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Technological Progress, Organizational Change and the Size of the Human Resources Departement

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Author Info
Raouf BOUCEKKINE (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))
Patricia, CRIFO
Claudio, MATTALIA

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Abstract

Innovative workplace practices based on multi-tasking and ICT that have been diffusing in most OECD countries since the 1990s have strong consequences on working conditions. Available data show together with the emergence of new organizational forms like multi-tasking, the increase in the proportion of workers employed in managerial occupation and the increase in skill requirements. This paper proposes a theoretical model to analyze the coordination costs between workers and between tasks. Firms can reduce coordination costs by assigning more workers to human resources management. Human capital is endogenously accumulated by workers. The model reproduces pretty well the regularities observed in the data. In particular, exogenous technological accelerations tend to increase both the number of tasks performerd and the skill requirements, and to raise the fraction of workers devoted to management.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques in its series Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) with number 2007047.

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Length: 37
Date of creation: 20 Dec 2007
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Handle: RePEc:ctl:louvec:2007047

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Related research
Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change; Human Capital; Multi-Tasking;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
C62 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Existence and Stability Conditions of Equilibrium

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Raouf Boucekkine & Patricia Crifo, 2008. "Human Capital Accumulation and the Transition from Specialization to Multi-tasking," Post-Print hal-00243029_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 1999. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," NBER Working Papers 7136, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Tamura, Robert, 1992. "Efficient equilibrium convergence: Heterogeneity and growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 355-376, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Bolton, Patrick & Dewatripont, Mathias, 1994. "The Firm as a Communication Network," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(4), pages 809-39, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Becker, G.S. & Murphy, K.M., 1991. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 92-5, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
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  6. Lex Borghans & Bas ter Weel, 2005. "The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change," IZA Discussion Papers 1709, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Philippe Askenazy & Eve Caroli, 2006. "Innovative Work Practices, Information Technologies and Working Conditions: Evidence for France," IZA Discussion Papers 2321, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  8. Yang, Xiaokai & Borland, Jeff, 1991. "A Microeconomic Mechanism for Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 460-82, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Luis Garicano, 2000. "Hierarchies and the Organization of Knowledge in Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 874-904, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Askenazy, Philippe & Caroli, Eve & Marcus, Vincent, 2001. "New organizational practices and working conditions: evidence from France in the 1990s," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 0106, CEPREMAP. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Dessein, Wouter & Santos, Jesus, 2003. "The Demand for Coordination," CEPR Discussion Papers 4096, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Caroli, Eve & Van Reenen, John, 1999. "Skill biased organizational change? Evidence from a panel of British and French establishments," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Couverture Orange) 9917, CEPREMAP. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Erik J. Brynjolfsson & Thomas Malone & Vijay Gurbaxani & Ajit Kambil, 1991. "Does Information Technology Lead to Smaller Firms?," Working Paper Series 123, MIT Center for Coordination Science. [Downloadable!]
  14. Daron Acemoglu & Pol Antràs & Elhanan Helpman, 2005. "Contracts and the Division of Labor," NBER Working Papers 11356, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  15. Wouter Dessein & Tano Santos, 2003. "The Demand for Coordination," NBER Working Papers 10056, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. John J. Wallis & Douglass North, 1986. "Measuring the Transaction Sector in the American Economy, 1870-1970," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 95-162 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  17. Raghuram G Rajan & Julie Wulf, 2006. "The Flattening Firm: Evidence from Panel Data on the Changing Nature of Corporate Hierarchies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 759-773, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Mark D Brenner & David Fairris & John Ruser, 2002. "'Flexible' Work Practices and Occupational Safety and Health: Exploring the Relationship Between Cumulative Trauma Disorders and Workplace Transformation," Working Papers wp30, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. [Downloadable!]
  19. Luis Garicano & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2006. "Organization and Inequality in a Knowledge Economy," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 121(4), pages 1383-1435, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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