RISULTATI RICERCA

When the relationships are dangerous. when personal history meets moral violence in the workplace - Mobbing is becoming a method to fire workers in cheap way, and replacing them with short term one. The specific illness of mobbing victim results from the kind of persecution, grounded on disqualification or non-confirmation. Trauma sensibility is determined by own individual or generational history wich is accountable for prevailing identification of subject with his/her occupational role. Difference between mobbing and work illness is also suggested. Finally, early experience of a support group for mobbing victims are reported.

L’identità del modello sistemico si fonda sul portare un’esperienza correttiva di cambiamento nella relazione tra il paziente e i suoi familiari, anche grazie all’impatto degli sconvolgimenti epistemologici prodotti dalle primissime sedute, e quindi ancor prima che una vera alleanza terapeutica cooperativa e continuativa abbia potuto stabilirsi. L’intensità del primo impatto deve poi svilupparsi in varie forme nel processo terapeutico: si utilizza la dimensione d’équipe per la tenuta di un’alleanza terapeutica che incida simultaneamente su più soggetti e sottosistemi. L’intensità dell’alleanza terapeutica passa attraverso la capacità del terapeuta di utilizzare tecniche e teorie in modo integrato con il suo mettersi in gioco fino in fondo come persona. In questo processo è fondamentale "pensare per andirivieni" nel senso di far dialogare coerentemente tra loro le diverse dimensioni delle diagnosi individuali e relazionali.

Sezione progetti e politiche organizzative Analisi e progettazione del lavoro della conoscenza: il modello della Fondazione Irso e due casi - Knowledge workers numbers are growing in all western countries, from 39 to 52% of working population as international statistics reveal. But in many cases their work is not well understood, the nature of their work resembles more to a character than to a well defined job, it is difficult to evaluate their performance, critical is the balance between their need for job security and their boundaryless careers, their professions are often strategical but rarely enter in a clear system of professions as in the past the medical doctors, the architects, the lawyers. A proven methodology for analysis and design of roles, professions and personal growth is presented and illustrated through two cases: the top level experts (or knowledge owners) in a high tech large corporation and the case of immigrant social workers in charge of helping immigrant people to integrate in schools, workplace, neighbourhood. Aims of such a methodology are: unrevealing the nature of knowledge work, understanding the character defined by the organization end performed by people, identify and measuring the performances, give people flexsecurity, develop e strengthen critical and strategic professions.

"Anticipating and managing": Ideology and aporias of the European discourse on restructuring - The article examines the discourse relating to restructuring, as developed by the European Commission since the end of the 1990s and focuses on the concepts of "anticipation" and "restructuring". In the European texts and documents "anticipation" is used as an "inclusive concept", but no clear distinction is made between anticipating and managing. As a consequence, the concept of "anticipation" remains muddled and is hardly of any analytical use. Anticipation can only take place ex ante. In addition it requires not only forecast and foresight but also redundancies, i.e. the creation of reserves in a mid- and long-term perspective. But this clearly contradicts the short term horizon which the principle of the shareholder value implies. As regards the concept of "restructuring", the community discourse is characterised by a discursive strategy reversing the negative perceptions linked to restructuring by constructing a generic concept, which ultimately leads to a cognitive framework based on the "naturalisation" of economic change and competitiveness. The European discourse thus creates a "cognitive cage" which the actors are confined to. In this cage, "anticipation and managing" only play a symbolic role.

Anticipazione strategica e riposizionamento nella filiera distrettuale. Il caso Sabaf - Sabaf Group is a worldwide leading gas cooking appliance manufacturer. The firm, which has been playing since the fifties a major role in the metalworking industrial district of "Valli Bresciane", planned a re-organization during the late nineties. Drawing upon a clear separation between ownership and management, the firm started up an industrial restructuring focused on the insourcing of the pressure die casting process for the making of burners and the brand new production of aluminium alloys. The strategic anticipation took place as consequence to Sabaf’s forecast for the forthcoming decline of the district-area (2000-2004), and firm’s management decided to move from the "core" of the district (Lumezzane) to the border of it (Ospitaletto), a choice which meant to overcome some typical external economies of the marshallian district. The entire manufacturing department was replaced and a joint engineering (processes and products) method was also adopted with considerable results that allowed the firm in becoming one of the most innovative players in its sector. Corporate governance and social and environmental sustainability turned out to be the main drivers of the firm’s lead over other competitors and now represent also thecrucial keys for facing current crisis in a pro-active way, rather than simply in a reactive manner.

STMicroelectronics restructuring in Agrate Brianza. A local game within a metanational Player - STMicroelectronics is a global leader in designing, manufacturing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. This contribution analyses the restructuring process that affected the Agrate Brianza site, in Lombardy (Italy) between May 2005 and November 2007, as a case of local governance of global dynamics, essentially based on industrial relations without any intervention of local or public authorities. The chapter is structured in three parts: a company presentation, the analysis of the restructuring process and some considerations about the innovative practices explained by the case-study. These innovative practices allowed the Agrate site, not only to transform the restructuring announced at headquarters level as a downsizing into a vast internal reorganization, but also to increase its competitiveness.

Il caso Fiat Mirafiori. Ricostruire il radicamento: il global player e le istituzioni locali - During the last 20 years, the automotive sector went through a number of important technological and organizational changes. Around 2000 Fiat falls in a deep crisis, whose roots can be found most of all in the lack of strategic anticipation: its top management was unable to anticipate the change, and its vision of company’s and market’s evolution was completely inadequate. A different interpretation of strategic anticipation can be proposed if we take into account local actors and local government: strategic anticipation can be recognised here in a quite shared vision of local system’s future (position of the region in interna- tional competition, more or less decisive deep presence of automotive vs. "new" sectors, of industrial vs. service occupation ecc.). The most innovative feature of Fiat Auto restructuring is probably the intervention of local public actors (especially the regional and urban governments), in the form of the purchase of Mirafiori’s unused areas and in the following constitution of an agency for their management. Even if this intervention was certainly not decisive for the rescue of Fiat, it certainly had a very strong influence in the rescue of Mirafiori plant whose further contraction was at the time very probable because it guaranteed the installation of a new production line in Turin.

Firms restructuring on global markets: anticipating strategies and governance - Pichierri Since the late 1990s, restructuring anticipation is becoming a crucial issue, in consequence of the changing nature of restructuring and after a turning point in the process of European deindustrialisation. The current "non-standard" firms are becoming more and more interested by vertical disintegration or, better, by horizontal processes of "learning by monitoring". Strategic processes of restructuring are then requiring strategic forms of anticipation, like more social dialogue, early shared diagnosis and more "collective decisions", when the pressures of global markets are producing a multiplication of delocalisation and international fragmentation of activities, in production and services, with more "local games inside global players". This article is based on the results of an international research network on the processes of anticipating and accompanying the enterprises’ restructuring practices in 26 firms and 8 countries in the European Union. It is also based on the many discussions, among researchers, practitioners, and consultants, on transversal issues in six international workshops. Furthermore, there is a deep analysis about three important Italian cases of restructuring (Fiat, STMicroelectronics, and Sabaf-Lumezzane industrial district) which were among the benchmarking case studies for the Project and the European Commission promoting and financing the research (see the website: www.fse-agire.com).

Il whistle-blowing come strumento di controllo interno delle organizzazioni - Uno di problemi che si pongono quando si parla di abusi dei colletti bianchi nel mondo del lavoro è quello di sottoporre al giudizio della collettività condotte discutibili sul piano etico, manageriale, professionale e giuridico delle quali però è difficile avere conoscenza in quanto esse vengono consumate al riparo di organizzazioni legali e, spesso, poco permeabili alla società. Una forma di controllo privilegiata per la qualità delle informazioni che è in grado di fornire è la denuncia pubblica degli abusi del prestatore di lavoro legato all’organizzazione da un rapporto di dipendenza. La cultura anglosassone ha metaforicamente etichettato tale pratica con il termine di "whistleblowing", letteralmente "soffiare il fischietto", cioè dare un segnale di allarme per gli abusi osservati nel luogo di lavoro. Questo articolo intende offrire una rassegna sistematica dei principali temi esistenti in materia. Sono pertanto oggetto di trattazione i seguenti argomenti: le relazioni fra gli abusi dei colletti bianchi e le organizzazioni legali; le tipologie di abusi più comuni; il profilo identitario di coloro che denunciano; i fattori oggettivi che influenzano le decisioni di denuncia; i rischi legati alle attività di denuncia; l’efficacia, la tutela giuridica e le policy del whistle blowing. La tesi conclusiva è che la denuncia pubblica degli abusi deve fare leva sulla responsabilità personale e che il contesto organizzativo e istituzionale nei quali i prestatori di lavoro operano devono svolgere una funzione di incentivo e protezione dell’iniziativa individuale.

La valutazione della formazione continua: un’analisi dei fabbisogni degli stakeholder - Over the past few years literature on program evaluation has been studying multistakeholder evaluation, but training evaluation models and practices still do not seem aware of this problem. The present study identifies intersections between methodologies and approaches of participatory evaluation and typical techniques and evaluation tools used for training. This study focuses on understanding the evaluation needs of the stakeholders classes typically involved in a training program. A training program financed by the European Social Fund in Italy has been studied, both with qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The results suggest that different stakeholders classes have different evaluation needs and, in operative terms, highlight the convergence and divergence between stakeholders’ evaluation needs. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

TechnoYouth and participation, the risk to base your business on a product that is slipping in the most advanced countries - Young generations identify less than in the past with traditional participation structures. However, this does not mean that they are not interested in politics. In this essay, the Author analyses some questions emerged in Sotto V(u)oto. Giovani e assenti la generazione invisibile (Milandri, 2008). The qualitative research on the age of uncertainty dealt with in this book was carried out in the Republic of San Marino in 2008. The essay is imbued with the effect of population ageing, absence of young people in the social and political life and loss of social solidarity but the focus is on the young people’s needs and youth policies intersecting two perspectives: that of a group of adults, and that of a group of young people. The result is an unusual and lively representation of young people through an interesting exchange of views. The outlined situation shows the human face of a place where needs want to be once again at the centre of policies. The end is a ‘homage’ to the future that wants to be listened to with Mr Giorgio Chiaruzzi, Chairman of the Youth Forum.

The Figure of Interpreter Between Culture, Society and Economy: A Demographic Survey - The purpose is to contribute to related sociological research since it seems to be very limited (from the early 1960s), to clarify the role of interpreters as social actors and to represent the corresponding labour market, trying to overcome the idea of interpretation as mechanicalexercise. The theoretical part is concentrated on the history and on parameters reflecting the present rules governing this activity. Some preceding sociological research have been included to illustrate the main themes explored in the past. The practical part aims to explain the structure of the labour market and social conditions of interpreters in Italy. The author finds a feminization of the profession and confirms the growing relevance of English and community interpreting. Professional skills strengthen together with the demand for the simultaneous mode, causing difficult market penetration. The economic crisis and competition boost unfair practices (above all in the North). Nevertheless the profession is highly followed.

Family, work and social capital: morphogenesis and new paradigms - In Western societies family and work, the two focal subsystems governing individual and social groups’ daily life, are undergoing substantial and may be final adjustments. Family dimension is changing in its hierarchical structure, in kinship and ties, in emotional, reproductive and economic organisation and setting up new styles coexisting with traditional standard and gradually corroding its role and constitution. Work, on the other hand, is increasingly connoted by flexibility, mobility and precariousness and it appears as a strongly (may be irreversible) changing element of the social system; several are the social "aggregates" on which these adjustments are active: (self)confidence, planning skills, individual time allocation, emotional and familiar life organisation. The theory of social capital, considered as the knowledge in reciprocity held by an individual and used, together with intellectual and cultural heritage, in social mutual relations, is recently raising in social sciences. The purpose of the survey is to analyse the reciprocal interconnections and the refractive upshots of the process involving these three elements and the set up network.