here - ERIM - Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

A validation Study of House of Quality key performance indicators
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Foreword
“The metropolis setting makes it possible and necessary for an individual to preserve his autonomy
and individuality in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture,
and of the technique of life”
Simmel 1922
By the end of 2006, the RSM Erasmus University and Microsoft Netherlands started the research
project “The New World of Work”. This research project aimed to provide insights in the changing
way of working for the workforce, enabled by information and communication technology (ICT). One
of the organizations that joined the research project was Dutch labor union De Unie. Each student,
participating in this research investigated a single case study, from which the case study of De Unie
served as my Master’s Thesis.
At the start of this research project I only knew labor unions from strikes presented in the
newspapers and on television, and I was wondering why a Dutch labor union would like to participate
in our research project. To my opinion, labor unions were a little old-fashioned and conservative.
I already knew that representative organizations were facing a decline in memberships for the past
years. By the time I was wondering the above, I came to the understanding that in fact it was not
strange at all for a workforce representative organization such as De Unie to participate in this
research project.
As labor unions are facing difficulties on the recruitment and retention of members the primary
concern for unions will be to identify new concepts that adapt to the needs of the changing
workforce and rejuvenate the traditional union. Fortunately, I noticed the management of De Unie to
be aware of the urgency for workforce representative organizations to develop new concepts. And as
a result, De Unie recently started with the first virtual union in the Netherlands. My opinion about De
Unie changed; this might be a progressive organization!
Traditionally, labour unions centres on maintaining the elusive balance in the group-individual
member relationship. I came to the understanding that one of the forces that is changing the group-
individual relationship is the growth of the internet and other ICT tools. The latter increases the
speed and availability of information and turn the group-individual relationship on its head, due to
the emergence of ICT-enabled individualization. For De Unie, understanding members’ needs for