Presents an overview of developments in the Quality of Working Life field and some links between this movement and adult education. Discusses worker participation as a strategy for mass adult education. (SK)

The history of the work environment and efforts to humanize it are related. Motivations for humanizing are discussed: worker welfare and the belief that worker satisfaction improves worker productivity. Efforts to increase humanization, such as legislation and efforts by labor unions, are also discussed. (CT)

For more than 80 years, jobs in the United States have been designed by people for others. For most of these years, the experts in job design have placed the production technology above the job holder in importance. Since the 1950s, many jobs have been redesigned around new, computer-based technology. Often, the net effect has been to make those…

Diverse opinions are held by workers, union officials, and labor researchers about the importance of the quality of working life to workers. Major issues in this debate focus on the following questions: (1) Is there a workers' movement to improve the quality of working life? (2) Do workers seek meaning and self-fulfillment in their jobs? (3) Can…

This publication summarizes the proceedings of the Conference of Union Officials on Issues Related to Labor-Management Cooperation in Quality of Worklife (QWL) Improvement Efforts (March 1979) and subsequently treats issues that emerged in more detail. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction to QWL. A summary of the Washington, D.C. conference…