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A holistic approach to the productivity paradox (2007)

Abstract
Both the public and private sectors have since the 1980s relentlessly cut the size of their workforces. The downsizing has regularly been reported to lead to closure of a whole or a part of a corporation or organization. Some studies which have analyzed the closures have reported that remarkable, counterintuitive improvements in labor productivity occurred during the time-period between the closure announcement and the final working day. Testing an elaborated cybernetic model on a Swedish case study, and on an exploratory basis, this paper proposes a holistic approach to generate a better understanding of this phenomenon. The main holistic pattern is a new order where management control is replaced by more “Self-management” on the plant level, and very strong psychological reactions based on feelings of unfairness.

Publication details
Download http://dalea.du.se/research/?itemId=2913
Publisher IOS Press
Repository Dalarna University College Electronic Archive - DALEA (Sweden)
Keywords Closedown, cybernetics, downsizing, industrial relations, productivity
Type Article
Language Englisch
Relation Human Systems Management