This document summarizes Peter Oeij's presentation on workplace innovation to Korean experts. It discusses: 1) examples of workplace innovation interventions in Europe from TNO research; 2) TNO's approach to workplace innovation, which takes an integral, participatory, evidence-based approach; and 3) types of projects TNO conducts, including research, policy evaluation, company studies, and research-based consultancy to design good jobs and improve organizational culture and structure.

1. ‘European workplace innovation: from theory to
practice’
Peter Oeij / TNO, Netherlands
Meeting with Korean experts on workplace innovation
22 November 2019
Venue: JW Marriot Hotel Seoul (Grand Ballroom), Seoul, South Korea
Host: Presidential Jobs Commission
Organizer: Korea Labor Institute
This project has received
funding from the
European Union’s Horizon
2020 research and
innovation programme
under grant agreement
No 8222293.

2. Content of my talk
- 1.Summarize some points yesterday / Workplace innovation & interventions in
Europe?
- 2.What is the approach of workpace innovation (WPI) by TNO?
- 3.Types of projects of TNO regards workpace innovation (WPI)
- 4.Discussion
안녕하세요 !
반갑습니다 !

3. 1. Workplace innovation & interventions in Europe

4. Research example of workplace innovation
Oeij et al, 2016, Implementing Workplace
Innovation across Europe: why, how and
what? Economic and Social Changes:
Facts, Trends, Forecast, 5(47), 195-218.
-51 cases selected from European Company Survey
(contains 30.000 companies) with high score on
WPI-index
-from 10 different EU member states
-interview among mangement, employees and
employee representatitives / unions
-period 2013-2015

5. Research example of workplace innovation
Oeij et al, 2016, Implementing Workplace
Innovation across Europe: why, how and
what? Economic and Social Changes:
Facts, Trends, Forecast, 5(47), 195-218.
-contains a list of 168 WPI practices by the
51 cases

6. Research example of workplace innovation
Oeij et al, 2016, Implementing Workplace
Innovation across Europe: why, how and
what? Economic and Social Changes:
Facts, Trends, Forecast, 5(47), 195-218.
-contains a 2-3 pager of each of the the 51
cases

7. Workplace Innovation interventions [i.e. “practices”]
Source:
Third European Company Survey Workplace innovation in European
companies: Technical annex
[to the report Third European Company Survey – Workplace innovation in
European companies (Eurofound, 2015), which is available online at
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2015/working-
conditions/third-european-companysurvey-workplace-innovation-in-
european-companies ]
See Technical Annex

8. What is the secret to succesful WPI
implementation of the cases in the Eurofound
research? [Oeij ea, 2015]
• Mature employment relationships:
• 1.management, employees and works councils agree about why WPI should be
implemented [efficiency, competitive advantage, innovatieve capability]
• 2.management, employees and works councils agree about leverage factors
[employee involvement, top management commitment, powerful leadership]
• 3.management, employees and works councils agree about desired impacts
factors [employee engagement, longer term sustainability, high performance]

9. Initiative of
WPI:
economic goal
Target:
improved
economic
performance
Mediating role
for employees
& employee
reps
Design of WPI
practices
Implementation
of WPI
practices
Target:
improved
quality of work
& engagement
1 32
2
9
PATTERN OF IMPLEMENTING WPI-
PRACTICES (PROCESS MODEL)

10. 2. What is the approach of workpace innovation (WPI) by TNO?

11. 11
structure culture
strategy
Humanistic management
‘philosophy’:
Decentralise as much as
possible
Production system:
No unneeded division of
labour;
No unneeded bureaucracy;
No unneeded separation of
management tasks from
operations
Secure autonomy
in design of:
Departments; teams; jobs &
tasks
HR system:
Nurtures commitment
Type of leadership:
People centred
&
Bottom up
Organisational behaviour:
High employee involvement
& engagement
Outcome:
Good quality of working life
Good quality of organisational performance
More innovative capability
…structure follows strategy, culture follows structure…
Modern manager
(Source: Karanika-Murray & Oeij, 2017; Oeij et al., 2019)

12. Integral approach
(Oeij, Dhondt, Pot & Totterdill, 2018, p. 55)

13. Q4 model (1)
Source:
Oeij, P.R.A., De Looze, M.P., Ten Have, K., Van Rhijn, J.W. & De Graaf, H.A.L.M. (2012). From productivity strategy to business case: choosing a cost-effective intervention for
workplace innovation. Journal of Centrum Cathedra - The Business and Economics Research Journal, 5 (2), 171-184.
Oeij, P.R.A., De Looze, M.P., Ten Have, K., Van Rhijn, J.W. & Kuijt-Evers, L.F.M. (2012). Developing the organization’s productivity strategy in various sectors of industry. International
Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. 61 (1), 93-109.

14. Q4 model (2)

15. Example

16. Modern
sociotechnical
design
methodology
De Sitter et al., 1997
Order of design rules:
1-Production structure
-“simple organisation, complex jobs”
2-Governance structure
-“decision autonomy at lowest level”
possible
3-Information / IT structure
-”support workers, not control workers”

17. Dialogue
Source:
Oeij, P.R.A., Wiezer, N.M., Elo, A.-L.,
Nielsen, K., Vega, S., Wetzstein, A. &
Żołnierczyk, D. (2006). Combating
Psychosocial Risks in Work Organisations:
Practice of Interventions in Europe. In S.
McIntyre & J. Houdmont (eds.),
Occupational Health Psychology: European
Perspectives on Research, Education and
Practice (Vol. 1). (pp. 233-263). European
Academy of Occupational Health
Psychology. Castelo de Maia: ISMAI
Publishers.

18. Steps
• Analyse the ‘problem’ from a sociotechnical /integral design perspective
[strategy > structure > culture]
• ..in a participatory way (with all stakeholders involved) [employee engagement]
• Gather information, interview management, employees, employee
representatives [evidence based research]
• …dialogue about factfinding; dialogue about ‘options’
• Select the Workpace Innovation intervention / measure that will help
• Pilots, testing …
• Implementation, evaluation… [back to first step]

19. IN:
• resources
• people
• [raw] materials
THROUGH:
design of
production process
OUT:
• quality service / product
• productivity
• quality of work
• satisfied customers
• added value
Technology
Organisation Personnel
Techno-
structural
interventions
HRM-
interventions
Strategy
Strategic
interventions
Behaviourial
& cultural
interventions
(Oeij, Dorenbosch, Klein Hesselink & Vaas, 2010; p. 133)
Summarizing

20. Roles as a expert or consultant
Influence
from
company
Influence
from
external
consultant
high
low
low high
coach
consultant
expert
(H.T. van der Molen, F. Kluytmans, M. Kramer (1995).
Conversation. Skills and models. Open University/ Wolters-
Noordhoff: Heerlen/Groningen [in Dutch] )
researcher
research
based
consultant
process
consultant
expertcontent
process
consultancyresearch
1-WAY COMMUNICATION
2-WAY INTERACTION
Dominant role of TNO

21. 3. Types of projects of TNO regards workpace innovation (WPI)

22. Quantitative research,
statistical analysis,
survey data research
Qualitative research,
case studies, literature
reviews, face-to-face
interviewing
Scenario studies, policy
evaluation,
foresight/forecasting,
large scale interventions,
workshops
Company and sector studies,
workshops, training, meet-
ups, symposia, learning
communities, research-
based consultancy
Research
for
knowledge
Research
for policy
Research &
consultancy
for practice
TNO activities at company / sector level:
STRUCTURE
-help design good jobs (quality of jobs and working
life)
-help to implement ergonomic solutions, human-
robot interaction
-help to assess technological choice and
consequences for jobs, employment, skills
-help to solve workstress risks, safety risks,
inappropriate working conditions
-help to improve working time schedules, work-life
balance, flexibility and good contracts
-help to identify organisational factors to enhance
employee engagement and performance
-help to improve team compositions
CULTURE
-help to improve communication, cooperation and
make conflics discussable / reduce resistance to
change
-leadership, creativity, innovation-adoption
Workplace innovation projects of TNO:

23. 4. Discussion…

24. Thank you for your attention!
• Peter Oeij [peter.oeij@tno.nl] www.beyond4-0.org
감사합니다

25. References
-Molen, H.T. van der , Kluytmans, F., Kramer, M. (1995). Conversation. Skills and models. Open University of the Netherlands/ Wolters-Noordhoff: Heerlen/Groningen [in Dutch]
-Oeij, Peter (2017). From automated defensive behaviour to innovation resilience behaviour: A tool for resilient teamwork as an example of workplace innovation. In: Oeij, Peter R.A., Rus, Diana,
Pot, Frank D. (Eds), Workplace Innovation: Theory, Research and Practice (pp. 375-398), Series 'Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being’. Springer: Cham (Switzerland).
-Oeij, P.R.A., Dhondt, S. & Korver, T. (2011). Social innovation, workplace innovation and social quality. International Journal of Social Quality, 1 (2, Winter), 31-49.
-Oeij, P., Dhondt, S., Pot, F., Totterdill, P. (2018). Workplace innovation as an important driver of social innovation. In: Howaldt, J., Kaletka, C., Schröder, A., Zirngiebl, M. (eds), Atlas of Social
Innovation – New Practices for a Better Future (pp. 54-57). Dortmund: Sozialforschungsstelle, TU Dortmund.
-Oeij, P.R.A., De Looze, M.P., Ten Have, K., Van Rhijn, J.W. & De Graaf, H.A.L.M. (2012). From productivity strategy to business case: choosing a cost-effective intervention for workplace innovation.
Journal of Centrum Cathedra - The Business and Economics Research Journal, 5 (2), 171-184.
-Oeij, P.R.A., De Looze, M.P., Ten Have, K., Van Rhijn, J.W. & Kuijt-Evers, L.F.M. (2012). Developing the organization’s productivity strategy in various sectors of industry. International Journal of
Productivity and Performance Management. 61 (1), 93-109.
-Oeij, P., Dorenbosch, L.., Klein Hesselink, J. & Vaas, F. (2010). Working smarter and workplace innovation. The Hague: Boom | Lemma (in Dutch).
-Oeij, P.R.A., Preenen, P.Y.T., Van der Torre, W., Van der Meer, L., Van den Eerenbeemt, J. (2019). Technological choice and workplace innovation: Towards efficient and humanised work. European
Public & Social Innovation Review, 4(1), 15-26.
-Oeij, P. R.A., Rus, D. and Pot F.D. (eds) (2017). Workplace Innovation: Theory, Research and Practice, Series 'Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being’. Springer: Cham (Switzerland);
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56333-6; ISBN 978-3-319-56332-9.
-Oeij, P.R.A., Wiezer, N.M., Elo, A.-L., Nielsen, K., Vega, S., Wetzstein, A. & Żołnierczyk, D. (2006). Combating Psychosocial Risks in Work Organisations: Practice of Interventions in Europe. In S.
McIntyre & J. Houdmont (eds.), Occupational Health Psychology: European Perspectives on Research, Education and Practice (Vol. 1). (pp. 233-263). European Academy of Occupational Health
Psychology. Castelo de Maia: ISMAI Publishers.
-Oeij, P., Žiauberytė-Jakštienė, R., Dhondt, S., Corral, A., Totterdill, P., Preenen, P. (2015). Workplace Innovation in European companies. Report for Eurofound. Luxemburg: Publications Office of the
European Union.
-Oeij, P., Žiauberytė-Jakštienė, R., Dhondt, S., Corral, A., Totterdill, P., & Preenen, P. (2015). Workplace Innovation in European companies. Technical annex. Dublin: Eurofound.
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef1540_-_technical_annex_-_third_european_company_survey_workplace_innovation_in_european_companies.pdf
-Pot, Frank, Dhondt, Steven, Oeij, Peter, Rus, Diana, & Totterdill, Peter (2019). Complementing digitalisation with workplace innovation. In: Howaldt, J., Kaletka, C., Schröder, A., Zirngiebl, M. (eds.),
Atlas of Social Innovation. 2nd Volume – A world of new practices (pp. 42-46). Oekoem Verlag, München (ISBN: 978-3-96238-157-8). Download free : www.socialinnovationatlas.net
-Sitter, U. de, Den Hertog, F., & Dankbaar, B. (1997), “From Complex Organizations with Simple Jobs to Simple Organizations with Complex Jobs”, Human Relations, Vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 497-534.
-Van Amelsvoort, P. & Van Hootegem, G. (2017). Towards a Total Workplace Innovation concept based on Sociotechnical Systems Design. In: Oeij, P. R.A., Rus, D. and Pot F.D. (eds) (2017).
Workplace Innovation: Theory, Research and Practice (pp. 281-299). Springer: Cham
[Available on request: peter.oeij@tno.nl]