1 Organisational changes and the evolution of working quality life A comparison between the private sector and the state civil service (France) Maëlezig Bigi, Nathalie Greenan, Sylvie Hamon-Cholet, Joseph Lanfranchi, Sofia, Bulgaria / 18 & 19 October 2012, International Conference Adressing Quality of Work in Europe

Mutual benefits vs. Critical perspectives 2 Private sector « High Performance Work Organisation » (HPWO) Goal: improve productivity through employee involvement Several managerial tools ICT tools « New Public Management » (NPM) Goal: decrease public spending and improve the quality of public services Set of managerial tools borrowed from the private sector ICT tools  The proximity of the tools that are spread across the two sectors in order to "modernize" is the foundation on which we build our comparison  Do the same tools relate to the same effect in both sectors ?  It is difficult to construct performance indicators comparable in the two sectors, it is easy to use a common grid to assess the impact perceived by employees Public sector

Our analytical approach Two families of tools management of productive activity ICT Three dimensions of work experience intensification enrichment involvement at work A dynamic approach to the relationship between managerial strategies and work experience A comparative analysis between the private sector the State Civil Service 3

4 A survey developed first in the competitive sector in 1997, reedited in 2006 Extended to the State Civil Service in 2006, central government departments Common principles for measuring changes Same questionnaires architecture Same method of survey But questionnaires adapted to each sector A steering committee composed of experts from each sector Identified respondents in each sector for employers A survey also developed in first place in the competitive sector in 1997, reedited in 2006 on the broad scope of employers A single questionnaire for all employees of all the sectors surveyed Factual and objectives questions on the conditions of work activity Retrospective questions for measuring changes COI surveys for employees

Studied populations 5 Enterprises >= 20 employees N=6399 Employees N=11731 Private sector Enterprises >= 20 employees N=1586 Employees N=3357 Restricted private sector Units >= 10 employees N=298 Employees N=951 Public sector Banking and insurance Business Services and medias Banking and insurance Business Services and medias

6 Measuring changes(1) Tools used by the organisation= models of organized action Adoption or droping of tools= employers’ intentions of change Extension of the COI survey to the State Civil Service = Changes in the public sector are partly instrumented by tools also adopted and implemented in the competitive sector

7 Measuring changes(2) From COI survey, two synthetic indicators Management tools ICT tools ===>>>> This distinction allows identifying interactions between the two types of change. Comparable indicators overtime and between the private sector and the State Civil Service

8 The tools retained ManagementICT 1. Quality certification 2. Environnemental and ethical certification 3. Methods of problems solving 4. Tools for labelling goods and services 5. Satisfaction surveys of customers 6. Management of production just in time 7. Tools for tracing goods and services 8. Contractual commitment to provide a product or a service or customer service within a limited time 9. Requirement for suppliers to meet tight deadlines 10. Long term relationships with suppliers 11. Call and contact Centres 12. Teams or autonomous work groups 13. IT management integrated to the customer relationship 1. Web site 2. Local area network 3. Intranet 4. Extranet 5. Electronic data interchange system 6. Database(s) on the management of human resources 7. Database(s) for research 8. Tools for data analysis 9. Tools for interfacing databases 10. Tools for automated data archiving 11. ERP 12. Software or firmware for the management of human resources 13. Software or firmware for research 14. Groupware 15. Workflow software

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11 More changes … … in the public sector than in the private

Dimensions of Working life Quality 12 Work Intensification EnrichmentCommitment to work Constraints on pace of work (increasing, stable, decreasing) Use of skills (increasing, similar, decreasing) Being involved at work (more, similarly, less) Activity peaks (more, no peak, fewer) Learning new things at work (yes or no) Work recognized at fair value

13 A work intensification frequently reported by employees... A reduction of activity peaks less often reported by civil servants

14 Civil servants declared more often learning new things in their work and having increased their skills.

15 Civil servants declare more often a a stable level of involvement Employees of the restricted private sector and the public sector are comparable in terms of the level of fair work recognition.

How we measure … 16 … the effects of organisational changes … … on the evolution of working life quality What we want to measure : aggravation / mitigation of indicators of evolution of working life quality Employee control variables : gender, seniority, age, qualification, marital status, spose’s emplyment, weekly working hours, part time work, employment status, pay Employer control variables : size, sector/ministry Error term Indicator of management changes Non linear effects Indicator of ICTchanges Non linear effects Possible effects of complementarity between the two families of change

Results for intensification 17 Intensification Private sector No significant impact on the evolution of constraints on the pace of work or activity peaks A small effect of management tools on the evolution of activity peaks Public sector No significant impact on the evolution of constraints on the pace of work Increased activity peaks with a high level of ICTchanges

Results for enrichment 18 Enrichment Private sector Positive effect of ICT and management changes on the evolution of skills uses, except when the changes in ICT tools are very high A small positive effect of complementarity on the evolution of skills uses No effect on learning new things except negative with a high level of change for ICT tools Public sector No effect on the evolution of skills A little positive effect of changes in ICT tools on learning new things

Results for commitment 19 Commitment Private sector Positive effect of management changes on involvement Positive effect of management changes (but negative if too high) and little negative effect of ICT changes on the feeling of fair work recognition Public sector Negative effect of changes on involvement Negative effect of changes on the feeling of fair recognition

20  ICT changes more intense than changes in management tools in the competitive sector  Major changes in both areas in the public sector and ICT already heavily disseminated at the beginning of the observed period of time  Compared to the competitive sector, changes in average more intense in the public sector Conclusion  No significantly substantial effect on the work intensification  Increasing use of skills in the private sector with no implication in terms of learning new things / No link changes – enrichment in the State civil service  An increasing involvement for the employees of private sector with changes, but civil servants show discouragement facing change, and in particular if ICT and management changes are combined  A positive significant effect of management changes on the feeling of fair work recognition in the private sector, mitigated if combined with ICT changes / the combination of the two types of changes leads mostly to the perception of effort- reward imbalance in the public sector

Four hypothesis … The mechanisms of self selection of employees to join one or the other sector could generate differences in attitude face to change We could also assume that employees in troubles with changes in the private sector leave their firms, thus maintaning an high involvement for those who stay The process behind the changes is not the same in both sectors : market pressures play a fundamental role in the private sector, while the political pressure is crucial in the State civil service The preparation of the changes, the communication around their implementation, forms of employee participation, the human resource policies are not the same between the private sector and the public sector 21 … to explain those differences

22 Sofia, Bulgaria / 18 & 19 October 2012, International Conference Adressing Quality of Work in Europe Thanks for your attention ! Questions ?