A Comparison of American and Japanese Work Practices: Skill Formation, Communications, and Conflict Resolution

This article examines whether American work practices are becoming more similar to Japanese work practices with regard to skill formation, communications, and conflict resolution. I find that separated skills, self-managing teams, and the dual conflict settlement procedure prevalent in three American unionized plants contrast with the practices found in three Japanese unionized plants, where integrated skills, middle-up-down decision making led by assistant and first-line supervisors, and an informal and one-channel conflict settlement procedure are used.     

Skills, Flexible Manufacturing Technology, and Work Organization

This study employs a national survey of over 3000 U.S. manufacturing establishments to explore associations between worker skill requirements and use of production and telecommunications technologies, work organization, and other management practices. Ordered probit equations show an empirical link between increases in each of six types of skill requirements, as reported by plant managers, and the use of flexible technologies and work organization practices. Technology use is most strongly linked to computer skill requirements. Work organization practices were strongly associated with problem-solving and interpersonal skill increases, suggesting that new work organization practices are broadening the set of skills sought by manufacturers. Traditional academic skills (e.g., math and reading) also were linked to the use of flexible technologies and work organization practices, but increases in these skill requirements were reported less frequently than were requirements for computer, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.     

Plant Closures and Unionization in British Establishments

This paper examines whether there is a link between establishment closure and union presence using data from the 1984–90 panel sample of establishments of the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. It considers whether the notion that unions damage long term performance and ultimately force uncompetitive establishments to shut down is a reasonable one.
I can find no evidence whatsoever for this hypothesis. There is no evidence that establishment closure and union presence are positively correlated. The relationship is usually negative and sometimes significantly so.
These results are important for at least two reasons: (i) it does not seem that unions have detrimental effects that force establishments to close down in the long run; (ii) the idea that union establishments have been dying at a faster rate forms no part of the explanation of the sharp union decline observed in the 1980s.     

Do American and European Industrial Organization Economists Differ?

This paper compares results from two surveys among American and European industrial organisation (IO) economists on various IO and broader economic issues. Although differences between the two groups are generally rather small, some systematic differences seem to exist. These differences are more pronounced when judgments about the efficacy of government policies and the workings of the market are concerned than when judgments about methodology and the present and future state of the IO field are concerned. American IO economists tend to exhibit more confidence in the market's capability to allocate resources than their European counterparts.     

The Characteristics,Performance and Strategic Behaviour of Merged Versus Non-Merged Establishments in Britain

The paper compares the structural characteristics, market conditions, organizational features, strategic behaviour and performance of merged versus non-merged private business establishments in Britain. The results are based on the analysis of the 1990 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey. The following conclusions are reached: merged establishments tend to be rather old, of small to medium size, more likely to be foreign-owned and to be involved in manufacturing. Compared to non-merged establishments they are likely to operate in international and oligopolistic markets, in multi-products and in conglomerate businesses. The merged manufacturing establishments are more likely to have been involved in restructuring strategies and to have cut jobs and achieved productivity gains. More merged establishments declare a below-average financial performance.     

提高质量监督人员技能培训效果的措施

近几年来开展职工技能培训，鉴于职工实际培训时间较短、职工文化基础、年龄参差不齐．大多数采取半脱产形式以及教学条件的限制．技术质量监督职工技能培训在许多单位已形成事实上的课堂教学式培训，即传授式与研讨式相结合的培训方法。如何提高这种技能培训方式的效果巳成为决定职工技能培训质量高低的重要因素。     

The Survival of Apprenticeship Training: A British, American, Australian Comparison

This paper examines the development of apprenticeship training in three English-speaking countries where apprenticeship has fared very differently. It declined at an early date in the USA in most sectors of the economy; it survived intact in Britain well into the post-Second World War period; and it has survived relatively strongly in Australia up to the present day. The reasons for decline and survival are examined and an explanation is proferred in terms of the interaction between the institutional supports and the ability and need felt by employers to sustain the system.     

High‐Involvement Work Practices and the Opportunities for Promotion in the Organization

Using the linked employer–employee component from the National Employer Survey, I examine the effect of employees’ participation in high‐involvement work practices (HIWP) on their opportunities for promotion within the organization. I find participation in HIWP to be positively related to promotion opportunities for individuals, especially for those in lower hierarchical levels and for the supervisors of these levels. In part, these findings can be explained by the new skills acquired while participating in these practices through formal training and informal on‐the‐job learning, and by the use of promotions as an incentive mechanism to motivate workers to engage in HIWP.     

Teamwork,Skill Development and Employee Welfare

There has been a sharp divergence in the literature about the benefits of teamwork. Some have claimed that it is solely in the interests of management, others that it is beneficial for employees and yet others that it makes little difference to either productivity or well‐being. This article draws upon the British Skills Survey Series. It shows that while teamwork did expand between the early 1990s and 2006, this was due primarily to the growth of the type of teamwork that allowed employees little in the way of decision‐making power. Indeed, there was a decrease in the prevalence of self‐directive teamwork. At the same time, our evidence shows that the benefits of teamwork, in terms of both enhancing work motivation and employee welfare, are confined to self‐directive teams, while non‐self‐directive teams suppress the use of personal initiative and discretion at work.     

Multiple Job Holding,Skill Diversification,and Mobility

In this article, we investigate the interrelated dynamics of dual jobholding, human capital, occupational choice, and mobility, using a panel sample (1991–2005) of UK employees from the British Household Panel Survey. The evidence suggests that individuals may be using multiple jobholding as a conduit for obtaining new skills and expertise and as a stepping‐stone to new careers, also involving self‐employment. Individuals doing a different secondary job than their primary occupation are more likely to switch to a new primary job in the next year, and a job that is different than their current primary employment. The results show that there are human capital spillover effects between primary and secondary employment.     

纺织品艺术设计专业高技能人才培养方案的研究

高等职业教育的目标和任务是培养集生产、服务、管理于一体的一线高技能人才。目前,高职纺织品艺术设计专业的课程设置和职业能力与市场和职业需求出现脱节现象。纺织品艺术设计专业是交叉学科,如何正确处理艺术与技术的关系,并把这种关系融于课程设置中是本专业的关键。山东是纺织大省,纺织品艺术设计人才的培养对于纺织行业的发展起着至关重要的作用。     

Skill and Performance

It is popular to assume that there is a link between skill and performance, yet the evidence is tenuous. Both terms defy simple definition and much current work aggregates findings, conflating firms that compete on the basis of skill with those that do not. This article provides a detailed review of the difficulties involved. Skill may indeed contribute to performance on the shop floor but the performance of the organization as a whole is not the same as that of the shop‐floor writ large, while soft skills are difficult to assess and judgments may be contaminated by prejudice. It concludes with suggestions for better research designs that could capture this relationship.     

谈HSE管理体系建立中的培训工作

在健康、安全与环境（简称HSE）管理体系建立和完善的过程中,培训起着至关重要的作用,无论是领导进行贯标的决策还是其后的危害／环境因素识别和风险／环境影响评价、HSE管理体系文件编制、文件实施宣贯、内审员培训等都是通过培训来实现的。     

The Purpose and Process of Science: Contrasting Understandings in UK Research Establishments

This paper is based on an ESRC-funded study into scientists' perceptions of management. Changes in the organisation, purpose and process of science were heralded with the publication of the White Paper (Cm2250 1993). However, to date there has been little empirical work into how research scientists understand such issues. Our research, based on qualitative interviews conducted with scientist/managers in seven government-funded research establishments, found that scientists' notions of scientific purpose varied, not just according to the nature of their work, but also evolved as careers progressed and the contexts within which they worked changed (in particular as the need to generate income through commissioned work has increased). The data also reveal a diversity in scientists' understanding of the relationship between discovery and applied science. Of central importance to R&D managers is the extent to which these scientists saw their aspirations as achievable within the changing context of public sector science. From the data we generate an Ideal Type model of approaches that may be taken to reconcile the imperatives of applied and fundamental research and develop an understanding of the key role of senior management in creating an effective interface with external stakeholders and the development of culture and vision within the laboratory that will enable effective synergy.     

Skill, deskilling and new technology in the non-manual labour process

This article discusses the concept of skill and, using material from case studies on non-manual work, suggests that the microelectronic technology may have implications for work and skills that in each case will depend on a combination of social and technological factors.     

Hispanic Ethnicity,English‐Skill Investments,and Earnings

Analyzing synthetic cohorts in the 1980 and 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples, we find that Mexican‐Americans and other Hispanics acquired English fluency at a faster pace than Puerto Ricans and Cuban‐Americans during the 1980s. Additional results indicate that English‐skill investments differently influenced the earnings distributions of these ethnic groups.     

The Oxford Handbook of Work & Organization – Edited by Stephen Ackroyd,Rosemary Batt,Paul Thompson and Pamela S.

Books reviewed: The Oxford Handbook of Work & Organization edited by Stephen Ackroyd, Rosemary Batt, Paul Thompson and Pamela S. Tolbert. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, xiii + 655 pp., ISBN 0 19 926992 0, £75.00.     

Is Good Work Good for Democracy? Work,Change at Work and Political Participation in Canada and England

This article draws on data from 750 Canadian and 450 English workers to systematically explore the implications of work for political participation, addressing whether ‘good’ work, and recent trends identified in work and employment, appear to be good for political participation. It finds that various aspects of work and of the work experience, many of which have been associated with recent trends, can have significant implications. However, these implications tend to differ for ‘passive’ and ‘active’ forms of participation and to be weak for the former. Moreover, characteristics that might be associated with ‘good’ work have negative as well as positive spillovers, suggesting contradictory effects and reducing the net positive effects of good jobs. Finally, there is some (albeit limited) evidence of cross‐national differences, especially with regard to the implications of union representation.