Research Project

The following is a short presentation of our research project: the methods used in the project a model of the project and a short description of the individual work packages.

Project Aims

QUALITY will focus on four primary aims:

  1. To give insight from an internationally comparative perspective the
    quality of life and work of European citizens the way quality of life
    and work are interrelated and the impact public and organisational
    policies have on the well-being of European citizens.
  2. To analyse how and under which conditions European workplaces could
    be transformed into healthy organisations where work is organised in a
    socially as well as economically sustainable manner.
  3. To explore trends by consulting national high level groups
    (policy-makers, politicians, researchers, managers) and by
    sketching/constructing scenarios with respect to trends concerning the
    quality of life and work of European citizens.
  4. To analyse whether, to what extent and how gender matters in the
    relationship between well-being and public and organisational policies.

Project Objectives

Project QUALITY has eight objectives defined to operationalise the primary aims of the project.

  1. To elaborate theoretically, methodologically and empirically the concept
    of quality of life; to analyse quality of life for men and women in the
    eight partner countries based on existing internationally-comparative
    datasets, e.g. European Quality of Life Survey; The World Database of
    Happiness.
  2. To gain insight into the quality of life of citizens in the partner
    countries within the context of their working situation, by setting up
    new quantitative research projects in all participating countries.
  3. To analyse the institutional context of each participating country,
    based on national expert meetings and relevant policy documents, by
    mapping out which current socio-economic trends are expected to have an
    impact on the quality of work of men and women and on their work-life
    balance.
  4. To gain insight in what healthy and socially sustainable
    organisations are, by examining the perspectives of managers and other
    employees in one organisation in each country, and by exploring the
    links between perceptions of healthy organisations and employee well
    being and quality of life.
  5. To develop an instrument on the social quality of European
    workplaces by selecting the relevnt items for social quality based on
    the overall analyses of data on quality of life, as mentioned under objective 1 and objective 2.
  6. To gain insight into relevant future trends and their expected
    implications for the quality of life of male and female citizens in the
    eight partner countries, by developing scenario analyses that will be
    discussed in high-level expert groups in each of the participating
    countries.
  7. To gain insight into the role of gender in relation to quality of
    life and work and the impact public and organisational policies have on
    this relation, by specifying the perspective of gender in each of the
    parts of the QUALITY project; all analyses will be broken down by
    gender.
  8. Dissemination of the insights of the project. This final objective
    is related to all four aims and will be operationalised in all specific
    aims as descripted in the project objectives; a project website will be
    developed; the projected audiences include the European Union, national
    governments, policy-makers, employers, unions, the scientific community
    and the general public.

Project Methods

Quality methods are designed to take into account:

  1. An international-comparative perspective by analyzing existing
    cross-national databases and contributing new data through quantitative
    research.
  2. Future socio-economic trends and developments by consulting
    national high level groups (policy-makers, politicians, researchers,
    managers)and by constructing scenarios.
  3. Exploration and operationalization of the concept of healthy organisations using qualitative research.
  4. Monitoring of the gender perspective by using a checklist to encompass gender differences

Project Model

The implementation plan is presented in the graphical figure below. The
figure includes the work packages and the theoretical framework. The
outcomes will include not only an explanation and overview of the
quality of life of European citizens, but also a social quality
measuring instrument and scenarios for future trends in policy and
quality of life. The focus on gender will be the basis for a dedicated
work package. Dissemination will take place throughout the project.

Project Model

Expected Results

Expected results of the project are the following:

  1. Policy recommendations on the issues of enhancing the quality of life and work of European citizens.
  2. The identification of socio-economic trends.
  3. A new and cross-national instrument for measuring the social quality of European workplaces.
  4. The promotion of healthy organisations.
  5. To contribute to the equality of men and women by highlighting the
    significance of a gender perspective in public and organisational
    policy.

Work Package Description

The project involves three research phrases. The first involves international-comparative analyses and includes work packages 1 & 2. The second phase consists of contextual mapping of national institutional contexts and includes work packages 3 & 6. The third phrase involves the research, exploration and operationalisation of the concept of healthy organisation and includes work packages 4 & 5. Two work packages 6 & 7 have an overall perspective within the project: gender and dissemination.

Work Package 1

Quality of life: theoretical, methodological and empirical elaboration
(operationalisation of project objective 1)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Sonja Drobnič, University of Hamburg

The work package is divided into several strands of activities that include:

  1. An extensive literature review of theoretical concepts of quality of life.
  2. An assessment of existing standard data sources on objective and subjective indicators.
  3. An assessment of longitudinal data sources pertinent to measurement of quality of life in a dynamic perspective.
  4. A cross-national comparative analysis of quality of life.
  5. Dissemination of results on the national level.

Work Package 2

Quality of work for European employees
(operationalisation of project objective 2)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Tanja van der Lippe, University of Utrecht

This work package concerns analyses based on survey interviews among employees in all of the participating countries. Work package activities are summarized as follows:

  1. To gain entrance to four organisations per participating country.
  2. To develop a questionnaire.
  3. To translate the questionnaire into all 8 languages and to put the questionnaire onto a website.
  4. To collect the resulting data.
  5. To analyse the results for each country and to relate the results on the quality of work to country and workplace context.

Work Package 3

Analysis of the institutional context
(operationalisation of project objective 3)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Siyka Kovacheva, New Europe Centre for Regional Studies

In all eight countries data are obtained from available statistical data, national and European policy documents, from other written sources and from national high-level expert groups. In each country an expert meeting will be organised where the national reports will be presented and discussed. The purpose of the revised national reports is to evaluate the national context of socio-economic trends, public policies and institutional characteristics of the selected countries.

Comparative report summary in English, in Bulgarian, in Finnish, in Hungarian, in Portuguese and German.

Work Package 4

Healthy organisations and sustainable employment
(operationalisation of project objective 4)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Suzan Lewis, Middlesex University Business School

Work package activities focuses on employee and workplace needs and possibilities for organisational development that address the dual agenda of employee quality of life and workplace effectiveness in different public policy contexts. Specifically, activities will incorporate findings from the Framework 5 Study, Gender, Parenthood and the Changing European Workplace (Transitions).

Work Package 5

Developing an instrument for measuring social quality in European workplaces (operationalisation of project objective 5)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Jouko Nätti, University of Jyväskylä

Using the findings from WP1, WP2, and WP4 the aim of this work package is to develop an international comparative instrument to measure social quality in workplaces.

Work Package 6

Quality of life and future trends: scenario analyses
(operationalisation of project objective 6)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Maria das Dores Guerreiro, Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology

The focus of activities in this work package is get a grip on future trends and public and organisational policies as they relate to quality of life and work through the scenario analyse. Scenarios are particularly suitable alternatives to predictions as they are capable of handling complex problems arising over long time periods with many uncertainties.
Work package activities include the following:

  1. To collect information from other WPs in order to design possible scenarios.
  2. To gain access to expert groups in each country to discuss the scenarios.
  3. To develop a framework for guiding scenario discussion meetings.
  4. To analyse the results from each country.
  5. To summarise the results in national reports and an international comparative scenario report with recommendations for each country.

Work Package 7

The influence of gender
(operationalisation of project objective 7)

Work Package Co-ordinator: Dr. Eva Fodor, Central European University

Gender will matter when it comes to the cost and benefits of changes in social life and in work organisations. The activities of this work package are focused on insuring that each of the other work packages is attentive to gender effects.
Work activities include:

  1. Defining an instrument to analyse gender differences.
  2. Making sure that a gender perspective is included in the questionnaires and expert meetings in the partner countries.
  3. Analysing and interpreting results using a gender perspective.
  4. Producing a report on the effects of gender on the quality of life and work in the partner countries.

 

Work Package 8

Dissemination framework

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Margareta Bäck-Wiklund, Göteborg University

A central activity for this work package is the creation of a website on which project reports, other documentation and important links to similar projects are publicised.
Work includes but is not limited to:

  1. Dissemination of summaries of the cross-national reports as well as the final report in national languages.
  2. Publish reports and working papers from the project.
  3. Develop a common international dissemination strategy targeting European politicians and policy makers, employers and unions, European and world scientific communities and general audiences.

Work Package 9

Management

Work Package Co-ordinator: Prof. Tanja van der Lippe, University of Utrecht

The project management will guarantee the smooth functioning of all project activities and will take care of the overall, contractual, ethical, financial and administrative management. The work activities also include organising meetings with work package co-ordinators, collectively and individually at least twice per year. The first meeting to take place at the start of the project to discuss the consortium agreement, the work and management plan. These meetings will be of technical and strategic nature.
In close cooperation with the partners, the project management will timely and adequately report to the European Commission:

  • On the projects progress and finances.
  • In the final year of the study, to produce a final project report.
  • In close collaboration with WP8 dissemination goals for the project.