The concept of the labour process, which is found in parts of the organizational behaviour and industrial relations literature, is taken from Marx's political economy and refers to purposeful activity in which a natural object or raw material is transformed into a useful product which satisfies a human need. The elements of which the process consists are human labour, the object on which work is performed, instruments or tools and a purpose or goal. Different class regimes or modes of production create different labour processes, involving distinct ways of combining human producers, instruments, raw materials and purposes. Tools and raw materials can be owned in common or privately; producers can be free or enslaved, skilled or dedicated to one process in a complex production system. The intention of production can be cooperative, to create useful goods for a whole group or society to share. It can equally be personal, providing subsistence for oneself or one's family. Or, as in the case of capitalism, it can be organized for private need, to satisfy the owner of the instruments of production, raw material and finished product.

Chris Smith