Book Review: Updating <i>The Transformation of American Industrial Relations</i>

Kochan, Thomas A.; Katz, Harry C.; McKersie, Robert B.

doi:10.1177/0019793916662005a

Cited by 19 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, there was a decline in the industrial relations system and private sector unionization in organizations (Kochan, 1986). There was also a shift from a manufacturing to a service economy, and, in the new economy, organizations viewed employees as being critical to their success.…”

Section: Client Server and Pc-based Applications (Mid-1980s-mid-1990s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of the Field of Human Resource Information Systems: Co-Evolution of Technology and HR Processes

Johnson¹,

Lukaszewski²,

Stone³

2016

CAIS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In this paper, we review the professional and academic development of the human resource information systems (HRIS) field to assess its progress and suggest ways for moving research forward. To do so, we examine the interplay between the evolution of technology and the HR field through four key eras of technology: 1) mainframe, 2) client server, 3) ERP and Web-based systems, and 4) cloud-based systems. In each era, we discuss how HR practices and requirements drove the need for the use of these systems and how these systems allowed the HR field to evolve. In addition, we trace the HRIS subfield and its relation to the technological evolutions occurring in the HR field. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that much of the research on the use of technology to support HR has occurred only in the last 15-20 years as a response to the use of the Web as a medium for delivering HRIS. We conclude by discussing how scholars from the information systems and human resources fields can come together to help advance HRIS.

show abstract

Section: Client Server and Pc-based Applications (Mid-1980s-mid-1990s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evolution of the Field of Human Resource Information Systems: Co-Evolution of Technology and HR Processes

Johnson¹,

Lukaszewski²,

Stone³

2016

CAIS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This is well-documented in the sociological research on job quality (Kalleberg 2013), the industrial relations literature (Kochan, Katz, and McKersie 1986), and the management literature (Cappelli 1999). In particular, industry-based empirical research has documented how variation in employer strategies between firms in the same industry has led to variation in the quality of jobs (Appelbaum, Bernhardt, and Murnane 2003;Gautie and Schmitt 2010).…”

Section: The Problemmentioning

confidence: 83%

Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality

Bernhardt

Batt

Houseman

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in ABSTRACTThe goal of this paper is to develop a comprehensive research agenda to analyze trends in domestic outsourcing in the United States-firms' use of contractors and independent contractors-and its effects on job quality and inequality. In the process, we review definitions of outsourcing, the available scant empirical research, and limitations of existing data sources. We also summarize theories that attempt to explain why firms contract out for certain functions and assess their predictions about likely impacts on job quality. We then lay out in detail a major research initiative on domestic outsourcing, discussing the questions it should answer and providing a menu of research methodologies and potential data sources. Such a research investment will be a critical resource for policymakers and other stakeholders as they seek solutions to problems arising from the changing nature of work. JEL Classification Codes: L24, L22, J31

show abstract

“…Attempts to introduce more flexible work arrangements in American workplaces-involving more broadly defined jobs, promotion on merit rather than seniority, and pay for performance-have repeatedly brought managers and unions into conflict because they have involved rolling back formal rules and "objective" criteria used for making decisions under the older union regime (Kochan, Katz, and McKersie 1986). Studies that explore the impact of diversity practices have considered unionization as an important potential confound, because it is theorized to produce some similar changes in the employment relationship.…”

Section: Unions and Managerial Discretionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seniority systems, a common component of many union contracts, dictated the order in which employers can promote and lay off workers I am constantly surprised at the number of very large companies that make personnel decisions based on highly arbitrary and subjective criteria. These latter companies are typically ones that emphasize both a strong organizational culture and union avoidance, and whose senior executives view any move toward structured policy as a threat to management discretion (Bielby 2000, p. 127).Attempts to introduce more flexible work arrangements in American workplaces-involving more broadly defined jobs, promotion on merit rather than seniority, and pay for performance-have repeatedly brought managers and unions into conflict because they have involved rolling back formal rules and "objective" criteria used for making decisions under the older union regime (Kochan, Katz, and McKersie 1986). Studies that explore the impact of diversity practices have considered unionization as an important potential confound, because it is theorized to produce some similar changes in the employment relationship.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

Ferguson

2015

American Journal of Sociology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Does limiting managers' discretion limit organizations' scope for discrimination? Social--psychological research argues that it limits opportunities to exercise cognitive biases. Organizational research has found that formal personnel practices that establish accountability for workplace diversity have increased women and minority representation in management. However, drawing causal inferences from such studies is complicated because adopting such policies may be endogenous to the firm's wish to hire and promote women and minorities. This study uses unionization elections to conduct a regression--discontinuity test from which stronger causal inferences can be made. I find that while unionization is associated with more representative workplaces and more women and minorities in management, these effects disappear close to the discontinuity threshold. Most of the effects of unionization on workforce diversity may be attributable to the unobserved drivers of selection into unionization. This has similar implications for the causal effects of diversity policies adopted by managers. Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Emilio Castilla, Roberto Fernandez, Aruna Ranganathan, Susan Silbey, Jesper Sørensen, and seminar participants at Stanford GSB, Berkeley--Haas, MIT--Sloan, INSEAD, and the 30 th EGOS Colloquium for comments on the manuscript. Sheldon Friedman, Alfonso Nevárez, and Gordon Pavy at the NLRB and Bliss Cartwright and Ronald Edwards at the EEOC gave invaluable support with the data. Direct correspondence to John--Paul Ferguson, Stanford Graduate School of Business. Email: jpferg@stanford.edu. suggests that it does. This work situates much employment discrimination not in the conscious actions of bigoted managers but in the unconscious impact of cognitive biases, deployed through personnel policies that fail to take such biases into account. As one classic review of the subject summarized, "We cannot rid work organizations of discrimination until we recognize both that much employment discrimination originates in automatic cognitive processes, and that it occurs because of work organizations' personnel practices" (Reskin 2000, p. 321).This social--psychological approach to discrimination reinforces an older organizational perspective on the subject. Organizational research has long emphasized the existence of informal social structures within formal organizations (Mayo 1984;Dalton 1959;Scott and Davis 2006) and recognized that, in the absence of formal structures, informal processes like ascriptive homophily will shape organizational careers and rewards. This is why, in his unromantic defense of complex organizations, Perrow (1986, p. 6) emphasizes the importance of rules that limit managers' discretion in "Purging Particularism":Particularism means that criteria irrelevant for efficient production (e.g., only relatives of the boss have a chance at top positions), in contrast to universalistic criteria (e.g., competence is all that counts), are used to choose employees. The criteria of eff...

show abstract

Book Review: Updating The Transformation of American Industrial Relations

Cited by 19 publications

References 15 publications

The Evolution of the Field of Human Resource Information Systems: Co-Evolution of Technology and HR Processes

The Evolution of the Field of Human Resource Information Systems: Co-Evolution of Technology and HR Processes

Domestic Outsourcing in the United States: A Research Agenda to Assess Trends and Effects on Job Quality

The Control of Managerial Discretion: Evidence from Unionization’s Impact on Employment Segregation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About