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This book explores the reasons for persistent differences in work practices both within and between industries. The authors found that the strategy that a firm chooses to follow often determines the kind of work practices it fosters. Therefore a firm may not adopt the approach now advocated by many management thinkers--in which decision-making is pushed down to the lowest level of the firm--because this choice may not be consistent with its competitive strategy. The authors discuss the ways that public policy can aid workers without subverting the strategic choices made by firms.
On September 1-7, 1996 a conference on Groups and Geometries took place in lovely Siena, Italy. It brought together experts and interested mathematicians from numerous countries. The scientific program centered around invited exposi tory lectures; there also were shorter research announcements, including talks by younger researchers. The conference concerned a broad range of topics in group theory and geometry, with emphasis on recent results and open problems. Special attention was drawn to the interplay between group-theoretic methods and geometric and combinatorial ones. Expanded versions of many of the talks appear in these Proceedings. This volume is intended to provide a stimulating co...
Employment relations in advanced, post-industrial democracies have become increasingly insecure and uncertain as the risks associated with work are being shifted from employers and governments to workers. Arne L. Kalleberg examines the impact of the liberalization of labor markets and welfare systems on the growth of precarious work and job insecurity for indicators of well-being such as economic insecurity, the transition to adulthood, family formation, and happiness, in six advanced capitalist democracies: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Spain, and Denmark. This insightful cross-national analysis demonstrates how active labor market policies and generous social welfare systems can help to protect workers and give employers latitude as they seek to adapt to the rise of national and global competition and the rapidity of sweeping technological changes. Such policies thereby form elements of a new social contract that offers the potential for addressing many of the major challenges resulting from the rise of precarious work.
As global flows of goods, capital, information, and people accelerate competitive pressure on businesses throughout the industrialized world, firms have responded by reorganizing work in a variety of efforts to improve efficiency and cut costs. In the United States, where minimum wages are low, unions are weak, and immigrants are numerous, this has often lead to declining wages, increased job insecurity, and deteriorating working conditions for workers with little bargaining power in the lower tiers of the labor market. Low-Wage Work in the Wealthy World builds on an earlier Russell Sage Foundation study (Low-Wage America) to compare the plight of low-wage workers in the United States to fiv...
Outwardly, 'Britain's most experienced teenage Alpinist' is a brave young mountaineer. But he's not experienced at all, at least not in the way he really wants to be. Behind his death-defying climbs there lurks a great deal of fear – fear of the opposite sex, fear of failure, fear of not being 'man enough'. He seeks manhood in the mountains, yet he believes he will only truly gain it by losing something. Harrowing escapades in Scotland, the Alps and Alaska are interspersed by excruciating sexual encounters and unsettling hitch-hiking rides. When the mountains fail him, he seeks meaning with a religious cult in Colorado. Eventually he succeeds in his quest, only to find that he's lost more than he bargained for. Virgin on Insanity by Steve Bell is a coming-of-age story of high adventure, youthful insecurity and immature love. The situations might be extreme, but the deeper issues will be familiar to many.
This is the dramatic story of the ups and downs of a born entrepreneur. Malcolm Walker was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1946. With fellow Woolworth’s trainee manager Peter Hinchcliffe, Walker opened a small frozen food shop called Iceland in the Shropshire town of Oswestry in 1970. Iceland became a public company 14 years later, through one of Britain’s most successful stock exchange flotations of all time, and by 1999 it had grown into a £2 billion turnover business with 760 stores. In August 2000, Iceland merged with the Booker cash and carry business and Walker announced that he would step down as CEO in March 2001. In preparation for his retirement, he sold half his share...
A beautiful full-colour book by Forest School expert and teacher Sara Knight that inspires and encourages individuals of all ages to take an innovative approach to outdoor play and learning. The images throughout the book bring alive Forest School activities and each chapter is accompanied by creative ideas for practice and in depth case studies from across the United Kingdom and Ireland exploring the amazing variety of nature provision. Coverage includes: Rural and urban day nurseries for very young children State and independent provision for Early Years and Primary Schools Secondary School intervention strategies for students with special education needs and disabilities How to support pa...
The Social Impact of Computers should be read as a guide to the social implications of current and future applications of computers. Among the basic themes presented are the following: the changing nature of work in response to technological innovation as well as the threat to jobs; personal freedom in the machine age as manifested by challenges to privacy, dignity, and work; the relationship between advances in computer and communications technology and the possibility of increased centralization of authority; and the emergence and influence of artificial intelligence and its role in decision-making, especially in military applications. The book begins with background and historical informa...
'His first book 'Full Circle' was one of those reads you could not put down once you'd started it. Rick related stories and events through his life from being a cheeky-chappy looking for sponsors, dare-devil antics and serious scrapes on speedway bikes to FF1600's and beyond - into saloon cars. This book in contrast, details the racing career itself focussing inevitably on the diverse range of cars, serious competitive drivers of character and fame, Martin Down, a life long friend and car designer, as well as the race engineers and sponsors. It is a very easy read full of surprises and ... did I mention Tom Cruise?' - 'Russell Houchin, Sponsor and Friend