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Employment systems consist of complex arrays of formal and informal rules that structure the relationships between employees and employers. There are many different types of employment systems. Some are specified in considerable detail in collectively bargained quasilegal employment contracts, while others are left to discretion. This book describes the latter type of employment system-one in which there is an active market for knowl edge and skills. This is the salaried employment system of ForestCo-a large multiplant manufacturing company in the forest products industry. Here, supervisors and managers actively adjust the jobs and persons under their authority to meet the market, social, an...
Whether it′s the Internal Revenue Service or the local police department, every person′s life is affected by how public organizations handle information. New technologies are inundating us with data-agencies collect, store, analyze and disseminate information. How organizations manage this information is crucial to their effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability. It is becoming more difficult for public organizations to formulate clear messages. Political pressure from elected officials and public scrutiny make the task of managing communication even more daunting. By helping students see how communication networks must be treated within larger psychological, cultural, and mechanical contexts, Graber presents ways to construct effective channels so information is transmitted to the appropriate audiences, linking policy decisions and feedback from citizens. Blending the best of theory and practice, The Power of Communication helps both students and practitioners turn a flood tide of information into an asset, rather than a menace, to good government.
With the passing of Clifford Collier Clogg at the age of 45 on May 7th 1995, the world lost a talented sociologist, demographer, and statistician all at once. In addition to being a considerable talent in each of these three disciplines, and perhaps more importantly, Cliff was the type of person who brought to gether diverse elements and scholars from all three. Cliff was also a consum mate mentor, nurturing ideas and students and always striving to bring out the best in both. Perhaps nothing illustrates the stature, impact, and respect others held for Cliff more than the fact that never before-and never since has an individual been honored at the time of his death with ceremonies from the n...
During the 1980s the news media were filled with reports of soaring unemployment as 'downsizing' and `restructuring' became the new buzzwords. Firms managed their workforce reduction by increasing the attractiveness of their pension plans-especially their early-retirement plans. In this volume, the authors examine the U.S. auto industry and present a full-scale analysis of the work and retirement decisions of its workers. They address organizational context and the logic of financial incentives in employer-provided early retirement plans. The impact of pension provisions, layoffs, plant closures, attitudes about `generational equity', and other factors influencing the workers' evaluation of the optimum time to end their careers in the auto industry are explored.
Employing both large-scale surveys and in-depth interviews, the authors document the mental health effects on workers caused by the closure of four General Motor plants. They paint a portrait of how the social context in which these workers lived played a critical role in their experiences of unemployment or of keeping their jobs when others around them lost theirs. More than simply a study of unemployment and mental health, this book is also a story of coping and resilience.
A distinguished roster of contributors considers the state of the art of the field at the turn of the 21st century and charts an ambitious agenda for the future. Following what the editors describe as an `evolutionist' approach to the study of labor markets, the chapters address issues of continuity and discontinuity in a wide range of topics including: markets and institutional structures; employment relations and work structures; patterns of stratification in the United States; and public policies, opportunity structures, and economic outcomes.
The advent of transnational economic production and market integration compels sociologists of work to look beyond traditional national boundaries and build an international sociology of work in order to effectively address the human, scientific, and practical challenges posed by global economic transnationalism. The purpose of this volume is to promote transnational dialogue about the sociology of work and help build a truly international discipline in this field.
This international collection explores how science fiction can enrich studies of organization. The papers assembled draw upon perspectives from across the arts and social sciences.
Thisbook is the fruit of a number of years of assimilating another culture and learning about the evolution of its institutions, altogether an incr- iblyrich andrewarding experience. Ihopetopassonto the reader some of that richness in the belief that, even in a “globalizing” context, learning about other nations and cultures is more and more necessary. The reasons andvalues behind this belief are perhaps evident,but I amconvincedthat they bear repeating here. To begin with, the hasty generalizations that often liebehind the cynicism—and ultimately the violence—of ethnocentrism and xe- phobia are still being aired today and still need to be fought, even in “unified and advanced” r...
The Social and Spatial Ecology of Work is an important contribution to the P- num Studies in Work and Industry. It is a theoretically informed case study, unique in that it takes full measure of the importance of physical space and the built environment for the quality of people’s daily working lives and the attainment of organizational goals. Rita Gorawara-Bhat provides us with a theoretical framework for understanding how important space and envir- ment are for experiential aspects of work as they are contextualized in social relations, linked to status and role, and embedded in organizational culture and bureaucratic structure. Her framework is a creatively synthetic one that draws nota...