Bargaining Over Housework

A bstract .   This paper investigates the limited increase in housework provided by husbands in response to higher earnings and labor force participation by their wives. An explanation is provided that integrates the time availability, relative resources, and gender ideology perspectives that traditionally have been used to explain housework decisions. The outcome is the result of a bargaining process in which two concerns are identified as limiting the response of primary wage earning spouses to the employment of secondary wage earning spouses. First, the secondary wage earners' employment may in part be motivated by a concern about the durability of their marriage rather than their family's welfare. Second, a balancing of the inconveniences and the net earnings of the additional employment may be viewed as making only a limited contribution to the family's welfare. Empirical results of an analysis of the individual household tasks imply that both gender ideology and the spouses' earnings are important in determining the hours that each spouse devotes to household tasks. When making decisions about the amount of housework to perform, both spouses respond to changes in relative earnings, but the response of husbands, who are usually the primary wage earners, is smaller than that of wives, who tend to be the secondary wage earners.     

Work-force cutback decisions of Israeli managers: a test of a strategic model

This study investigates the decision-making pattern of managers in the Israeli electronics industry. The purpose of the study is to examine whether decisions regarding work-force cutbacks in this industry follow Greenhalgh, Lawrence and Sutton’s (1988) model of work-force reduction. Their model proposes that such decisions are made incrementally and hierarchically, ranging from lay-offs with no severance pay (the most severe strategy for employees’ well-being), to hiring freeze (the least severe strategy for employees’ well-being). The study hypothesis was that cutback decisions of Israeli managers followed this hierarchy, and that the likelihood of the hierarchical decision- making pattern was increased in groups characterized by non-Israeli national affiliation, public sector affiliation, corporate guaranteed employment policy and employment of temporary labour. It was also hypothesized that these characteristics determined the point at which cutback decisions enter the cutback strategies hierarchy. The results of the present study showed that Israeli managers, unlike their American counterparts, generally have not followed this strategic model. However, in a sub-group analysis it was found that the incremental model was used in those organizations characterized by affiliation with the public sector, by use of temporary labour and by guaranteed employment policy. The only characteristic found significantly to determine the entering point in the cutback hierarchy was sectoralaffiliation. These findings are explained using four different theoretical approaches: (a) downsizing decision making (there is little evidence in literature of rational decision making under conditions of organizational stress); (b) cultural differences (Israeli managers, unlike their American counterparts are characterized by last-minute solutions and improvisations); (c) organizational context (the nature of the high-tech industry studied and its lack of downsizing experience); and (d) organizational politics (strong involvement of government and labour unions in the cutbacks process).     

Living flexibly? How Europe's science researchers manage mobility,fixed-term employment and life outside work

This paper draws from interviews with mobile science researchers to explore experiences of mobility and fixed-term employment in the EU. The paper takes a socio-legal approach, aiming to understand the contribution of EU law and policy to the resource framework within which career decisions are made. The high incidence of fixed-term employment and the expectation of geographic mobility in science labour markets has made science researchers very ‘flexible’ employees and, arguably, model EU citizens. But how are these factors managed in the context of every-day life? Developing sound empirical evidence of how individuals experience mobility and fixed-term employment could lead to more sensitive and effective policy making. This is particularly pertinent as human resource issues in science research have become central to achieving the EU's overarching strategies for growth and jobs (the Lisbon Strategy and Europe 2020). A range of policies designed to increase the mobility of researchers and to manage the use of fixed-term contracts have been put in place. This paper draws on empirical evidence to inform our understandings of these developing areas of law and policy in the EU.     

Government Employment and Wages and Labour Market Performance

Government wage, benefit, and employment decisions are not taken on a profit-maximizing basis, and have a substantial impact on aggregate labour market performance and unemployment. In a two-sector labour market model with free mobility of labour, an increase in government wages or benefits reduces private sector employment, and government employment is not an effective counter-cyclical instrument. Empirical tests for Greece confirm that the expansion of the public sector in the 1980s contributed to the deterioration of labour market performance.     

SUCCESS IN DECISION MAKING: DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS, DIFFERING REASONS FOR SUCCESS

In an attempt to elucidate some possible conditions for success in managerial decision making, data were analysed from 53 cases of decisions in eight British organizations, five business firms and three non-business organizations (two universities and a District of the National Health Service). No clear relationships between features of the processes of making the decisions, and their successfulness were found until the business firms and the non-business organizations were separated. Clear differences then showed up, relatively speaking, in the conditions conductive to success. In the business firms, a successful decision was more likely to result from a decision-making process in which resources were available. In other words, in business a successful decision is most likely when sufficient information and sufficient means of implementation are to hand. By contrast, in the universities and the Health District, a successful decision was associated more with the social qualities of the decision-making process itself. In other words, in non-business organizations a successful decision is most likely when the right people participate and the people at the very top do not interfere too much.     

Power in Profit-Maximizing Organizations

I study how profit-maximizing organizations make decisions. Members of organizations tend to have incompatible preferences over decisions, but willingness to pay for decisions plays a very limited role in actual decision making. A sizable empirical literature documents that people who provide critical services, are hard to replace, or deal effectively with external shocks are powerful; they have disproportionate influence over decisions. This can be profit maximizing because the right to shape the firm through its decisions renders the firm more attractive as an employer. Thus, the relative costliness of employees' departures should affect their relative power.     

有效招聘研究综述

招聘作为人力资源管理的起点,其质量的高低对后续的人力资源管理工作有很大的影响。在实际招聘过程中有不少企业招聘结果不尽如人意:有的未能如愿以偿地招得到合适的人才;有的不能留住人才,这些都制约了企业的长远发展。因此,不能忽略对有效招聘的研究。纵观国内外已有的研究成果主要分为三类:有效招聘的影响因素研究,评价招聘有效性研究,提高招聘有效性对策的研究。     

Organizational AIDS policies: Aiming at a moving target

This article examines the effect that theArline decision is likely to have on organizational policies regarding terminations when such actions involve AIDS-afflicted employees working in organizations that are subject to the provisions of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Certain criteria that must be considered when an organization is contemplating terminations involving this class of employees are defined. In addition, a systematic analysis technique which may provide insights in arriving at such employment decisions is specified. Finally, the authors identify several elements which have yet to be adequately addressed by existing legislation or court decisions that serve to impede the establishment of effective policies in this area.     

大学生就业与考研选择模型研究

高校毕业生每年都面临着就业或考研继续深造的彷徨与焦虑,为帮助大学毕业生认清自己,在就业与考研之间做出适合自己的正确选择,本文在分析研究影响就业与考研选择因素及各因素权重的基础上进行数学建模,提出了影响就业与考研选择的就业参数和考研参数,得出了影响就业与考研选择的数学模型,为设计就业与考研选择的系统提供理论依据。     

中国特色的环境管理公众参与研究

环境作为人类公共财产的属性越来越被公众认同。环境污染和破坏直接影响公众的生活和生存,环境决策的正确与否,环境质量的好坏,公众都有最直接的感受,最能提供公正评价,公众对环境保护最有知情权和监督权。然而,环境保护工作任重道远,决非政府或企业力量可以全面解决,一切落实、剖析都需要公众的支持和参与。