Sustainable Development and Globalization: New Challenges and Opportunities for Work Organization

Abstract

The relationship between industrialization and its effects on the environment has captured the serious attention of national governments and international organizations, especially in light of increasing globalization. Sustainability in products, processes, and services has been increasingly emphasized by placing environment at the center of some industrial transformations -- or at least on a par with competitiveness. The key to environmental sustainability was recognized early as involving the design and implementation of environmentally sound products, processes and services, rather than addressing environmental concerns as an afterthought in industrial systems. At the same time as the environment has become more important in economic policy, European, as well as American, industrial economies have also begun to pay attention to the restructuring of labour markets reflecting changes brought about emerging technologies, new environmental priorities, and globalization. However, policies has been largely reactive, rather than proactive towards new job creation and better organization of work.

Just as thinking about environment after industrial development is planned and implemented does not optimize environmental quality, consideration of labour concerns also requires deliberate and intelligent actions before embarking on industrialization efforts in guiding industrial transformations. The recent downturn of the extraordinary long economic boom might be expected to reveal fundamental structural employment problems in the industrialized world. It is likely that employment considerations will be the central issue in the coming decade for countries in the expanding European Union, and will influence the nature and direction of (re)industrialization and the growth of the service economy. It is therefore timely to explore options and opportunities for co-optimizing economic development (competitiveness), environmental quality, and labour/employment concerns, all of which have implications for the organization of work.