WEBINAR: Action Research for Workplace Innovation: Cogenerated Methodology/Method to Develop the Meaning of Work in Firms.
January 31, 2025 @ 10:00 – 11:00 GMT
Webinar
This is a webinar and it will be delivered via Zoom. This webinar is part of the EUWIN and Bridges 5.0 programme of events.
Firms in the Basque Autonomous Community is Spain are facing global challenges like the need to evolve into more sustainable modes of production, the effect of demographic change and technological transformations that affect their present activities as well as their expectations about the future.
One of the features of the Basque Autonomous Community, and specifically Gipuzkoa, where the case presented has developed, is the relevant weight of SMEs, as 20% of the industrial employment is in firms with less than 20 employees, and 53% in firms with between 20 and 249. Regional governments have assumed that their policies must generate conditions for SMEs to be able to transform to adapt to these challenges, as they might not have, on their own, resources that bigger firms might.
In this context, the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the government of one of the three provinces of the Basque Autonomous community, initiated in 2020 a deliberative process using action research to determine, through the discussion with representatives of firms, firm associations and universities what the core challenges of work would be in the future. The main conclusion was that the government should initiate innovative policies to help firms make work meaningful, as this would be a key dimension of the wellbeing of individuals and the competitiveness of firms.
From that moment on action research has been used to co-generate with firms and intermediate agents that work with them a methodology and method to develop the meaning of work. Intermediate agents in this case are county development agencies (there are eleven in the province), the chamber of commerce, an association of vocational training centres and the association of work societies. They are named as intermediate because they have direct connections with firms and also with the provincial government and play a bridging role between them. As a result of this process 39 firms have been working on processes to improve the meaning of work in 2023, and there are around 40 working on it in 2024. The government has institutionalised programs for intermediate agents and firms to continue getting support for these processes in the future.
In the presentation we will elaborate on action research as a methodology for this process, the collaborative governance arrangement to facilitate the collaborative work of government with firms and one specific case of a firm that has worked with this methodology.
Discover the full programme and book your place.
EUWIN (the European Workplace Innovation Network) is a community of researchers and practitioners from business, public policy, research and social partner organisations. Its remit is to promote workplace practices that lead to simultaneous improvements in organisational performance and quality of working life for employees. First established by the European Commission in 2013, EUWIN is now funded and managed by a network of international partners.
Bridging human & digital potential. Bridges 5.0 creates a unique consortium based on active collaboration between researchers, 8 EU industrial companies, 9 Industry 4.0 ecosystems, and the main EU social partners.
Photo credit
Photo by Anna Tarazevich
