Bae, Kyu-sik (2000) Work organisation and the restructuring of the telecommunications in British Telecom and Korea Telecom. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The aim of thesis is to address the issue of convergence versus divergence in work
organisation in the telecommunications industry in Britain and Korea through a
comparative case study. Convergence or divergence has been debated among
universalists, national institution theorists and converging divergence proponents. These
approaches suffer from respectively under-socialisation, over-socialisation, and a lack of
dynamic interactions between variables.
By focusing on the changing processes of national telecoms governance regimes,
management strategies, corporate restructuring, and work organisation, the research
explores how global forces are mediated or structured by contextual variables and how
variables interact. It investigates three aspects of work organisation, that is, work
control, work rationalisation and customisation, and flexibility, of field technicians and
customer services representatives in British Telecom and Korea Telecom.
The evidence based on interviews, documentation and observations suggests that
there are systematic differences in patterns of work organisation between the two cases
but small similarities. Even ostensible similarities arise from different contexts and have
varying significance. Systematic differences are argued to result not just from varying
phases of corporate restructuring between the two cases but also more importantly from
such contextual factors as national systems, telecoms governance regimes, the existing
management structure, and management and union strategies. However, the
relationships between intermediate variables are more interactive and dynamic than
conventional institutionalism suggests. Changes in some of the intermediate variables or
work reorganisation may be an important source of influence on national institutions,
leading to dynamic interactions between variables. These dynamic interactions make the
diversification between the two cases distinct from conventional national institution
theories which see national institutions as being constant.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Telecommunication -- Great Britain -- Case studies, Telecommunication -- Korea -- Case studies, British Telecom, Han'guk T'ongsin (Firm), Industrial management -- Great Britain -- Case studies, Industrial management -- Korea -- Case studies
Official Date:	August 2000
Dates:	Date Event August 2000 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Terry, Michael, 1948- ; Ferner, Anthony
Language:	eng

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