Excess Baggage - Leveling the Load and Changing the Workplace

Informationen zum Autor Ellen Rosskam, Ray Elling Klappentext By peeling away the veneer of glamour associated with airport check-in work! this book reveals how changes in work organization in this sector have de-skilled! disempowered! and ultimately demoralized workers. Zusammenfassung By peeling away the veneer of glamour associated with airport check-in work, this book reveals how changes in work organization in this sector have de-skilled, disempowered, and ultimately demoralized workers. Inhaltsverzeichnis Chapter 1: The Insecurities of Service: Airport Check-In Workers This chapter provides an overview of the study undertaken examining the occupational health of airport check-in workers and the management practices dominating the occupation. Check-in work is a service-sector job performed predominantly by women, high in demand but low in control, the kind of job shown in other sectors to produce increased job strain that manifested as heart disease, anxiety, MSDs, depression, burnout, and other physical and psychological effects. Costs are discussed in relation to work related musculoskeletal disorders. The chapter discusses a growing variety of insecurities faced by workers, increasing in a fierce globalized economy, where pressure is mounting for workers, managers, and companies. The chapter reviews the evidence showing that a work environment characterized by authoritarian supervision, a delimited task structure, low work control with high demands, and repetitive and monotonous work may increase short-term productivity, but it has long-term adverse consequences for the work force. Chapter 2: Check-In Workers: A Forty-Second-Per-Passenger Machine This chapter explains why there has been no previous research on airport check-in workers, an occupation perceived to be "clean", "safe", and even "glamourous", but where numerous risks exist, and which are now uncovered. Check-in work is viewed as an entire system, where physical, organizational, psycho-social, and worker characteristics work conjointly as determining factors of musculoskeletal disorder. The value of research through an action-oriented approach is discussed, and a profile of the methodology presented. Airport check-in work is compared with three similar jobs: computer clerical workers, supermarket check-out workers, and airport baggage handlers. Chapter 3: Strong Backs, Strong Shoulders: So Why Musculoskeletal Disorders? This chapter discusses what is known about the extent and etiology of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, the need to focus on their multi-factorial causality, to give special attention to the contribution of management practices and psycho-social factors to the development and severity of musculoskeletal disorders, and their occurrence in jobs performed by women. The chapter speaks through the voice of check in workers, and presents empirical findings on musculoskeletal disorders in airport check-in workers. Chapter 4: Afflictions of Service Work: Psychological Distress, Violence, and Poor Management This chapter discusses the growing phenomenon of work-induced psychological distress, the afflictions of workplace stressors, the growing extent and costs associated with violence at work, and the growing extent of ground and air rage experienced by airport check-in workers. Chapter 5: Dehumanizing Managers: Making Workers Sick This chapter describes the abusive and unacceptable treatment that working people, including airport check-in workers, often are subjected to by supervisors or higher management, a main reason many workers leave their jobs. Destructive or dehumanizing managers affect workers' physical and mental health. Objective reasons for the need for workplaces to be governed by a culture of respect are discussed, of particular importance given that dehumanizing managers are proliferating in today's workplaces. Practical suggestions a...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Ray Elling, Ellen Rosskam, Ellen Elling Rosskam
• Editore: Baywood pub co
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 15.09.2007
• EAN: 9780895033604
• ISBN: 978-0-89503-360-4
• Pagine: 288
• Serie: Critical Approaches in the Health Social Sciences Series
• Categoria: Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Economia > Singoli rami economici, branche