1. PUBLISHED in: Salavisa Lança, Isabel & Ana Cláudia Valente (Eds.),
Tchnological Innovation and Employment: the Portuguese case. Lisbon:
Dinâmia, 2006 (pp.101-124).
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION & EMPLOYMENT – SOCIAL AND
ORGANISATIONAL IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY
ELÍSIO ESTANQUE
Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
Centro de Estudos Sociais – www.ces.uc.pt
1 – Introduction
Inventive capacity and technological refinement have always been
cornerstones of societies’ development. However, while the social transformations
that followed the Industrial Revolution meant extraordinary progress for mankind,
they also generated a whole gamut of perplexing issues for society to deal with,
and continue to do so even today. During the last century, cinema and literature
produced many works1 that reflected concerns associated with technological
progress in western societies. The so-called technological revolution has never
been regarded as an undisputed asset to humanity, and the innovators’ standpoint
is far from being uncontroversial. Indeed, although technical advances over the
past two hundred years have been awe-inspiring and have heralded liberation and
well-being, they have resulted in countless destructive side effects and new forms
of oppression and social injustice.
The XIX century began an era in which technologies drew western societies’
attention towards the idea of labour and production, while, nowadays, the focus is
increasingly on consumption and market forces. Although it is in the world of
labour, rather than in the field of consumption, that people are more directly
1
Such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Chaplin’s Modern Times, and Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New
World.

2. Elísio Estanque
confronted with technics, greater exposure to the latter tends to subordinate what
happens to the former. It was, largely, for this reason that, in spite of the known
alienating effects of technics on the worker – that Marx so astutely denounced –
the Taylorist approach to production spread throughout the western world, making
the worker a mere appendage to the machine.
Over the past one hundred and fifty years, working class attitudes towards
technologies have been ambiguous: while regarding them a source of potential
threat to jobs, technological innovation has relieved workers from many arduous
tasks and, until recently, served to consolidate the trade union movement. The
corollary of this ambivalent perspective is that, in the latter half of the XX century,
the forebodings of job shedding caused by the introduction of new technologies2
were accompanied by idyllic visions of a happy world in which mechanisation
would replace most physical labour, and where space for creativity and leisure
would abound, shaping what Ivan Illich (1979) termed the right to useful
unemployment. Of course, both these scenarios were amply idealised within the
framework of (opposing) ideologies, and, in time, disproved by historical evolution,
since the effects of new technologies, because they fall within social logic itself,
have always been eminently contradictory.
The issue of technology and its implications for employment and social life
has been a recurrent theme in economic and social theory, especially since the
post-war period. Textbooks on labour sociology back in the 1970s were already
warning of the dangers of “technological determinism”, and stressing the fact that
the machine “is never a pure means or a pure end of social activity”, that is to say,
technical invention is always a response to “a pre-existing need that it is better able
to satisfy than previous technics” (Naville & Rolle, 1973: 401). To understand the
social impacts and implications of technological innovation it must be remembered
that they touch on several spheres and levels of analysis, and thus lead us into a
diversity of dimensions of the social landscape.
Reference should first be made, therefore, to the socio-economic and cultural
2
The Luddite movement in the XIX century, Portuguese workers’ struggles at the turn of the XIX century and
early XX century, and the trade union struggles during the post-war era until the 1970s spring to mind.
2

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conditions that either foster or hinder technological development, whether in the
organisational and business setting or in society at large. It is preferable to use the
notion of “implication”, mentioned above, rather than “impact”, if we are to avoid
regarding technology as something arriving from outside, which is self-determining,
and which then makes a certain impact on social life. Once appropriated or
marked by human presence and culturalised, technologies, just as all material
artefacts – goods, utensils, resources, technics or even natural elements – take on
new symbolism and significance. Their social effects also entail this kind of
dimension. The question of technology, i.e. the presence or absence of new
technologies, is always intertwined with social implications, before, during and after
their practical application.
This text seeks to look at such problems, and examine associations between
current trends in technological innovation and more general social phenomena.
While our main focus is, naturally, the Portuguese reality, we endeavour to place it
in the global and European context. We try to link empirical information, gathered
from various existing studies on this topic, to sociological perspectives from other
approaches and theoretical frameworks. We have divided the work into three
parts: the first begins by contextualising this reflection in the light of recent
economic globalisation trends and their impacts on industry, and refers to some
industrial organisation models and proposals for the European context formulated
by different authors. The second outlines an assessment of the situation and
considers the underlying reasons for the current state of the art. The results of
various studies are synthesised and empirical information is included on policies
and programmes designed to promote technological innovation in Portugal – from
scientific research to education policies, and the programmes and initiatives
devised to support business modernisation. The third and final part discusses the
social effects of technological innovation, both at macro-social and organisational
levels. The productive sector and society are considered in terms of their
interconnection in different spheres, in which there is a real or potential incidence
of new technologies. Finally, we attempt to draw some conclusions regarding
business and industry, and Portuguese society in general.
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2 – Globalisation, industrial recomposition and technological
innovation: brief contextualisation
When embarking on the question of a given country’s or region’s
technological resources, account must be taken of the social and cultural
dimensions that support it, domestically and internationally. First of all, the
country/region’s position in relation to more general social transformation and
economic development processes should be identified, in order to pinpoint any
trends in change, difficulties and barriers, potentialities and advantages. Secondly,
it is essential not to lose sight of the multiple complex repercussions from current
or recent economic cycles, productive models, and institutional and political
contexts, national and international
The recomposition of productive processes over the past few decades has
been intimately linked to the opening of borders and rapid globalisation of trade, in
which the technological component unquestionably plays a major role3. It is in this
context that issues such as labour – namely industrial labour and the changes
currently affecting it –, the effects of technological innovation, new opportunities
and inequalities, fragmentation trends, mobility, flexibilisation, etc. – all need to be
discussed.
2.1 – Globalisation and social inequalities
From the outset, it should be said that the impacts of current global processes
are far from promoting uniformisation and equal opportunities. Nowadays, just as
in the past, the global economy is generating many inequalities, not only between
core and peripheral countries, but also within each context, where contradictory
dynamics are created, and inclusion and exclusion logics coexist side by side. The
gulf between development poles and disadvantaged run down areas is often more
shocking in countries that have enjoyed rapid economic growth. In such cases, the
3
In the wake of the welfare state crisis, some authors in the 1980s predicted the “end of organised capitalism”
followed by a new “disorganised capitalism” era, or shift from Fordist to post-Fordist accumulation regimes
(Offe, 1985; Lash & Urry, 1987; Esping-Andersen, 1996).
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introduction of new technologies has exacerbated, rather than reduced, social
segmentation and inequalities. Technological innovation and computerisation are,
unquestionably, powerful media that have provided new opportunities for achieving
well-being and empowerment. At the same time, however, they have contributed
to increasing employment deregulation and precariousness, as has been observed
since the early 1980s in Europe (with the emergence of so-called disorganised
capitalism). Indeed, the end of the Fordist salary relationship led to a noticeable
decline in the influence of industrial labour in advanced societies (especially in
Europe), and this has accentuated trends towards heterogeneity and
destandardisation of traditional forms of employment (Beck, 1992 and 2000;
Hyman, 1994; Regini, 1994; Ruysseveldt & Visser, 1996; Costa, 2000).
Tertiarisation and the rapid spread of new information technologies tend, in fact, to
conceal the perverse effects these have on other segments, which are forced into
situations of greater dependency and degradation – as has occurred in EU
economies that are regarded as being among the most dynamic – Ireland being a
case in point (O’Hearn, 2000).
So, the idyllic, neutral and fictitious notion of a homogenising and harmonising
globalisation – an image largely manufactured by neo-liberalist ideologues and the
mass media at the service of hegemonic powers – needs to be dismantled. Global
neo-liberalism quickly entered a vertiginous dynamic, and today its impacts on
labour relations can be felt in all regions of the world. This means that
globalisation does not exist outside time and space, and neither does it impend on
the political, economic and institutional powers that govern the world system – on
the contrary, it is the States, mainly the most powerful States among the core
countries, which are promoting global neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism is, to a large
degree, based on the technological potential of developed countries. For this
reason, the global effects of these processes should be understood in a
polymorphic sense, given that the multiple interactions and impacts they give rise
to acquire highly diverse specificities and configurations, according to different
regional, spatial and social contexts – in other words, “globalisation” processes
bring in their wake new forms of “localisation” (Boyer and Hollingsworth, 1997;
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Santos, 1995 and 2000).
Any consideration of the Portuguese case should, therefore, take into account
the fact that it is a society of intermediate development, and that only over the past
two decades has Portugal begun to implement socio-economic modernisation
policies within the framework of its democratic consolidation process. In view of the
growing influence of the abovementioned global processes, and their impacts on
national societies in all domains of social and economic life, it is worthwhile
mentioning some aspects of the discussion underway on industrial regulation
regimes. The importance for Portugal of the development models that served as a
basis for the core countries – particularly in the European setting – and the failure
of some of those models, can only be understood in the light of the historic events
and rapid social transformation processes that have taken place in our country
since the 1970s. Two events were key turning points for Portuguese society and
were to be decisive milestones in the country’s modernisation efforts: the 25 April
1974 revolution that heralded deep socio-political transformations and Portugal’s
membership of the European Community in 1986.
2.2 – New and old productive models
In recent years, several authors have discussed whether the failure of the
Fordist model and its inability to respond to the new demands of global markets will
give rise to a new and better model, or whether the response to new demands
might more effectively be provided by a combination of various models. The
emergence of flexible modes of production is based on both productive
organisation and consumer markets, and it is a response to the decline of the old
logic of mass production for stable markets. However, it is not a case of a shift
from an industry focused economy to a services focused economy, but rather the
case of the end of Fordism in a post-industrial economy context, in which industry
and services are converging more and more towards a complex productive system,
intensive in human resources, geared to flexibility and quality. The Fordist model
continues to have an important space in certain activity sectors, regions and
countries, which stick to its principles because product diversification is
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accompanied by large-scale standardisation of processes, sub-groups and/or
components (Kovács & Castillo, 1998).
For analysts like Kovács and Castillo, who subscribe to increasing
implantation of lean production in more advanced economies, this model should be
compared with what they call the anthropocentric model, so that the pros and cons
of each may be assessed. The former maintains some of the traditional forms of
production inherited from Taylorism, but incorporates more emphasis on aspects
such as: stock and staff reduction, greater mobility and organisational flexibility,
product quality, team work, multi-skilling, employee participation, management
through organizational culture, etc. However, it is still marred by the inherent
defects of a kind of interiorised Taylorism, which contributes to degradation of
working conditions and marginalisation of the less skilled, in a Japanisation logic
that is unlikely to succeed in western societies. The anthropocentric model
emphasises technology tailored to suit internal skills, and seeks flexibility through a
qualified, multi-skilled, participative workforce, that is capable of maximising the
advantages of new technological equipment. The underlying idea is that the new
resources made available by the information society should be complemented by
human capacities, such as autonomy, creativity, participation and cooperation, and
that competitive performance should go hand in hand with good quality of life.
Uptake of this model in Europe, however, is slow, and faces barriers such as
the focus on the technological component in research, the persistence of Taylorist
principles and mass production, the lack of organisational dynamics and dialogue
mechanisms in labour relations. Kovács and Castillo put forward possible
alternative future scenarios: 1) a dualist neo-Taylorism based on unrestricted
development of neo-liberalism, which would tend to entrench social and labour
inequalities further, to a backdrop of deregulation, weakened trade unions and
precarious employment for the less skilled; 2) a moderate neo-Taylorism, with
mitigation of some of Taylorism’s negative consequences by the effects of State
redistribution actions, informal negotiation, vocational training and the
strengthening of some sectors of the workforce, whose bargaining power would
increase; 3) a hyper-competitive lean production scenario, with increased
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economic rationality, subordination of trade unions, and individual bargaining and
participation at enterprise level, which is detrimental to collective bargaining,
marginalizes the most vulnerable of the workforce, co-opts the more highly skilled
workers, and thus exacerbates inequalities and unemployment; and finally, 4), an
anthropocentric model, only to emerge in the medium to long term as a result of
the social consequences (the intensification of social conflicts) caused by the
tendencies that are, apparently, on their way. It should be directed towards
reconciliation of social with economic objectives, encompass fuller democratisation
of social life and humanisation of work, and adapt technological innovation so that
it is in keeping with social, ecological and organisational objectives, on a basis of
participation and bargaining strategies by employers and unions (Kovács &
Castillo, 1998).
Reference to these scenarios serves to position our reflection between the
economic and social domains. Apart from their economic objectives, business
activity and innovative capacity have a major impact on organisational and socio-
cultural spheres. At the same time, in spite of growing transnationalisation of
business activity, national societies still play an important part in terms of
productive conditions and conquest of markets, even for internationalised
enterprises. As most studies have found, it would be wrong to conclude that the
most competitive business and organisational strategies are simply a direct
consequence of technological change. While major social transformations are
being highly intensified by the rapid spread of new information technologies (NIT),
it may be said that organisational innovation occurs independently of technological
innovation (Castells, 2000).
3 – Technological progress in Portugal: achievements and barriers
The transformation process undergone by Portugal’s productive sector in
recent decades has been shaped by a series of factors – economic, political,
social, institutional, etc. – which, in turn, have been intertwined with internal and
external aspects. These include Portugal’s entry to the European Community, and
the subsequent array of initiatives designed to boost technological innovation in the
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business sector: scientific and technological research support programmes, and
the resulting increase in highly skilled human resources; education policies - their
achievements and failings -, and the difficulties encountered in articulating
structural investment in research and educational domains with business practices.
We refer to these aspects in particular because of their implications for the
productive sector and society at large.
In spite of the recognised difficulties Portugal still faces in this respect, at least
since the mid-1980s there have been solid indicators that the technological
development process – as far as availability of specialised technical services and
computerisation are concerned – is showing some signs of progress in certain
areas. For example, according to surveys carried out in 1988-1989, most
Portuguese businesses had, by that time, computerised their accounts
departments, around half had altered their personnel management methods and
10% of these were using specialised technical services (either in-house or
external), and had computerised their production management and process (Silva,
1990). This, however, is far from constituting significant progress in technological
innovation, especially in business.
3.1 – Organisational change and innovation in R&D
In the early 1980s, increasing attention was turned to policies regulating
scientific and technological activity, to improve its ties with industrial development
by securing closer international relations with the OECD and UNESCO (Moura &
Caraça, 1993). However, the conjunctural and, to an extent, defensive nature of
politics at that time, was reflected in, among other aspects, the markedly
lukewarmness of these initiatives. The consolidation of new business groups
alongside traditional but hardly internationalised industrial sectors did not result in
any significant progress in terms of efforts being made to overhaul the country’s
scientific and technological system. For example, with regard enterprise
innovation, studies have revealed that during the first half of the 1980s there was a
clear drop in R&D spending (Gago, 1990; Gonçalves & Caraça, 1986), although,
subsequently, spending rose significantly (Teixeira, 1996).
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As mentioned above, the new institutional conditions that came into being as
a result of Portugal’s entry to the European Community marked a turning point that
would lead to the application of new instruments designed to boost technological
development. Efforts to establish a scientific policy framework resulted in the
reinforcement of the role of the JNICT (Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e
Tecnológica), and, with the adoption of Law 91/88, new policy measures
supporting cooperation between scientific institutions and enterprises, both
nationally and internationally. This concern with technological innovation and
international openness was to find reflection in the Framework-Programmes, the
Science Programme and the STRIDE-Portugal Programme4, as well as in PEDIP I
and PEDIP II, co-funded by the ERDF and ESF (Tolda, 2000: 123). There was a
marked increase in infrastructures supporting scientific and technological activity
following the PEDIP programmes: after 1988, 46 new units (institutes, centres,
laboratories and/or technological schools) were opened, while before that date only
16 were in existence. This fact is a good illustration of the importance of state
policies that stimulate innovation, especially those that are more directly focused
on cooperation between research and productive activity. However, in spite of the
Portuguese state’s support to industrial innovation, we still find ourselves facing a
business landscape that, in the main, is weakly competitive when it comes to
technological innovation. When, as is the case, the improvement of competitive
conditions occurs precisely at the same time as the opening of borders and
coincides with more emphasis being placed on internationalisation, then the
sectors concerned become exposed and vulnerable to more aggressive
international competition. This gives rise to new difficulties and can even neutralise
the economic success of the initiatives.
During the latter half of the 1990s, R&D spending increased substantially – in
fact, it registered one of the largest increases in the OECD, especially in state
incentives –, nonetheless, spending is still low: in the 1995-1997 period, R&D
spending was in the region of 0,68% of GDP, which is 37% of the average for EU
countries and about 31% of the average among OECD countries (Godinho, 1999).
4
Science and Technology for Regional Innovation and Development in Europe.
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Portugal is one of the least innovative countries in terms of the processing industry,
while the chemical, paper and metal products industries are the most
representative industrial sectors in R&D spending, and employ the most qualified
human resources. In contrast, the traditional sectors such as textiles, clothing and
footwear, in spite of having also benefited substantially from the incentives
available under the PEDIPs (I and II), still have much lower technological potential.
The impacts of the recent incentives policy have, however, contributed to reducing
the structural immobility and polarisation of traditional sectors in our industry.
(Salavisa, 2001).
In any case, the positive developments that have taken place during the past
few decades, particularly in relation to scientific research that, as we know, is a key
factor in innovative potentiality, are worth mentioning. The number of doctorates
awarded in Portugal each year is presently about ten times higher than in the early
1970s. Furthermore, nowadays, over 80% of these doctorates are granted by
national universities, while, before the 1980s, most doctorates were obtained from
institutions abroad. Nonetheless, according to a recent study by Mira Godinho
(1999), figures relating to the distribution of highly qualified human resources
(Masters and Doctors) reveal that their presence in private enterprise is almost
insignificant: of the total number of employees with higher level academic
qualifications in private enterprise, only 2.4% have doctorates, and 3.4% have
master degrees. The most qualified human resources working in R&D are to be
found, above all, in the higher education system and related institutions (non-profit
making research units): in 1997, 28,8% of them were working for the state, 47,9%
in higher education institutions, 11% in enterprise, and 12,3% in non-profit making
institutions (Godinho, 1999: 124). So, the positive signs of progress in this respect
relate to the enormous increase in doctorates and equivalents in the 1990s, the
substantial increase in people associated with R&D work (from just 4,000 in 1964
to over 18,000 in 1997), and a marked increase in Portuguese scientific production
referred to internationally. However, the human resources in question still tend to
be drawn to the academic domain, the increase in numbers of researchers has not
been balanced with increased numbers of technical and auxiliary research staff,
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and the human resources in R&D in enterprises are extremely few (Godinho, 1999:
130).
While it is true to say that the main change processes, in the technical and
organisational spheres, were closely associated with the institutional incentives
available, their success and real effects on business always depend on the social
resources and conditions that can be mobilised from within. In this respect, the new
entrepreneurial dynamic that began in the latter half of the 1980s, with the increase
in competition and expansion of markets, has brought about some changes in
terms of productivity and better product quality, and the consequences of this will
undoubtedly be felt in innovation and vocational training (Freire, 1998).
Nevertheless, if business mentality began, early on, to show signs of some
appetite for and confidence in competitive advantage based on technological
innovation, the same cannot be said for organisational change. This has to do with
a traditionalist approach that is still embedded in Portugal’s business fabric and
continues to be the main barrier to innovation and to its effective practical results.
As some studies have revealed, business mentality still has strong reservations
about the need for changes in organisational structure and labour systems.
“Receptiveness to social innovation is quite limited. Firms’ innovative activity is
based primarily on the acquisition of technical-scientific expertise from outside and
on the purchase of capital assets and intermediate assets from other firms. The
role of research and development (R&D) activities inside firms is very limited”
(Kovács, 1992: 288).
Until the early 1990s particularly, increases in Portuguese industrial output
were largely due to investment in new productive equipment, that is to say, efforts
to change and innovate were primarily motivated by the desire to cut production
costs by investing in machinery and material equipment. Furthermore, in spite of
Portugal’s economic recovery during the 1980s, labour rights inherited from the
latter half of the preceding decade basically remained in force, and this, combined
with the considerable negotiating capacity of important trade union sectors and a
certain awareness of employers’ impotence to challenge it, contributed to delaying
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technological innovation efforts in many firms and vital sectors of Portuguese
industry.
Studies carried out in the 1990s found that reliance on information
technologies was on the increase but, at the same time, they discovered that firms
were shying away from investing in immaterial elements, and that centralising
approaches and lack strategy in management were persisting (CISEP/GEPIE,
1992; Simões, 1996). The panorama in terms of technological innovation in
Portuguese enterprises may be summed up as follows: barriers to innovation have
less to do with resources’ capacity and are more a result of lack of strategy; the
attitudes of entrepreneurs and senior management are a key determinant for
innovation initiatives; the traditional model of centralised management constitutes
the biggest obstacle to innovation; the shortage of technicians and human
resources is cited by SMEs as a major stumbling block; technological change is
frequently regarded as exogenous to business activity; more open styles of
leadership that encourage team work are found in most innovative firms; there is
no obvious correlation between the size of an enterprise and its attitude towards
innovation; there is growing awareness of the need to use new technologies, in
terms of both design and production areas, as well as in communication networks
and database sharing; there is a link between the age (youthfulness) of a firm and
its receptiveness towards innovation (Simões, 1996).
3.2 – Knowledge, education and human resources
The situation described above illustrates that the necessary structural and
cultural conditions are not yet favourable enough for implementing flexible
organisational models, which can promote articulation between individual and
collective incentives, i.e. models that are geared to a balanced combination of the
technical and human factors. So, the signals are contradictory and reflect
tendencies towards both stagnation and renewal. The current wave of micro
enterprise creation (up to 10 employees), many of which are headed by young
entrepreneurs, and the increasing implementation of new programmes designed to
encourage modernisation – such as the POE (Programa Operacional da Economia
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/ Operational Economy Program), aimed to promote information technologies in the
so called traditional sectors, enhance forms of organisation and management, and
upgrade workforce skills, and the SIPIE – (Sistema de Pequenas Iniciativas
Empresariais / Small Business Initiatives System) –, are encouraging signs that
Portuguese enterprise could still manage to recover lost ground in technology
incorporation and innovation capability. A recent government backed scheme
specifically focusing innovation, Proinov (Programa Integrado de Apoio à Inovação
/ Innovation Support Programme) is endeavouring to reassess and give fresh
impetus to identifying the clusters proposed by Michael Porter in the 1980s, and to
develop new initiatives for each cluster, coordinating the involvement of the
different stakeholders: enterprises, technology centres, training centres,
polytechnics and R&D establishments. Although the “Porter Report” rightly
contained an important warning that, as Proinov Coordinator Maria João Rodrigues
acknowledged, has been heeded by the main economic agents, it failed to put
enough emphasis on the importance of new information technologies and their
potential impact on Portugal’s most vital economic sectors (car, footwear, knitted
garments, wood products, tourism and wine). Proinov’s Coordinator believes that it
is imperative now to establish a high degree of “articulation between public,
technology, enterprise support and R&D policies, promote partnerships in civil
society, and identify more rigorous criteria for awarding incentives” (Público,
11/05/01).
Statistics published in the UNDP’s latest Human Development Report (2001)
shed further light on the most recent evolutions concerning Portugal’s technological
potential. Figures (relating to 2000) for average years schooling among the
general population (over 15 years of age) rank Portugal, with 5,9, below countries
like Slovenia (7,1), Barbados (8,7), Czech Republic (9,5), Croatia (6,3), Uruguay
(7,6), and Chile (7,6), which are just a few of the countries with lower ranking than
Portugal in the UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDR/UNDP, 2001: 52).
According to the Report, Portugal ranks 28th in terms of Human Development and
27th on the new Technological Achievement Index5 contained in the report.
5
This index was based on criteria such as: number of patents per capita (newly created and royalties’
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Curiously, however, when it comes to some of the most important elements in the
building of global communication networks – and key factors in advancing
innovation –, such as telephones (fixed and mobile) and Internet, Portugal had
made remarkable progress. The number of fixed telephone subscribers rose
between 1990 and 1999 from 243 to 424 per 1,000 people. In the same period the
number of mobile telephone users rocketed from 1 to 468 per 1,000 people, while
Internet users went up from 1.3 to 17.7 per 1,000 people.
These general trends reflect a degree of structural change in the country and
reflect how the technological component is both a cause and effect of complex
patterns of social practices. If, as we stated at the beginning of this chapter,
technologies are not self-determining, but are result of multiple causalities –
institutional, socio-economic and cultural –, education is unquestionably a key
element in social development and technological innovation processes. It is
important to realise that, in spite of impressive developments in the Portuguese
education system in recent decades, the visible results of its progress are still
relatively few when brought to an international level. According to the OECD
(1998), Portugal still occupies penultimate place in terms of population percentage
with at least secondary education, i.e. just 20% of the population between 25 and
64 years have completed that level of education, which is close to one third of the
average (60%) for OECD countries. However, it should be remembered that
numbers in higher education in Portugal have risen sharply since the 1970s: in
1970-1971 higher education students numbered around 49,000, in 1980-1981 the
figure had risen to 84,000, in 1990-1991 it was 186,000, and in 1999-2000 it had
reached around 370,000. Nonetheless, the percentage of Portugal’s population
with higher education is still in the region of 8 to 9%, which is well below both the
European and OECD averages (15%). Only 26% of all higher education students
graduate in exact sciences and technologies (Natural Sciences, Mathematics and
income); spread of old (telephone and electricity), and recent (internet) innovation; export of medium and
high technology products, and human resources qualifications (years of schooling and sciences and
technology graduates) (cf. HDR – Human Development Report / UNDP – United Nations Development
Program, 2001: 46).
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Computing, Engineering, Medical Sciences and Architecture), which puts Portugal
in last place and well behind other European Union countries6 (Barreto, 2000: 46).
3.3 – Endogenisation and spatial context
Clearly, policies designed to stimulate enterprise innovation and R&D activity
or education policies cannot, alone, resolve existing deficiencies, especially at
enterprise level, but they can make a decisive impact on the potential for scientific
innovation, and galvanise mechanisms that will narrow the present divide and bring
scientific research and the productive sector into closer contact. It should be
stressed, therefore, that, more than the existence of coherent state policies and
incentives, it is endogenous factors that can most decisively promote technological
innovation based and framed by orientations and change strategies adjusted to suit
the country’s own specificities and needs.
Improving the potential and resources structurally linked to business activity in
different productive sectors cannot, therefore, be separated from the capabilities
generated within enterprises or the technical-cultural conditioning factors of the
environments and spaces in which they operate. Indeed, even in a context of
increasing globalisation of markets and competitiveness, local productive systems
and the range of synergies they generate are key elements in that respect. This
means that innovative capacities, even where international competitiveness is
concerned, essentially depend on sectoral and local dynamics, and these remain
spatially linked to regions, cultures and networks (formal and informal) endowed
with different conditions to “promote endogenous innovation dynamics and,
therefore, to become centres for bringing about socio-economic changes” (Reis et
al, 1999: 127). Local cooperation networks have already proved that they can be
factors in advancing technology, even during the Fordist model era, even though,
in these cases, generally supported by a high degree of specialisation, crisis
situations increased (Heidenreich & Krauss, 1998). In fact, it is above all in the
contexts and regions, where the diversity of local, formal and implicit expertise and
6
Figures for other EU countries are: Denmark, 37%; Germany 48%; Spain, 32%; France, 37%, Ireland, 39%;
Italy, 33%; Holland, 31%; Austria, 33%; Finland, 60%; Sweden, 47%; UK, 36% (Barreto, 2000: 46).
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17. Elísio Estanque
skills combines with efforts to open up to the outside and turn towards global
markets, that the highest levels of effectiveness in responding to crisis situations
has been found (Cooke, 1998). Clearly, the wealth of knowledge, skills and
resources acquired by a given sector or located in a particular region, albeit
accumulated in an already outdated framework of regulation models, is still
potentially decisive in the face of new challenges, as long as it can be capitalised
on and reapplied in the emerging conditions. This endogenisation and
incorporation of new skills, in the sense of applying them in today’s global markets
and networks, has hardly achieved any substantial results in Portugal.
Relevant to this approach is the notion of “industrial district”, that is,
territorially structured concentrations of mainly small firms, which have developed
complex networks of mutual trust and cooperation on a basis of interdependent
systems, in which the regional division of labour configures particular conditions
that can improve competitiveness in a sustained way. In these contexts, which are
well identified in Italy (Becattini, 1994), a prominent role is played by the collective,
skilled and well-paid worker, who is, at the same time, involved in business
management strategies and policies, and is a key factor in the process of
maximising performance and innovative potentialities. Such examples also
illustrate how technical innovation and the social dimension are, or should be,
inseparable components. In an atmosphere of stability, in which social dialogue is
fostered, and economic, social and political institutions work together to devise
innovation strategies, the ideal conditions for boosting technological innovation
may be found (Castillo, 1998; Kovács & Castillo, 1998).
4 – Social transformation, technological innovation and organisational
change
At this point, we shall consider the impacts of new technologies in terms of
macro-structural change trends, on one hand, and organisational and labour
dynamics at micro level, on the other. Firstly, it should be underlined that the
productive industries sector and labour market in general continue to be the
fundamental basis from which the main currents of socio-economic transformation
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18. Elísio Estanque
of today’s societies flow. As we saw in the previous point, creativity, technical
capacity and scientific productivity are worth little if they do not find reflection in the
labour system and while they continue to be divorced from business activity.
Technological evolution and social transformation have always been closely linked,
mainly because new skills generated by society aim to achieve new objectives and
satisfy new demands, whether these are institutional or political, material or
symbolic, individual or collective. Their purpose is a practical application that fulfils
society’s expectations, and, at the same time, generates transforming effects on
people’s lives, and causes changes, to a greater or lesser degree, at macro-social
level. The relationship between technological development and its impacts on
labour relations, however, has always been contradictory. Ever since the Industrial
Revolution, the economic sphere and production relations have been modern
societies’ main infrastructure. Since the productive sphere is such a key dimension
in the structuration of our societies’ social divisions and classes, the introduction of
new technologies has always been a contentious issue in social relations at work,
a world itself already marked by constant conflict. What are the most important
changes we ought to consider in that respect in order to understand social
transformation? Which new trends should be identified in order to understand the
changes occurring on the threshold of the new millennium?
4.1 – Technological innovation and structural change
During the latter half of the last century in particular, the social impacts of
technology were studied, in the context of the new political and institutional
conditions of the post-war period, as the central element in the recomposition of
the workforce and social classes in general. Ralf Dharendorf (1982) considered
technological innovation and the professionalisation of business management
structures as being responsible for the major transformations of industrial societies.
Different authors based their analyses of the growth of the middle classes and the
social mobility phenomenon on similar assumptions (Lockwood, 1966; Goldthorpe,
1969; Giddens, 1975).
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19. Elísio Estanque
The reason it is worth referring to such structural phenomena is not just
because crucial periods of change, caused in the main by the introduction of new
technologies in the business sector, need to be identified, but also because
although many of these processes have been occurring in industrial societies for
decades, their repercussions on Portuguese society have only very recently begun
to be felt, given our country’s relative economic and technological backwardness.
The main social effects caused by such processes may be summarised as
follows: 1) new divisions among salaried employees – between manual and non-
manual workers, between technocrats and bureaucrats – that are a result of
mechanisation and professionalisation of management, have led to major changes
in the productive structure; 2) market and individual competitiveness to achieve
more rewarding positions has encouraged individualism among skilled sectors of
the workforce, and fostered the emergence of a “new middle class” of salaried
employees, tending to be identified with liberal ideology and the principle of
meritocracy; 3) growing internal differentiation among these intermediate segments
of the working class gave rise to further tensions and divisions, reflecting side-
effects of the overall labour market restructuring process: as new occupations
emerged, categories in decline created new self-defence logics, while new
qualified categories generated new social climbing opportunities; 4) growing
individualism in certain sectors was accompanied by more active trade unionism in
other sectors of the middle class, revealing that mobility phenomena themselves
also cause social conflict; 5) in spite of these incongruities, the integrating
consequences of increasing social mobility, allied with the new social policies of
the Welfare State, led some authors to identify these intermediate levels of the
working class as a new service class7; 6) new patterns of class formation and new
post-Fordist and post-industrial type polarisation, namely the appearance of new
7
The concept of the service class was formulated as follows: “Employees render service to their employing
organization in return for ‘compensation’, which takes the form not only of reward for work done, through a
salary and various perquisites, but also comprises important prospective elements – for example, salary
increments on an established scale, assurances of security both in employment and, through pensions rights,
after retirement, and, above all, well-defined career opportunities” (Erikson e Goldthorpe, 1992: 41-42).
According to the same authors, in spite of the constant growth of new sectors of professional workers and
qualified salaried employees, the general trends point to an increase in heterogeneity in these sectors, while in
the upper levels of the non-propertied middle class homogeneity in the last decade seems to be growing
(Goldthorpe, 1995).
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20. Elísio Estanque
proletarian segments in the service sector; 7) the emergence of new forms of class
struggle and new social movements that distanced themselves from both Marxism
and pure individualism, giving rise to a new middle class radicalism (Parkin, 1978;
Eder, 1993; Erikson & Goldthorpe, 1992; Esping-Anderson, 1993).
4.2 –Labour market and recomposition of the class structure in Portugal
A study that we undertook recently on social classes in Portuguese society
(Estanque, 1997; Estanque & Mendes, 1998), systematically revealed how some
of the tendencies we referred to above are configured in our country. The data
collected provide us with a better understanding of the workforce’s composition,
skills and employment conditions, its influence in decision-making, its authority,
and its educational qualifications. It provides important insight into the extent to
which technology has been incorporated in enterprise, and into differences
between the public and private sectors’ absorption of workforce categories. The
comparison of the study’s results with figures for other countries (US, Sweden and
Spain) revealed that Portugal has the highest class location percentage – 46.5% –
of what we term “proletarians” (workers with no significant qualifications, and no
authority or autonomy at work). This high figure is not just due to the unskilled,
declining industrial workforce, but also to a labour market that is structuring various
sectors of precarious, low skilled employment in both industry and services.
However, for the purposes of this text, the most important findings relate to the
distribution of the different middle class categories, i.e., the arrangement of
different skills levels and degrees of authority on the employment market. In
comparison with our Spanish neighbours, apart from the similarity in the
prominence of a traditional petit bourgeoisie, the percentage of skilled workers in
Spain is substantially higher than in Portugal (18.5 and 5.8% respectively), a
reflection of the fact that Spain is more capital intensive and its enterprises are
more technologically advanced. In other words, given that it is usually large
enterprises that invest more heavily in modern technology, and that more of the
Spanish workforce has been absorbed by big firms, the results for Spain show
larger numbers of higher skilled and better qualified workers.
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21. Elísio Estanque
The fragility and small scale of Portugal’s business fabric is also reflected in
the results of the study: over 60% of the workforce is employed in firms of less than
50 salaried employees, while the higher skilled categories are mostly to be found
working in the public sector. Unsurprisingly, Portugal’s middle class locations are,
on the whole, less significant than in other core countries (US and Sweden), and
clearly inferior to Spain’s.
There is, however, an interesting distinction that should be clarified. We are
referring to distinctions between positions that have both authority and educational
resources (categories referred to as skilled or semi-skilled “managers” or
“supervisors”) and those for which hierarchical authority is not based on significant
academic qualifications (non-skilled “managers” or “supervisors”). With regards the
former, the Portuguese class structure appears to be considerably lacking in these
positions in comparison with developed countries, while with regard to the latter,
Portugal’s percentage is higher than that found in the other countries. Clear signs
also emerged of growth in some of the more skilled positions (from categories with
more authority to those that, although better qualified, do not yet have any
authority), which are being absorbed into the labour market and now to be found in
a reasonable number of medium and even small enterprises. Underlying this
scenario, there is, on one hand, the effects of rapid growth in the number of
graduates in Portugal, and some modernisation in certain labour market sectors,
which are starting to absorb those graduates, and on the other hand, the
persistence of structural weaknesses in our productive fabric. The fact that
traditional industries are relatively sizeable and composed mainly of small firms
means that there are large sectors that recoil from incorporating skilled labour. At
the same time, new and better skilled generations entering the labour market
appear, on the whole, not to be involved in firms’ decision-making processes. This
suggests that, when reinforcing staff, many firms now using modern technologies
tend to give preference to those with long experience and loyalty to the established
hierarchies rather than promote their more qualified employees. This is clearly a
problem in enterprises, and it tends to pervade the dynamic of organisations
generally. In fact, societies and enterprises are permanently faced with this
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22. Elísio Estanque
predicament, which could be regarded as a corollary of the dilemma between
promotion of meritocracy and perpetuation of existing power structures. New
technologies, and competitiveness imperatives that technologies seek to address,
compound the complexity of the situation for both the social level and the
organisational domain.
4.3 – Between macro and micro
Even though the issues referred to above are more directly connected with
Portuguese society’s macro-structural level, our intent is not to focus on society as
a whole and subordinate the micro or organisation level approach. Much less is it
our intention to consider the two levels of analysis separately. Structure, according
to Giddens, can be regarded as a “virtual order” that establishes the conditions for
the “structuration” of social life, both individual and collective (Giddens, 1989). The
effects of structure’s capacity on the microworld and on individual life entail the
creation of profound “illusions”, which become “real” for all intents. If this distinction
is maintained, it only makes sense if we position ourselves at a point where these
two levels cut across each other to reach a multifaceted and complex knowledge of
the wider social world. (Fine, 1991).
It is important, therefore, not to forget that society’s structural configurations,
while conditioning individual and organisational life, constantly undergo the
moulding pressure that individuals, organisations, associations, state institutions,
etc. – in short, the social actors – bring to bear in real life. It is true that the
structuring effects of these actions can mobilise multiple resources and lead to very
varied consequences for organisations and society generally. For example,
technological development policies and organisational change and transformation
initiatives are part of the social structuration processes, and distinction can even be
made between immediate structuration logics, when a new technological system is
introduced in a given sector or firm, and mediate structuration logics, when the
effects of economic, education or scientific policies start to make an impact on the
recomposition of the productive fabric or the class structure of a given society
(Giddens, 1989).
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23. Elísio Estanque
It is important to bear in mind that the organisational level of the analysis
cannot be approached separately from the social and systemic structures of which
firms and organisations are part. The tree must be seen in the context of the forest
that conditions its development, but it is important that the view of the forest does
not prevent us from seeing each tree in detail.
4.4 – Organisational culture and fragmentation of labour
For decades organisational theories prioritised microanalysis and, voluntarily
or not, followed a functionalist conception that tended to regard the organisation’s
social world either as merely the result of external impacts or as systems with their
own coherence but detached from the wider social world. Meanwhile, and
especially since the advent of the Welfare State, in a context of growing
tertiarisation of economies and institutionalisation of trade unionism, bureaucratic
systems expanded and labour markets stabilised, supported by more effective
welfare policies and better security guarantees in employment. While markets and
international competition continued to function on the basis of traditional customs
constraints, with relatively closed borders, and domestic markets regulated by
stability, particularly in the framework of a global balance marked by the “cold war”,
functional and rationalist management tendencies continued to hold sway in major
industries. In this setting, technological development was, for a long time, marked
by the Taylorist model, which led to the growth of mechanised systems that were
lacking in organisational flexibility.
However, following the economic crisis of the 1970s and, above all, when
confronted by the aggressive competition of Asian economies in the 1980s,
enterprises in the West, particularly leading US corporations, began revamping
their management strategies and promoting organisational cultures geared towards
flexibilisation and more efficient utilisation of human resources. From the late
1980s onwards, the situation changed dramatically, especially in the wake of the
collapse of the Soviet bloc, and in view of the complete liberalisation of world trade.
There was a change of scale in the economic world. We entered global markets
era. In this whole process, technological innovation played a decisive role and it
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24. Elísio Estanque
was mainly the technologically advanced enterprises that became the drivers
behind more participative and informal business cultures, and, borrowing from the
Japanese example, promoted a new sense of ethics among employees, new
rituals, symbols and heroes, which tended to strengthen identification with the
“company spirit” and, thus, enhanced competitive performance. However, while the
model made a considerable impact in the US, the outcome in Europe was different
due to the influence of trade unionism and more structured resistance cultures.
In recent years, the impacts of technological development on Portugal’s
productive industries sector have been meeting with resistance from a
conservative business mentality, that pays all too much heed to status and power
hierarchies – attitudes that are still very much entrenched in our society (and to
which we shall refer further on). The changes being introduced are, on the whole,
barely perceptible in the large organisations. In bigger enterprises, flexible
management policies are only found, by and large, at senior executive and high
grade professional level. Nonetheless, the employment market is absorbing new
educational skills: the quota of employment with middle-level qualifications, for
example, grew between 1985 and 1997 from 10.7% to 14.6%, while the quota with
higher levels (degrees and baccalaureates) rose from 3% to 6.1% (Figueiredo,
1999: 73).
The impacts of increasing flexibilisation and recomposition in the productive
sector have led to new segmentations in which clear differences are appearing in
the enterprise geometry, but where there is still considerable difficulty in renewal.
Sometimes, familiarisation with new technologies fosters insecurity and creates
new divisions among the workforce. For example, when vocational training
programmes involve the use of computers, people with poor educational
backgrounds and older trainees sometimes more difficulties. Foremost competitive
capacity is, on the whole, still to be found among the traditional sectors that chiefly
stick to largely labour intensive, low wage cost Taylorist organisational models. It
was in these sectors primarily that employment grew most, but their innovative
effort in terms of technologies has been negligible, and innovation that was
introduced was mainly incremental.
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25. Elísio Estanque
Considering that generational renewal and the impact of younger, better
qualified resources entering the labour market is proceeding at a very slow pace, it
is understandable that within organisations there are contradictory logics, which
lead to incongruous approaches that often cancel each other out, and foster
stagnation and routine in organisations. Although new technological means and
computerised systems are gradually changing this state of affairs, alterations are
taking place in a context of growing fragmentation of production processes, giving
rise to a perverse conjugation of different forms of employment relationship, where
precarious employment and fixed-term contracts abound, in addition to outsourcing
and various types of subcontraction and fragmentation of firms.
So, problems of business mentality and organisational culture have to be
regarded in the light of wider labour and social transformations that, since the
1970s, have been occurring in Portuguese society, which, in barely two decades,
has undergone multiple change processes that have heightened contrasts in all
aspects of its social and economic life. Divisions deepened between the coastal
and interior regions, between rural and urban areas, between different productive
industries, between generations, between agriculture and industry, between social
sectors in decline and new emerging sectors. The traditionalist logics of a semi-
rural society have clashed with new consumer habits and modern life styles. The
industrial plott of some of the most important sectors of the Portuguese economy is
dispersed in highly rural areas, where a range of economic activities and solidarity
networks – the so-called “welfare society” – sometimes function to complement
workers’ incomes. On the other hand, the rapid growth of the public and state
enterprise sector, whose expansion occurred in at a time of considerable trade
union sway and activity, had, in our view, very important consequences in that it
led to unanimist cultures and resistance to change among vast sectors of the
workforce, especially in traditional industry and the public administration. The
establishment of intensely bureaucratic systems or even the expansion of
corporativist-type cultures generally constitutes powerful forces that can tend to
resist or thwart efforts to innovate and modernise firms and institutions.
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26. Elísio Estanque
4.5 – New skills and new organisational models
How can these tendencies be framed in a setting in which the knowledge
economy and ITs play an increasingly decisive role? In addition to the differences
between various sectors and labour segments, it seems clear that the growing
(albeit as yet insubstantial) presence of advanced technologies leads to new
patterns of opportunities and careers for the more qualified professionals, while, at
the same time, segregates groups that are harder to recycle because of new
training requirements. Just as has occurred internationally, Portugal has also
witnessed new segmentation tendencies among large companies and small firms
(Andrieu, 1999, Wareham, 1999). There is a growing bipolarisation of, on one
hand, the typical leadership logics of large economic groups, in which there are
mergers and strategic alliances functioning on the basis of vertical integration
processes, against, on the other, the innumerable small firms emerging, which
have been stimulated by the lack of need for personnel and cumbersome
bureaucratic structures, and by the availability and usability of new technologies
(Almeida, 2000: 13).
Portugal’s inadequacies in terms of innovation knowledge calls for greater
investment in creating flexible structures and cooperation strategies on the basis of
networks for disseminating and absorbing that knowledge, supported by incentives
for investment in innovation and in people. Better utilisation of skills requires
environments that foster interaction between the internal and external environment
that galvanises mutually beneficial learning processes. Competitiveness and
innovation initiatives will have to address improved articulation between the
education system, skills learned in employment, vocational training and career
progression policies, and greater flexibility, rotation and participation to maximise
the knowledge resources potential that is so often underutilised. This means that
boosting innovation necessitates creating conditions for wider participation and
involvement by collaborators, and this is particularly viable in some SMEs, where
qualified human resources and new technologies predominate. Attitudes that are
more open to innovation tend to be those that attach more importance to
immaterial rather than material factors, i.e. a focus on areas such as vocational
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27. Elísio Estanque
training, organisational development, information systems, cooperation, design and
R&D activities is more compatible with the creation of new assets and distinctive
skills (Moreno & Nunes, 2000: 48- 49).
It may be said, therefore, that the potentialities in the organisational sphere
are confronted with the contradictions to which we have referred above. Given the
recognised difficulties of applying in Portugal (and in European societies generally)
models inspired in neo-corporativist cultures, like those that dominate in large US
and Japanese multinationals (Peters & Waterman, 1987; Reto & Lopes, 1989), the
implementation of organisational strategies that are able to address new
competitive and technological need to be adapted to suit not only sectoral
specificities and particular endogenisation potentialities, but also the more general
characteristics of Portugal’s productive fabric.
In short, the different sectors of our economic activity reflect a wide variety of
organisational orientations and cultures: in the more traditional industrial sectors,
there are 1) small firms, with simple management structures, characterised by
paternalism and by short-term objectives, 2) medium enterprises, where
authoritarian and centralist styles persist, and the overriding motivation is to make
easy profit, 3) predominantly bureaucratic-mechanisist systems or divisionalised
structures, in large tertiary sector enterprises and public administration, and 4) in
the most competitive and innovative enterprises, a logic of initiative based on
individual incentives persists, which is complemented by recourse to semi-
autonomous teams of specialised professionals like, sometimes, to external
consultancy, and a technocentric culture tends to prevail (Mintzberg, 1995).
The effects of increasing market competitiveness and institutional initiatives
have, as we have said, generated quite considerable changes in various
segments, but future challenges and falls in economic growth expose abundant
shortcomings. It is, therefore, imperative that new ways of dealing with the existing
problems are found. Some solutions proposed cover aspects such as: 1) the
restructuring of scientific activity and creation of mechanisms that will ensure that
the knowledge created in universities is disseminated in society and enterprise,
i.e., greater institutional efficiency and greater interconnection between knowledge
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28. Elísio Estanque
producing centres and organisational and social reality, which could take the form
of 2) organising intensive, short courses at universities that would provide an
alternative to young people with secondary education, and be geared to
specialisation in different occupational areas; or, 3) organisation of post-graduate
specialised or transdisciplinary courses, devised in conjunction with industrial
associations and other economic agents; 4) greater incentives to associativism
supported by locally based networking, which interconnect education system
resources and existing social capital, are oriented by entrepreneurship, and involve
different social actors and promote cooperation between the social economy, the
third sector and business initiative; 5) new and more consistent business networks
and strategies geared to innovation, in an institutional frame of reference that is
better suited to an economy in transition, like Portugal’s, in order to combat the
pessimism that is entrenched in the business sector; 6) creation of alternative
forms of financing innovation, by promoting compensation supported by existing
resources and expertise, so as to increase new forms of cooperation among
traditional firms and new technology based enterprises, creating multipolar
interdisciplinary networks; 7) greater efforts in vocational training, in liaison with
educational establishments and the different social actors and development
agents, so as to not only implant new skills and qualifications, but to rearticulate old
skills and qualifications acquired through practical experience with new
technologies and scientific know-how (cf. Boyer, et. al., 2000; Lopes, 2001; Kovács
& Castillo, 1998; Conceição & Heitor, 2001; Tavares, 2000).
4.6 – Power structures and participation
The introduction of new technologies and gradual absorption of larger
numbers of skilled professionals tends to encourage more efficient communication
systems and greater flexibilisation of personnel management methods. It is then
that profound organisational restructuring processes generally meet with resistance
rooted in inertia and embedded power logics. In Portugal, power structures have
certain specificities in social and organisational life, both in their material results
and the symbolic effects they generate.
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29. Elísio Estanque
There is a very deeply rooted tendency in Portugal to sanctify power – in its
institutional and political forms, as well as at socio-cultural levels. A certain
symbolism is generally attached to people in positions of authority that unleashes
complex webs of representations, behaviours and alliance games. The power
distance inscribed in the mental programme of the Portuguese (referred to by
Hofstede, 1980) reflects the high tolerance on the part of subordinates to the
exercise of authority by their hierarchical superiors. Now this, combined with the
low levels of individuality – and, therefore, initiative in the dispute for influence in
decision-making – and strong personal loyalties, characteristic of a society of
intermediate development, cultivates atmospheres that facilitate abuses of
authority. On one hand, those in prominent positions and leadership roles,
generally expect and demand limitless dedication from their subordinates and, on
the other, subordinates themselves generally contribute – willingly or even
fawningly –, to augmenting their superiors’ power resources.
These characteristics also reflect the profound inequalities and divisions
prevalent in Portuguese social culture, not just in the socio-economic sphere and
cultural and educational resources, but also in terms of subjective attitudes and
class cultures that are marked by resentment, which are aspects that are at the
root of mistrust, often with manichaistic undertones, which lead to rejection of
change and innovation projects (Assunção & Bilhim, 1998)8. When confronted with
recent labour market restructuring processes, and risks and threats, such as
unemployment, are in the air, then it is easy to foresee negative consequences and
pessimist attitudes towards innovation programmes. Moreover, when, as generally
happens, such innovation and organisational change programmes are not
accompanied by internal negotiations involving the workforce, that distrust and
resistance can take even more serious forms. The recent phenomena of
psychological violence or moral harassment (Hirrigoyen, 1999), with its
pathological consequences, is just one form that growing pressure for individual
8
Resistance from less skilled segments identified by these analysts in a case study focusing the
communications sector.
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30. Elísio Estanque
competitiveness can take, and has occurred among poorly skilled workers as well
as highly qualified professionals.
An important area to be mentioned has to do with the question of social
partners’ and workers’ participation in the organisational change and technological
innovation processes. We have already referred to the idea, emphasised in
various studies, that innovation strategies are more suited to flexible and
participative management models. We also mentioned the influence of trade union
intervention in inhibiting innovation. Indeed, for a very long time Portuguese trade
unions clung on to strategies of resistance and defence of privileges gained by
workers following 25 April 1974. Until the 1990s, the main industry trade unions –
especially those affiliated to the CGTP – doggedly refused to accept restructuring
programmes and focused their efforts mainly on defending jobs and acquired
rights.
In many processes involving company restructuring, bankruptcy and
fragmentation, trade unions have been overtaken by circumstances and lost their
protagonism, both in the negotiating processes and in terms of their own
membership. Besides, as we know, involvement of workers and their
representatives in restructuring programmes has not been given enough attention
from the agents of change. What existing studies reveal is that, in most cases,
enterprise modernisation processes are carried out without the involvement of the
people, or, when they are involved, it happens “just at the implementation stages
and in less developed forms (information and consultation) (...), there is no
involvement whatsoever of those affected by the change in the planning stage”
(Kovács & Castillo, 1998: 127-128). The outcome of this type of procedure is that,
in many instances, those who are potentially major driving forces behind
organisational change simply abide by decisions taken by others and become
disgruntled workers because they have been made to feel inferior and/or
marginalised. They are unlikely, therefore, to mobilise in support of a company
project that has not involved them. A parcipative culture naturally works better with
higher skilled sectors that incorporate more knowledge, more social capital and are
better rewarded at work. Thus, technological innovation can contribute to greater
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31. Elísio Estanque
participation since it tends to favour workforce renewal and, on the other hand, if it
is accompanied by increasing endogenisation of human resources and knowledge
by enterprises, it will necessarily lead to more open and flexible management
models.
However, the effects of neo-liberal globalisation, with growing fragmentation
of labour and more precarious industrial relations, have become factors that put
trade union structures under enormous pressure and that generally prevent any
kind of organised intervention by workers in decision-making processes. As a
result, we have witnessed trade union activity (and that of enterprise-level Workers’
Committees) progressively weaken. This has led trade union leaderships to turn
their sights towards seeking new responses and rethinking forms of union
intervention and participation. Trade unions’ range of concerns has widened to
encompass transnational issues and to embrace more diverse social and
economic problems, including areas that are not directly employment-related. For
that reason trade unionism will, unquestionably, have to play a decisive role in
technological innovation, economic development and modernisation policies. As a
matter of fact, there are already clear signs of progress being made in that
direction (Hyman, 1997; Costa, 2000; Ferreira, 1996; Silva, 2000; Estanque, 2001).
It is our view, therefore, that the proposals and programmes devoted to
spreading anthropocentric production systems (to which we referred at the start of
this chapter) seem particularly appropriate to the pursuit of innovation strategies
negotiated with the social partners. Although experiments carried out in some
European countries have so far produced few palpable results, and institutional
support for their continuation has dwindled (Kovács & Castillo, 1998), their viability
in Portugal should not be dismissed. To be successful in our country, such
strategies would have to take the form of social dialogue policies that ensure
effective interconnection between macro-concertation/ dialogue, collective
bargaining and enterprise-level negotiation. Even though, so far, there have only
been attempts – not always successful and with scant results – to transpose
negotiation of concertation agreements (and collective bargaining) to enterprise
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32. Elísio Estanque
level (Ferreira, 2001), technological innovation policies will, necessarily, mean a
more active trade union role in enterprise restructuring processes.
Furthermore, in view of Portugal’s low pay levels and the poor educational
resources of most of its workforce, it is just unrealistic to devise productivity
boosting schemes and to expect workers to become more motivated and identified
with a “company culture”. This reinforces the argument that for the social
dimension to adjust to successful technological innovation programmes it means
first implementing a whole range of procedures and policies, in which the
participation, negotiation and involvement of all the social actors involved in the
organisational life, are vital components.
5 – Conclusion
Before outlining the type of organisational model that we believe to be most
suitable for our enterprises, it is worth pointing out a few more signs of Portuguese
workers’ and consumers’ openness towards new technologies. In a survey
undertaken in 1997, involving Portugal and various other European countries
(Cabral et al., 2000), our country revealed very similar attitudes to those in others
in terms of views on the effects of new technologies on employment and working
conditions. Of those interviewed in Portugal, 83% were concerned about job
shedding (as compared to 80% in Spain, 77% in Sweden, 87% in Germany, and
74% in Hungary). In response to questions about the effects of new technologies
on job content/interest, 71% of the Portuguese thought that new technology would
make jobs somewhat or quite a lot more interesting – a much higher percentage
than found in the other countries studied (Spain, 35%; Sweden, 52%; Germany,
55%; and Hungary, 54%). The same survey also revealed that farm workers and
assembly workers were the occupational categories that regarded the impacts of
new technologies on jobs most negatively, while students and scientific and
technical professionals were those who most minimised negative impacts on jobs.
Administrative workers were those who most thought that new technologies would
have positive impacts on occupational tasks. Amid the pessimism with regards
employment and a clear optimism about greater job satisfaction, the Portuguese on
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33. Elísio Estanque
the whole revealed a relatively open attitude towards the impact of new
technologies on working conditions (Cabral, et al., 2000: 33-34).
While this is an important aspect that reflects Portuguese feelings about
technology in relation to employment, the ease with which the individual consumer
in Portugal has adapted and taken to new technologies is well known. Intense
interest in NITs, massive receptiveness to mobiles phones, increasing use of the
Internet and digital appliances (TVs, cameras, video cameras, etc.) and clearly
receptive attitudes towards new and ever-increasing computer artefacts and
means – from software to hardware – reveal a level of enthusiasm for new
technologies that would suggest in a fairly technologically advanced country,
although, in that respect, Portugal is still lags behind her European partners9.
In short, workers and society as a whole do appear relatively willing to
integrate more daring technological innovation projects. However, for such projects
to be successfully implemented, careful attention must be given to all the tensions
and divisions that pervade society and that are reflected in our firms and
organisations. In addition to the crucially important mechanisms for social dialogue
and concertation already in place – that, obviously, make even more sense in the
framework of the European social model –, even from the organisational
standpoint, the most suitable models for the Portuguese reality cannot, for the
reasons given above, be based on pure individualist logic or on a uniformising
new-corporativism, along the lines of the so-called American management school –
which tends to ignore the conflicts that exist in enterprises –, particularly if we think
about the industrial sector. In this respect, the approaches closest to the
socio-political paradigm, developed by various authors of the French school
(Crozier & Friedberg, 1977; Crozier, 1989; Bernoux, 1998; Sainsaulieu & Segrestin
1987), as well as being more in tune with the anthropocentric system referred to
above, enable better adaptation to suit our country, since organisational culture
9
While in mobile phone usage, Portugal is among the leaders in Europe, a relatively recent study showed that
only around 26% of people between the ages of 15 and 24 regularly use the Internet, in contrast to other
countries, such as Holland where the figure for that age group is 76%. Young people in Portugal are also
trailing behind the rest of Europe in terms of computers, with only 50% using pcs, while the figure for other
countries (except Greece) is far higher – over 80% (EC commissioned study, presented in Brussels on
8.11.01, quoted by RFM).
33

34. Elísio Estanque
conceived of in this way provides more space for diversity and the conjugation of
sub-cultures and different interests, by proposing a more dynamic vision of
company culture, based on informal negotiation mechanisms, and on the
expressivity and initiative of the social actors. In this respect, it is important to
ensure that conditions for worker involvement in company innovation projects are
in place. This means that organisational restructuring initiatives geared to
innovation should contemplate not just training courses and adequate bargaining
processes – that ensure the needs of the most precarious sectors and hardest to
reframe in the modernising dynamic are taken care of –, but a vocational training
policy that is able to conjugate new and “old” skills, i.e. to get the most out of both
the new skills incorporated by new generations of workers and qualified
professionals, and the implicit knowledge, skills and abilities that many workers
acquire over the course of their working lives, which is so often underutilised. While
it may not always be possible to achieve a perfect balance between the
competitive dynamic and social justice, there are still plenty of opportunities for
expending more consistent efforts to make these two logics more compatible, since
the first one does not ends in itself and only achieve true meaning if remaining
connected to the second.
As someone suggested, in our country there is an imaginary-central-state, i.e.
a state that, in spite of being peripheral or semi-peripheral, tends to regard it self as
being central (Santos, 1993), and which reflects the profoundly contrasting
tendencies that have been repeatedly associated with Portuguese culture and
society. Different intellectuals have referred to “Portuguese man” as having an
ambivalent mind-set that alternates between an inferiority complex in relation to
foreigners and “mythical hypertrophy” that gives rise to megalomaniacal delusions,
and thus enables a dynamic and lasting coexistence of pre-modern, modern and
post-modern logics. (Santos, 1994: 60-61). Perhaps this can help us to understand
some of the contradictions that exist in our society and the relationship with
technological innovation that we have referred to in this text.
Portugal seems to encompass an empire of potentialities in terms of
intentions, imagination and capacity for subjective adaptation to new realities and
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35. Elísio Estanque
situations. At the same time, however, it continues to reveal tremendous difficulty
and incapacity when it comes to realisation. The organisational difficulties in
advancing programmes based on change geared to innovation and endogenisation
of new technologies are, therefore, a fundamental problem that needs to be
tackled. Labour will, unquestionably, continue to be the central focus of developed
societies in the XXI century, in their efforts to build better patterns of life and social
justice. In this context, the recognised creativity of the Portuguese, their sense of
solidarity, and their capacity to adapt to advanced organisational structures –
demonstrated by our emigrants in core countries – can become decisive trump
cards in our collective future.
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