High performance workplaces and skill development: Updating the map of the territory

Cochrane, William; Dharmalingam, Arunachalam; Harris, Paul; Law, Michael; Piercy, Gemma Louise

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Cochrane, B., Dharmalingam, A., Harris, P., Law, M. & Piercy, G. (2006). High performance workplaces and skill development: Updating the map of the territory. In B. Pocock, C. Provis & E.Willis (Eds.), 21st Century Work- High Road or Low Road: Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand, Volume 1, AIRAANZ, Adelaide, Australia, 1-3 February 2006 (pp. 125-135).

Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/4868

Abstract

The impact of High Performance Workplace Systems (HPWS) on workers and unions is a contentious area for debate in the fields of industrial relations and social science in general. Proponents of HPWS claim that one of the benefits for workers is that they enable workers to develop and raise their skill levels. This paper offers a preliminary evaluation of that claim by sketching an updated map of the territory. It concludes that the HPWS literature contains significant weaknesses concerning the definition of skill in explaining what skill development means for workers, individually and collectively.

Date

2006

Type

Conference Contribution

Publisher

The Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ)

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This article has been published in 21st Century Work- High Road or Low Road: Proceedings of the 20th Conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand, Volume 1. © 2006 AIRAANZ. Used with permission.

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