Showing papers in "Work And Occupations in 1988"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a survey of the sociological study of the professions in the UK and conclude that "the reality examined in the British literature lead us to conclude that the professions will...
Abstract: In 1983 Richard Hall viewed the sociological study of the professions as near death. However, had Hall examined the recent British literature he would have come to a very different conclusion. Our survey shows that this is a very active area of research and theorizing and that there are important lessons in it for American students of the professions. First, unlike the American literature, work in Britain has not been dominated by fruitless efforts to find the characteristics that differentiate professions from other occupations. Second, the British literature contains four distinctive characteristics that differentiate it from the American literature. They are a focus on inter- and intraprofessional conflicts, the relationship between the professions and the polity, the link between the professions and social stratification, and theoretical roots in the classic ideas of observers such as Marx and Weber. Third, the realities examined in the British literature lead us to conclude that the professions will ...
657 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated gender differences in networks and their implications for occupational outcomes and found that women's networks are negatively affected by having children younger than 6, and by changing jobs in response to their spouses' mobility.
Abstract: Despite the conventional wisdom that employed women suffer by dint of their exclusion from “old boy” networks, there has been little investigation of gender differences in networks and their implications for occupational outcomes. This article represents a first step toward incorporating network concepts into analysis of gender-based occupational inequalities. In it, I document differences between the job-related networks of women and men in a sample of recent job changers in four white-collar occupations. Women know persons in fewer occupations than men; their networks are negatively affected by having children younger than 6, and by changing jobs in response to their spouses' mobility;men's networks are unaffected by these constraints.
248 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the experience of worker participation and find that the tendency is for such programs to weaken unions and limit workers' power in significant ways, while transferring knowledge from workers to management.
Abstract: Some analysts of worker participation have argued that it does not improve productivity as much as its proponents suggest, while others argue that it is an effective catalyst for expanding worker control over the labor process. This article examines the experience of worker participation and finds that the tendency is for such programs to weaken unions and limit workers' power in significant ways. In union workplaces, such programs disable existing grievance mechanisms and worker solidarity, while transferring knowledge from workers to management. In nonunion settings, worker participation programs can promote managerial attitudes, while either supplanting or preventing unionism.
82 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of working conditions, non-work roles, and personal characteristics on self-reports of depression, irritability, and psychophysiological symptoms were examined.
Abstract: This article analyzes gender differences in employee distress. Work stress has been studied differently for males and females. For males, the predominant focus has been on job conditions; for employed women, the focus has usually been on the multiple demands of domestic and work roles. In this analysis, we combine both approaches, examining the effects of working conditions, nonwork roles, and personal characteristics on self-reports of depression, irritability, and psychophysiological symptoms. Our study population consists of 992 Canadian postal workers, about half of whom are female. We find that males and females respond similarly to stressful jobs, although women tend to report slightly higher levels of distress. Regression analysis reveals that, while gender does exert a small but significant net effect, perceived job characteristics—especially receiving competing demands and the degree of variety and challenge—are the best predictors of distress. Nonwork social roles have no significant effect on d...
80 citations
TL;DR: The tactics and strategies employed by occupations in response to changing circumstances are described in the context of emerging, consolidating, and transforming phases of development.
Abstract: A natural history model presents occupations as attempting to shape their environments and also as shaping themselves in response to their environments. The tactics and strategies employed by occupations in response to changing circumstances are described in the context of emerging, consolidating, and transforming phases of development.
62 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the labor market structure and determinants of player salaries in the National Basketball Association and found that the resource perspective is seen as a limiting factor in player compensation.
Abstract: This article investigates the labor market structure and determinants of salaries for players in the National Basketball Association. Hodson and Kaufman's (1982) resource perspective is seen as a u...
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the introduction of new technologies into the advanced capitalist work process continues to provoke sharp theoretical debate, and while mainstream theories predict an upgrading of work content, recent studies predict a reduction in work content.
Abstract: The introduction of new technologies into the advanced capitalist work process continues to provoke sharp theoretical debate. While mainstream theories predict an upgrading of work content, recent ...
41 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the potential moderating effects of gender on the relationships between various personal and organizational characteristics and employee job satisfaction and found that gender interacts more noticeably with the work values of security, autonomy, and use of abilities when related to job satisfaction.
Abstract: Based on data gathered from a large Australian federal organization, the present study examines the potential moderating effects of gender on the relationships between various personal and organizational characteristics and employee job satisfaction. Using controlled (n= 168) and representative (n= 298) samples of males, compared to an enumeration of female employees (n= 335), gender is shown to exert a slight impact on the relationship between age and length of service as this relates to job satisfaction. Gender interacts more noticeably with the work values of security, autonomy, and use of abilities when related to employee job satisfaction. These findings are discussed in the context of gender differences in organizational power and opportunity structure predicted by Kanter.
39 citations
TL;DR: The authors used the Tobit econometrics technique to investigate the correlates of work tardiness in a large national sample of workers, and found that marriage and years of work experience have negative and significant effects on tardyness.
Abstract: This study uses the Tobit econometrics technique to investigate the correlates of work tardiness in a large national sample of workers. Evidence is found indicating that (1) marriage and years of work experience have negative and significant effects on tardiness, (2) professionals, managers, and persons commuting long distances to work report more days tardy than others, and (3) tardiness is not correlated with absenteeism.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the reasons why Japanese factories are so productive by comparing 50 plants studied in 1972, when the basic patterns of Japanese management were first securely in place.
Abstract: Why are Japanese factories so productive? This article explores the reasons by comparing 50 plants studied in 1972, when the basic patterns of Japanese management were first securely in place. The ...
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the importance of various aspects of work experience for adult self-esteem has been discussed, and the social psychological dynamics of many of these work-experiences have been analyzed.
Abstract: Social psychologists and sociologists of work have documented the importance of numerous aspects of work experience for adult self-esteem. The social psychological dynamics of many of these work an...
TL;DR: In this paper, a method is presented whereby discrete occupational titles can be represented along a multidimensional continuum reflecting a population's shared perceptions, which are then used to operationalize significant others' influence and vocational preferences enabling a test of the applicability of the Wisconsin model of status attainment to the process of occupational choice.
Abstract: A method is presented whereby discrete occupational titles can be represented along a multidimensional continuum reflecting a population's shared perceptions. The spatial locations are then used to operationalize significant others' influence and vocational preferences enabling a test of the applicability of the Wisconsin model of status attainment to the process of occupational choice. Data from a sample of high school students were used to demonstrate the procedure. This model was shown to be useful for explicating the processes by which specific occupational choices are made.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors define and measure the emergence and existence of an occupation, and present a theory of the elements accompanying occupational emergence, based on Hughes' theory of occupational emergence.
Abstract: In 1958, Hughes developed a theory of the elements accompanying occupational emergence. This article focuses on defining and measuring the emergence and existence of an occupation. Practitioners in...
TL;DR: Satisfaction with professional-client encounters was ascertained from 173 genetic counselors for each of 1,044 counseling sessions as mentioned in this paper, and the major correlates of professionals' satisfaction were perceptions that they were communicating knowledge successfully.
Abstract: Satisfaction with professional-client encounters was ascertained from 173 genetic counselors for each of 1,044 counseling sessions. Counselors were satisfied with 69% of the sessions and very satisfied with 25%. Counselors were dissatisfied with 5% and very dissatisfied almost never. Professional satisfaction was not associated with client learning of medical information or with discussion of items of greatest concern to clients. The major correlates of professionals' satisfaction were perceptions that they were communicating knowledge successfully. Additional correlates of being “very” satisfied included having better-educated clients, opportunity to use special expertise, and applicability of technology.
TL;DR: Indirect worker participation in corporate policy decisions is occurring through worker and union representation on boards of directors and supervisory boards in Europe, Australia, and the United States as mentioned in this paper, where workers and unions are represented by workers' representatives.
Abstract: Indirect worker participation in corporate policy decisions is occurring through worker and union representation on boards of directors and supervisory boards in Europe, Australia, and the United S...
TL;DR: In recent years, American businesses have shown increasing interest in employee participation in a number of forms as mentioned in this paper such as employee stock ownership plans, profit sharing, labormanagement committees, quality circles, and work redesign all appear to be substantially more popular in the contemporary United States than they have been in the past.
Abstract: In recent years American businesses have shown increasing interest in employee participation in a number of forms. Such innovations as employee stock ownership plans, profit sharing, labormanagement committees, quality circles, and work redesign all appear to be substantially more popular in the contemporary United States than they have been in the past. Research on the impact of these programs, however, suggests that they tend to have either negligible or at best only short-lived effects. And American managers continue to shy away from the major commitments that appear needed to increase the likelihood that these efforts to increase employee participation will have both significant and lasting effects.
TL;DR: Using a comparative framework advocated by Hughes, this paper described and analyzed the work activities of professional horse race gamblers, drawing upon qualitative data, and showed that this unresearched occup...
Abstract: Using a comparative framework advocated by Hughes, I describe and analyze the work activities of professional horse race gamblers. Drawing upon qualitative data, I show that this unresearched occup...
TL;DR: The transition of researchers to administration has been attributed to age, obsolescence, different socialization processes, and the conflict between professional researchers and the bureaucratic features of nonacademic organizations as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Sociological studies in R&D sites have explained the transition of researchers to administration using individual and/or intraorganizational perspectives. The phenomenon has been attributed to age, obsolescence, different socialization processes, and the conflict between professional researchers and the bureaucratic features of nonacademic organizations. This article reviews the individual and the structural level explanations of the phenomenon, and suggests an additional set of environmental accounts that consider the funding process. The hypothesis that the actual time devoted to research is influenced by these environmental factors is empirically tested in the context of the Israeli R&D endeavor. The results indicate that some administrative tasks are an integral part of research work, and imply that research and administration are not mutually exclusive activities but, rather, may be different functions of the same career pattern for nonacademic researchers. The article also suggests that the dual car...
TL;DR: The first year of the first decade of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms bears witness to some modest progress along the lines of workers' participation, mostly in the movement to establish cooperatives in which workers, encouraged by the government, are able to create free cooperatives with the right to select their managers and make decisions about the distribution of the cooperative's income.
Abstract: This article discusses the evolution of Soviet attitudes toward workers' participation. The major emphasis is on developments of the last two decades, especially the most recent period. I suggest that Brezhnev was the first Soviet leader to raise the issue of workers' participation—at, however, only a mythological level. Mikhail Gorbachev, however, includes workers' participation as a genuine element in his program for workplace reform in the Soviet Union. Soviet managers and apparatchiks have reacted with open hostility to this innovation, while the majority of Soviet workers are skeptical about the implementation of this idea. The first year of Gorbachev's reforms bears witness to some modest progress along the lines of workers' participation, mostly in the movement to establish cooperatives in which workers, encouraged by the government, are able to create free cooperatives with the right to select their managers and make decisions about the distribution of the cooperative's income. However, there is a...
TL;DR: This article examined occupational differentiation of American Catholic sisters both prior to and following the Second Vatican Council and found that the diversification of occupational choices among sisters parallels that of working women more generally.
Abstract: This article examines occupational differentiation of American Catholic sisters both prior to and following the Second Vatican Council. The pre- Vatican II era is characterized in terms of mechanical solidarity such that a common group identity and culture based on work is shared. By contrast, apostolic sisters of the post-Vatican II period seem to exemplify the concept of organic solidarity; there is more variation with regard to occupations and life-style. The analysis focuses on the life histories of sisters residing in South Texas. In particular, the analysis relates the diversification in their careers to changes in their ideology and lifestyle, and the changing demographic and financial status of their congregations. We suggest that the diversification of occupational choices among sisters parallels that of working women more generally.
TL;DR: A lack of consensus exists on the relationship between modernization and formalization in organizational recruitment as mentioned in this paper, which is partially a product of the failure to examine recruitment as a dual process of information dispersion and selection.
Abstract: A lack of consensus exists on the relationship between modernization and formalization in organizational recruitment. The absence of agreement is partially a product of the failure to examine recruitment as a dual process of information dispersion and selection. After empirically examining recruitment as a two-stage process in Detroit and Yokohama, it was found that the discrepant findings are in part a result of different temporal focus in the recruitment process by researchers. The article points to the necessity of studying the entire recruitment process and the need to isolate the contingencies that shape the character of employee acquisition.