Skill formation

In the traditional organization, occupations are viewed in terms of two criteria: function and stratification. At a manufacturing plant, for instance, a distinction is made between those who assemble components and those who inspect the completed products. Distinctions between functions necessarily lead to class distinctions among employees: " . . . occupations are distinguished by their location in a hierarchy of prestige, income, power, or control over production" (Freidson, 1982, p. 42). Even the traditional organization itself is arranged by the criteria of function and stratification. According to Hammer and Champy (1993), "The basic unit of the traditional organization is the functional department, a collection of people performing similar tasks" (p. 78). In the functional company, a stratification of departments and divisions exist; typically those with the highest degree of customer contact are located at the lower end of this hierarchy while those with decisonmaking responsibility are at the hi

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tion teams. Although such participation programs have resulted in improved company performance for some firms, the success of other collaborative efforts have dwindled over time. Workers tend to resist such cooperation whenever employment levels decline or continued cutbacks in wages result. American labor and management will likely remained locked in their adversarial roles unless significant restructuring of skill formation occurs. In contrast with U.S. workers, most workers in Japanese firms are cooperative with technological change and often volunteer ideas aimed at improving productivity. Japanese workers enjoy the freedom to cooperate because they know that it is to the benefit of management to transfer multiskilled workers to other jobs than to hire outsiders. Single skilled workers, on the other hand, must be retrained, usually at a cost that would be higher than simply hiring outsiders who already possess the appropriate skills. Still another benefit of multiskilling is improved customer service. The focus of modern business is the creation of value, and the true test of value is customer satisfaction. Since labor tends to be closer to the customer than management, company executives are increasingly inviting t
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Approximate Word count = 2837
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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