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Learning to be employable: An introduction
... Dessa studier har undersökt jobbcoaching som styrningsteknologi, enligt vilken den arbetssökandes subjektivitet formas på bestämda sätt, utifrån bestämda kunskapsregimer och auktoritetsanspråk (jfr Fogde 2009;Potrac & Jones 2009;Darmon & Perez 2011;Vesterberg 2016). Ett centralt inslag i formandet av denna subjektivitet är just fokus på den enskilde individens arbete med sig själv, där siktet är inställt på att bli anställningsbar (Garsten & Jacobsson 2004;Fejes 2010). Skapandet av anställningsbara subjekt har i denna forskning beskrivits som del av en bredare arbetsmarknadspolitisk omdaning, som har ägt rum i Sverige liksom i många andra länder (Henman & Fenger 2006;Larsson m.fl. ...
... 2012). Politikens fokus har därmed förskjutits, från att först och främst ha varit en fråga om arbetsbrist så har politiken mer kommit att handla om befolkningens bristande anställningsbarhet (jfr Garsten & Jacobsson 2004;Hörnqvist 2008;Dahlstedt 2009). ...
... Frågan om arbete individualiseras genom att arbete framträder som en fråga om den arbetssökandes egna kvalifikationer och egenskaper, ambitioner och (o)förmågor. Detta resultat ligger i linje med vad som i tidigare forskning har identifierats som ett arbetsmarknadspolitiskt skifte som ägt rum sedan tidigt 1990-tal, där allt större fokus förlagts till de enskilda arbetssökandes förmåga och ansvar för att bli anställningsbara (Garsten & Jacobsson 2004;Hörnqvist 2008). ...
Jaget som företag och samhället som marknad är del av en samtida ideologi. I fokus för denna artikel står arbetssökandet, som under senare decennier blivit en expansiv bransch, där aktörer tävlar om att bistå de arbetssökande i jakten på jobb. På denna marknad har jobbcoaching intagit en allt mer framskjuten position, med sin egen ideologi. Hur kan denna ideologi förstås, hur kommer den till uttryck och vilka effekter har den?
... This political commitment is to be brought into action in many different practices, whereas the empirical focus for this article is one illustrative example: labour market projects, as co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). These projects can be seen as sites for adult learning, not least in terms of learning to become employable (Garsten & Jacobsson, 2004). The main reason for choosing Roma as a group to analyse stems from previous research on ESF projects targeting unemployed 'people with a foreign background' (Vesterberg, 2013). ...
... In this way, the Roma are constructed as a non-traditional group on the labour market as well as in adult education. The Roma are constructed as a targeted population in need of special interventions, making them governable towards learning to learn, since it is crucial for the lifelong learner to be educable (Tuschling & Engemann, 2007); afterwards in the next phase, they will be learning to become employable (Garsten & Jacobsson, 2004). The project Romano zor! – Roma force! ...
... Brine, 2006). Hence the Roma are constructed as subjects that first need to recognize the value of education – to learn to learn, and thus become educable (Tuschling & n, 2007) and then go on to learn to become employable (Garsten & Jacobsson, 2004). Next I will recapitulate and elaborate on the main findings of the analysis, following the analytical questions posed in the article. ...
The aim of this article is to analyse learning practices in labour market projects cofinanced by the European Social Fund (ESF) targeting unemployed Roma in Sweden. The empirical material consists of 18 project descriptions from ESF projects, as well as national and European policy documents concerned with the inclusion of the Roma in contemporary Europe. The contemporary empirical material is analysed in relation to a government report from 1956 concerning the ‘Roma issue’ in Sweden. The analytical perspective of the study is governmentality, and the analysis focuses on different kinds of problematizations and the discursive positioning of the Roma subjects. One of the main findings is that unemployed Roma are situated in various discourses of misery and constructed as in need of reshaping their subjectivities in order to become educable as well as employable.
... The neoliberal interpretation claims that contemporary working life is constantly changing and cannot guarantee secure employment, and emphasises that people themselves must deal with this uncertainty by becoming and staying employable. Here, employable means being able to constantly adapt to changes in working life (Garsten and Jacobsson 2004). ...
... The current, common neoliberal interpretation of employability was first introduced by corporations in the 1980s and, thereafter, adopted by the policy discourse of governments and the European Union (EU). This interpretation represents a shift from earlier ways of speaking about people as employed or unemployed to speaking about them as employable or unemployable (Garsten and Jacobsson 2004). Research has criticised that a key aspect of this shift is that both the responsibility for being employed and the blame for being unemployed is shifted towards the individual (see e.g. ...
Work-integrated Learning (WIL) is renowned for providing a bridge between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ that fosters ‘employable graduates’. This study critically argues that the WIL discourse continues to ascribe a dualistic meaning to graduate employability that primarily contributes to creating the so-called theory–practice gap for students. As an argument towards such a conclusion, a genealogical discourse analysis of how the graduate employability idea operates in 87 present and past official documents concerning the Cooperative Education (Co-op) WIL model is used. Two accounts of graduate employability, the antagonistic practice acclaiming account and the harmonious theory and practice account, recur in both the present and past documents. Both accounts contribute to creating the gap, while the latter also contributes to bridging it. The non-dualistic account, which involves knowing that the key to becoming employable is understanding how both research-based and informal theory shape daily occupational work, could be a useful alternative to these accounts. This is because it could encourage students to see how theory is a form of knowledge manifested in, rather than disconnected from, this work. However, the usual WIL design, whereby universities and workplaces outside universities are respectively institutionalised as the places where ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ is learnt, is not so much instrumental in spreading this non-dualistic account, but rather implies to students that ‘theory’ is absent from daily work until they apply it. Thus, I discuss how establishing physical and/or virtual countersites to the usual WIL design could potentially spread this account to students.
... The macro-level analysis, as briefly explained in the previous paragraph, shows governments that "seek to enable rather than provide" (Edwards 2003), or that seek to promote personal mobility through active policies (Gazier 2001;Garsten and Jacobsson 2003). While the responsibility of being employable is primarily on individuals, education systems are asked to support the building of employable citizens. ...
... The relative dimension needs to be considered: external and economic factors which may be sector-or region-specific (Saxenian 1994;Harvey 2000) can affect the actual employment of the individual, regardless of that person's employability potential (Harvey 2001;Holmes 2011). In the knowledgebased economy, learning is only a pre-requisite for obtaining and retaining a job (Garsten and Jacobsson 2003;; higher education, which was both necessary and sufficient to achieve a stable position in the labour market, particularly when the public sector was stronger, is now necessary, but often insufficient (Sin and Neave 2016, p. 2;Brown and Hesketh 2004, p. 30). The "massification" of higher education (Scott 1995) weakened the power of credentials (Brown and Hesketh 2004) and required the workforce to be equipped with different forms of skills, often related to personal qualities (Hassard et al. 2008;Purcell et al. 2002). ...
This chapter addresses the micro-level of graduate employability, the level of the students and graduates. The concept of self-perceived employability is defined. Perception depends on aspects that include more than formal education: in particular, sociological research has advanced understanding of how the labour market, as a construct of individuals, is perceived subjectively by those preparing for or seeking work. Also, the perception of one’s employability is conditioned by one’s awareness of the global and the local labour markets, and of the channels to access work, which vary according to the work sector or type of company.
... The macro-level analysis, as briefly explained in the previous paragraph, shows governments that "seek to enable rather than provide" (Edwards 2003), or that seek to promote personal mobility through active policies (Gazier 2001;Garsten and Jacobsson 2003). While the responsibility of being employable is primarily on individuals, education systems are asked to support the building of employable citizens. ...
... The relative dimension needs to be considered: external and economic factors which may be sector-or region-specific (Saxenian 1994;Harvey 2000) can affect the actual employment of the individual, regardless of that person's employability potential (Harvey 2001;Holmes 2011). In the knowledgebased economy, learning is only a pre-requisite for obtaining and retaining a job (Garsten and Jacobsson 2003;; higher education, which was both necessary and sufficient to achieve a stable position in the labour market, particularly when the public sector was stronger, is now necessary, but often insufficient (Sin and Neave 2016, p. 2;Brown and Hesketh 2004, p. 30). The "massification" of higher education (Scott 1995) weakened the power of credentials (Brown and Hesketh 2004) and required the workforce to be equipped with different forms of skills, often related to personal qualities (Hassard et al. 2008;Purcell et al. 2002). ...
This chapter discusses trends in pedagogies for employability. It reports on findings of research about the most effective methods for enhancing employability and then explores the relation between the place and pedagogical approaches, considering the value of place awareness for employability potential. Finally, it describes the main features of rural economies and seeks to identify elements there that can support the employability of graduates.
... The macro-level analysis, as briefly explained in the previous paragraph, shows governments that "seek to enable rather than provide" (Edwards 2003), or that seek to promote personal mobility through active policies (Gazier 2001;Garsten and Jacobsson 2003). While the responsibility of being employable is primarily on individuals, education systems are asked to support the building of employable citizens. ...
... The relative dimension needs to be considered: external and economic factors which may be sector-or region-specific (Saxenian 1994;Harvey 2000) can affect the actual employment of the individual, regardless of that person's employability potential (Harvey 2001;Holmes 2011). In the knowledgebased economy, learning is only a pre-requisite for obtaining and retaining a job (Garsten and Jacobsson 2003;; higher education, which was both necessary and sufficient to achieve a stable position in the labour market, particularly when the public sector was stronger, is now necessary, but often insufficient (Sin and Neave 2016, p. 2;Brown and Hesketh 2004, p. 30). The "massification" of higher education (Scott 1995) weakened the power of credentials (Brown and Hesketh 2004) and required the workforce to be equipped with different forms of skills, often related to personal qualities (Hassard et al. 2008;Purcell et al. 2002). ...
In response to many demands about their role within society, in the past few decades universities have reviewed and changed curricula and teaching methods, and created, improved, or diversified initiatives to link with reference territories. In this ongoing effort, universities need to address the issue of their own “new role” and identity within a continuously changing society. This chapter outlines the key themes of the “changing university” by focusing on the employability issue, looking at emerging employability models, and reporting on the current debate about the role of the university within the social system.
... The macro-level analysis, as briefly explained in the previous paragraph, shows governments that "seek to enable rather than provide" (Edwards 2003), or that seek to promote personal mobility through active policies (Gazier 2001;Garsten and Jacobsson 2003). While the responsibility of being employable is primarily on individuals, education systems are asked to support the building of employable citizens. ...
... The relative dimension needs to be considered: external and economic factors which may be sector-or region-specific (Saxenian 1994;Harvey 2000) can affect the actual employment of the individual, regardless of that person's employability potential (Harvey 2001;Holmes 2011). In the knowledgebased economy, learning is only a pre-requisite for obtaining and retaining a job (Garsten and Jacobsson 2003;; higher education, which was both necessary and sufficient to achieve a stable position in the labour market, particularly when the public sector was stronger, is now necessary, but often insufficient (Sin and Neave 2016, p. 2;Brown and Hesketh 2004, p. 30). The "massification" of higher education (Scott 1995) weakened the power of credentials (Brown and Hesketh 2004) and required the workforce to be equipped with different forms of skills, often related to personal qualities (Hassard et al. 2008;Purcell et al. 2002). ...
This chapter provides an overview of the key policies and strategies that are directly linked to regional development and universities. After a summary on how regional policies have changed over time, it outlines educational policies affecting higher education, then offers an overview of global goals, which are, or should be, the overarching framework for policy interventions at all levels. The chapter concludes with some considerations about the implications of graduate employability’s theme in regional economies and local markets.
... The macro-level analysis, as briefly explained in the previous paragraph, shows governments that "seek to enable rather than provide" (Edwards 2003), or that seek to promote personal mobility through active policies (Gazier 2001;Garsten and Jacobsson 2003). While the responsibility of being employable is primarily on individuals, education systems are asked to support the building of employable citizens. ...
... The relative dimension needs to be considered: external and economic factors which may be sector-or region-specific (Saxenian 1994;Harvey 2000) can affect the actual employment of the individual, regardless of that person's employability potential (Harvey 2001;Holmes 2011). In the knowledgebased economy, learning is only a pre-requisite for obtaining and retaining a job (Garsten and Jacobsson 2003;; higher education, which was both necessary and sufficient to achieve a stable position in the labour market, particularly when the public sector was stronger, is now necessary, but often insufficient (Sin and Neave 2016, p. 2;Brown and Hesketh 2004, p. 30). The "massification" of higher education (Scott 1995) weakened the power of credentials (Brown and Hesketh 2004) and required the workforce to be equipped with different forms of skills, often related to personal qualities (Hassard et al. 2008;Purcell et al. 2002). ...
The concept of employability ranges from the individual to the global dimensions, and encompasses several domains. This chapter outlines the key socio-economic transformations that have modified transition pathways between education and work, and describes the changing nature of jobs and careers. Following major changes in the nature of employment, the concept of employability has been accordingly re-formulated: in this context, the nature of jobs for university graduates has changed towards new professional roles and positions that are not yet fixed. The chapter introduces the main shift from employment to employability as a consequence of new policies implemented, in particular in Western countries, then analyses the concept of employability that has resulted from socio-economic changes, including the entrepreneurial components, and concludes with the analysis of “university graduate jobs” as conceived today.
... Facciamo ora un passo indietro e cerchiamo di gettare luce sul discorso dell'occupabilità nel suo complesso. Per poter riflettere sulla sua valenza, dobbiamo riconoscere che il ruolo dell'ideologia in questo discorso è stato raramente affrontato, con l'eccezione di Garsten and Jacobsson (2004), Jacobsson (2004), Cremin (2010), Cuzzocrea (2014) e pochi altri (in italiano, Gualmini e Rizza, 2011), a dispetto del suo frequente utilizzo nei discorsi politici. La dimensione valoriale ed ideologica nella costruzione di questo tipo di discorsi è invece di fondamentale importanza. ...
... Questa impostazione è stata usata in diverse occasioni, per esempio in relazione al discorso della flessibilità (De Luigi, . Se consideriamo anche quello sull'occupabilità come un discorso, esso in primo luogo implica l'interiorizzazione del controllo sociale (Garsten, Jacobsson, 2004), perché gli orientamenti basati su inclinazioni personali debbono essere tradotti in aspettative conformantisi alle oggettive necessità del mercato. In secondo luogo, un sostanziale presupposto della sua crescita è lo sviluppo delle politiche attive del lavoro, che prende piede negli anni 90 nella maggior parte dei paesi occidentali. ...
... In his conversation of the employability plan, Suleman, (2018) noticed that advanced education establishments are feeling the squeeze to furnish understudies with the abilities that organizations need. As per Garsten and Jacobsson, (2004), employability was depicted as having the option to conform to changes in the realm of work constantly. Universities understudies will at the appointed time be graduates, then the subject of their employability will surface. ...
... In a rapidly changing and highly competitive global economy, the employability of tertiary undergraduates has continued to be a subject of debate in recent policy discourse [1]. The Beyond Graduation Survey [2] has found that there has been a significant change in the employment situation over the last few years. ...
With the alarming increase in graduate unemployment in Bhutan, many scholars have looked into the causes, implications, and potential solutions to Bhutan's unemployment issues. However, in Bhutan, only a few references have been made to individual majors and courses when analyzing students' employment status. As a result, the employability status of students in humanities majors is a grey area, especially in Bhutan. There is much speculation around the employment prospects of a student undergoing humanities courses, with people often citing the humanities courses in Bhutanese colleges as too broad and redundant. Therefore, this study examines the employability perception of the humanities graduates in Bhutan and the factors contributing to their unemployment. A non-probability sampling procedure, called a snowball sampling technique, was employed to collect data from 316 humanities graduates through a structured questionnaire. The findings reveal that employability depends on various factors such as academic performance, integrated courses, work experiences, and skills acquired while studying. The study also highlights the skill mismatch problem in higher education institutions and recommends producing work-ready graduates. Despite the students' enthusiasm for the humanities course, their employability prospects in the field are questionable after graduation due to the mismatch between the course content and the jobs in the market. In order to address this issue, the study recommends that universities and colleges integrate practical and work-ready programs into their courses to enable graduates to acquire the necessary employability skills. Additionally, universities and companies/agencies should collaborate to bridge the gap between industry skill requirements and the skills graduates acquire. This research intends to initiate conversations on controlling the number of humanities course intakes to reduce the increasing trend of humanities graduates in an inadequate job market.
Keywords: Employability; humanities; perception; employers; undergraduates’ curriculum.
... This is very different to the logics of traditional employment (permanent, full-time, and emphasising a long-term relational bond) (Berntson et al., 2006;Callanan et al., 2017). There is evidence that the individualisation of the labour market is driving the trend for individuals to be employable (Garsten and Jacobsson, 2004). For this study, we follow Berntson and Marklund (2007) in viewing employability as being based on an individual's perception of his or her opportunities in the labour market. ...
Purpose
This research focuses on the extent sharing economy transforms employability for women impacted by domestic and reproductive work. The authors explore the experience of mothers, of how digital peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms can affect their self-perceived employability and skills deterioration by unlocking human capital through technology acceptance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted a pragmatism-based approach incorporating using a single-case study research design with the Gioia methodology. It utilised a semi-structured telephone survey to collect data to explore the decisions around usage of a newly developed mobile P2P app, aiming to support employability among mothers. Analysis was conducted inductively using thematic analysis and partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The study finds that mothers experience high rates of continued labour market attachment on a casual or part-time basis, difficulty in juggling family and work, and high levels of concern both about future employment/entrepreneurial opportunities and expected stress in balancing dual roles of carer and earner. While mothers are interested in using new sharing economy technologies to reduce skills deterioration and improve signalling, the authors find that there were both technology and non-technology related barriers. These included trust and security, life-stage mismatch, time poverty and limitation of service offerings.
Research limitations/implications
This research was limited to mothers in one state in Australia and by the case study research design, the measurement model and the self-report nature of the data collection. Hence, the findings may lack generalisability in other contexts. It also limits the ability to make conclusions regarding causality.
Originality/value
This exploratory study contributes to research in the intersection between human resources (HR) and entrepreneurship by illustrating how sharing economy platforms can offer women a means to overcome the issues of signalling and skills deterioration in relation to aspects of human capital theory by developing new skills that may act as positive signals signal to potential employers or investors. Additionally, the social interactions between mothers, through technology adoption, can provide a basis for improving future self-employment or entrepreneurship and employability.
... Rather than explaining unemployment by pointing its fingers at policies it has itself adopted-such as deregulation, privatisation, and financialisation-the neoliberal state exports the blame onto citizens, so that within the employability discourse, unemployment is seen not as a social risk and a collective responsibility, but rather as a case of 'risk management' expected of the individual (Garsten & Jacobsson, 2004). Rather than seeing access to livelihood as an individual's entitlement within the terms of the social contract between state and citizens, the latter are accused for letting the community down by allowing a deterioration of their skills, work habits, and commitment. ...
This paper focuses on commonly used terms in career guidance in order to examine the impact they can have on the way problems are conceptualised and consequently on the solutions that are envisaged. Four such terms are considered, namely ‘vulnerability’, ‘resilience’, ‘employability’, and ‘activation’. Drawing on critical social theory, this paper explores the relationship between language, thought, and action. It demonstrates the intimate relationship of the four terms to the neoliberal agenda in general and to responsibilisation in particular. The paper concludes by arguing that the career development field has a role to play in the struggle over the meaning of concepts in the public sphere, as the outcome has a bearing on the opportunities for people to flourish.
... It focuses on supply-side interventions through working on a young person's behavioral dispositions and job choices. This illustrates a discursive shift from "lack of employment" to a "lack of employability" (Garsten/Jacobsson 2004) that is visible in the recent development of swiss transition policies. This implies the institutionalization of new expectations towards the subject. ...
... This is very different to the logics of traditional employment (permanent, full-time, and emphasising a long-term relational bond) (Berntson et al., 2006;Callanan et al., 2017). There is evidence that the individualisation of the labour market is driving the trend for individuals to be employable (Garsten and Jacobsson, 2004). For this study, we follow Berntson and Marklund (2007) in viewing employability as being based on an individual's perception of his or her opportunities in the labour market. ...
... It focuses on supply-side interventions through working on a young person's behavioral dispositions and job choices. This illustrates a discursive shift from "lack of employment" to a "lack of employability" (Garsten/Jacobsson 2004) that is visible in the recent development of swiss transition policies. This implies the institutionalization of new expectations towards the subject. ...
How are activation programs for the young unemployed implemented? How do street-level bureaucrats deal with competing rationalities and demands for action? Transition policies increasingly aim at promoting self-regulation and constructing employable subjects. Stephan Dahmen explores the practical regulation of biographical transitions in activation programs for the young unemployed by focusing on the interactive accomplishment of activation work. The study reveals how the critical tensions of activation policies are continually re-interpreted and adapted to local contingencies and describes the various organisational technologies used for creating employable subjects.
... Knowledge & Competence concerns values of having, using, and acquiring the knowledge needed and developing skills to realize organizational results. Continuous learning is also a signifying value in line with contemporary ideals of lifelong learning and employability (Boltanski & Chiapello 2005;Garsten & Jacobsson 2004;Moulier Boutang 2011). In the performance appraisal criteria, statements like the value of having 'good professional skills and can translate these into practice' (Muni.), to 'take responsibility for and develop your skills' (Hosp.), or 'consistently thrive to get better' (Mfr.C.) are examples of this aspect. ...
The spread of performance-based and variable pay systems has affected expectations on employee contributions and remuneration, which have become increasingly personalized and individualized. Based on a theoretical valuation studies approach, this study of performance-based pay systems in Sweden shows that performance appraisals are (e)valuations of employees’ yearly performance in which they are prized and (ap)praised at the same time. Through a document analysis of performance criteria from four organizations, the study analyzes how values expressed refer to Boltanski and Thévenot’s six orders of worth. The analysis resulted in a theoretical construction of a joint ideal of Employees of Greatness, against which employees are measured and remunerated. The existence of the ideal of employee greatness is explained by the increasing congruence of organizational ideals in private and public sectors, as principles from emotional and cognitive forms of capitalist organization are superimposed on traditional industrial capitalist organizational ideals.
... 33 This concept implies -even more than employment security -a normative move 'from a systemic view of the labour market to a focus on individuals and their qualities'. 34 It has been labelled as a concept that characterises workers 'as yet another mobile factor of production, to be reallocated as and when the market so determines'. 35 Indeed, if the concept of employment security would solely mean employability security, then labour relations are strongly individualised and most of the responsibility for finding employment is placed on the individual. ...
The main aim of the article is to survey and conceptualise the place of employment security in labour law, and to explore a number of important legal questions relating to this concept. After scrutinising the notion of employment security, the author endorses the view that job security that exists on the basis of dismissal law is more complex than reform proposals usually suggest. In addition, the author argues that dismissal protection serves other goals and interests than job security alone and that these aspects of dismissal protection legislation cannot be replaced by (an increased) employment security (coupled with income security). A further development of true employment security can, however, certainly complement job security and benefit workers, since they have never had absolute job security and this job security seems to be eroding.
... Drawing from extensive review of literature and employers' perspective in India, employability is understood to be a function of two basic factors: (a) academic qualification of an individual; and (b) the learning environment that helps him build certain generic skills [25]. Employability can be constructed as a responsibility of the individual [26] or institutions of higher education [27].Employability skills are general skills that are needed to get most jobs, but they also help you to stay in a job and work your way to the top. Vinayak Panase, a career advisor sees; Communication, Teamwork, Problem solving, Basic Numeracy, Leadership, Adaptability and Creativity are the basis for the recruitment in professional jobs [28]. ...
Purpose
One of the most appalling challenges in India is persistently rising unemployment, explicitly in the rural region. More than 20% of Indian youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years are “seeking
or available for work,” as per 2011 census data. There will be no peace and prosperity in the country unless jobless people get appropriate channel. In India deficiency of skills is among the main constraints for recruitment of Technical Education. Productivity of Technical Education in not entirely absorbed due to lack of skills required by the employers. Along with the ample arguments, taking place in recent times, regarding reformation in the productivity of Technical Education, this present study syndicates focus on services delivered and its impact on employability skills. The objective of this paper is to find out whether Technical Education institutes in rural part are keen to focus on the employability skills? The paper also focuses on distinguished skills required by the employer for recruitment. The study also emphases on the services offered by the Institutes and their correlation on skills development.
Design methodology
A quantitative research survey through a structured questionnaire for the students who are studying or have recently completed their Technical Education affiliated to the North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon was conducted which is situated in rural part of India.
Findings
The study discusses umpteen employability skills and explains how embedding services of technical education are correlated to the growth and development of employability skills. The study found that these services results in comprehensive and cohesiveness of employability skills.
Research limitations
The survey is delimited to the Technical Education belonging to North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon and located in rural of India.
KEY FINDINGS:
Services which are related to staff and faculty have an impact on developing Employment Skills. On the other hand, services or facilities provided by the management like; Infrastructure and Technology,
Students Amenities and Recreation, Safety and Secured campus, Sports and Cultural facilities and Campus Life and Discipline are also very important for development of Employability Skills.These
facilities create vibrant campus and a platform for the engagement of students activities. Alumni and Community/People also have relation with the development of Employability Skills through Alumni Interaction and Campus Life respectively provided by the institutes though indirectly.
... Berntson (2008) concluded that employability is not primarily a self-evaluation, but that it depends on individual as well as situational factors. Garsten and Jacobsson (2004) put forward that the discourse on employability is a consequence of the market orientation in society. This has put pressure on individuals to be adaptable to market needs and to engage in life-long learning. ...
The present study aimed at identifying the attitude-related barriers that older unemployed, jobseeking workers (50+) face when they endeavor to reenter the labor market and to investigate employers’ attitudes and perceptions of older workers. Two studies were conducted. In study 1, interviews were undertaken with 26 unemployed persons and 24 representatives of other stakeholders, including social partners and officials representing the Social Insurance Agency (FK) and the Public Employment Service (AF). In study 2, the attitudes among private sector employers were studied by carrying out a questionnaire survey (N = 147). The interview results showed that many unemployed job seekers had experienced negative age-related attitudes among employers. This observation was supported by other stakeholders. Perceived attitudes to older workers and lack of updated competence were considered crucial. The questionnaire study showed a mixed picture concerning employer attitudes. There was a statistical difference between older (>50 years) and younger employers; older employers believed that older women wanted competence development to a greater extent. There was also a significant difference between female and male employers’ opinions; female employers, in particular the older ones, assessed that older women wished competence development to a greater extent. These differences were not found with respect to views on older men. About half (52%) of the employers had the opinion that there was no difference between older and younger employees with respect to the ability to cope with changes or learning new things. However, younger female employers (but not older female employers) considered that older employees had greater difficulties with changes or learning new things. It is concluded that negative attitudes to older workers with respect to competence development tend to be most common among younger employers.
... This concept of employment security is similar to the strongly related concept of perceived employability, but it usually stresses a structural or institutional, rather than individualistic, view of the labor market (cf. Berglund et al. 2014;Berntson 2008;Garsten and Jacobsson 2004;Silla et al. 2009). Employment security is believed to be enhanced by institutional arrangements such as lifelong learning institutions and active labor market policies, as well as a dynamic economy in general (Berglund and Furåker 2011). ...
This article describes how the flexicurity arrangement of low job security, high employment security, and good income security advocated by various authors affects the mental well-being of employees. Data are derived from a survey carried out in 2010–2011 among employees in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The main findings are that all three forms of cognitive security (the perceived risk) have an independent effect on mental well-being and that the worry of insecurity (the affective component) mediates the relationship with mental well-being. The interaction effects show that high levels of employment security can alleviate the detrimental effects of job insecurity on mental well-being. No similar interaction effect was found with job insecurity and income security. The results are discussed in relation to the institutional arrangements of the Nordic countries’ welfare states, concluding that the high employment security needed for a successful flexicurity arrangement requires either low levels of unemployment or effective and extensive active labor market programs. Flexicurity is thus susceptible to economic turmoil and requires further labor market investments, even in the Nordic countries.
... This concept focuses on individuals' ability to qualify for jobs rather than on the demand for labour. Its impact in the debate represents a normative move; it 'illustrates a shift from a systemic view of the labour market to a focus on individuals and their qualities' (Garsten and Jacobsson, 2004: 2). There are nevertheless many who use the concept of employability but pay attention to both supply and demand in the labour market. ...
The so-called flexicurity approach suggests that security for employees can be successfully combined with flexibility for organizations and companies. This article studies if affective job insecurity (worry about losing one's job) is compensated for by perceptions of employment security (possibilities of finding an equal or better job) and income security. Data derive from a survey carried out in 2010 among employees in Sweden. The main findings are that cognitive job insecurity (the perceived risk of job loss) increases affective job insecurity, whereas both employment and income security have the opposite effect. Moreover, cognitive job insecurity and employment security interact, implying that the effect of cognitive job insecurity on affective job insecurity is reduced in the presence of employment security but is reinforced in the absence of it. These results are discussed in relation to the flexicurity approach, concluding that flexicurity may be a risky venture for employees.
... In the contemporary European Union, the concepts of employability and lifelong learning are part of the dominant discourse in a range of policy debates. In this discourse, the individual is constructed as responsible for continuously working on herself in order to become employable and be included in society (Fejes 2010; Fejes and Nicoll 2008; Garsten and Jacobsson 2004; McQuaid and Lindsay 2005; Olssen 2006). The discourse of lifelong learning broadens the understanding of education, expanding its reach from that of school and 'formal education' until 'learning becomes an individualized and all-embracing activity' (Fejes and Dahlstedt 2013: 19). ...
This article focuses on adult learning in labour-market projects targeting unemployed migrants in Sweden. Drawing on a Foucauldian analysis of governmentality, the results of the study problematize the ways that such projects produce individualizing discourses – targeting individuals, constructing them as responsible for their position as unemployed. The project’s target groups are generally defined not on the basis of ethnicity as such, but rather using terms such as non-Nordic background, foreign born and immigrants. However, two groups considered especially problematic are constructed through ethnicity: Somali and Roma people. The notion of social competency is analysed here as a way of constructing the unemployed migrants as not yet employable. Another significant result concerns the notion of gender equality, which makes migrants governable because it constructs boundaries between Swedishness and Otherness. In line with this rationality, the targeted migrants are governed towards Swedishness through learning gender equality. These results raise a number of issues of great concern for the inclusion of migrants in the labour market, as they highlight a paradoxical relationship between the inclusive ambitions of interventions targeting unemployed migrants and the ethnicized discourses of ‘Othering’ that imbue these learning practices.
... This concept of employment security is similar to the strongly related concept of perceived employability, but it usually stresses a structural or institutional, rather than individualistic, view of the labor market (cf. Berglund et al. 2014;Berntson 2008;Garsten and Jacobsson 2004;Silla et al. 2009). Employment security is believed to be enhanced by institutional arrangements such as lifelong learning institutions and active labor market policies, as well as a dynamic economy in general (Berglund and Furåker 2011). ...
This article describes how the flexicurity arrangement of low job security, high employment security, and good income security advocated by various authors affects the mental well-being of employees. Data are derived from a survey carried out in 2010–2011 among employees in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The main findings are that all three forms of cognitive security (the perceived risk) have an independent effect on mental well-being and that the worry of insecurity (the affective component) mediates the relationship with mental well-being. The interaction effects show that high levels of employment security can alleviate the detrimental effects of job insecurity on mental well-being. No similar interaction effect was found with job insecurity and income security. The results are discussed in relation to the institutional arrangements of the Nordic countries’ welfare states, concluding that the high employment security needed for a successful flexicurity arrangement requires either low levels of unemployment or effective and extensive active labor market programs. Flexicurity is thus susceptible to economic turmoil and requires further labor market investments, even in the Nordic countries.
... En aquest sentit, els discursos sobre l'ocupabilitat se centren en la necessitat d'equipar les persones per a l'economia basada en el coneixement i animar-les a prendre responsabilitat per la pròpia ocupació i ocupabilitat. Així, es fa responsables les persones de "posar el dia" els béns (coneixements i competències) caducats (GARSTEN, JACOBSSON, 2003 Rodríguez Espinar et al. (2007, 342) expliciten els components que es deriven d'aquesta concepció: ...
En termes globals i independentment dels estudis cursats o del gènere, la inserció
laboral del col·lectiu de graduats i graduades estudiat és molt positiva, tant pel que
fa al grau d’inserció com pel que fa a la qualitat de la inserció. Les dades ens
permeten afirmar, doncs, tant per a dones com per a homes, que el fet de tenir
estudis universitaris és un factor que influeix de manera molt positiva en la transició
al mercat laboral.
Tenint en compte la multiplicitat de factors que intervenen en el procés de transició
al mercat de treball i sabent que està lluny del nostre abast oferir una explicació de
la totalitat dels factors que hi influeixen, el nostre objectiu ha estat establir quines
són les variables que promouen una inserció de qualitat de la població graduada
estudiada estudiat, sobre la base d’una determinada bateria d’indicadors.
Labour market integration of refugees is seen as a major challenge in many countries. This article draws on a qualitative study focused on highly skilled refugees participating in two internship programmes at two large private companies in Sweden. We draw on the concepts of organisational socialisation and liminality to suggest that such programmes, when organised in collaboration between private companies and public organisations as part of the labour market integration support offered by the welfare state, further entrench the liminal position of refugees. The refugee interns find themselves in a liminal space, aspiring to secure not only a future professional role at the workplace but also the role of an integrated member of the Swedish labour market—a role that is ambiguously defined and constantly shifting as ideas of what it means to be employable shift too. This is a position that is not without its problems, ambiguities and uncertainties and requires a new perspective on organising labour market integration of refugees.
This article examines the troubling of gender norms that unfolded on the social networking site, Mumsnet, at the beginning of the UK's first lockdown response to the COVID pandemic. Using an analysis of 7144 contributions which included the acronym ‘WFH’ (=working from home), posted from March 1, 2020 to April 5, 2020, the article examines how Mumsnet members talked about working from home while caring for toddlers and home‐schooled children. Mumsnet discussions about everyday moral dilemmas create a discursive space for examining the situated rationalities and normative judgments that shape expectations of how to behave as a working parent. Drawing on post‐structuralist discourse theory, the article shows how Mumsnet contributors generated alternative sub‐categorizations of ‘good mums’, and destabilized discourse assumptions of intensive motherhood, such as always ‘being there’ for their children, thereby ‘working the weakness in the norms’ (Butler, 1993) and creating potential for change.
The European Employment Strategy (EES) illustrates the most ambitious attempt to regulate and coordinate employment policies. However, some doubts arise about its capacity to favour convergence in the field of employment due to the regulatory nature of the process, based on the so-called soft regulation. This article aims to contribute to the debate of whether the EES can favour the convergence of employment policies by focusing on the effects of the policy discourse. It analyses the EU discourse on activation developed in the European Employment Strategy (EES) from 1997 to 2010 and its influence in Spain and the United Kingdom by means of a policy frame approach. The conclusions show that we are observing a process of relative ideological convergence of the activation models due to the influence of the EES discourse. However, divergences are still observed at the level of the instruments and methods of activation.
How are activation programs for the young unemployed implemented? How do street-level bureaucrats deal with competing rationalities and demands for action? Transition policies increasingly aim at promoting self-regulation and constructing employable subjects. Stephan Dahmen explores the practical regulation of biographical transitions in activation programs for the young unemployed by focusing on the interactive accomplishment of activation work. The study reveals how the critical tensions of activation policies are continually re-interpreted and adapted to local contingencies and describes the various organisational technologies used for creating employable subjects.
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Este artículo adopta una perspectiva política y económica para explorar la evolución de las representaciones del mundo laboral en los libros de texto del español como lengua extranjera (ELE) desde mediados de los setenta hasta la actualidad. Utilizando el marco teórico del análisis crítico del discurso, examinamos históricamente el contenido laboral en libros de ELE a la luz de las transformaciones del capitalismo en las últimas cuatro décadas. Los resultados del análisis del contenido indican un incremento de referencias neoliberales coincidiendo con el auge del neoliberalismo como paradigma político y económico dominante. También se constata un cambio de orientación de las actividades que pasan a centrarse en la promoción del espíritu empresarial y la empleabilidad de los aprendices. El artículo concluye destacando la necesidad de estudiar los cambios en la esfera económica y material de la sociedad para comprender mejor cuestiones relacionadas con la lengua y su contexto.
This work explores the concepts of work readiness and self-perceived employability, addressing contextually the perceptions from third-year bachelor students enrolled in the degree of Cultural Heritage and Tourism at the University of Macerata in academic year 2018-2019. The research aim was to identify perceptions of undergraduates in terms of skills and employability potential to design effective teaching interventions. Following literature review, the paper describes collected data and discusses around key research questions, related to (a) perception the world of work; (b) assessment of possessed skills; (c) estimation of employment possibilities; (d) perception of preparation to the labour market. Results show a gap between perceptions of the labour market and possessed skills, a medium-low self-perceived employability, and a low engagement in career development activities, where, to the other hand, perceived preparation provided by the university is declared as medium-high. Conclusions highlight the need of further work to better understand the implications of results for effective learning design.
The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures explores central lines of enquiry and seminal scholarship on therapeutic cultures, popular psychology, and the happiness industry. Bringing together studies of therapeutic cultures from sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, politics, law, history, social work, cultural studies, development studies, and American Indian studies, it adopts a consciously global focus, combining studies of the psychologisation of social life from across the world. Thematically organised, it offers historical accounts of the growing prominence of therapeutic discourses and practices in everyday life, before moving to consider the construction of self-identity in the context of the diffusion of therapeutic discourses in connection with the global spread of capitalism. With attention to the ways in which emotional language has brought new problematisations of the dichotomy between the normal and the pathological, as well as significant transformations of key institutions, such as work, family, education, and religion, it examines emergent trends in therapeutic culture and explores the manner in which the advent of new therapeutic technologies, the political interest in happiness, and the radical privatisation and financialisation of social life converge to remake self-identities and modes of everyday experience. Finally, the volume features the work of scholars who have foregrounded the historical and contemporary implication of psychotherapeutic practices in processes of globalisation and colonial and postcolonial modes of social organisation. Presenting agenda-setting research to encourage interdisciplinary and international dialogue and foster the development of a distinctive new field of social research, The Routledge International Handbook of Global Therapeutic Cultures will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in the advance of therapeutic discourses and practices in an increasingly psychologised society.
In the past, the collective experiences of graduates accessing the labour market and retaining a job were fairly straightforward, but now they have given way to individual, fragmented, and unpredictable career paths. The process of career development should begin early in university studies, or even in high school, in order to support our most educated citizens in finding their place and expression in society through work. This paper seeks to contribute to an increased understanding of the state of play of career development in students and graduates of the Tourism degree program at the University of Macerata, Italy. It reports empirical data gathered from them and explores ramifications of the results for changes in pedagogy.
In this study I examined the positions Finnish frontline workers constructed for their long-term unemployed clients through the employability discourse. The data consisted of 34 telephone interviews with rehabilitation counsellors working as part of a multi-sectoral team aiming to enhance the employability of unemployed jobseekers who face multiple barriers to attaining a job. In my analysis I identified four main positions: motivated, resistant, unfortunate and blameworthy. Within all of these positions, the responsibility related to employability enhancement was scrutinized. My analysis revealed that frontline workers position themselves as responsible or not responsible for enhancing their long-term unemployed clients’ employability depending on how employability or lack of it is constructed and a long-term unemployed individual positioned.
This chapter examines the practice of student work experience as a route into employment through the theoretical lens of Louis Althusser’s ideological state apparatuses. In particular, I focus on unpaid work experience which is compulsory or highly recommended, but not formally facilitated by the university. Work experience such as this raises a concern about the exploitative nature of unpaid work. I investigate to what extent such consideration is evident in the universities’ discourse of employability. Drawing on Althusser’s notion of ideological state apparatuses I pose the question whether the universities’ approach to employability, based on the values of individualism, can be held responsible for legitimising unpaid labour as a method of gaining access to paid employment.
Styrningen av en verksamhet kan vara avg ørande f ør om och hur en framtida satsning på kompetensutveckling inom äldreomsorgen kommer att se ut. Parallellt med och som en kritik mot den offentliga och uppifråndrivna strategin f ør kvalitetsutveckling har nya styrprinciper vuxit fram i äldreomsorgen, nämligen brukarstyrning och eget val. Dessa nya styrprinciper kan leda till att kompetensinsatser inte prioriteras. I stället kan det mer handla om att välja rätt personal som är anpasslig och som har de kunskaper som krävs i ett kortsiktigt perspektiv. Artikeln, som är tentativ, vill alltså diskutera betydelsen av olika styrprinciper inom omsorgen och vad de kan betyda f ør personalens kompetens i framtiden. Underlaget bygger på en litteraturgenomgång av forskning i de nordiska länderna och en sammanfattning av erfarenheterna från ett omfattande nationellt program, där avsikten var att kompetensutveckling ska leda till en
The practice of cybervetting—i.e., online background checks of a jobseeker’s ‘data double’—is considered to be a valuable tool in the recruitment process by an increasing amount of employers. As a consequence, jobseekers lose some control over what aspects of their past, personal interests or private life they will share with the employer. Moreover, jobseekers are expected to confess, explain and contextualize unfavorable information about them if they want to be perceived as employable. This study aims to show how cybervetting recruiters encourage and anticipate such confessions, and use the outcomes to evaluate jobseekers’ honesty and capacity for self-reflection. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews with 36 Swedish human resource professionals, hiring managers and employers, and guided by Foucault’s theoretical work on self-examinations, along with the confessional culture and its related concepts. We argue that confessions about information found on the internet are an important factor of what we label ‘online employability’: jobseekers’ capability to sanitize, keep track of and explain their data doubles. Hence, as the recruiter can examine a jobseeker’s private spheres, cybervetting is a surveillance practice with direct consequences on recruitment as well as clear effects on jobseekers’ self-examinations and interactions with human resources personnel.
Since the 1990s, the pressures on the unemployed have intensified in Sweden owing to increasing demands on individuals to be employable. This article centres on unemployed youths’ experiences of their visits to the public employment services in four Swedish municipalities and how these experiences can be understood against the background of the intersection of social class and gender. A total of 18 unemployed youths were interviewed and their reasoning was compared with their respective employment-agency officers. The analysis shows that the employment agency gives priority to young working-class men over young working-class women and to middle-class youths over working-class youths, respectively. Young working-class women’s wish to combine employment with caregiving is seen as an encumbrance by the employment agency and these women expressed the harshest criticism against the employment agency. When the advisors meet youths who do not correspond with the current expectations and ideals of the labour market, they risk taking part in an institutional process of exclusion of these youngsters.
This paper suggests some analytical tools for theoretically informed qualitative research of the nexus of employability and ethnicity. A governmentality perspective, inspired by Michel Foucault and others who have elaborated on his thoughts, constitutes the analytical approach of the paper. This approach directs the analytical focus towards problematizations and how the conduct of the governed subjects is guided. The analytical tools and approach are then employed using an empirical example. The analysis shows how a certain disadvantaged group – unemployed Somalis in Sweden – is problematized in the context of a labour market project co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). The paper discusses how different techniques, such as resume-writing, personal action plan, guidance and job interview training are deployed in order to reshape these problematized and ethnicized Others into advanced liberal subjects, or 'employable' individuals.
This paper discusses how recruitment practices have changed over time. Networks and contacts are more important today for labor market entry than was the case in the latter half of the twentieth century. There may be two explanations for this: the short-run explanation and the long-run explanation. The short-run explanation derives from fluctuations in unemployment. When unemployment is high, competition for every vacancy is tougher and networks become more important for the job seeker. This has been the case in Sweden since 1991, when unemployment increased to new levels not experienced since the 1930s. In the long run, there has been a change in recruitment practices due to institutional change. A clear pattern is that the importance of social networks has increased, while the significance of public institutions (i.e. the Public Employment Service) has decreased.
This article analyzes the formation of citizenship in today's multi-ethnic Sweden in light of the inclusion of ‘people with foreign background’. Particular focus is put on how ethnicity and migration renders visible existing citizenship ideals, defined in terms of similarity and difference on the basis of ethno-cultural background. The formation of citizenship is analyzed in the case of labour market projects targeting racialized migrants. The point of departure is an understanding of citizenship as an ongoing process of citizen formation, highlighting the formation of citizens as rights-bearing subjects, belonging to the societal community – in contrast to those not bearing these rights and not belonging to the societal community. The analysis illustrates how norms of Swedish-ness condition the membership in the Swedish societal community, forming a particular kind of racialized citizenship, including certain subjects, under certain conditions, while excluding others. One conclusion is that in addition to the formal dimensions of citizenship, the ability and willingness to adapt to norms of Swedish-ness is essential for accessing and using social rights – that is, for becoming employable and included on the labour market. In the projects analyzed, racialized migrants have the duty of becoming employable by embracing certain values – the good, working citizen, the free, independent individual, able to make choices – all constituted as being part of an ideal Swedish citizenship.
This chapter focuses on the policy proposal of flexicurity – the creation of labor market institutions that facilitate both flexibility and security for employers and employees. In substance, the flexicurity proponents argues that employment protection legislations should be liberalized, but such liberalization should be compensated by more generous unemployment benefits in combination with active labor market measures. However, a side effect of flexicurity could be an increase in job insecurity with adverse effects on well-being. This chapter investigates such outcomes among employees by studying the effect of central labor market institutions in 26 European countries. The main results are in line with the flexicurity proposal. No significance of the strictness of employment protection legislation are found for neither subjective job insecurity nor well-being, while both the use of passive and active labor market measures are important to reduce negative effects in these regards. The chapter ends with a discussion about how realistic the flexicurity proposal is in times of economic crises and austerity in Europe.
Anställningsbarhet är ett flitigt använt begrepp i dagens diskussioner om utbildning och arbetsmarknad. I sådana diskussioner är relationen mellan utbildning och arbetsmarknad central. Skapar utbildningen anställningsbara medborgare? Vilka åtgärder finns för att göra medborgarna än mer anställningsbara? Frågor av denna art är central inom policyskapande på flera områden. Inte minst kan vi se hur sådana frågor väcks inom omvårdnadssektorn, även om inte alltid begreppet anställningsbarhet explicit används. I dessa diskussioner lyfts frågor fram som handlar om personalens och medborgarnas kompetens för att kunna arbeta inom äldreomsorgen (Regeringskansliet 2007; 2008). Anställningsbarhet blir här framlyft som något givet gott, och som alla medborgare måste sträva efter att bli. Men sättet att tala om anställningsbarhet baseras på ett visst sätt att tänka om styrning: vad som styras, hur styrningen skall gå till, och vilken effekt som styrningen ämnar uppnås. Samtidigt har dessa sätt att resonera om styrning exkluderande effekter. Detta kapitel tar ett kritiskt perspektiv på diskussioner om anställningsbarhet genom att studera ett specifikt kompetensutvecklingsprojekt inom äldreomsorgen. Med utgångspunkt i ett kritiskt diskursivt perspektiv riktas fokus på om hur det talas om anställningsbarhet, hur sådant tal förändras i olika sammanhang och vad för subjekt (undersköterska, arbetsgivare, stat) som görs ansvarig för att skapa anställningsbara medborgare.
Young people spend longer periods of time obtaining their educations, and as a result, they are better qualified than were previous generations. However, despite their increased qualifications, young people now earn less compared to adult workers than they did 25 years ago, and in many ways they remain at the margins, as failing to obtain a proper job is also, in many ways, failing to become an independent adult. In seeking to address social exclusion by helping young people obtain paid employment, the policy emphasis has been on giving advice and training to help young people become more “employable.” In other words, policy has focused on the supply of youth labor and, in particular, on the perceived deficits and failings of unemployed people as potential employees. The logic of the discourse of employability is to “capture” young people inside a mainstream discourse of integration and poses as an objective to engage or reengage young people with the labor market. Despite its diffusion, employability has primarily remained a policy concept which has perhaps not found a theoretical assessment. This chapter seeks to provide a definition of employability and critically identify the main issues related to its diffusion. This allows us to highlight the assumptions that are encompassed through its use and, more importantly, what implications it has for young people who are navigating the agitated sea of insecure employment.
The dramatic increase in unemployment in Europe since the 1990s has garnered the attention of policy-makers in particular and society in general. Youth unemployment particularly has serious consequences in terms of economic life conditions, shame, and health (Starrin et al. 1996; Starrin et al. 1999). Youth unemployment also has a critical effect on future career opportunities (Nordström Skans 2004). The European Union (EU) has reacted to this problem through the European Social Fund and addressed unemployment directly through the European Employment Strategy (EES). In terms of policy responses and collective action on a national level, there are three types of reactions to high unemployment rates (Giugni 2009). Governments respond by redistributing collective resources, by adjusting labor market policies toward activation and a certain degree of conditionality for social rights (e.g., Gilbert 2002; Handler 2003), and further, in terms of collective action via the civil society.
Secondo il principio di occupabilita, promosso dall’Unione Europea e da vari governi nazionali tra cui quello italiano, il lavoratore o aspirante lavoratore e ritenuto responsabile della propria posizione nel mercato del lavoro. Il focus sul miglioramento della capacita di ognuno di collocarsi nel mercato del lavoro, e di mantenere una posizione lavorativa, da luogo ad un vero e proprio discorso sull’occupabilita, che e diventato dominante nelle politiche del lavoro e di formazione. Nonostante la sua diffusione, il concetto di occupabilita e rimasto principalmente un concetto di policy ed e stato raramente oggetto di riflessione teorica. Questo contributo riflette sulle definizioni del concetto, ponendole in relazione al contesto italiano e a recenti dibattiti su come si stia trasformando il welfare italiano, e mira a metterne in evidenza alcune ambiguita, in particolare la sua valenza ideologica, concludendo che ad una maggiore occupabilita possa non seguire necessariamente una maggiore occupazione.
Drawing on the French regulation approach and neo-Marxist state theory, this chapter addresses three closely related sets of issues.1 First, what exactly is involved in theorising the post-Fordist welfare state? Second, approaching the latter as a theoretical object, what might its core features comprise? And, third, is the British state acquiring these features? Arguments about these issues are often vague and, when taken together, frequently prove inconsistent. There is little agreement about the nature of Fordism and post-Fordism in general or the trajectories which might link them—let alone about the post-Fordist state in particular or the transitional regimes which might connect it to its putative Fordist precursor. Unless these problems are resolved, however, it would be premature to anticipate the core features of a post-Fordist welfare regime. Moreover, until these features are spelt out, if only in a preliminary manner, there can be no referent for assessing whether Britain has been moving towards some form of post-Fordist welfare state. It is these three issues in their interconnection that define my agenda here.
[From the Introduction]. The concept of activation covers a wide range of employment measures with very different approaches and emphases that are determined by the cultural and political traditions of each country, or even of the various regions within a country...
The first part of this paper will consider the nature and extent of European Union regulation in this field, and will attempt to demonstrate the significance of the role played by the EU’s institutions as promoters of ideological socialisation. Whilst it is true that the European Union did not invent the activation-based discourse, it has nevertheless played a major role in its propagation and in establishing the terms in which the problem of unemployment is discussed. The second section will examine the way in which the model of production is changing and how this has led to a need for new terminology that enables us to understand the ‘social question’. Finally, we will analyse the discourse of the EU’s institutions, particularly in respect of the European Employment Strategy, with a view to establishing the basis of the EU’s discourse with regard to activation.
In his discussion of power, Foucault establishes a new, interpretation that challenges the typical view of power as a possession held by certain people and groups in a society. Foucault argues that it is the set of force relations that constitute a perpetual struggle among people as well as the strategies that people employ as they attempt to control the behavior of others. This differs from previous views of power in that it sees power as existing everywhere and deriving from everywhere. No person holds power. Rather, power is expressed in relationships between people. Related to this view is Foucault's argument that resistance is inextricably linked with power and also exists everywhere. No single point of power or resistance can be found. Each point at where power is exercised also reveals a point of resistance. Power is also intimately connected with discourse because discourse becomes a mechanism of power. Not only is discourse both an instrument and an effect of power, but discourse can serve both to liberate and oppress.
The relationship between globalization and welfare states has neither been adequately theorized nor empirically investigated. Much of the literature assumes a convergence among European welfare states on a ‘lean welfare model’, given external competitive pressures and unsustainable domestic commitments, while, in the absence of a strong European industrial relations system and social dimension, the collapse of corporatist structures alongside the fragmentation of labour markets is inevitable (for a survey, see Rhodes, 1996). Despite much controversy in the literature over the origins of these changes in national institutional structures, it does seem to be the case that developments in international capitalism are reducing the ability of states to control their economic ‘borders’, in part because, as Cerny argues, the scale of goods and assets produced and exchanged has diverged from the structural scale of the nation-state, making it increasingly more difficult to provide and control particular public goods (Cerny, 1995). At the same time, these developments have altered the balance of power in domestic settings, shifting influence in favour of capital and giving it an effective veto power in certain cases through enhanced exit options via relocation to foreign markets.
This article takes the linguistic turn, or turns, in the social sciences as its point of departure and discusses the implications for methodology, empirical research, and field practices in social and organizational studies. Various responses can be identified: grounded fictionalism, giving up the hope of making substantive, empirical claims in terms of research texts capturing social phenomena; data-constructionism, where the ambiguous and constructed nature of empirical material gives space for a more relaxed, freer, and bolder way of interacting with empirical material; and discursivism, in which the researcher concentrates on the details of empirical material that lends itself to representations in the form of language, for example, conversations and texts. The article develops some ideas for a more reflective way of dealing with language issues in empirical social research. It argues for a more discourse-near but not discourse-exclusive approach to organizational research and refers to this as discursive pragmatism.
Employability is one of the pillars accorded priority by the European Commission in its employment strategy, entailing a certain number of obligations for the Member States. In fact nine tenths of the employment policy measures come under this central pillar. In an initial section, the author shows that, over and above consensus concerning a very general goal (improvement of opportunities for all, and first and foremost the most disadvantaged, as regards access to employment), the category of employability is far from unequivocal given the widely ranging underlying economic and social models and the ambiguous - to say the least - links between this concept and employment. It is highly desirable for Community debate that these models and links with employment should be made explicit. In a second section, two goals of the 1999 NAPs are examined via their inclusion in national policies: activation of passive expenditure including social welfare and minimum benefits; improvement of the transition from school to work by the development of work and training. The same formal objective is far from having an identical meaning in each national setting and, behind partial similarities, the continuing prevalence of strong national specificities is stressed. In a third section, the question of the employability model is taken up once more, with reference to an essential challenge: how can the prerequisites for development of wealth in the EU be reconciled with the protection of those who produce it?
This paper is a contribution to the analysis of intra-organizational trust. From a discussion of concepts of trust, we suggest that trust is something which is constructed for and by people in organizations, thereby producing some degree of predictability. Trust is a precarious social accomplishment enacted through the interplay of social or discursive structures, including those of work organizations, and individuated subjects. We argue that bureaucratic organizations effected this construction in such an efficient manner that it 'disappeared' as an issue for organizational theorists, but that shifting organizational forms have re-opened it. We suggest that the advent of corporate culturism in the 1980s offered one kind of reconfiguration of trust in organizations. However, subsequent extensions of organizational reform have undermined corporate culture as a way of constructing trust. These extensions, which, with some caveats, may be called post-bureaucratic, have brought with them new potential bases for trust, and hence control, in organizations. We explore these in two ways. First, we discuss how various types of managerial languages and techniques have the capacity to provide a global 'script' through which particular local contexts can be made sense of, and which allow possible subject positions and identities to be secured. Second, we develop this discussion with reference to two different kinds of employees whose work is in some senses post-bureaucratic: accountants and consultants in Big Five firms, and temporary workers (temps) working through agencies to provide clerical and other services. In a conclusion, we comment on the durability of post-bureaucratic modes of trust.
Discourse is a popular term used in a variety of ways, easily leading to confusion. This article attempts to clarify the various meanings of discourse in social studies, the term's relevance for organizational analysis and some key theoretical positions in discourse analysis. It also focuses on the methodological problem of the relationship between: a) the level of discourse produced in interviews and in everyday life observed as `social texts' (in particular talk); b) other kinds of phenomena, such as meanings, experiences, orientations, events, material objects and social practices; and, c) discourses in the sense of a large-scale, ordered, integrated way of reasoning/ constituting the social world. In particular, the relationship between `micro and meso-level' discourse analysis (i.e. specific social texts being the primary empirical material) and `grand and mega-level' discourse (i.e. large-scale orders) is investigated.
Knowledge Capitalism probes the surface of contemporary economic and social change, revealing how the shift to a knowledge-based economy is redefining firms, empowering individuals, and reshaping the links between learning and work. Using economic, management and knowledge-based theories, supported by empirical data and illustrations from leading companies, Knowledge Capitalism describes the emergence of a new breed of capitalist, one dependent on knowledge rather than physical resources. The author argues that industrial-era models of firm-market boundaries, work arrangements, and ownership and control are inhibiting firms and individuals success in the emerging knowledge economy. New models are proposed based on knowledge-centred organisation, knowledge-led growth, and knowledge supply as distinct from labour supply or flexible employment. Continuous learning is shown to be critical to firms as integrators of disparate knowledge resources, and the only practical route for individuals to become free agents. Knowledge Capitalism illuminates the new business landscape and provides a practical tool-set for business practitioners and theorists to interpret and manage change in a rapidly deconstructing economic environment.
Current debates in sociology about subjective identity in late- or postmodernity accord events in the sphere of production an ambiguous status. For some, economic transformations have been central to the claim that something fundamental has happened in our present: a shrift from "fordism" to "post-fordism," from mass production to flexible specialization, and from mass consumption to individualized and diversified consumption regimes. 1 Yet changing forms of identity are generally marginal to such concerns, or at best regarded as effects, rather than phenomena that may have a constitutive role in these events. For others, pronouncements about transformations in personal identity that are held to accompany the shift to a new epoch have been paralleled by a surprising lack of detailed attention to the world of work itself. 2 Analysts of identity have tended to focus either on consumption (lifestyles, advertising, and shopping) or on the "intimate" sphere of home, relationships, sexuality, and family life. Arguments that contemporary "self-identity" is characterized by enhanced reflexivity, autonomy, or uncertainy have failed to recognize that the workplace is a principal site for the formation of identity. Of course, there have been numerous sociological discussions of the effects of work on identity, and of attempts to reform and humanize work. But their perspective has largely been that of critique? Repetitively, sociologists of industry have recounted the tale of work as the site of degradation of subjectivity, and have grounded their accounts of resistances at work and their analytics of critique upon values of personal identity, agency, and self-affirmation, which are seen as essential to the human subject. 4 For such critiques, the language of participation, enrichment, quality of working life, empowerment, and the like are little more than disingenuous devices for seeking to bind employees to managerial norms and ambitions, masking a fundamental contradiction between bosses and workers. According to this perspective, it is only
This paper sets out an approach to the analysis of political power in terms of problematics of government. It argues against an overvaluation of the 'problem of the State' in political debate and social theory. A number of conceptual tools are suggested for the analysis of the many and varied alliances between political and other authorities that seek to govern economic activity, social life and individual conduct. Modern political rationalities and governmental technologies are shown to be intrinsically linked to developments in knowledge and to the powers of expertise. The characteristics of liberal problematics of government are investigated, and it is argued that they are dependent upon technologies for 'governing at a distance', seeking to create locales, entities and persons able to operate a regulated autonomy. The analysis is exemplified through an investigation of welfarism as a mode of 'social' government. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of neo-liberalism which demonstrates that the analytical language structured by the philosophical opposition of state and civil society is unable to comprehend contemporary transformations in modes of exercise of political power.(1).
The argument. Preface. Acknowledgements. Part I: The Passage from Modernity to Postmodernity in Contemporary Culture: . 1. Introduction. 2. Modernity and Modernism. 3. Postmodernism. 4. Postmodernism in the City: Architecture and Urban Design. 5. Modernization. 6. POSTmodernISM or postMODERNism?. Part II: The Political-Economic Transformation of late Twentieth-Century Capitalism: . 7. Introduction. 8. Fordism. 9. From Fordism to Flexible Accumulation. 10. Theorizing the Transition. 11. Flexible Accumulation - Solid Transformation or Temporary Fix?. Part III: The Experience of Space and Time: . 12. Introduction. 13. Individual Spaces and Times in Social Life. 14. Time and Space as Sources of Social Power. 15. The Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project. 16. Time-space Compression and the Rise of Modernism as a Cultural Force. 17. Time-Space Compression and the Postmodern Condition. 18. Time and Space in the Postmodern Cinema. Part IV: The Condition of Postmodernity:. 19. Postmodernity as a Historical Condition. 20. Economics with Mirrors. 21. Postmodernism as the Mirror of Mirrors. 22. Fordist Modernism versus Flexible Postmodernism, or the Interpenetration of Opposed Tendencies in Capitalism as a Whole. 23. The Transformative and Speculative Logic of Capital. 24. The Work of Art in an Age of Electronic Reproduction and Image Banks. 25. Responses to Time-Space Compression. 26. The Crisis of Historical Materialism. 27. Cracks in the Mirrors, Fusions at the Edges. References. Index.
Since the early 1980s there has been an explosion of auditing activity in the United Kingdom and North America. In addition to financial audits there are now medical audits, technology audits, value for money audits, environmental audits, quality audits, teaching audits, and many others. Why has this happened? What does it mean when a society invests so heavily in an industry of checking and when more and more individuals find themselves subject to formal scrutiny? The Audit Society argues that the rise of auditing has its roots in political demands for accountability and control. At the heart of a new administrative style internal control systems have begun to play an important public role and individual and organizational performance has been increasingly formalized and made auditable. Michael Power argues that the new demands and expectations of audits live uneasily with their operational capabilities. Not only is the manner in which they produce assurance and accountability open to question but also, by imposing their own values, audits often have unintended and dysfunctional consequences for the audited organization. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/management/9780198296034/toc.html
Abstract European industrial relations are rapidly internationalizing; internationalization, however, is not necessarily de-nationalization. Even as European integration accelerates, national politics and industrial relations will remain the principal arenas for the social regulation of work and employment in Europe. The paper investigates the implications of European industrial relations developing into a multi-level system within which national regimes compete with each other in an integrated international market. In particular, it tries to outline the emerging new peace formula between business and labor in Europe, which is centered on the notion of joint competitiveness, and its consequences for social protection and the regulation of labor markets. Five examples are given for the continuing importance of national industrial relations in integrated Europe: the renewal of tripartite concertation at national level, especially under the pressure of the Maastricht criteria; the likely impact of European Monetary Union on national collective bargaining regimes; the practical consequences of the European Works Councils Directive of 1994; the experience with the Social Dialogue since the Maastricht Treaty; and the Posted Workers Directive, which is discussed as a possible paradigm of the future relationship between European and national social protection in Europe.
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