Impacts of Class on Hong Kong People's Well-Being

Whereas class theory and research have offered evidence showing the significant effect of class on the individual's well-being, some researchers think that class has no impact on people in modern society because of reduced inequality in education and profession. In such a modern society as Hong Kong,further arguments suggest that people have vague images of class. This controversy may arise because of the failure to operationalize class. To amend this shortcoming, this study operationalized class by using Wright's (1985) definition. With data from 138 marital couples, it tested a causal model predicting the husband's and wife's well-being by class, through the mediation of problem-solving confidence, received social support, work alienation, pleasant and stressful life events, and income. Analysis via structural equation modeling indicated that well-being was significantly associated with a higher class position. That work alienation mediated the relationship between class and received social support, problem-solving confidence, and well-being supports the significance of class theory.     

The Migration of Organizational Functions to the Work Unit Level: Buffering, Spanning, and Bringing Up Boundaries

In this paper, we propose that the locus oforganizational boundary activities has migrated from theorganization to the work unit level as enterprisesreengineer structures, increase the use ofcross-functional teams, cut organizational slack, and adoptadvanced information technologies. From an open systemsperspective, we examine how environmental andorganizational forces affect this migration process.Three types of boundary activity relevant for workunits are identified: buffering, spanning, and bringingup boundaries. A set of preliminary propositionsregarding relationships between environmental andorganizational changes and boundary activities is offered asa guide for future research.     

Work Design Issues in Lean Production from a Sociotechnical Systems Perspective: Neo-Taylorism or the Next Step in Sociotechnical Design?

The similarities and differences between twoparadigms, Lean Production (LP) and SociotechnicalSystems (STS) thinking, which currently compete for theattention of managers and scholars interested inimproving the design of work systems, are studied in thisarticle. In order to find the logic behind eachapproach, the design principles formulated by Chernshave been used to evaluate LP from an STS viewpoint with respect to work design issues. The two conceptsdiffer most with respect to their definition of systemboundaries, the control mechanisms they favor and theirvalue bases and assumptions about workers. The way control is exercised in each concept isclosely related to the production structure and hasfar-reaching consequences for the human resourcepolicies practiced. Although each approach has something to offer the other, the question whether thebest ideas of both can be synthesized in designing asuperior overall system cannot be answered so easily. Inthe end, it will require more than just choosing features of each approach to apply incombination; the differences in fundamental beliefsabout people need to be reconciled in the design of theorganization and its system.