Labor Relations Commons^™

Weiser Carrots And Sticks: Motivation Beyond Money At The Shakedown Café, Julian A. Martinez

CMC Senior Theses

It is generally assumed that monetary incentivization is the most effective means of motivating organizationally-beneficial behaviors. Individuals, under this line of thought, pursue their own objective self-interest above all else. However, evidence is being uncovered that indicates that human motivation may be a much more complicated facet of the human psyche. The purpose of this study is to examine the deeper underpinnings that drive people work that might lie beyond financial rewards. In order to do this, the Shakedown Café, a student-run restaurant on Pitzer College’s campus, will be examined. This specific organization is of particular interest because it does …

Workplace Dignity In A Total Institution: Examining The Experiences Of Foxconn’S Migrant Workforce, Kristen Lucas, Dongjing Kang, Zhou Li

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

In 2010, a cluster of suicides at the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group sparked worldwide outcry about working conditions at its factories in China. Within a few short months, 14 young migrant workers jumped to their deaths from buildings on the Foxconn campus, an all-encompassing compound where they had worked, eaten, and slept. Even though the language of workplace dignity was invoked in official responses from Foxconn and its business partner Apple, neither of these parties directly examined workers’ dignity in their ensuing audits. Based on our analysis of media accounts of life at Foxconn, we argue that its …

The Alternative Staffing Work Experience: Populations, Barriers And Employment Outcomes, Helen Levine, Brandynn Holgate, Risa Takenaka, Françoise Carré

Center for Social Policy Publications

This paper presents results of a three-year study of workers and former workers at four Alternative Staffing Organizations (ASOs). ASOs are fee-for-service job brokering businesses created by community-based organizations and national nonprofits whose objective is to gain access to temporary and “temp to permanent” opportunities for workers facing barriers to employment. The paper looks specifically at the relationship between the personal characteristics of workers, their temporary work experiences through the ASO, and the subsequent employment status of former ASO workers, determined through a follow-up survey conducted by telephone six to eight months after workers had left the ASO. We found …

Informality And Labor Market Dynamics During Economic Downturns: Evidence From Egypt, Rania Roushdy, May Gadallah

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This working paper investigates the evolution of the Egyptian labor market during the world financial crisis period. There has been a mild decline in unemployment, combined with a slight increase in both labor force participation and employment to population ratio. Some subgroups of workers have been more vulnerable than others during the crisis period. The results of this paper concur with the historical experience, which suggests that young, old, unskilled and female workers are more likely to bear the brunt of an economic downturn.

Geen Grenzen Aan De Groei: De Belgische Syndicalisatiegraad In De Jaren 2000, Kurt Vandaele, Jean Faniel

Kurt Vandaele

Aan het begin van de eenentwintigste eeuw daalt de syndicalisatiegraad in heel Europa. Héél Europa? Nee, een klein landje blijft (moedig) weerstand bieden aan deze trend. Het aantal vakbondsleden blijft toenemen in België. Dit geldt voor de drie representatieve vakbondsorganisaties. En, sterker nog, het ledental houdt minstens gelijke tred met de stijging van de ‘afhankelijke’ beroepsbevolking. De syndicalisatiegraad loopt dan ook verder op. Deze bijdrage analyseert de ledencijfers tussen 2001 en 2010 in detail.

Evaluating The Variations In Undeclared Work In The Eu28, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Explaining The Persistence Of The Informal Economy In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Lessons From Moscow, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

To evaluate critically the competing explanations for the persistence of the informal economy that variously represent this sphere as a residue, by-product, alternative and/or complement to the formal economy, this paper reports a survey of livelihood practices in 313 Moscow households. The finding is that the majority of households primarily depend on informal work to secure their livelihood and that although each and every theorisation is wholly valid with regard to particular types of informal work and/or specific population groups, no one articulation fully captures the diverse nature and multiple meanings of the informal economy in contemporary Moscow. The paper …

Theorizing The Self-Service Economy: A Case Study Of Do-It-Yourself (Diy) Activity, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To explain this, a range of competing theories have emerged which variously portray those engaged in self-servicing either as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of necessity or choice. This paper evaluates critically the validity of these rival explanations. To do this, the extent of, and reasons for, self-servicing in the domestic realm is empirically evaluated through an internet survey of 5,500 people living in the city of Sheffield in England. This resulted in 418 valid responses (a 7.6 …

Enabling Enterprise: Tackling The Barriers To Formalisation, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

No abstract provided.

From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers

Colin C Williams

From Market Hegemony To Diverse Economies: Evaluating The Plurality Of Labour Practices In Ukraine, Colin C. Williams

Colin C Williams

Drawing inspiration from a burgeoning corpus of scholars who have begun to question the narrative of impending market hegemony, this paper seeks to further advance this emergent ‘diverse economies’ literature by constructing a conceptual framework for representing the multiple labour practices in economies. Transcending the simplistic market/non-market dichotomy, this conceptualises multiple kinds of labour existing along a spectrum from market-oriented to non-market oriented practices, which is cross-cut by another spectrum ranging from wholly monetised to wholly non-monetised practices. The resultant portrayal of a plurality of labour practices that seamlessly merge into each other is then applied to understanding the types …

How Much For Cash?: Tackling The Cash-In-Hand Culture In The European Property And Construction Sector, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Jan Windebank

Colin C Williams

Work Beyond Employment: Representations Of Informal Economic Activities, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin

Colin C Williams

Evaluating The Persistence Of Selfprovisioning In Central And Eastern Europe: Some Evidence From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin

Colin C Williams

Testing The Influence Of Different Sector’S Contribution To The State Domestic Product Of North Eastern States Of India, Aviral Kumar Tiwari Mr., Sankharaj Roy

Aviral Kumar Tiwari

Northeastern region of India is basically a developing region contributing 2.54% of the country’s GDP. The factors that comprises of the state gross domestic product (SGDP) are agricultural, allied activities, manufacturing, industry and services. The basic objective of the paper is to find out the sector that had been significantly contributing to the state domestic products of the eight northeastern states for the period 1999-2007. For analyzing panel data, regression method was chosen. We found that impact of agriculture, industry, service and transport is positive and significant whereas impact of manufacturing is mildly significant.

The Evolution Of Unemployment Relief In Great Britain, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] Relatively little has been written about unemployment relief during the period between the passage of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834 and the adoption of national unemployment insurance in 1911. This study is an attempt to help fill the gap in the literature. It examines the changing roles played by poor relief, private charity, trade unions, and public employment in the lives of the urban unemployed during cyclical downturns from 1834 to 1911. The story that emerges offers no support for a "Whig theory of welfare." Public assistance for the unemployed was more generous, and more certain, from …

The Development Of The Neoclassical Tradition In Labor Economics, George R. Boyer, Robert S. Smith

George R. Boyer

This essay on labor economics examines neoclassical theory's rise to ascendancy following the second World War, with a secondary focus on the relative decline but continued influence of institutionalist economic theory. The authors describe the evolution of institutional and neoclassical theory from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, examine some early intellectual debates between the two camps, briefly describe the work of neoclassical labor economics pioneers, and look at major developments over the past 30 years. They argue that neoclassical economists' increasing intellectual breadth and influence in public policy have led them to pay closer attention to issues that have …

The Historical Background Of The Communist Manifesto, George R. Boyer

George R. Boyer

[Excerpt] The Manifesto of the Communist Party, published 150 years ago in London in February 1848, is one of the most influential and widely-read documents of the past two centuries. The historian A. J. P. Taylor (1967, p. 7) has called it a "holy book," and contends that because of it, "everyone thinks differently about politics and society." And yet, despite its enormous influence in the 20th century, the Manifesto is very much a period piece, a document of what was called the "hungry" 1840s. It is hard to imagine it being written in any other decade of the 19th …