The Quest for Well-being in Growth Industries: A Collaborative Study in Finland and Scotland
Summary
The "QUEST" Project builds on extensive ongoing Finnish and UK research collaboration. This collaboration explores the relationship between work and well-being, and aims to open up new research frontiers with a view to meeting future challenges. The project examines the contradictory pressures for policies and practices towards both the inhibition and the enhancement of work-related well-being that are likely in growth industries. The overall aim is to evaluate the development, implementation and use of work-related well-being policies in growth industries, selected on the basis of EU and national forecasts, and socio-economic trends in employment. This project provides national and transnational data, analysis and outputs. The project aims:
- To provide a systematic mapping and situational analysis of relevant work-related legislation and policies for well-being.
- To identify which policies are in place, being used, monitored and evaluated, in key growth sectors.
- To examine the interactions between work-related well-being policies, practices and cultures.
- To identify the opportunities and barriers to the development of well-being policies and practices both formally and informally in the selected industries.
- To examine how gender and other forms of social differentiation, including non-standard and standard employment, affect competitive advantage and well-being.
- To examine how transnational processes and structures affect operation of growth industries and work-related, well-being policies.
Methods cover a) critical review of relevant documentary, policy, published literature and material not formally published; b) survey of companies contacted drawn through a quota sampling frame; c) 'portraits of practice' approach to include interviews, field notes and documentary analysis of policies in selected companies; and c) policy analysis and dissemination focus groups.
Project information
Site of research
Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki
Period
July 2008 - December 2010
Funding
Academy of Finland's The Future of Work and Well-being (2008-2011) Research Programme
Research team
Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki
- Professor Jeff Hearn (responsible leader, Finland)
- Dr Teemu Tallberg
- Dr Pernilla Gripenberg
- Dr Marjut Jyrkinen (Postdoctoral Academy Fellow)
- Dr Hertta Niemi
- MSc (Econ.) Charlotta Niemistö (doctoral researcher)
- Professor Linda McKie (responsible leader, UK)
- Dr Andrew Smith
- Professor Gill Hogg
- Dr Sophie Bowlby
See also Organisations, Work and Care Programme
Selected publications
J. Hearn and W. Parkin: Gender, Sexuality and Violence in Organizations: The Unspoken Forces of Organization Violations, Sage, London, 2001.
T. Heiskanen and J. Hearn (eds): Information Society and the Workplace: Spaces, Boundaries and Agency, Routledge, London, 2004.
J. Hearn and L. McKie: Gendered policy and policy on gender, Policy and Politics: An International Journal, 36(1): 75-91, 2008.
L. McKie, J. Hearn, S. Bowlby, A. Smith and G. Hogg: Organisation Carescapes: Researching Organisations, Work and Care, Working Papers, 538. Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, 2008.
J. Hearn, M. Jyrkinen, R. Piekkari and E. Oinonen: "Women home and away": Transnational managerial work and gender relations, Journal of Business Ethics, 83 (1): 41-54, 2008.
A. Smith and L. McKie: 'Researching 'Care' In and Around the Workplace', Sociological Research Online, 14 (4), 2009.
J. Hearn, T. Tallberg, L. McKie, P. Gripenberg, M. Jyrkinen, C. Niemistö: The Quest for Well-being in Growth Industries: Contexts, Research Design and Methodological Development. Working papers, 548. Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, 2009.
McKie, L., Airey, L., Hogg, G., Backett-Milburn, K., Rew, Z.: Autonomy, Control and Job Advancement among Low Paid Women in Food Retail. Work, Employment and Society, 23 (4): 787-796, 2009.
F. Malik, L. McKie, G. Hogg and R. Beattie: A Toolkit to Support Human Resource Management, Personnel Review, 39 (3): 287-307, 2010.
S. Bowlby, L. McKie, S. Gregory and I. MacPherson: Interdependency and Care Over the Lifecourse, Routledge, London, 2010.