Download or read book The National Shipbuilding Research Program. Proceedings of the IREAPS Technical Symposium. Paper No. 13: Worker Participation and Organizational Change in Shipbuilding: An International Review written by and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Significant innovations of a human resource nature have been introduced to international shipbuilding since the mid-60's. In the past few years, a number of U.S. yards have experimented with some of these practices (quality circles, semi-autonomous work groups, multi-skilled workers). This paper draws together information from several sources in an attempt to identify those underlying principles which have taken various forms in many shipyards in a number of countries. The expression "human resources" is heard more frequently these days in American business circles; not only in the titles of business administration courses, but also in professional and department titles within industry. In some cases the content of such coursework and industry billets is much the same as was earlier encompassed under the heading of "Personnel" (e.g. recruitment and selection, training, salary and benefits administration, industrial relations, etc.). What is new, however, is an additional dimension hinted at in this more ambitious label "human resources", one that has to do with achieving the most effective use of the workforce. "Nothing new there," one might protest, since the traditional functions of Personnel are directed to this end as are certain elements of Industrial Engineering and every other management function that touches at all upon the use of the workforce. But there is a difference, and it has to do with an expanded view of the concept of "use of the workforce." This new dimension reflects the view that an organization's workforce is not simply one other element of production, but is one of the company's most important assets -- a resource that has not been sufficiently tapped under traditional management practices and organizations of work.