Monographic compilation of essays on trends in labour economics and labour relations in the USA - discusses declining collective bargaining trade union power, the Marxism theoretical approach to trade union structure and trade union behaviour, success and failure of economic policies directed to full employment, impact of labour market rigidities on inflation and low productivity, monetary policy and fiscal policy to stimulate aggregate demand and employment creation, etc. Graphs and references.
. . . the book is both wide-ranging and thought provoking. . . New Directions in the Study of Work and Employment is a first rate collection of papers that provides a state-of-the-art overview of debates on the health and standing of the field of industrial relations. John Kelly, Transfer Charles Whalen s excellent edited volume New Directions in the Study of Work and Employment is a conversation about renewing the academic discipline formerly known as industrial relations. . . The chapters of this book are uniformly of high quality and provocative. . . It inspires the reader to engage and mend the world a bit. David Jacobs, Heterodox Economics Newsletter . . . an intellectually stimulating collection of informed, sound, and innovative responses to modern labor problems. . . . New Directions is a timely work that deserves wide readership by anyone with an association or interest in industrial relations. Although the matter of revitalization of the field of IR is not nearly a new topic, dismissing this volume as simply another typical prescription in the lineage of IR revitalization commentary would be a gross miscalculation. For one, the sheer breadth and depth of the contributing scholars brings a unique intellectual richness to this project. Also, this book distinctively tackles the issue of revitalization from a multitude of perspectives from social capital to network theories to labor and employment law, and from research and theory to teaching and practice and does so in a way that is comprehensive, continuous, and in dialog throughout. Finally this book makes a significant contribution because of its specific recommendations for IR revitalization. Instead of telling scholars and practitioners the need for a new direction but providing few feasible alternatives, New Directions proffers real pathways for progress. This book is a useful guide for navigating the ever-developing world of work and employment relations. Sean Rogers, Perspectives on Work Where is the field of industrial relations going? How can it be rejuvenated? How can it be reformulated to deal with current problems? These are among the difficult questions this stimulating book addresses. George Strauss, University of California, Berkeley, US This book deserves to be widely read. The academic study of industrial relations has recently struggled to adjust to the brave new world of work and employment relations. Too often there has been a retreat into the study of very small issues and insufficient emphasis on the big picture. The chapters in this volume make a valuable contribution to filling this gap. Most important of all, the book is forward-looking. Ken Mayhew, University of Oxford, UK Charles Whalen has assembled a timely and comprehensive examination of the world of work by a distinguished group of international scholars. Robert B. McKersie, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US This book represents a breath of fresh air, provided by many of the most prominent scholars in industrial relations today. It anchors the field to its past, but more importantly highlights pathways to the future. It is indispensable reading, and will form a solid foundation for continued dialogue about new directions for the study of work and employment. Morley Gunderson, University of Toronto, Canada Work and its associated problems are more important to individuals and society than ever before. That is why it is so crucial to re-envision the field of industrial relations (employment relations), which brings together economics, sociology, psychology, history, human resource management, political science, and all other areas of scholarship related to work. This compendium by leading industrial relations scholars makes a vital contribution in that direction. Paula B. Voos, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, US Industrial relations is confronting major challenges. This valuable book deserves a warm welcome since it illustrates and maps a series o
Human impacts on the environment are largely driven by economic forces. If a more ecologically sustainable world is to be achieved, significant changes must be made to the current growth- and consumption-dependent economic system. The Frontier Issues in Economic Thought series was designed to assist the growing number of economists and others who are responding to the need for new thinking about economics in the face of environmental and social forces that are reshaping the world.The Changing Nature of Work examines the causes and effects of the rapid transformation of the world of work. It provides concise summaries of the key writings on work and workplace issues, extending the frontiers of labor economics to include the often overlooked social and psychological dimensions of work.The book begins with a foreword by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich that presents labor in contemporary perspective. An introductory overview provides a brief history of the changing nature of work and situates current problems in the context of longer-term developments. Following that are eight topical sections that feature three- to five-page summaries for each of the ten to twelve most important articles or book chapters on a subject.Sections cover.new directions in labor economics social and psychological dimensions of work and unemployment globalization and labor new technologies and organizational change flexibility and internal labor markets new patterns of industrial relations family, gender, paid and unpaid work difference and diversity in the workplaceThe book provides a roadmap for scholars on the vast and diverse literature concerning labor issues, and affords students a quick overview of that rapidly changing field. It is an important contribution to the series and is a valuable book for anyone interested in labor, as well as for students and scholars of labor economics, industrial sociology, industrial relations, social psychology, and their respective disciplines.
John W. Budd contends that the turbulence of the current workplace and the importance of work for individuals and society make it vitally important that employment be given "a human face." Contradicting the traditional view of the employment relationship as a purely economic transaction, with business wanting efficiency and workers wanting income, Budd argues that equity and voice are equally important objectives. The traditional narrow focus on efficiency must be balanced with employees' entitlement to fair treatment (equity) and the opportunity to have meaningful input into decisions (voice), he says. Only through a greater respect for these human concerns can broadly shared prosperity, respect for human dignity, and equal appreciation for the competing human rights of property and labor be achieved.Budd proposes a fresh set of objectives for modern democracies--efficiency, equity, and voice--and supports this new triad with an intellectual framework for analyzing employment institutions and practices. In the process, he draws on scholarship from industrial relations, law, political science, moral philosophy, theology, psychology, sociology, and economics, and advances debates over free markets, globalization, human rights, and ethics. He applies his framework to important employment-related topics, such as workplace governance, the New Deal industrial relations system, comparative industrial relations, labor union strategies, and globalization. These analyses create a foundation for reforming employment practices, social norms, and public policies. In the book's final chapter, Budd advocates the creation of the field of human resources and industrial relations and explores the wider implications of this renewed conceptualization of industrial relations.
While there are many economists in schools, government, unions, and non-profit organizations working in the institutionalst tradition, there has been no book that describes this tradition -- until now. Editors Champlin and Knoedler have brought together prominent labor economists, highly respected institutional economists, and newer scholars working on such compelling issues as immigration, wage discrimination, and living wages. Their essays portray the institutionalist tradition in labor as it exists today as well as its historical and theoretical origins. The result is a major contribution to the literature of labor economics, institutionalist economics, and the history of economic thought.
In New Directions for Organization Theory, Jeffrey Pfeffer offers a comprehensive analysis and overview of the field of organization theory and its research literature. This work traces the evolution of organization studies, particularly its more recent history, and highlights the principle concepts and controversies characterizing the study of organizations. Pfeffer argues that the world of organizations has changed in several important ways, including the increasing externalization of employment and the growing use of contingent workers; the changing size distribution of organizations, with a larger proportion of smaller organizations; the increasing influence of external capital markets on organizational decision-making and a concomitant decrease in managerial autonomy; and increasing salary inequality within organizations in the US compared both to the past and to other industrialized nations. These changes and their public policy implications make it especially important to understand organizations as social entities. But Pfeffer questions whether the research literature of organization studies has either addressed these changes and their causes or made much of a contribution to the discussion of public policy. New Directions for Organization Theory provides a clear, accessible summary of the current state of organization studies, skillfully synthesizing diverse research and presenting it in an orderly, insightful manner. It offers suggestions for the development of the field, including a call to focus more on issues of design and to use the ability to understand real phenomena to help distinguish among theoretical approaches. A major scholar in the field of organization theory, Jeffrey Pfeffer offers a perspective on its current state that will be of interest and value to scholars and graduate students interested in organizations.
The crisis in trade unionism is now a prevailing concern in the United States, as well as in Europe. Its main symptom is, of course, the decrease in union membership. Still, other, less observable elements account for the concern, namely the obsolescence of discourse, the decrease of militant motivation, and the question of efficiency of strikes or collective bargaining. One must keep in mind, however, that trade unions will evolve differently from one country to another. What we know about trade unions has changed over the years. We can now more accurately assess the effects of union action, especially with regard to labor market, wages, and productivity. This book adds to the assessment by integrating the new theories of organizations, contracts, and property rights. In doing so, we shift from a study of markets to one of hierarchies. Thus, the current literature comes back to its sources (but with improved analytical instruments) by returning to the Ross-Dunlop debate on the nature of the trade union. This more complex outlook of trade unions as an organization-not only as an abstract or bodyless supplier of monopolistic labor-allows one to understand better the apparent differences between unions (mainly American) whose action is oriented towards work relation ships and labor contract management and unions (European or "Latin") who are closer to a pressure group wielding power on the political front.
This book features original research underpinned with theory drawn from economics, organization theory, history and social psychology. The authors deliver a comprehensive analysis of trade unions’ prospects in the new millennium as well as case studies which deal with topical issues such as: the reasons for the loss of five million members in the 1980s and 1990s the way in which unions’ own structures inhibit their revitalization the apparent failure of unions to thrive in the benign times since 1997 the extent to which use of the internet will permit unions to break with their tradition of organizing by occupation or industry the prospects for real social partnership at national level the way in which high performance workplaces in the US give voice to workers without unions. Written by some of the leading scholars in the area, this book gives an insight into union prospects for the future and has important policy implications for all parties concerned with industrial relations, unions, employers and governments.
The advent of the era of "e-Service," the provision of services over electronic networks like the internet, is one of the dominant business themes of the new millennium. It reflects the fundamental shift in the economy from goods to services and the explosive expansion of information technology. This book provides a collection of different perspectives on e-Service and a unified framework to understand it, even as the business community grapples with the concept. It features contributions from key researchers and practitioners from both the private and public sectors, as well leading scholars from the fields of marketing, information systems, and computer science. They focus on three key areas: the customer-technology interface; e-Service business opportunities and strategies; and public sector e-Service opportunities. The insights they offer will be equally useful to students, scholars, and practitioners.
