Technical change and work organisation

The increasing use of new technology in factories has radical implications for the modern organisation and experience of work. All the things which determine the experience of the worker are being redesigned around the latest equipment and machinery. This article reports on case studies concerned with the introduction of new technology in British industry.     

Unions,integration and society

An analysis of the role of trade unions in a democratic society and the problems of overcoming the general apathy of members leads the author to suggest ways of increasing participation in union activities.     

房产调控艰难转身

中秋节前夕，供职于北京某外企的白民为父母在崇文门附近买下了一套膳．价65万元的二手房。与买第一套房子时的“马拉松”式挑选不同，这次从看房到付钱白民前后只花了一个多星期。“听说银行马上要提高第二套住房的首付了，还是抓紧买了吧。”     

Corporate commitment to climate change action,carbon risk exposure,and a firm's debt financing policy

Motivated by the rising consensus that corporate engagement in climate change actions holds the key for society's transition into environmentally resilient economy, the study examines whether a firm's commitment to climate change action and its carbon risk exposure shape the firm's debt financing policy. Based on insights drawn from signaling, corporate reputation, and agency theories, we develop models that link corporate commitment to climate change actions and a firm's carbon risk exposure with its debt financing decisions. Using data drawn from S&P 500 companies, for years 2015 to 2019, we find a robust evidence that firms that engage in higher levels of commitment to climate change actions issue a higher proportion of debt with longer terms to maturity, even after controlling for their carbon risk exposure. However, we do not find a robust evidence corroborating an association between firms' carbon risk exposure and their debt financing policy. These findings are consistent with arguments that high-commitment firms enjoy positive reputation, better credit rating, and reduced agency and information asymmetry costs, allowing them to gain easier access to long-term debt markets.     

Trust and economic organisation

Markets induce trust through repeat dealing and the development of reputation. Organisations economise on the use of trust through the appropriate assignment of ownership rights. Trust is not therefore simply a useful'outside'entity which economic analysis takes for granted. The production and'allocation'of trust are, at least partially, an outcome of the operation of the economic system. An important'unintended consequence'of government regulation which does not attract sufficient study and comment is the implicit undermining of trust-inducing market mechanisms and organisational structures.     

Unions and involuntary job separations

In contrast to the extensive literature on the effects of unions on wages, productivity and voluntary job endings, the effect of unions on involuntary job endings has received relatively little attention. This article demonstrates how unions alter involuntary job separation (redundancies, temporary job endings and dismissals) rates at different tenure levels using the British Household Panel Survey data from 1991 to 2008. A novel finding is that being a union member reduces a person's redundancy probability at low‐tenure levels, relative to an employee of a non‐unionised firm, but has no significant effect at high tenure levels. Union membership and union recognition are not related to different rates of temporary job endings.     

Innovation,actors and institutions: change and continuity in local development policy in two Hungarian regions

This article focuses on institutional and policy innovation in two Hungarian regions. We analyse the responses of the local elites in these two regions to the post‐1989 challenges and discuss how they have tried to innovate local economic policy in order to promote economic development. Also, we will consider to what extent they have been constrained or facilitated by historically developed institutions. We conclude that the more successful innovation strategies have been those which have at least partially been based on historically accumulated institutional resources. These have been selectively employed in innovative ways and form essential building blocks of the regions' new development strategies. Also, the cases suggest that economic development, as well as the accumulation of institutional resources over time, do not necessarily follow one homogeneous path but may combine several simultaneous paths. Different combinations, then, result in diverse sets of institutional resources which affect the capacity for innovation. Cet article est consacréà l'innovation institutionnelle et politique dans deux régions hongroises. Il analyse les réponses des élites locales aux défis de l'après‐1989, montrant comment elles ont tenté de concevoir une politique visant à faciliter l'expansion économique régionale. Il étudie ensuite dans quelle mesure elles ont été entravées ou soutenues par les institutions d'origine historique. En conclusion, les stratégies d'innovation les plus fructueuses ont été celles qui se sont appuyées, au moins en partie, sur des ressources institutionnelles accumulées depuis longtemps. Ces derniegrave;res ont été exploitées ponctuellement selon des modalités novatrices, devenant les composantes essentielles des nouvelles stratégies de développement des régions concernées. L'expansion économique, de même que l'accumulation historique de ressources institutionnelles, ne suivent pas obligatoirement un seul chemin homogène, combinant parfois plusieurs sentiers parallèles. Des combinaisons différentes produisent ainsi des ensembles variés de ressources institutionnelles, lesquels influent sur la capacité d'innovation.     

Size of organisation,attitudes to work and job satisfaction

It is widely believed that large size creates problems for industrial relations and, conversely, that small size is beneficial. There has been little research relating size and workers' attitudes—this article reports the findings from a study in 24 factories in British manufacturing industry.     

Relationship marketing,audience retention and performing arts organisation viability

Marketing strategy in performing arts organisations has become particularly important in the increasingly competitive environment in which the arts operate. Since the late 1980s there has been a necessary shift in focus to audience development away from product development. This change in focus is being encouraged to ensure the long‐term viability of performing arts organisations (PAOs) and micro‐economic reform. While government reports have recommended strategies aimed at building audience‐based recognition, this is an expensive approach for many PAOs and does not produce short‐term returns. Little attention has been paid to building enduring relationships with existing audiences as a way of having a more dramatic impact on PAOs' long‐term viability. This paper explores this theme through relationship marketing and the implication of retaining existing audiences. The paper identifies the changing cultural environment which has led to the importance of marketing. It then explains the concepts of relationship marketing and its pertinence to PAOs' viability by presenting a loyalty ladder. The structure is modelled as a dynamic conceptualisation of the relationships (audience and organisation) to assist arts managers to decide whether to focus their efforts on catching or keeping customers to maximise earned income. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Chaebol,Unions, and the Profitability of Korean Firms Before and After the Crisis

Before the 1997 crisis, Korean firms destroyed shareholder value and chronically produced nonperforming loans for financial institutions. In particular, chaebol‐affiliated and unionized firms did so, with lower profitability among the financially unsound firms. Chaebol and unions thus functioned as institutional devices whereby managers and workers undermined the interest of taxpayers as well as shareholders. After the crisis, firms no longer destroy shareholder value or produce nonperforming loans. Chaebol‐affiliated and unionized firms have higher profitability among the financially unsound firms. Chaebol and unions have thus ceased to function as institutional devices whereby managers and workers undermine the interest of shareholders and taxpayers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validity of climate change forecasting for public policy decision making

Policymakers need to know whether prediction is possible and, if so, whether any proposed forecasting method will provide forecasts that are substantially more accurate than those from the relevant benchmark method. An inspection of global temperature data suggests that temperature is subject to irregular variations on all relevant time scales, and that variations during the late 1900s were not unusual. In such a situation, a “no change” extrapolation is an appropriate benchmark forecasting method. We used the UK Met Office Hadley Centre’s annual average thermometer data from 1850 through 2007 to examine the performance of the benchmark method. The accuracy of forecasts from the benchmark is such that even perfect forecasts would be unlikely to help policymakers. For example, mean absolute errors for the 20- and 50-year horizons were 0.18  C and 0.24  C respectively. We nevertheless demonstrate the use of benchmarking with the example of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 1992 linear projection of long-term warming at a rate of 0.03  C per year. The small sample of errors from ex ante projections at 0.03  C per year for 1992 through 2008 was practically indistinguishable from the benchmark errors. Validation for long-term forecasting, however, requires a much longer horizon. Again using the IPCC warming rate for our demonstration, we projected the rate successively over a period analogous to that envisaged in their scenario of exponential CO₂ growth—the years 1851 to 1975. The errors from the projections were more than seven times greater than the errors from the benchmark method. Relative errors were larger for longer forecast horizons. Our validation exercise illustrates the importance of determining whether it is possible to obtain forecasts that are more useful than those from a simple benchmark before making expensive policy decisions.     

Occupational change,employer change,internal migration,and earnings

"In this paper I use microdata from the [U.S.] Panel Study of Income Dynamics to measure the financial returns to intercounty and interstate migration for individuals in a temporal framework accounting for gains that accrue over time....To account for the indirect effects of migration on earnings, explanatory variables are created by interacting migration status with: (1) occupational change, (2) employer change and (3) changes in both occupation and employer. These interaction terms are then included in the earnings functions. Earnings are estimated for three years subsequent to the migration decision to account for the financial returns to migration accruing over time. Results indicate that, when estimating earnings, the use of a simple migration dummy variable will mask the indirect effects of migration on earnings."     

Organisational learning,learning organisation,and learning orientation: An integrative review and framework

Organisational Learning (OL) is essential for the survival of an organisation and has led to a significant amount of conceptual and empirical studies. However, no attempt has yet been made to track the overall evolution of OL literature along with the inter-related concepts of learning organisation and organisational learning orientation. Therefore, the present study attempts to fill this gap and track the interdisciplinary flow of knowledge by applying a structural methodology called Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA). The results reveal four main areas of investigation within the field: i) the fundamentals of OL; ii) OL in relation to managerial and economic variables; iii) management of learning organisation; iv) learning orientation in relation to managerial and economic variables. Furthermore, this review contributes by arranging the findings into a theoretical framework which is termed organisational learning chain. Based on the co-analysis of main themes and key concepts detected, the framework integrates and highlights the factors that influence learning performance in and by organisations. Finally, several further research avenues are discussed, and the benefits of the applied review methodology are highlighted.     

Unions and the economic basis of attitudes

Unions make differences to employee satisfaction that correspond to their effects on individual economic advantage. Panel data reveal how changes in economic circumstance and changes in job satisfaction are linked to changes in union coverage. When individuals move into a union covered job they receive a wage mark‐up and express enhanced pay satisfaction. Conversely, those moving from a union covered job on average lose any mark‐up and have significantly reduced satisfaction. Similar findings emerge for working hours. On average individuals prefer shorter hours, something they tend (not) to achieve on moving (out of) into a unionised job, resulting in higher (lower) satisfaction. Switching into union coverage lowers satisfaction with job security, even though coverage has no effect on the risk of unemployment. This is because covered employees suffer greater costs of re‐employment for a given level of unemployment risk, partly because of loss of the union mark‐up.     

评价质量方针目标应把握：宗旨 方针 目标 职责 可测量

按照GB/T19001--2000标准的要求,组织在建立质量管理体系时,必须明确组织的质量方针和质量目标,并形成文件,定期对质量方针和质量目标进行评价.     

Redundancy,values and public policy

Although the Industrial Relations Act marks the most significant break with the traditional “abstentionist” role of the law in British labour relations, it is true to say that during the last ten years the development of public policy has entailed a growing involvement of lawyers and the law in the world of work. As Professor Kahn-Freund has written: