Article
Organisational change, technology, employment and skills: an empirical study of French manufacturing

Author: Greenan N.

Source: Cambridge Journal of Economics, Volume 27, Number 2, 1 March 2003 , pp. 287-316(30)

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Abstract:

This paper analyses the correlations between technological change, organisational change and skill change using a survey on organisational change in manufacturing firms conducted in 1993. Considerable diversity is allowed for in terms of the measure of technological and organisational change, and the analysis shows a positive correlation between technological change and reorganisations, whatever their types. The paper then analyses the relationships between these changes and the employment behaviour of firms. It shows that changes in the required skills and in the occupational structure of firms are more closely connected to organisational than to technological change. Although organisational change affects the work content and skill requirements of blue collar workers, it is mainly indirect workers that are affected in terms of the number employed. Finally, the analysis shows that technology tends to stabilise the workforce whereas the move towards the model of ‘flexible enterprise’ favours its renewal.

Keywords: Organisational change; Technological change; Productivity; Labour demand; skill

Document Type: Original article

Affiliations: 1: starf Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi.Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi.">

Publication date: 2003-03-01

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The Cambridge Journal of Economics, founded in 1977 in the traditions of Marx, Keynes, Kalecki, Joan Robinson and Kaldor, provides a forum for theoretical, applied, policy and methodological research into social and economic issues.