Modelling Organizational Change: Determinants and Consequences on the Labor Market
L'actualite Economique, Revue d'Analyse Economique, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 349-365
Posted: 7 Mar 2008 Last revised: 11 Dec 2013
Date Written: 2003
Abstract
This article presents theoretical analyses of organizational changes observed within firms since the past two decades in most industrialized countries. In a first category of models, the engine of organizational change lies in an increase in the complexity of production or in changes affecting the returns to labor. In a second category of models, organizational change depends on variables in the firm's environment influencing labor costs: increases in the supply of skilled labor, workers' preferences in favour of multitasking or the life cycle of products. Both categories of models highlight that organizational change contributes to increase wage inequality, to make the skill structure within firms more homogenous and to increase segregation by skills.
Keywords: Organizational Change, Human Capital, Wage Inequality
JEL Classification: D2,M5,D3
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation