Multitask learning and the reorganization of work: From Tayloristic to holistic organization

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Lindbeck, A; Snower, DJ
• 署名单位: Stockholm University; University of London; Birkbeck University London
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/209962
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 353-376
• 关键词: labor; explanations; INEQUALITY

摘要

This article analyzes an important aspect of the contemporary reorganization of work within firms: the shift from Tayloristic organization (characterized by specialization by tasks) to holistic organization (featuring job rotation, integration of tasks, and learning across tasks). We examine four driving forces behind this restructuring process: advances in production technologies promoting technological task complementarities, advances in information technologies promoting informational task complementarities, changes in worker preferences in favor of versatile work, and advances in human capital that make workers more versatile. Our analysis also helps explain the recent widening of wage differentials and disparities in job opportunities within narrowly defined groups.