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Articles 1 - 24 of 24
Full-Text Articles in Labor Relations
Introduction To Special Section: Careers In Context, Hugh Gunz, Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Pamela Tolbert
Introduction To Special Section: Careers In Context, Hugh Gunz, Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Pamela Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] Career scholars regularly cite Hughes’ (1937: 413) dictum that the study careers as “the moving perspective in which persons orient themselves with reference to the social order, and of the typical sequences and concatenations of office – may be expected to reveal the nature and 'working constitution' of a society.” Yet the greater part of the careers literature typically ignores this by focusing, largely, on the careers of individuals and influencing factors mainly linked to the person and his or her immediate context, to the neglect of the broader context within which the careers are lived. However, large-scale economic …
Introduction To The Demography Volume, Samuel B. Bacharach, Pamela S. Tolbert
Introduction To The Demography Volume, Samuel B. Bacharach, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] This volume represents another effort by Research in the Sociology of Organizations to focus on a crucial issue in organizational sociology. In some of the previous volumes, we concentrated on organizations and professions (Volume 8, 1991), the structuring of participation in organizations (Volume 7, 1989), and the social psychological processes in organizations (Volume 3, 1984). This volume concentrates on one of the most important emerging issues in organizational sociology—the issue of organizational demography.
Aspirations To Manage: A Comparison Of Engineering Students And Working Engineers, Sara L. Rynes, Pamela S. Tolbert, Pamela G. Strausser
Aspirations To Manage: A Comparison Of Engineering Students And Working Engineers, Sara L. Rynes, Pamela S. Tolbert, Pamela G. Strausser
Pamela S Tolbert
Many, perhaps most, individuals who are trained as engineers eventually become managers. However, the reasons for this occupational transition are unclear. The present study examines the occupational aspirations (technical versus managerial) of two groups of engineers with varying work experience: current engineering students and engineering alumni with 10-15 years of experience. Results suggest that managerial aspirations are as common among students as among engineers with work experience. However, the aspirations of experienced engineers are more reliably predicted by their values, beliefs about engineering, and career management strategies. Implications and future research needs are noted.
Organizations Of Professionals: Governance Structures In Large Law Firms, Pamela S. Tolbert
Organizations Of Professionals: Governance Structures In Large Law Firms, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Despite the growing number of studies of professionals in organizations, surprisingly little attention has been given to the way in which professions shape organizations. This research addresses this issue by examining the determinants of formal structures in large law firms for decision making in two areas: compensation and promotion. We argue that the structures for compensation decisions are strongly influenced by contemporary business strategies adopted by law firms, as indicated by a number of organizational characteristics. Because promotion decisions are closely tied to the institution of professional authority, however, structures for these decisions are largely unaffected by such strategies. The …
Introduction: At The Intersection Of Organizations And Occupations, Stephen R. Barley, Pamela S. Tolbert
Introduction: At The Intersection Of Organizations And Occupations, Stephen R. Barley, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] The lack of research and, by extension, the paucity of empirically grounded theory on organizations and occupations have left unanswered questions that are critical for understanding the social organization of work in post-industrial economies. Under what conditions are organizations likely to bureaucratize professional tasks? What types of tasks are most likely to be affected by such bureaucratization and how do occupations adjust to such changes? Conversely, what forces have transformed organizations into breeding grounds for new occupations? How are organizations affected when they employ large numbers of professionals? What dynamics occur when the boundaries between occupation and organization begin …
Institutionalization And Negotiations In Organizations, Pamela S. Tolbert, Jeffrey B. Arthur
Institutionalization And Negotiations In Organizations, Pamela S. Tolbert, Jeffrey B. Arthur
Pamela S Tolbert
Most research on organizational negotiations has concentrated on factors that affect negotiating outcomes, given some predefined problem or issue. In contrast, this paper focuses on the institutionalization of negotiations, or the process through which social definitions of negotiating issues, procedures and outcomes emerge and are accepted by participants as legitimate boundaries of negotiation. A two-stage model of the institutionalization process is proposed and a number of factors affecting the process at different stages are discussed. Historical and contemporary evidence from labor relations in the U.S. steel industry is used to illustrate these arguments. The implications of institutionalization for further research …
Negotiations In Organizations: A Sociological Perspective, Pamela S. Tolbert
Negotiations In Organizations: A Sociological Perspective, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] The paper begins by elaborating on the utility of viewing organizational conflict and negotiations in social movement terms, and some of the implications of this approach for negotiations research. It then turns to a review of the traditional sociological literature on power and conflict in organizations, and of current research on social movements, discussing the points of complementarity of these two literatures. Finally, the implications of the combination of the social movement and organizations literatures for research on negotiation are discussed, focusing on the way in which negotiating issues, strategies and outcomes are likely to vary among different types …
Two-Tiered Faculty Systems And Organizational Outcomes, Pamela S. Tolbert
Two-Tiered Faculty Systems And Organizational Outcomes, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] In this chapter, I present a case study of a department at a large research university in which the use of non-tenured faculty increased dramatically over three decades. I begin by examining the historical sources of the expansion. I describe the arrangements that were implemented to resolve these problems. These arrangements exemplify many of the “best management practices” for non-tenure-track faculty mentioned earlier. Based on discussions with non-tenure-track and tenure-track department members and university administrators, I assess the effectiveness of these employment arrangements in resolving problems and the general consequences for the department of having a large contingent of …
Disentangling Achievement Orientation And Goal Setting: Effects On Self-Regulatory Processes, Supaporn Vithayathawornwong, Sheila Danko, Pamela S. Tolbert
Disentangling Achievement Orientation And Goal Setting: Effects On Self-Regulatory Processes, Supaporn Vithayathawornwong, Sheila Danko, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Creativity has been underscored as a key factor to organizational adaptability and competitiveness in today's rapidly changing business environment. Designing as well as managing work environments that facilitate creativity have therefore received growing attention, resulting in a multitude of research examining the social-psychological work environment. Few studies, however, have focused on the contribution of the physical work environment to supporting creativity in the workplace. This study focuses on the role of the physical environment in supporting creativity in organizations by identifying specific physical features and attributes of the work environment perceived to promote or inhibit creativity. The research design compares …
Gender, Family And Career In The Era Of Boundarylessness: Determinants And Effects Of Intra- And Inter-Organizational Mobility, P. Monique Valcour, Pamela S. Tolbert
Gender, Family And Career In The Era Of Boundarylessness: Determinants And Effects Of Intra- And Inter-Organizational Mobility, P. Monique Valcour, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Changes in patterns of long-term employment make understanding the determinants of different career forms increasingly important to careers research. At the same time, the rise of dual-earner families demands greater attention to the ways in which gender and family characteristics shape careers than has been paid by traditional research. This paper addresses these issues, examining the determinants and consequences of intra-organizational and inter-organizational mobility, using a sample of employees from dual-earner couples. We find significant gender differences in these different types of career mobility, and in the effect of family relations on different forms of mobility. Women experience more inter-organizational …
Men's And Women's Definitions Of "Good" Jobs: Similarities And Differences By Age And Across Time, Pamela S. Tolbert, Phyllis Moen
Men's And Women's Definitions Of "Good" Jobs: Similarities And Differences By Age And Across Time, Pamela S. Tolbert, Phyllis Moen
Pamela S Tolbert
Whether and to what extent men and women hold differing preferences for particular job attributes remains the subject of debate, with a sizable number of empirical studies producing conflicting results. These conflicts may have temporal sources—historical changes in men's and women's preferences for particular job attributes, as well as changes in preferences that commonly occur over individuals' life cycle. Most previous research has neglected the effects of time on gender differences. Using data from national surveys of workers over a 22-year period, this study focuses explicitly on changes by age over time in men's and women's preferences for five key …
[Review Of The Book The System Of Professions: An Essay On The Division Of Expert Labor], Pamela Tolbert
[Review Of The Book The System Of Professions: An Essay On The Division Of Expert Labor], Pamela Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] In The System of Professions, Abbott directly confronts these important and long-neglected issues in an original and highly thought-provoking approach to the analysis of professions. Focusing on the dynamics through which occupations define their jurisdiction, or the right to control the provision of particular services and activities, this approach draws attention to one of the most critical determinants of jurisdiction, interprofessional competition. Based on an astoundingly wide, cross-cultural knowledge of the histories of a variety of occupations, Abbott provides a rich and complex analysis of the nature of relationships among professional occupations and the forces that shape these relationships …
[Review Of The Book The Shopfloor Politics Of New Technology], Pamela Tolbert
[Review Of The Book The Shopfloor Politics Of New Technology], Pamela Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] The results of the study provide support for Wilkinson's primary contention that neither the adoption of particular technologies nor the organization of work based upon those technologies is objectively determined. Instead, both are the result of informal political negotiations between management and workers. Much of the previous work on the impact of technology on organizations has assumed, at least implicitly, that the adoption of technical innovations is determined by the pressures of competitive survival, and that the requirements of particular technologies largely dictate the form of work arrangements. Wilkinson is critical of such assumptions, and his research clearly supports …
[Review Of The Book Strategy And Organizations: A West Coast Perspective], Pamela S. Tolbert
[Review Of The Book Strategy And Organizations: A West Coast Perspective], Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] More recently, organizational strategists have begun to turn their attention to issues of internal as well as external organizational relations and to examine many of the traditional assumptions underlying strategic analyses, with an increasingly critical eye. This book reflects such changes, both in the diversity of approaches taken by different authors and in the challenges that are posed to extant wisdom of the strategy literature.
Comments On "War And Peace", Pamela S. Tolbert
Comments On "War And Peace", Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] In "War and Peace," Baron, Dobbin, and Jennings provide an integrative analysis of the role of internal organizational requirements and external environmental forces in structuring the personnel function in modern organizations. To appreciate fully the scope of this contribution to organizational theory and research, it is useful to consider briefly the general development of studies of formal organizations over the last four decades.
Institutional Environments And Resource Dependence: Sources Of Administrative Structure In Institutions Of Higher Education, Pamela S. Tolbert
Institutional Environments And Resource Dependence: Sources Of Administrative Structure In Institutions Of Higher Education, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Two theoretical perspectives are combined to explain the pattern of administrative offices in public and private institutions of higher education. The first perspective, resource dependence, is used to show that the need to ensure a stable flow of resources from external sources of support partially determines administrative differentiation. The second perspective, institutionalization, emphasizes the common understandings and social definitions of organizational behavior and structure considered appropriate and nonproblematic and suggests conditions under which dependency will and will not predict the number of administrative offices that manage funding relations. The results of the analyses indicate that dependence on nontraditional sources of …
Organizational Institutionalism And Sociology: A Reflection, Pamela S. Tolbert
Organizational Institutionalism And Sociology: A Reflection, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] In 1991, DiMaggio and Powell observed: Institutional theory presents a paradox. Institutional analysis is as old as Emile Durkheim's exhortation to study 'social facts as things', yet sufficiently novel to be preceded by new in much of the contemporary literature. (1991: 1) We argue that this paradox is, at least in part, the result of a long-standing tension in sociology between more materialist, interest-driven explanations of behavior and ideational, normative explanations, a tension that has often driven oscillating waves of sociological theorizing. It underlies many classical debates (e.g., between Spencer and Durkheim, Weber and Marx, and even Parsons and …
Physicians’ Work, Alice A. Oberfield, Pamela S. Tolbert
Physicians’ Work, Alice A. Oberfield, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] In order to evaluate the full impact of such changes on physicians' work and the health care system, it is necessary to understand the forces bringing change about. Thus, we begin by providing a brief history of the contemporary medical care system, then turn to an assessment of current trends and their consequences for the practice of medicine.
Institutional Sources Of Organizational Culture In Major Law Firms, Pamela S. Tolbert
Institutional Sources Of Organizational Culture In Major Law Firms, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] A large body of research has been generated within the last few years on the forms and functions of organizational culture and on the consequences of culture for organizational control and effectiveness. Surprisingly little attention has been given, however, to the sources of organizational culture and, in particular, to the features of organizations that affect its maintenance and transmission. This chapter uses an institutionalization perspective to explore these issues.
Organizational Demography And Individual Careers: Structure, Norms, And Outcomes, Barbara Lawrence, Pamela Tolbert
Organizational Demography And Individual Careers: Structure, Norms, And Outcomes, Barbara Lawrence, Pamela Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] As the terms career choices and opportunity structure suggest, demographic influences on careers operate at multiple levels of analysis: at the individual level, on individuals' perceptions of work environments and career decisions, and at the organization level, on group dynamics and organizational selection processes. However, there are few theories that explicate the processes that bridge these levels. What are the dynamics by which demographic patterns influence an individual's career choices? Similarly, how do individual actions shape the processes of demographic change within organizations? This chapter presents one approach to exploring such questions.
Group Gender Composition And Work Group Relations: Theories, Evidence, And Issues, Pamela Tolbert, Mary Graham, Alice Andrews
Group Gender Composition And Work Group Relations: Theories, Evidence, And Issues, Pamela Tolbert, Mary Graham, Alice Andrews
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] Prior to the publication of Kanter's seminal Men and Women of the Corporation in 1977, the field of organizational studies exhibited a striking degree of oblivion to the effect of gender relations on work group dynamics. This neglect may have been due, in part, to the relatively small proportion of women in the labor force in the first half of the 20th century, as well as to high levels of occupational and job segregation, which helped conceal the influence of group gender composition on individual and group behavior. In the postwar years, however, women's rate of entry into the …
Alternative Employment Arrangements, Janet H. Marler, Pamela S. Tolbert, George T. Milkovich
Alternative Employment Arrangements, Janet H. Marler, Pamela S. Tolbert, George T. Milkovich
Pamela S Tolbert
[Excerpt] Part-time work, temporary work, independent contracting, and self-employment have experienced unprecedented increases in the last several decades. These employment arrangements characterize approximately 25-30 percent of the workforce, and they are growing fast. The rate of growth in part-time workers is 30 percent greater than in the overall work force, the rate of temporary agency workers is more than five times greater, and the growth in self-employment now equals the growth in civilian employment. These changes coincide with the increasing participation of married women in the labor force, the prevalence of dual-earner households, and the restructuring of the traditional employment …
Risky Business? Entrepreneurship In The New Independent-Power Sector, Wesley D. Sine, Heather A. Haveman, Pamela S. Tolbert
Risky Business? Entrepreneurship In The New Independent-Power Sector, Wesley D. Sine, Heather A. Haveman, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Building on sociological research on institutions and organizations and psychological research on risk and decision making, we propose that the development of institutions that reduce the risks of entering new sectors has a stronger effect on the founding rates of firms using novel technologies than on firms using established technologies. In an analysis of the independent-power sector of the electricity industry from 1980 to 1992, we found that the development of regulative and cognitive institutions legitimated the entire sector and provided incentives for all sector entrants; thus, foundings of all kinds of firms multiplied rapidly but had a stronger impact …
Institutionalization And Structuration: Studying The Links Between Action And Institution, Stephen R. Barley, Pamela S. Tolbert
Institutionalization And Structuration: Studying The Links Between Action And Institution, Stephen R. Barley, Pamela S. Tolbert
Pamela S Tolbert
Institutional theory and structuration theory both contend that institutions and actions are inextricably linked and that institutionalization is best understood as a dynamic, ongoing process. Institutionalists, however, have pursued an empirical agenda that has largely ignored how institutions are created, altered, and reproduced, in part, because their models of institutionalization as a process are underdeveloped. Structuration theory, on the other hand, largely remains a process theory of such abstraction that it has generated few empirical studies. This paper discusses the similarities between the two theories, develops an argument for why a fusion of the two would enable institutional theory to …