Ken Reed

The effects of technical and social conditions on workplace trust

This paper investigates the extent to which the technical and social contexts of organizations independently affect levels of workplace trust. We argue that, in an organizational context, trust is not just a relationship between an individual subject (the truster) and an object (the trustee) but is subject to effects from the conditions of the work relationship itself. We describe the organizational context as comprising both a technical system of production (where work gets done through the specification of tasks) and a social system of work (where problems of effort, compliance, conformity and motivation are managed). We analyse the relationship between trust and these two aspects of workplace context (technical and social systems). We also operationalize this in terms of differences between industries, occupational composition and human resource management practices. The model is tested using data drawn from the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The results confirm that differences in industry, occupational composition and HRM practices all impact on levels of workplace trust. We review these results in terms of their implications for future research into the problem of analysing variation in trust at both the workplace and individual levels.

To Downshift or Not to Downshift? Why People Make and don’t Make Decisions to Change their Lives

A fundamental assumption about choice is that greater choice leads to greater happiness. Modern societies offer more choice than in the past, and are increasingly characterised by elastic and fluid social bonds — we are no longer defined by a clear sets of social ties which bind us to our life situation. We can choose our friends, geographic locality, and employment and, perhaps, our gender and that of our children, the shapes of our bodies, religious beliefs and lifestyles. We can, if we choose, radically alter the way we live, and might be expected to do so if our current life situation makes us unhappy. But many people do not, ‘choosing’, apparently, to remain in unsatisfying jobs with time stressed lives. However, some people do radically alter their way of living through a voluntary reduction in working time and income, in return for a slower pace of life and increased free time — a phenomenon popularly known as ‘downshifting’. We suggest that this phenomenon — the choices involved in radical lifestyle change — can tell us something about why people ‘choose’ not to change, even when their present lifestyle makes them unhappy.

Changes in Attitudes to Mothers Working: Evidence from Australian Surveys Betsy Blunsdon and Ken Reed

Abstract The aim of this article is to contribute to the development of our understanding of two aspects of attitude change in Australia. First, both cohort and individual explanations for attitude change are tested empirically. Second, empirical evidence is provided about the nature and scope of change in gender role attitudes amongst males and females, and of different birth cohorts in Australia, as reported in two survey periods: 1994 and 2002. In particular, the question of whether there is empirical evidence of cohort differences in attitudes to gender roles in Australia is investigated. The findings show that birth cohorts display progressively more modern attitudes, but people tend not to change their attitudes as they get older. In addition, men and women have different attitudes to gender roles, with men displaying more traditional beliefs than women. Having more than one child makes women less inclined to express the belief that women should work.

Social Change and Ways of Living: An Introduction

An important theme to emerge from our earlier collection, Work-Life Integration (Blyton et al., 2006), was the importance of understanding the experience and impact of work within a broader context than has often been the case hitherto. We were also very aware of a key issue in the work-life debate: the degree to which lifestyles, or ways of living, reflect choices motivated by personal values and preferences rather than economic, social, or cultural constraints. We aim to extend these themes and issues in the present volume and more explicitly to consider the factors that influence individual lifestyles. We do this by exploring aspects of lifestyle and identity before examining societal influences on ways of living, the relevance of social networks and geographic communities for lifestyle choices, and the significance of organisational policies and practices (in conjunction with other institutional actors such as government) for lifestyle outcomes.

The Relationship Between Time of Founding And The Composition Of The Workforce In Australian Workplaces

Abstract This paper presents the results of an analysis of the relationship between organisational age and two specific aspects of labour flexibility—numerical flexibility and workforce skill composition (as one facet of functional flexibility)—that extends earlier work in two ways. First, it uses data from a large-scale national survey (the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey [AWIRS]1995). Second, it focuses on two widely studied facets of labour flexibility, numerical flexibility and functional flexibility. Previous research has investigated the relationship between organisational age and aspects of organisation such as strategy and structure (Baum and Oliver, 1991; Henderson, 1999; Reed and Blunsdon, 1998). Henderson (1999) found that age effects were contingent on different organisational strategies and process. Reed and Blunsdon (1998) found that organisational maturity is associated with goal-directed, or strategic, flexibility—characterised by low levels of formal rules and regulations but clarity of purpose. But a more complex relationship was also identified—for example; very young organisations (founded in the 1990s) appear to have higher levels of formalisation at founding than organisations established in earlier periods. This paper investigates these questions further. The results show that the relationship between age, numerical flexibility and workforce skill composition is non-linear, but the data do not make it possible to separate age effects associated with aging, time of founding and changing environmental conditions.

The Social and Organizational Life Data Archive (SOLDA).

AbstractTHIS PAPER DESCRIBES a current project designed to improve the capacity and confidence of undergraduate and post graduate students in using empirical data. Recent decades have witnessed rapid growth in the volume of data generated through the collection of official statistics and through social surveys. However, students are generally exposed only to summary results rather than the data themselves. We argue that these collections offer an untapped resource in fostering inquiry and independent learning, if adequate support, guidance and access are developed.The project establishes an on-line collection of survey and other statistical data relevant to research in the fields of management, organizational studies, industrial relations, marketing and other related social science fields (The Social and Organisational Life Data Archive”—SOLDA). SOLDA uses CD-ROM technology and the World Wide Web to deliver:• data for teaching research methods courses;• support material for substantive subjects—in the form of PowerPoint slides, Excel tables and graphs—suitable for lectures, tutorials and assignments;• customized datasets (and appropriate support material) to enable advanced undergraduates and postgraduates to undertake basic empirical research. A secondary benefit of the project is that it provides a collection of publicly available national and international survey data appropriate to the needs of researchers and postgraduate students.The system is designed to be independent of a specific computing platform and adaptable to a wide range of software combinations and configurations. It is integrated with the standard statistical packages and with MS Word and Excel. It uses writeable CD-ROMs as a basis for a custom-built and flexible current collection, a mass storage system to hold the complete collection and for production of teaching and research materials, and a university Intranet. The Web provides access to the datasets, and includes a hypertext information system describing the datasets, provide guidance in their use, reference lists of published work based on the data, relevant documentation, computer programs, and supporting material.