Multi-skilling, an organisational strategy aimed at increasing the skill repertoire of the worker with the intent of facilitating the role and task flexibility among organisational members, is investigated.A literature review on the subject identified a number of factors contributing towards the development of a multi-skilled workforce. These ranged from the abolition of demarcation restrictions between jobs and skill-based pay systems, to the modification of the supervisory role. However, the literature fails to consider the role of technology in such developments. It was suggested that this was central to the development of skills.A framework was proposed that hypothesized a relationship between technological uncertainty the extent to which task activities are varied and difficult and skill requirements. It was further hypothesized that technology influences the structuring of activities within organisational subsystems. It was suggested that these would act either to facilitate or inhibit multi-skilling development.The structuring of activities within a unit consist of specialisation (the number of different tasks assigned to the unit); standardisation (the degree to which policies, rules, and procedures are formalised and used to guide action); interchangeability (the extent to which A can perform Bs job at short notice, and vice versa); locus of authority (the source of decision-making authority within the unit, for example, the supervisor rather than the worker); and skill heterogeneity (the variability in skill composition among unit members).A preliminary evaluation of the framework was carried out in an organisation engaged in the processing of mineral ore, with a largely semi-skilled workforce (N=165), where a multi-skilling programme was in progress.Evidence was presented that suggested a relationship between the level of technological uncertainty and ++ / skill development. However, the results failed to confirm the pervasive influence of technology with regard to the structuring of activities within subsystems. Instead, technological uncertainty was significantly related to the design of jobs, and specifically to the degree of the standardisation of jobs of organisational members. Also, contrary to the anticipated direction, there was an association between perceived standardisation of activities within subsystems and job satisfaction.

El objetivo de esta tesis es comprender y analizar la precariedad laboral y su impacto sobre la salud. Se pone en evidencia la necesidad de un marco sociológico y económico para la investigación epidemiológica. Se propone una definición de la precariedad laboral multidimensional (la inestabilidad del empleo, el empoderamiento, la vulnerabilidad, el nivel salarial, los beneficios sociales y la capacidad de ejercer los derechos laborales), capaz de describir una realidad social presente en la vida cotidiana pero oculta detrás de la temporalidad. Asimismo se presenta la validación de una nueva escala de Precariedad Laboral (PREQ) para el estudio epidemiológico en población de trabajadores asalariados. Se explora su relación con la salud mental como indicadores de efectos de la precariedad laboral y su comparación con la inseguridad laboral. Los resultados de este estudio tienen importantes implicaciones para la investigación epidemiológica y para las políticas de salud pública. / The objective of this thesis is to understand and analyze the work precariousness and its impact on the health. The necessity of a sociological and economic frame for the epidemiological research is put in evidence. A definition of the multidimensional work precariousness (the instability of the employment, the empowerment, the vulnerability, the wage level, the social benefits and the capacity to exert the worker's rights) is offered; able to describe a social reality present in the daily life but it hides behind the contingent employment. Furthermore, the validation of a new scale of Work Precariousness (PREQ) for the study epidemiologist in population of wage-earning workers is presented. Its relation with the mental health like indicators of effects of the work precariousness and their comparison with the job insecurity is explored. The results of this study have important implications for the epidemiological investigation and the policies of public health.

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:36:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009 / Nas últimas décadas o processo de flexibilização e mesmo de precarização que ocorreu no mundo do trabalho, somados às mudanças no papel do Estado, afetaram diretamente os projetos de expansão e universalização das ações e serviços de saúde no Brasil. Na Bahia, a proposta de solução para as dificuldades de fixação e gestão do trabalho dos profissionais da Estratégia Saúde da Família foi a criação de uma carreira estadual para esses trabalhadores. Para tanto, os municípios aprovaram leis de instituição de um novo ente jurídico, a Fundação Estatal Saúde da Família. O objetivo desse estudo foi analisar as estratégias de gestão do trabalho dessa Fundação, buscando compreender seus limites e possibilidades para o enfrentamento de problemas de provimento, fixação e qualificação dos trabalhadores para a Estratégia de Saúde da Família na Bahia. A pesquisa é eminentemente qualitativa e compreendeu um estudo de caso. Teve ênfase na análise documental e apoiou-se em entrevistas com atores envolvidos na formulação e debate da FESF. Durante sua realização, a proposta da FESF esteve em processo de construção, o que trouxe muitos desafios metodológicos para esse estudo. Os resultados desse estudo congregam o debate sobre o caráter interfederado do modelo jurídico - institucional da FESF, a elucidação da conformação colegiada do sistema de governança e das pactuações do contrato de gestão entre Fundação e município. Além disso, o trabalho enfoca as peculiaridades da proposta de gestão do trabalho que prevê, dentro da mesma carreira, mobilidade do trabalhador entre os municípios, remuneração variável, associada aos fatores de fixação de profissionais em cada município, e gestão do trabalho compartilhada entre FESF e municípios. A complexidade dessas propostas depara-se com a ausência de experiência na gestão desse modelo e também nas questões estruturais e institucionais que marcaram a gestão da saúde nos municípios. Portanto, um dos seus principais desafios é a operacionalização das novas ferramentas e instrumentos de gestão do trabalho que ela cria, em um contexto histórico de dificuldades nesse âmbito. / In the past decades the flexibility and even the precariousness that occurred in the labor field, together with changes in the State’s obligations, affected directly the projects for expansion and universality of the actions and health services in Brazil. In Bahia, the proposal for a solution to the difficulties in settling and management of human resources for Family Health Strategy was building a state career to these workers. For this, counties of the State have approved laws to create a new juridical institution, the State Foundation for Family Health. The aim of this study was to analyze the strategies of job management of the State Foundation for Family Health, trying to understand its limits and finding ways to deal with problems like finding human resources, settling and qualifying workers to the Family Health Strategy. This research is mainly qualitative and has a case study. There is emphasis in documental analysis but also counts with interviews with actors involved with development and debate of the State Foundation. During the time of the present study, State Foundation was being built, what brought many methodological challenges. The results of this study bring a debate on the interfederate juridical institutional model of the State Foundation; explain the construction of a decision council, its possible actions and agreements with the management contracts between Foundation and counties; analysis of the specificities of this job management proposal, in which the mobility between counties, variable salaries, together with fixation factors of professionals in each county and a shared administration Foundation/ counties is the be developed. The complexity of these proposals face an absence of experience in the application of this model and also bring structural and institutional dilemmas that characterize the management of health in counties. So, one of the main challenges is applying these instruments of job management within a historical context of difficulties in the field.