Work Routines

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to address a puzzle that has occupied the minds of researchers and theorists for decades: whether there is a fundamental shift in the overall nature of work causing people to experience either deskilling and degrading, or upskilling and enrichment, of their working lives. We have already noted some of the structural changes occurring in patterns of employment (see Chapter 2); this chapter assesses the impact of these broader employment dynamics by focusing on the nature of work tasks. To explore these issues, the chapter is divided into five sections. The first examines two dominant traditions in work organisation — Taylorism and Fordism — using contemporary examples to illustrate the central principles of each. This provides the basis for the next three sections, each of which examines a different perspective on how work is changing: the deskilling thesis, the upskilling antithesis, and the attempts to synthesise these contrasting approaches. The fifth section of the chapter develops a conceptual framework to integrate the analysis.