Polishing knowledge: a study of marble and granite processing.
| Autor | De Bruim Babisk Mezadre, Simone |
Introduction
Studies that aim to understand working situations, such as this study (1) of the marble and granite processing industry, are important to organizational studies. This relevance arises from the lack of studies in this field that are focused on the topics of work, management and subjectivity, as verified by a search of different international (International Journal of Human Resource Management; Human Resource Management; Human Resource Management Review; Revista Laboreal) and Brazilian (Revista Psicologia e Sociedade; Revista Psicologia, Organizacoes e Trabalho; Revista Labor; Revista de Administracao de Empresas [RAE]; Revista de Administracao Contemporanea [RAC]; Brazilian Administration Review [BAR]) journals, primarily from the last five years. The search for the terms ornamental rocks, marble and granite and mining showed a considerable number of articles focused on the development of technologies with emphasis on the reuse of waste generated by this segment and on new machinery and inputs for materials processing. Therefore, it seems that there is a lack of studies using this article's proposed approach for this specific work sector.
Studies like this, based on capturing aspects from actual work that are relatively invisible, can contribute to people management, by considering elements for constructing a theory focused on small business management skills and safer organizational work practices in marble and granite field, a contribution that alone would be socially relevant. Moreover, French ergonomists have demonstrated that work analysis is a prerequisite to the prevention of occupational accidents, training, knowledge work content and evaluating qualifications (Wisner, 2012), among others, which are all important for any industrial activity.
The transformations that have occurred in labor in recent decades have provoked new questions about workers' roles within this context of flexibility, continuous improvement and professional competency management (Biazzi, 2012; Boltanski & Chiapello, 2009) as important agents for the transformation and reinvention of their own activities (Sato & Oliveira, 2008; Schwartz, Durrive, & Duc, 2010).
Consequently, it is important to understand how knowledge production occurs in working situations so that one can understand human resource management aspects in a more appropriate way with consideration for workers' actual situations in the marble and granite industry, and in other industries with similar working conditions. This is in accordance with a proposal by Dobbins, Cardy, Facteau and Miller (1993), which states the importance of "integrating the reality of situational factors into the performance management process" (p. 5). This industry, located in the southern region of the state of Espirito Santo (ES--an important state for this industry) comprises many small companies, many of which have harsh working conditions, aspects of which this study aims to clarify through discussion and analysis.
In an attempt to understand how local organizations engage in industrial development, one can see that generally, according to Castro, Marcon, Freire and Almeida (2011), organizations that attempt to improve worker activities are limited by the lack of financial resources and a context of precariousness in which worker knowledge is devalued.
Triginelli (2011) claimed that worker practices, knowledge and experience are the foundation of the work organization in the marble and granite industry and that these must be developed along with formal education and technical training in order for the worker to perform his/her tasks, because a lack of planning might increase the risk of on-the-job accidents. Santos (2011) corroborates this idea by stating that a great challenge faced by marble and granite companies is the articulation of worker knowledge, as they "cry out for the valuing and consideration of their knowledge" (Santos, 2011, p. 93).
This research is focused on answering: How does a marble and granite worker perform his/her work activities compared with the prescribed standards and performance challenges posed by the environment? The outlined objective is to understand work situations, based on the study of activities.
To evaluate these complex aspects that involve working situations in processing activities by studying a company in the industry--one located in the southern region of Espirito Santo (ES)--, this paper is structured as follows: first, the subjects are introduced, and transformations in labor regarding capitalist context, work and ergology, and work and competencies are described. Next, the industry and the research are contextualized by explanation of the research method. Finally, the results obtained from the company studied are discussed and possible outcomes are noted.
Labor Transformations in a Capitalist Context
Work has undergone many modifications over the last twenty years, and these have introduced difficulties to the exposure of work characteristics. Schwartz, Durrive and Duc (2010) stated that even though work is ever more intellectual, stress currently observed in workers proves how physical aspects are still important. The authors affirmed that while jobs now require much more initiative than before, procedures have been standardized, creating a paradox. The subject of paradoxical management was also very pertinently addressed by Gaulejac (2011), who showed that this type of pressure could result in workers' exclusion.
According to Trinquet (2010), current work in this industry can be brutalizing, alienating, traumatizing and even deadly in many cases. However, according to the author, it is not work "in its fundamental and ontological function that results in these perversions, but the working conditions that are imposed" (Trinquet, 2010, p. 111), which are sometimes imputed by men themselves. However, according to the author, men can change these conditions and make them favorable to everyone's interest, and not only for the interest of a selfish and dangerous minority.
When addressing the ideological changes that have occurred simultaneously with recent transformations in capitalism and consequently in labor, Boltanski and Chiapello (2009) presented a singular analysis that focused on "the various ways in which people commit themselves to an action, their motivations, and the meaning that they give to their acts" (p. 33), thus differentiating themselves from most discourse on globalization. According to the authors, human beings both make history as well as suffer from its effects.
New capitalist configurations require construction of a new subjectivity with regard to work, because the current transformations, as discussed, might affect workers' personal and professional identities and also induce effects that promote new collective actions by workers (Biazzi, 2012;
Cunha, 2007).
The transformations in capitalism support new ways of being and living that change worker requirements (Boltanski & Chiapello, 2009; Leidner, 2001). Understandings of the transformations in labor and individuals' construction of meaning with regard to his/her organization, as well as what contains symbolic connotations of difficulty, challenge, teamwork, progress, pleasure and professional growth are very important in ergology studies, as these consider the worker as someone who holds his/her own values, beliefs and rules and also constantly reinvents his/her relationship with the environment in which he/she lives (Athayde & Brito, 2011; Schwartz et al., 2010).
Work and ergology
According to Gernet and Dejours (2011), to work means to face prescriptions and procedures and also the ability to care for or shelter others. However, work activity is inevitably confronted with reality, such that "the arrangements a subject makes to recover the difference between what is prescribed and his/her effective activity can never be entirely foreseen, as they are reinvented at each time" (Gernet & Dejours, 2011, p. 62).
According to Schwartz (2003), if the fact that work is permeated by the workers' stories and the working environment is not considered, then there exists a mutilation of individuals' activities as history makers because these men and women question knowledge and permanently reproduce new tasks for this knowledge, which is then produced and modified to further change the prescriptions of such activities.
According to this author, prescription for an activity cannot incorporate all anticipated factors required for its execution, so a worker must use his/her knowledge according to his/her values, experience and history to fill the gap between what is prescribed and what is performed, thus reconfiguring the previous prescription (Schwartz, 2003).
Managers do not necessarily need to consent or participate as a boss for these reconfigurations to occur, because, according to Schwartz (2004), there is no separation between the managed and the managers. This means that all workers manage their own activities. For this reason it is relevant to study work as a human activity rather than as a task.
Through ergology, work situations can be studied from an approach that is centered on analysis of actual work situations. According to Athayde and Brito (2011), ergology emerged in France to maximize the amplitude of analysis for all dimensions of human activities as if they were observed through a magnifying lens. It appeared as an extension of ergonomics and is based on the study of human work complexity. "Ergology is the permanent study of the debates of norms and values that indefinitely renew the activity; it is the intellectual discomfort" (Schwartz et al., 2010, p. 30).
According to Bendassolli and Soboll (2011, p. 12), ergology originates from the principle that an activity that requires a perpetual debate of experiences "is responsible for a permanent learning of the norms and values projecting the individual to a constant process of...
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