Multiskilling in Practice: Lessons from a Minerals Processing Firm

Abstract

Increasingly, multiskilling programmes are a key element in workplace reform. In this paper, the findings of a longitudinal case study of multiskilling involving process workers are presented. The study found that the multiskilling programme and associated changes to work organization only marginally altered skill requirements for jobs, although there was evidence of increased worker control over certain aspects of the work role. There was no evidence to suggest that these developments reflected a fundamental shift in the nature of management-employee relations. Conclusions are drawn as to the extent to which such innovations signal a departure from traditional Taylorist and Fordist orientations towards skills formation and work organization.