .- 1468-005X. ; 26:2, s. 83-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The adaptation of lean techniques in public services is viewed as an innovative managerialist response to government demands for more efficient services amidst large reductions in public spending. This paper explores workers' experiences of the impact of lean on work organisation and control and provides new insights into developments within contemporary back office clerical work
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| 12. |
- Carter, B., et al.
(författare)
-
Lean and mean in the civil service : The case of processing in HMRC
- 2011
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Ingår i: Public Money & Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0954-0962 .- 1467-9302. ; 31:2, s. 115-122
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The public sector has been importing private sector methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies and cost savings. However, the consequences of these changes on the working lives of civil servants are under-researched. This article uses detailed fieldwork to investigate the impact of Lean on labour processes in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). We argue that Lean has a detrimental effect on employees, their working lives, and the service that is provided to the public. The consequences of Lean on public sector work are highly problematic, which is of serious concern given its progressive impact on other civil service departments in the UK
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| 13. |
- Carter, Bob, et al.
(författare)
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Nothing gets done and no one knows why : PCS and workplace control of lean in HM revenue and customs
- 2012
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Ingår i: Industrial relations journal. - : Wiley. - 0019-8692 .- 1468-2338. ; 43:5, s. 416-432
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article examines the willingness and capacity of public sector unions to mobilise action against changes in the labour process in order to maintain some measure of control at the point of production. Taking as an instance an extended dispute in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs over the introduction and impact of Lean processes, it marshals evidence gathered from documentary sources, branch representatives and national lay full-time officers to engage with the notion of a trade union bureaucracy. In taking a union with a left-wing leadership and a section with 80 per cent membership with an expressed willingness to escalate industrial action, the article tests Hyman's 1979 contention that, rather than a concentration on a bureaucratic caste, a much better explanation for conservatism centres on the nature of social relations within the union that encompass a wider layer of representatives.
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| 14. |
- Carter, Bob, et al.
(författare)
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‘Stressed out of my box’: employee experience of lean working and occupational ill-health in clerical work in the UK public sector
- 2013
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Ingår i: Work, Employment and Society. - : SAGE Publications. - 0950-0170 .- 1469-8722. ; 27:5, s. 747-767
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Occupational health and safety (OHS) is under-researched in the sociology of work and employment. This deficit is most pronounced for white-collar occupations. Despite growing awareness of the significance of psychosocial conditions – notably stress – and musculoskeletal disorders, white-collar work is considered by conventional OHS discourse to be ‘safe’. This study’s locus is clerical processing in the UK public sector, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, in the context of efficiency savings programmes. The key initiative was lean working, which involved redesigned workflow, task fragmentation, standardization and individual targets. Utilizing a holistic model of white-collar OHS and in-depth quantitative and qualitative data, the evidence of widespread self-reported ill-health symptoms is compelling. Statistical tests of association demonstrate that the transformed work organization that accompanied lean working contributed most to employees’, particularly women’s, ill-health complaints.
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| 15. |
- Carter, Bob, et al.
(författare)
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Taxing times : lean working and the creation of (in)efficiencies in hm revenue and costums
- 2013
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Ingår i: Public Administration. - : Wiley. - 0033-3298 .- 1467-9299. ; 91:1, s. 83-97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The prevailing economic and budgetary climate is intensifying the search for methods and practices aimed at generating efficiencies in public sector provision. This paper investigates the increasingly popular bundle of techniques operating under the generic descriptor of lean, which promises to improve operational quality processes while simultaneously reducing cost. It offers a critical appraisal of lean as a fashionable component of public sector reform and challenges the received wisdom that it unambiguously delivers ‘efficiencies’. Quantitative and qualitative research in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) centred on employees' experiences has indicated the extent to which work has been reorganized along lean principles. However, employees perceive that changes in organizational processes and working practices have unintentionally generated inefficiencies which have impacted on the quality of public service. These suggested outcomes raise wider concerns as lean working is adopted in other public sector organizations.
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| 16. |
- Carter, Bob, et al.
(författare)
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‘‘They can’t be a buffer any longer’ : Supervisors and class relations under white-collar lean production’
- 2014
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Ingår i: Capital and Class. - : SAGE Publications. - 0309-8168 .- 2041-0980. ; 38:2, s. 323-343
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article reasserts the value of the examination of class relations. It does so via a case study of tax-processing sites within HM Revenue and Customs, focusing on the changes wrought by the alterations to labour and supervisory processes implemented under the banner of ‘lean production’. It concentrates on the transformation of front-line managers, as their tasks moved from those that required tax knowledge and team support to those that narrowed their work towards output monitoring and employee supervision. Following Carchedi, these changes are conceptualised as strengthening the function of capital performed by managers, and weakening their role within the labour process.
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| 17. |
- Carter, Bob, et al.
(författare)
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Uncomfortable truths : teamworking under lean in the UK
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Human Resource Management. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0958-5192 .- 1466-4399. ; 28:3, s. 449-467
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A recent contribution in this journal – Procter, S. and Radnor, Z. (2014) ‘Teamworking under Lean in UK public services: lean teams and team targets in Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)’ International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25:21, 2978–2995 – provides an account of teamworking in the UK Civil Service, specifically Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), focused on the relationship between recently implemented lean work organisation and teams and teamworking. Procter and Radnor claim in this work that it delivers a ‘more nuanced’ analysis of lean in this government department and, it follows, of the lean phenomenon more generally. Our riposte critiques their article on several grounds. It suffers from problems of logic and construction, conceptual confusion and definitional imprecision. Methodological difficulties and inconsistent evidence contribute additionally to analytical weakness. Included in our response are empirical findings on teamworking at HMRC that challenge Procter and Radnor’s evidential basis and further reveal the shortcomings of their interpretation
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| 18. |
- Gillard, H., et al.
(författare)
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"Missing women" : Gender, ICTs, and the shaping of the global economy
- 2008
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Ingår i: Information Technology for Development. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0268-1102 .- 1554-0170. ; 14:4, s. 262-279
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a key article (Walsham & Sahay, 2005) outlining research on information systems in developing countries and suggesting potential areas for future research, a notable omission was the issue of gender and gender relations. In this article, we draw on the substantial gender and development literature to demonstrate the centrality of gender to our understanding of information systems (IS) in developing countries. In particular, we consider the relationship among gender, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and globalization to illustrate how changes in the global economy both impact on and are influenced by changing gender identities and roles.
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| 19. |
- Howcroft, Debra, et al.
(författare)
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A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms
- 2019
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Ingår i: Work, Employment and Society. - : Sage Publications. - 0950-0170 .- 1469-8722. ; 33:1, s. 21-38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite growing interest in the gig economy among academics, policy makers and media commentators, the area is replete with different terminology, definitional constructs and contested claims about the ensuing transformation of work organisation. The aim of this positional piece is to provide a timely review and classification of crowdwork. A typology is developed to map the complexity of this emerging terrain, illuminating range and scope by critically synthesising empirical findings and issues from multidisciplinary literatures. Rather than side-tracking into debates as to what exactly constitutes crowdwork, the purpose of the typology is to highlight commonalities rather than distinctions, enabling connections across areas. The framework serves as a heuristic device for considering the broader implications for work and employment in terms of control and coordination, regulation and classification, and collective agency and representation.
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| 20. |
- Howcroft, Debra
(författare)
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After the goldrush : Deconstructing the myths of the dot.Com market
- 2001
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Ingår i: JIT. Journal of information technology (Print). - : SAGE Publications. - 0268-3962 .- 1466-4437. ; 16:4, s. 195-204
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many would claim that the development of electronic commerce is reshaping almost all industries, even to the extent that we are undergoing a paradigm shift. This enthusiasm represents a speculative bubble, what economists would describe as 'mania', as we witness increasing numbers of firms embracing the need for an on-line presence, despite the absence of both profits and sales. The recent turn of events, which is referred to as the 'dot.com implosion', indicates that the rapid profit growth that was initially projected is unlikely to be achieved by many. As the technology markets have crashed along with a number of high-profile dot.com collapses, numerous investors have almost turned off from funding this sector. This should come as little surprise. What is of interest is why myriad investors were drawn into financially supporting these start-ups in the first instance. This paper aims to focus on the concept of business-to-consumer commerce and uses mythology for providing some explanation as to why so many investors were lured into participating in the dot.com share bubble.
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