This document discusses how providing work-life balance (WLB) arrangements can benefit employers through enhancing learning and innovation within and between firms. It explores this issue through a case study of IT workers in Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK before and after the 2008 economic downturn. The study finds that making available the types of WLB arrangements identified by workers as reducing gendered work-life conflicts can also improve firms' learning and innovation processes, which are important for long-term competitive advantage. However, more evidence is still needed to fully establish the business case for WLB given recessionary pressures to cut costs.
The everyday challenges faced by workers ‘struggling to juggle’ competing commitments of paid work, home and family remain stubbornly persistent and highly gendered. Reinforcing these problems, many employers regard work-life balance (WLB) provision as too costly: ‘the luxuries of a booming economy that cannot be sustained as we seek to recover from recession’ (Leighton and Gregory 2011: 11). In response, this paper explores the learning and innovation advantages that can result from WLB provision in knowledge-intensive firms, as part of a WLB ‘mutual gains’ research agenda. These synergies are explored through a case study of IT workers and firms in two high tech regional economies - Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK - prior to (2006-8) and subsequent to (2010) the economic downturn. The results suggest that by making available the kinds of WLB arrangements identified by workers as offering meaningful reductions in gendered work-life conflicts, employers can also enhance the learning and innovation processes within and between firms, which are widely recognised as fundamental for firms’ long-term sustainable competitive advantage.
3._TRANSFORMATION_IN_LAST_TWO_DECADES_EMPLOYMWENT_RELATIONS.docxAlexander Daniel Gonz
The document discusses changes in employment relations systems over the past 20-30 years in Australia and Spain from an industrial relations model to a contemporary employment relations model. In Australia, the pluralist approach that empowered unions has given way to a growing unitarist approach that has increased employer power over the past 2-3 decades. Employers have gained influence through enterprise bargaining laws and associations that have weakened unions. In Spain, reforms to increase competitiveness including allowing temporary contracts have reduced union influence, though high unemployment remained an issue. Overall the passage argues employers have become more powerful actors under the contemporary employment relations systems in both countries.
What distinct insights do feminist analyses offer to the sociology of work an...Y H
This essay is focused on gender inequality especially wage gap between male and female. A long history of wage gap has promoted a glass ceiling. It is necessary to review women's competences once again and conceive how the glass ceiling and pay gap could be solved.
Subjugation of work life balance policies to pressures of workAwais e Siraj
Dr. Awais e Siraj Managing Director Genzee Solutions, A Strategy, Balanced Scorecard, Scenario Planning, Competency Based Human Resource Management Consulting Company
Money matters in low moderate income families and the gender implications of ...Merlien Institute
This document summarizes a paper about how low-income couples manage money and the implications of welfare reform in the UK. It discusses qualitative research involving interviews with 30 low to moderate income couples in Britain about how they divide financial responsibilities. The findings from this research are relevant for examining the potential gender impacts of the proposed new "universal credit" welfare system in the UK from areas like how couples jointly manage benefits to incentives for single vs dual-earner households.
This document discusses the declining role and influence of trade unions in modern economies. It argues that union decline is influenced by both economic and demographic factors. Specifically, it points to the growing divide between highly unionized public sectors and less organized private sectors. It also notes that unions traditionally focused on older, male workers in manufacturing but have struggled to organize newer sectors with more women and younger workers. Globalization and the rise of multinational companies in sectors like services have further undermined unions' bargaining power.
The growth in high- and low-skill jobs, coupled with little
growth in the middle-skill groups, has changed the composition
of the workforce. The leftmost bars in Chart 3 show the share of
U.S. workers in each skill category in 1980 and 2010. While both high-skill and low-skill job shares increased, the lower-middle skill group’s job share shrank. In 1980, nearly half of all workers were employed in lower-middle-skill occupations. Among the occupations in this group, machine operators accounted for 10 percent of the U.S. workforce and administrative support workers accounted for 18 percent.
This paragraph synthesizes information from multiple sources on the economic impacts of mega-events. It discusses research showing positive economic impacts such as increased tourism and job stimulation. However, it notes that while wage increases can boost individual and community incomes, any economic boost is only temporary. The research indicates that most employment generated by events is not permanent due to the nature of events. The paragraph concludes by stating the project will consider if small hotel-based events provide similar temporary economic impacts.
The everyday challenges faced by workers ‘struggling to juggle’ competing commitments of paid work, home and family remain stubbornly persistent and highly gendered. Reinforcing these problems, many employers regard work-life balance (WLB) provision as too costly: ‘the luxuries of a booming economy that cannot be sustained as we seek to recover from recession’ (Leighton and Gregory 2011: 11). In response, this paper explores the learning and innovation advantages that can result from WLB provision in knowledge-intensive firms, as part of a WLB ‘mutual gains’ research agenda. These synergies are explored through a case study of IT workers and firms in two high tech regional economies - Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK - prior to (2006-8) and subsequent to (2010) the economic downturn. The results suggest that by making available the kinds of WLB arrangements identified by workers as offering meaningful reductions in gendered work-life conflicts, employers can also enhance the learning and innovation processes within and between firms, which are widely recognised as fundamental for firms’ long-term sustainable competitive advantage.
3._TRANSFORMATION_IN_LAST_TWO_DECADES_EMPLOYMWENT_RELATIONS.docxAlexander Daniel Gonz
The document discusses changes in employment relations systems over the past 20-30 years in Australia and Spain from an industrial relations model to a contemporary employment relations model. In Australia, the pluralist approach that empowered unions has given way to a growing unitarist approach that has increased employer power over the past 2-3 decades. Employers have gained influence through enterprise bargaining laws and associations that have weakened unions. In Spain, reforms to increase competitiveness including allowing temporary contracts have reduced union influence, though high unemployment remained an issue. Overall the passage argues employers have become more powerful actors under the contemporary employment relations systems in both countries.
What distinct insights do feminist analyses offer to the sociology of work an...Y H
This essay is focused on gender inequality especially wage gap between male and female. A long history of wage gap has promoted a glass ceiling. It is necessary to review women's competences once again and conceive how the glass ceiling and pay gap could be solved.
Subjugation of work life balance policies to pressures of workAwais e Siraj
Dr. Awais e Siraj Managing Director Genzee Solutions, A Strategy, Balanced Scorecard, Scenario Planning, Competency Based Human Resource Management Consulting Company
Money matters in low moderate income families and the gender implications of ...Merlien Institute
This document summarizes a paper about how low-income couples manage money and the implications of welfare reform in the UK. It discusses qualitative research involving interviews with 30 low to moderate income couples in Britain about how they divide financial responsibilities. The findings from this research are relevant for examining the potential gender impacts of the proposed new "universal credit" welfare system in the UK from areas like how couples jointly manage benefits to incentives for single vs dual-earner households.
This document discusses the declining role and influence of trade unions in modern economies. It argues that union decline is influenced by both economic and demographic factors. Specifically, it points to the growing divide between highly unionized public sectors and less organized private sectors. It also notes that unions traditionally focused on older, male workers in manufacturing but have struggled to organize newer sectors with more women and younger workers. Globalization and the rise of multinational companies in sectors like services have further undermined unions' bargaining power.
The growth in high- and low-skill jobs, coupled with little
growth in the middle-skill groups, has changed the composition
of the workforce. The leftmost bars in Chart 3 show the share of
U.S. workers in each skill category in 1980 and 2010. While both high-skill and low-skill job shares increased, the lower-middle skill group’s job share shrank. In 1980, nearly half of all workers were employed in lower-middle-skill occupations. Among the occupations in this group, machine operators accounted for 10 percent of the U.S. workforce and administrative support workers accounted for 18 percent.
This paragraph synthesizes information from multiple sources on the economic impacts of mega-events. It discusses research showing positive economic impacts such as increased tourism and job stimulation. However, it notes that while wage increases can boost individual and community incomes, any economic boost is only temporary. The research indicates that most employment generated by events is not permanent due to the nature of events. The paragraph concludes by stating the project will consider if small hotel-based events provide similar temporary economic impacts.
This article analyzes work-life balance (WLB) in the Irish IT sector. It discusses the limitations of conventional business case analyses that focus only on benefits to firms. The article aims to develop an alternative analysis considering both business and social factors. It examines: [1] gendered experiences of work-life conflict for IT workers; [2] WLB arrangements preferred by workers to reduce conflict; and [3] how these arrangements support learning and innovation in knowledge-intensive firms. The analysis moves beyond narrow economic rationales to consider WLB's importance for equity, well-being, and gender roles.
Business Case for Family Friendly Working - New Evidence (2018)Al James
Work-Life Advantage analyses how employer-provision of ‘family-friendly’ working arrangements - designed to help workers better reconcile work, home and family - can also enhance firms’ capacities for learning and innovation, in pursuit of long-term competitive advantage and socially inclusive growth. This slideshare provides an overview introduction to the book.
This document discusses gender inclusivity in regional studies and innovation. It documents the everyday struggles of balancing work and family responsibilities for high-tech professionals. While employer-provided family-friendly policies can help firms' learning and innovation, the regional studies field has largely ignored gender and social reproduction factors. The author conducted surveys of 150 firms and 300 IT workers in the UK and Ireland, finding that uneven work-life balance support among employers shapes workers' mobility and knowledge transfers between firms. Integrating work-life concerns can benefit both workers and firms.
This document provides an overview of best practices in key working based on research and policy. It defines key working as having a named person who coordinates services for families with disabled children. Research shows that key working improves families' quality of life by providing better access to services and reducing stress. Policy initiatives in the UK emphasize the importance of coordination and having a key worker. Eligibility for key working services is based on the level of a child's needs, with those having complex needs receiving priority. The role involves both practical and emotional support to help families access required services.
This document reviews factors that affect work-life balance. It discusses how organizations face pressure to improve performance in competitive markets and how empowering employees can positively impact outcomes. Maintaining work-life balance is important for employee well-being, health, and reducing stress. The literature review examines how job satisfaction, work stress, career growth, absenteeism, appreciation, and competitive work environments relate to work-life balance policies and practices. The document aims to provide an overview of work-life balance factors through a review of existing literature sources.
This document summarizes and analyzes a paper that presents a microeconomic model of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The model explores how assumptions about costs and benefits affect a firm's CSR behavior through the accumulation of goodwill capital over time. The model characterizes the equilibrium level of CSR investment that balances marginal costs and benefits. Comparative statics and dynamics are examined to understand how the equilibrium responds to changes in parameters. The model aims to provide testable hypotheses about the relationship between economic performance and CSR for empirical studies.
EMPLOYEE AUTONOMY AND THE WITHIN-FIRM GENDER WAGE GAP: THE CASE OF TRUST-BASE...Structuralpolicyanalysis
This document discusses a study examining the effect of trust-based work time (TBW) on the gender wage gap within firms in Germany. TBW gives employees autonomy over their work schedules. The study uses linked employer-employee data to compare the within-firm gender wage gap before and after some firms adopted TBW between 2006-2008. It finds TBW adoption led to a reduction in the wage gap, driven by absolute wage gains for women. Further analysis suggests this was likely due to an increase in the share of women performing higher-skilled job tasks after TBW adoption, rather than changes to part-time work. The findings indicate organizational flexibility in work hours through TBW can promote gender wage equality.
The document discusses work-life balance and its importance for both employees and employers. It outlines how changing demographics, a 24/7 culture, and technology have increased the need for work-life balance. Employers can benefit from work-life balance through increased productivity, lower absenteeism and turnover, and improved customer experience. The document provides examples of flexible work policies and recommends employers consult staff and set measures to monitor progress.
Role of social and human capital in business model adaptationAntonio Dottore
Paper presented at the 2013 Babson Conference on entrepreneurship. It shows that certain types of social capital (from networking) and of human capital (mostly experience-based) are important for business model adaptation in new ventures.
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The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationshipin p.docxmehek4
The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship
in private family firms: the moderating role
of socioemotional wealth
Jelle Schepers • Wim Voordeckers •
Tensie Steijvers • Eddy Laveren
Accepted: 10 December 2013 / Published online: 22 December 2013
� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Drawing on socioemotional wealth (SEW)
literature, this paper revisits the established entrepre-
neurial orientation (EO)–performance relationship in
a family business context. The main idea in entrepre-
neurship literature is that EO leads to increased firm
performance. We question this logic in a family
business context because family related non-financial
goals, like SEW, may prevent the firm to reap the fruits
of their entrepreneurial efforts. Specifically, we argue
that SEW engenders inefficiencies that place con-
straints on the realization of the benefits of entrepre-
neurship. Therefore, we propose that a high level of
SEW preservation hinders the transmission of the
family firm’s EO into positive performance effects. To
test this hypothesis, an empirical study was developed
using a sample of 232 Belgian private family firms.
Robust linear regression analysis reveals that the
positive effect of EO on financial performance
decreases as the level of SEW preservation increases.
Keywords Entrepreneurial orientation �
Private family firms � Socioemotional wealth �
Firm performance
JEL Classifications L21 � L25 � L26
1 Introduction
For many years, researchers have argued that firms
pursuing a high entrepreneurial orientation (i.e. a
strategic posture that involves a propensity to be
innovative, proactive and open to risk in exploring
new products, services and markets [Covin and Slevin
1991]) perform better (e.g. Su et al. 2011; Rauch et al.
2009; Wiklund and Shepherd 2005; Covin and Slevin
1989). The implicit logic behind this pervasive belief
seems to be that entrepreneurial firms will identify and
pursue lucrative product/market opportunities which
in turn will improve their company financial perfor-
mance (Zahra and Covin 1995). Although this idea is
widely accepted in the literature, empirical evidence
showed that there exists considerable variation in the
size and direction of reported relationships between
entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance
(Rauch et al. 2009). These observations inspired
researchers to apply a contingency framework incor-
porating moderating variables that may explain vari-
ations in the EO–performance relationship (Covin and
Slevin 1991; Lumpkin and Dess 1996), ranging from
J. Schepers � W. Voordeckers (&) � T. Steijvers
Kizok Research Center, Hasselt University, Hasselt,
Belgium
e-mail: [email protected]
J. Schepers
e-mail: [email protected]
E. Laveren
University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
123
Small Bus Econ (2014) 43:39–55
DOI 10.1007/s11187-013-9533-5
external variables, such as environmental dynamism
(e.g., Wiklund and Shep ...
Agricultural Co-operatives and the Rationale behind Their Existence: Australi...Mehari Arefaine
This document summarizes a research paper on agricultural cooperatives and their rationale from an Australian perspective. It begins with an abstract that outlines how cooperatives have historically helped low-income groups but have been questioned during periods of market deregulation. The document then reviews literature on cooperatives' performance during economic crises and their role in developing countries and modern economies. It presents data on the global presence of cooperatives compared to corporations. The document uses the Australian dairy industry as a case study, finding that dairy cooperatives there lost dominance after 1990s deregulation but that the Murray Goulburn cooperative provides benefits to farmers like higher milk prices.
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 replaced previous job training programs and aimed to streamline employment services. Under WIA, community colleges play a role in implementing job training initiatives through one-stop centers located on campuses. However, colleges face challenges such as maintaining eligible training provider status, collecting extensive outcome data, and balancing short-term training needs with longer-term educational goals. While WIA has improved workforce development, issues around funding, performance standards, and serving diverse student populations persist.
This document summarizes the findings of three surveys from 1997 to 2000 on work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations. The surveys found that the most common work/life balance strategies offered were part-time work, study leave, flexible hours, and working from home occasionally. However, employee usage of available strategies lagged behind implementation, with only 6% of organizations reporting over 80% employee usage. Major barriers to effective work/life balance included an organizational culture that rewards long hours over other commitments, unsupportive work environments for those with external commitments, and lack of management support. While some strategies have been adopted, substantial challenges remain in fully implementing and managing work/life balance.
Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan henkilön taustaominaisuuksien vaikutuksia päätyä julkisen sektorin työntekijäksi. Tarkastelu tehdään suomalaisella kaksosaineistolla, jonka avulla voidaan ottaa huomioon perhetaustaan ja genetiikkaan liittyvien muuten havaitsemattomien tekijöiden vaikutus. Tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto kattaa vuodet 1990–2009. Tutkimusaineiston paneeliominaisuutta hyödynnetään tarkastelemalla henkilön siirtymiä yksityisen sektorin palveluksesta julkisen sektorin palvelukseen. Tulosten mukaan korkeampi koulutus ja ammatilliset preferenssit ovat yhteydessä henkilöiden päätymiseen julkisen sektorin palkkalistoille. Perheen perustaminen on myös positiivisesti yhteydessä henkilön todennäköisyyteen siirtyä yksityiseltä sektorilta julkiselle sektorille. Perheen perustamisen myötä riskin karttaminen kasvaa ja hakeutuminen vakaampiin ja vähemmän riskialttiisiin työsuhteisiin lisääntyy. Ekstrovertit henkilöt päätyvät myös muita todennäköisemmin julkisen sektorin työpaikkoihin. Myös palkka vaikuttaa siirtymiin. Korkeammilla palkkaluokilla työskentelevät jäävät todennäköisemmin yksityisen sektorin palvelukseen, koska julkisella sektorilla maksetaan näillä palkkaluokilla pienempää palkkaa.
Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan henkilön taustaominaisuuksien vaikutuksia päätyä julkisen sektorin työntekijäksi. Tarkastelu tehdään suomalaisella kaksosaineistolla, jonka avulla voidaan ottaa huomioon perhetaustaan ja genetiikkaan liittyvien muuten havaitsemattomien tekijöiden vaikutus. Tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto kattaa vuodet 1990–2009. Tutkimusaineiston paneeliominaisuutta hyödynnetään tarkastelemalla henkilön siirtymiä yksityisen sektorin palveluksesta julkisen sektorin palvelukseen. Tulosten mukaan korkeampi koulutus ja ammatilliset preferenssit ovat yhteydessä henkilöiden päätymiseen julkisen sektorin palkkalistoille. Perheen perustaminen on myös positiivisesti yhteydessä henkilön todennäköisyyteen siirtyä yksityiseltä sektorilta julkiselle sektorille. Perheen perustamisen myötä riskin karttaminen kasvaa ja hakeutuminen vakaampiin ja vähemmän riskialttiisiin työsuhteisiin lisääntyy. Ekstrovertit henkilöt päätyvät myös muita todennäköisemmin julkisen sektorin työpaikkoihin. Myös palkka vaikuttaa siirtymiin. Korkeammilla palkkaluokilla työskentelevät jäävät todennäköisemmin yksityisen sektorin palvelukseen, koska julkisella sektorilla maksetaan näillä palkkaluokilla pienempää palkkaa.
Job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers of public senio...Alexander Decker
This document discusses a study on job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers in public senior high schools in Tamale, Ghana. The following key points are made:
- The study found that teachers were satisfied with supervision, work groups, and the nature of their work, but dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities. Overall job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers was low.
- Factors that could increase teacher satisfaction and prevent attrition included participation in decision making, good working conditions, support from parents/administration, accommodation/incentives, student performance/discipline, and promotion opportunities.
- Teachers were most dissatisfied with their pay. The majority felt their salaries were unfair and increases too infrequent. This
A Resource Perspective on the Work Home Interface The Work-Home Resources Mo...Amber Ford
This document introduces a theoretical model called the Work-Home Resources Model to explain both positive and negative interactions between work and home domains. The model is based on Conservation of Resources Theory and describes how demands in one domain can deplete personal resources like time, energy, and mood, making it difficult to fulfill demands in the other domain and leading to work-home conflict. Alternatively, the model describes how gaining resources in one domain through experiences can increase personal resources and improve outcomes in the other domain, leading to work-home enrichment. The model aims to address gaps in previous research by explaining the causal processes between domains, how factors like personality and culture influence whether conflict or enrichment occurs, and how work-home interactions develop over time using a
Regendering care in the aftermath of recession (UK)Al James
Against a backdrop of persistent gender inequalities around childcare, recent research suggests that some men – and especially fathers – are engaging to a greater extent in the everyday tasks of social reproduction. However, our understanding of the multiple factors, motivations and institutions that facilitate and constrain this nuanced ‘regendering of care’ phenomenon in different national contexts remains limited. Previous work has theorized the uneven rise of male primary caregiving in North America and Scandinavia. This
article extends these debates through an empirical focus on the United Kingdom in the wake of the 2008–09 recession and double dip of 2011–12, to explore male work-care in relation to economic restructuring, welfare spending cuts, rising costs of childcare, policy interventions which seek to culturally and numerically defeminize care work, and concerns over work–life balance in an ‘age of austerity’. The final part of the
article explains the significance of a larger research agenda that recentres the expansive work–life balance literature through an expanded focus of analysis on men, work-care intermediaries and socially sustainable modes of post-recessionary growth.
This study examines the relationships between social support, work-life conflict, job performance and workplace stress. The researchers surveyed 1,420 staff members at a university using a tool to measure organizational stress. Their analysis found negative correlations between social support and workplace stress, and between job performance and workplace stress, indicating that higher levels of social support and better job performance are associated with lower workplace stress. They also found a positive correlation between work-life conflict and workplace stress, showing that greater work-life conflict is linked to higher stress. The results suggest developing social support strategies and work-life policies could help reduce workplace stress and improve employee well-being and performance.
Academies everything to everyone for learning evermoreSuzie McGuiggan
The document discusses the rise of academies in England's education system and whether this policy has delivered on the goals of lifelong learning. It outlines how lifelong learning was originally conceived to promote social equality and mobility but has increasingly focused on developing skills for the economy. The policy of academization aimed to improve standards by giving schools more autonomy but has made the system more complex and inequitable. It examines whether academies have increased access and choice or achieved better outcomes with little evidence they have improved standards overall. The document questions if academization can really deliver on lifelong learning goals of meeting all learners' needs.
Women in the Gig Economy (Platforms, Social Reproduction)Al James
1. Many women turn to platform work for its flexibility to better balance work and family responsibilities, such as caring for children, but find that lack of support and benefits make this difficult to achieve.
2. While platforms provide more flexible hours, women still struggle with the demands of constant availability, unpredictable income, and lack of benefits like paid leave.
3. Working from home also brings new health and safety issues, such as clients who overstep boundaries, and women feel pressure to hide pregnancies or cut maternity leave short due to lost income and clients.
1) The document discusses the experiences of women working in the online gig economy, focusing on their motivations, work-life flexibility, and precarity.
2) While platforms advertise flexibility, women face demands for evening/weekend work, lack of benefits, and income precarity.
3) Issues include lack of sick pay/maternity leave, hiding pregnancies, and inappropriate client behavior, compromising health and safety.
4) While seeking work-life balance, women still do most childcare and experience new constraints from algorithms and fees.
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The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationshipin p.docxmehek4
The entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship
in private family firms: the moderating role
of socioemotional wealth
Jelle Schepers • Wim Voordeckers •
Tensie Steijvers • Eddy Laveren
Accepted: 10 December 2013 / Published online: 22 December 2013
� Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Drawing on socioemotional wealth (SEW)
literature, this paper revisits the established entrepre-
neurial orientation (EO)–performance relationship in
a family business context. The main idea in entrepre-
neurship literature is that EO leads to increased firm
performance. We question this logic in a family
business context because family related non-financial
goals, like SEW, may prevent the firm to reap the fruits
of their entrepreneurial efforts. Specifically, we argue
that SEW engenders inefficiencies that place con-
straints on the realization of the benefits of entrepre-
neurship. Therefore, we propose that a high level of
SEW preservation hinders the transmission of the
family firm’s EO into positive performance effects. To
test this hypothesis, an empirical study was developed
using a sample of 232 Belgian private family firms.
Robust linear regression analysis reveals that the
positive effect of EO on financial performance
decreases as the level of SEW preservation increases.
Keywords Entrepreneurial orientation �
Private family firms � Socioemotional wealth �
Firm performance
JEL Classifications L21 � L25 � L26
1 Introduction
For many years, researchers have argued that firms
pursuing a high entrepreneurial orientation (i.e. a
strategic posture that involves a propensity to be
innovative, proactive and open to risk in exploring
new products, services and markets [Covin and Slevin
1991]) perform better (e.g. Su et al. 2011; Rauch et al.
2009; Wiklund and Shepherd 2005; Covin and Slevin
1989). The implicit logic behind this pervasive belief
seems to be that entrepreneurial firms will identify and
pursue lucrative product/market opportunities which
in turn will improve their company financial perfor-
mance (Zahra and Covin 1995). Although this idea is
widely accepted in the literature, empirical evidence
showed that there exists considerable variation in the
size and direction of reported relationships between
entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm performance
(Rauch et al. 2009). These observations inspired
researchers to apply a contingency framework incor-
porating moderating variables that may explain vari-
ations in the EO–performance relationship (Covin and
Slevin 1991; Lumpkin and Dess 1996), ranging from
J. Schepers � W. Voordeckers (&) � T. Steijvers
Kizok Research Center, Hasselt University, Hasselt,
Belgium
e-mail: [email protected]
J. Schepers
e-mail: [email protected]
E. Laveren
University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
123
Small Bus Econ (2014) 43:39–55
DOI 10.1007/s11187-013-9533-5
external variables, such as environmental dynamism
(e.g., Wiklund and Shep ...
Agricultural Co-operatives and the Rationale behind Their Existence: Australi...Mehari Arefaine
This document summarizes a research paper on agricultural cooperatives and their rationale from an Australian perspective. It begins with an abstract that outlines how cooperatives have historically helped low-income groups but have been questioned during periods of market deregulation. The document then reviews literature on cooperatives' performance during economic crises and their role in developing countries and modern economies. It presents data on the global presence of cooperatives compared to corporations. The document uses the Australian dairy industry as a case study, finding that dairy cooperatives there lost dominance after 1990s deregulation but that the Murray Goulburn cooperative provides benefits to farmers like higher milk prices.
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 replaced previous job training programs and aimed to streamline employment services. Under WIA, community colleges play a role in implementing job training initiatives through one-stop centers located on campuses. However, colleges face challenges such as maintaining eligible training provider status, collecting extensive outcome data, and balancing short-term training needs with longer-term educational goals. While WIA has improved workforce development, issues around funding, performance standards, and serving diverse student populations persist.
This document summarizes the findings of three surveys from 1997 to 2000 on work/life balance strategies in Australian organizations. The surveys found that the most common work/life balance strategies offered were part-time work, study leave, flexible hours, and working from home occasionally. However, employee usage of available strategies lagged behind implementation, with only 6% of organizations reporting over 80% employee usage. Major barriers to effective work/life balance included an organizational culture that rewards long hours over other commitments, unsupportive work environments for those with external commitments, and lack of management support. While some strategies have been adopted, substantial challenges remain in fully implementing and managing work/life balance.
Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan henkilön taustaominaisuuksien vaikutuksia päätyä julkisen sektorin työntekijäksi. Tarkastelu tehdään suomalaisella kaksosaineistolla, jonka avulla voidaan ottaa huomioon perhetaustaan ja genetiikkaan liittyvien muuten havaitsemattomien tekijöiden vaikutus. Tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto kattaa vuodet 1990–2009. Tutkimusaineiston paneeliominaisuutta hyödynnetään tarkastelemalla henkilön siirtymiä yksityisen sektorin palveluksesta julkisen sektorin palvelukseen. Tulosten mukaan korkeampi koulutus ja ammatilliset preferenssit ovat yhteydessä henkilöiden päätymiseen julkisen sektorin palkkalistoille. Perheen perustaminen on myös positiivisesti yhteydessä henkilön todennäköisyyteen siirtyä yksityiseltä sektorilta julkiselle sektorille. Perheen perustamisen myötä riskin karttaminen kasvaa ja hakeutuminen vakaampiin ja vähemmän riskialttiisiin työsuhteisiin lisääntyy. Ekstrovertit henkilöt päätyvät myös muita todennäköisemmin julkisen sektorin työpaikkoihin. Myös palkka vaikuttaa siirtymiin. Korkeammilla palkkaluokilla työskentelevät jäävät todennäköisemmin yksityisen sektorin palvelukseen, koska julkisella sektorilla maksetaan näillä palkkaluokilla pienempää palkkaa.
Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan henkilön taustaominaisuuksien vaikutuksia päätyä julkisen sektorin työntekijäksi. Tarkastelu tehdään suomalaisella kaksosaineistolla, jonka avulla voidaan ottaa huomioon perhetaustaan ja genetiikkaan liittyvien muuten havaitsemattomien tekijöiden vaikutus. Tutkimuksessa käytetty aineisto kattaa vuodet 1990–2009. Tutkimusaineiston paneeliominaisuutta hyödynnetään tarkastelemalla henkilön siirtymiä yksityisen sektorin palveluksesta julkisen sektorin palvelukseen. Tulosten mukaan korkeampi koulutus ja ammatilliset preferenssit ovat yhteydessä henkilöiden päätymiseen julkisen sektorin palkkalistoille. Perheen perustaminen on myös positiivisesti yhteydessä henkilön todennäköisyyteen siirtyä yksityiseltä sektorilta julkiselle sektorille. Perheen perustamisen myötä riskin karttaminen kasvaa ja hakeutuminen vakaampiin ja vähemmän riskialttiisiin työsuhteisiin lisääntyy. Ekstrovertit henkilöt päätyvät myös muita todennäköisemmin julkisen sektorin työpaikkoihin. Myös palkka vaikuttaa siirtymiin. Korkeammilla palkkaluokilla työskentelevät jäävät todennäköisemmin yksityisen sektorin palvelukseen, koska julkisella sektorilla maksetaan näillä palkkaluokilla pienempää palkkaa.
Job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers of public senio...Alexander Decker
This document discusses a study on job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers in public senior high schools in Tamale, Ghana. The following key points are made:
- The study found that teachers were satisfied with supervision, work groups, and the nature of their work, but dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities. Overall job satisfaction and organizational commitment among teachers was low.
- Factors that could increase teacher satisfaction and prevent attrition included participation in decision making, good working conditions, support from parents/administration, accommodation/incentives, student performance/discipline, and promotion opportunities.
- Teachers were most dissatisfied with their pay. The majority felt their salaries were unfair and increases too infrequent. This
A Resource Perspective on the Work Home Interface The Work-Home Resources Mo...Amber Ford
This document introduces a theoretical model called the Work-Home Resources Model to explain both positive and negative interactions between work and home domains. The model is based on Conservation of Resources Theory and describes how demands in one domain can deplete personal resources like time, energy, and mood, making it difficult to fulfill demands in the other domain and leading to work-home conflict. Alternatively, the model describes how gaining resources in one domain through experiences can increase personal resources and improve outcomes in the other domain, leading to work-home enrichment. The model aims to address gaps in previous research by explaining the causal processes between domains, how factors like personality and culture influence whether conflict or enrichment occurs, and how work-home interactions develop over time using a
Regendering care in the aftermath of recession (UK)Al James
Against a backdrop of persistent gender inequalities around childcare, recent research suggests that some men – and especially fathers – are engaging to a greater extent in the everyday tasks of social reproduction. However, our understanding of the multiple factors, motivations and institutions that facilitate and constrain this nuanced ‘regendering of care’ phenomenon in different national contexts remains limited. Previous work has theorized the uneven rise of male primary caregiving in North America and Scandinavia. This
article extends these debates through an empirical focus on the United Kingdom in the wake of the 2008–09 recession and double dip of 2011–12, to explore male work-care in relation to economic restructuring, welfare spending cuts, rising costs of childcare, policy interventions which seek to culturally and numerically defeminize care work, and concerns over work–life balance in an ‘age of austerity’. The final part of the
article explains the significance of a larger research agenda that recentres the expansive work–life balance literature through an expanded focus of analysis on men, work-care intermediaries and socially sustainable modes of post-recessionary growth.
This study examines the relationships between social support, work-life conflict, job performance and workplace stress. The researchers surveyed 1,420 staff members at a university using a tool to measure organizational stress. Their analysis found negative correlations between social support and workplace stress, and between job performance and workplace stress, indicating that higher levels of social support and better job performance are associated with lower workplace stress. They also found a positive correlation between work-life conflict and workplace stress, showing that greater work-life conflict is linked to higher stress. The results suggest developing social support strategies and work-life policies could help reduce workplace stress and improve employee well-being and performance.
Academies everything to everyone for learning evermoreSuzie McGuiggan
The document discusses the rise of academies in England's education system and whether this policy has delivered on the goals of lifelong learning. It outlines how lifelong learning was originally conceived to promote social equality and mobility but has increasingly focused on developing skills for the economy. The policy of academization aimed to improve standards by giving schools more autonomy but has made the system more complex and inequitable. It examines whether academies have increased access and choice or achieved better outcomes with little evidence they have improved standards overall. The document questions if academization can really deliver on lifelong learning goals of meeting all learners' needs.
Similar a Work–Life ‘Balance’ Business Case (learning and innovation) (20)
Women in the Gig Economy (Platforms, Social Reproduction)Al James
1. Many women turn to platform work for its flexibility to better balance work and family responsibilities, such as caring for children, but find that lack of support and benefits make this difficult to achieve.
2. While platforms provide more flexible hours, women still struggle with the demands of constant availability, unpredictable income, and lack of benefits like paid leave.
3. Working from home also brings new health and safety issues, such as clients who overstep boundaries, and women feel pressure to hide pregnancies or cut maternity leave short due to lost income and clients.
1) The document discusses the experiences of women working in the online gig economy, focusing on their motivations, work-life flexibility, and precarity.
2) While platforms advertise flexibility, women face demands for evening/weekend work, lack of benefits, and income precarity.
3) Issues include lack of sick pay/maternity leave, hiding pregnancies, and inappropriate client behavior, compromising health and safety.
4) While seeking work-life balance, women still do most childcare and experience new constraints from algorithms and fees.
AAG April 2018: Gendered Digital Work-Lives: Juggling Gig Work and Mothering
This paper emerges from feminist economic geography debates around social reproduction and the future of work in the so-called ‘sharing economy’ or ‘gig economy’. Within this framework, it documents the lived experiences of female returners with young families juggling gig work with the messy and fleshy everyday activities of social reproduction, in ways that potentially disrupt (versus reinforce) stubborn gendered labour market inequalities. The analysis is developed through fieldwork with women using popular online jobs platforms (TaskRabbit, Upwork, PeoplePerHour) in two UK cities (Leeds and Manchester) which are actively positioning themselves as ‘Sharing Cities’. Despite widespread claims surrounding female emancipatory work-life possibilities (‘mumpreneurship’) enabled by the gig economy, supporting evidence is limited. In short, we know relatively little about the everyday work-lives of women trying to make a living using online work platforms – not least, the much heralded ‘emancipatory’ experiences of female digital workers seeking to reconcile work, home and family, and to negotiate better labour market outcomes via digital work platforms relative to ‘mainstream’ employers. Reinforcing these problems, the expansive work-life balance research literature is limited in its engagement with the Gig Economy. Rather, most WLB studies focus on the challenges of juggling work, home and family amongst employees in ‘standard’ workplaces governed by HR managers; rather than the diversity of ‘alternative’ workspaces occupied by gig workers, whose abilities to reconcile competing activities of work, home and family as ‘dependent contractors’ are governed by digital algorithms and the work allocation models built into them by platform developers. In so doing, this paper brings debates around mothering into new productive conversation with labour geography and digital economies.
In an increasingly globalised world, the long-standing intellectual division of labour between ‘economic’ geographers and ‘development’ scholars is becoming less tenable. This paper explores some of the practical implications and synergistic outcomes of developing a hybrid economic / development geography ‘trading zone’ - in which economic geographers are forced to step outside their comfort zones through new empirical engagements with workers, firms, and urban economies in the global South. Here we reflect on these possibilities in relation to undergraduate teaching in human geography through fieldwork undertaken in India.
Over the last three decades, economic geographers have explored how the spatial co-location of firms in regional industrial agglomerations helps foster learning, innovation and economic competitiveness. While recent work highlights the crucial role of labour mobility in promoting inter-firm ‘knowledge spillovers’, it pays little attention to how gendered responsibilities of care, and personal-life interests beyond the workplace shape workers’ (non)participation in the relational networks and communities of practice widely theorized as enabling learning and innovation. This paper presents new data from two regional economies: Dublin, Ireland and Cambridge, UK. It documents the role of ‘work-life balance’ provision across IT employers in shaping the cross-firm mobility of workers, and the tacit knowledge, skills and competencies which they embody. The paper disrupts the powerful premise that ‘cross-firm labour mobility is always and everywhere good’ which informs much of the regional learning literature. It also contributes to emerging debates around ‘holistic’ regional development.
The ‘Sharing Economy’ continues to spark widespread debate – not least in the UK, which has been identified as the ‘European capital of the Sharing Economy’, worth an estimated £0.5 billion in 2014 and forecast to grow to £9 billion by 2025 (ONS 2016). This paper critically explores the origins and operation of the Sharing Economy and its emergent digital labour geographies in relation to: the role of online labour markets and algorithms in managing and motivating work; whether the Sharing Economy is creating new jobs or crowding out old ones; the extent to which outsourced ‘clickwork’ has an empowering, liberating effect at a time when more and more people find it increasingly difficult to meet the demands of more formal, traditional work environments; the role of digital labour in blurring commonly-accepted conceptual boundaries between ‘producer’ / ‘consumer’, ‘labour’ / ‘play’ through the creation of a new cohort of ‘prosumers’ engaged in ‘playbour’; and criticisms of the ‘dark side’ of the Sharing Economy for workers who have limited legal protection as ‘independent contractors’ (the cybertariat). The paper also considers the extent to which digital work disrupts or reinforces stubborn labour market inequalities rooted in gender and race.
This document discusses research on financial resilience practices among Somali migrants in East London. It finds that 100% of survey participants supported charitable causes in the previous year, with motivations strongly linked to Islamic faith. Common practices included zakat (obligatory alms-giving), sadaqa (voluntary charity), and community fundraising. Donations were made despite high levels of poverty and unemployment. The research challenges views of this community as lacking resilience, instead finding resourcefulness and mutual aid. It calls for new conversations with literatures on responses to hardship in the global South.
This article extends research exploring progressive models of reproducing economic life by reporting on research into some of the infrastructure, practices and motivations for Islamic charitable giving in London. In so doing the article: (i) makes visible sets of values, practices and institutions usually hidden in an otherwise widely researched international financial centre; (ii) identifies multiple, hard-to-research civic actors who
are mobilising diverse resources to address economic hardship and development needs; and (iii) considers how these charitable values, practices and agents contribute
to contemporary thinking about progressive economic possibilities.
India service careers - former call centre agentsAl James
This article presents findings from a labour mobility survey of 250 former call centre agents in India’s National Capital Region (September 2008) exploring individuals’ employment before, during and immediately after leaving India’s high-profile call centre ‘industry’. These data are combined with forty-two in-depth interviews conducted in India’s NCR (July 2006 to August
2008) with call centre agents, managers, ex-call centre agents, labour organizers and economic development officials, as well as representatives from different labour market intermediaries. The study gives a cautiously optimistic account about the call centre work and employment opportunities on offer in India’s ‘IT Enabled Services – Business Processing Outsourcing’
(or ITES-BPO) industry, and their implications for young urban middle class graduates based on: (i) the movement of around one fifth of the ex-call centre agent sample into further study, facilitated by relatively high call centre salaries; (ii) the movement of ex-call centre agents into higher paying job
roles in a wide range of sectors including banking, IT, insurance, marketing, real estate and telecommunications; and (iii) the development of transferable skills in Indian call centres that are recognized by ex-call centre agents and their subsequent employers as conferring a labour market advantage in other
sectors of India’s new service economy relative to colleagues without prior call centre work experience.
India services - job hopping, careers, skillsAl James
The last two decades have seen a profound shift in how labour is spatially conceptualized and understood within economic geography, based on a recognition of workers’ abilities to fashion the geography of capitalism to suit their own needs.
However, the bulk of work in labour geography fails to examine worker agency beyond a narrow focus on the trade union movement, largely divorces workers’ activities from the
sphere of social reproduction, and rarely looks beyond the ‘core’ capitalist economies of the Global North. In response, this article presents findings from a regional labour mobility survey of 439 call centre workers in India’s National Capital Region (May 2007). Here, previous work has heavily criticized the ‘dead-end’ nature of call centre jobs offshored to India from the Global North, yet has done so based on an intra-firm
focus of analysis. By taking an alternative cross-firm worker agency approach, our analysis documents for the first time some Indian call centre agents’ abilities to circumvent a lack of internal job ladders and achieve career progression through lateral ‘career staircases’, as they job hop between firms in pursuit of better pay, improved working conditions and more complex job roles. In the absence of widespread
unionization within this sector, the article also discusses the productive and social reproductive factors that underpin these patterns of Indian call centre worker agency, and their mediation by a complex nexus of labour market intermediaries beyond the
firm. In so doing, the article ‘theorizes back’ (Yeung, 2007) on ‘mainstream’ (Western) theories of the limits to call centre worker agency and career advancement.
regional cultures of innovation - research agendaAl James
The purpose of this chapter is to off er a broad introduction to this important research stream concerned with the regional cultural economy of learning, innovation and development. The chapter begins by setting out its intellectual origins and ‘founding parents’; explaining core conceptual frameworks which scholars have developed to theorize regional cultures of innovation and their growth effects; summarizing important
debates around the need to ‘demystify’ regional culture and how to ground ‘innovative milieux’ empirically; and outlining some important case studies that have analysed the links between regional culture, knowledge production and regional development (specifically Silicon Valley, Boston’s Route 128, Salt Lake City, Oxford’s Motorsport Valley and Cuba’s bioscience cluster). The chapter concludes by charting two newly emergent research agendas around gendered cultural economies of learning within high- tech regions; and a decentring of the mainstream research literature (with its almost exclusive focus on the Global North) to regional industrial systems in the Global South, in order to expose the limits of Western- centred readings of regional cultural economy, learning and development.
economic / development geography trading zoneAl James
In an increasingly globalized world, the long-standing intellectual division of labour between ‘economic’ geographers and ‘development’ scholars is becoming less tenable. This paper explores some of the practical implications and synergistic outcomes of developing a hybrid economic/development geography ‘trading zone’. Drawing on experiences from our collaborative research on India’s new service economy,
we reflect on: our intellectual journey through this project from relatively conventional subdisciplinary start points; how we were forced to rethink those start points at each stage of the research project; and the wider implications of these experiences for contemporary debates on internal interdisciplinarity
within human geography.
This paper explores the lived experiences and aspirational social constructions of call centre work and employment in India’s high profile IT Enabled Services–Business Process Outsourcing (ITES–BPO) industry; the ways in which they differ from those previously documented amongst call centre workers in the Global North (specifically the UK); and the consequences of that geographical reconfiguration of offshored call centre work for the replicability in India of workplace collective bargaining strategies successfully developed in some UK call centres. These issues are analysed using new empirical evidence from a
regional survey of 511 non-unionised ITES–BPO workers and 42 in-depth interviews in India’s National Capital Region. Based on this analysis, the paper then discusses the operation, outcomes and ongoing challenges faced by the newly formed ‘Union for ITES Professionals’ (UNITES Pro) in developing an alternative occupational organising model better suited to the particular needs, motivations and preferences of India’s young, mobile, call centre workers. The empirical analysis presented in the paper is located, therefore, within wider debates on the role of geographical context in shaping possibilities for organising
white-collar service workers at different ends of global service chains in the new economy.
This document discusses professional service firms and their growth over the last three decades. It makes three key points:
1. Professional service firms apply specialized technical knowledge through interpersonal relationships to solve clients' problems. Major sectors include law, accounting, architecture, advertising, consulting, and financial services.
2. Professional service firms have exhibited rapid growth and spatial clustering in integrated clusters. This clustering enhances firms' learning and innovation processes, which are important to their competitiveness.
3. More recently, some professional service firms have internationalized by sending staff abroad from countries like the US and Europe. This allows insights into emerging global service networks and new international divisions of labor.
Book Review of 'Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction' by Neil Coe, Philip Kelly and Henry Yeung (Oxford, UK; Malden, MA, USA; and Carlton 10 Victoria, Australia: Blackwell, 2007).
A growing body of research explores how different dimensions of high-tech regional economic development are fundamentally
and unavoidably gendered. This article offers a summary introduction to this nascent research agenda, focused on three phenomena widely documented in the regional literature as supporting intra- and interfirm learning and innovation processes, but whose attendant gendered social relations and gender divisions have yet to be fully analysed and understood, namely, (i) processes of worker mobility, labour ‘churning’ and their brokering by different labour market intermediaries; (ii)
venture capital financing, entrepreneurship and firm start-up; and (iii) the origins and implications of (masculinist) corporate cultures for firms’ absorptive capacities. By way of conclusion, the article outlines some interesting directions in which
future research in this area might usefully develop in order to contribute to a broader project around holistic regional (socio)economic development.
Although recognition of the significance of gender divisions continues to transform economic geography, the discipline nevertheless remains highly uneven in its degree of engagement with gender as a legitimate focus of analysis. In particular, although social institutions are now widely
regarded as key determinants of economic success, the regional learning and innovation literature remains largely gender blind, simultaneously subordinating the female worker voice and making invisible distinctively gendered patterns of work in the face of an increasingly feminised labour force.
Focusing on the industrial agglomeration of information and communication technology firms in Cambridge, England, we first outline the nature of the inequalities in patterns of work and social interaction among female versus male employees within Cambridge's high-tech regional economy. Second, we demonstrate how these inequalities in turn constrain female employees' abilities to contribute to key processes widely theorised to underpin firms' innovative capacities and economic
competitiveness. Specifically, these self-identified constraints centre on female workers' abilities to: (a) act as agents of information and knowledge diffusion between firms; and (b) use new information and knowledge once they enter the firm. Overall, our results suggest that gender issues of social equity
at the level of the individual worker need to be explicitly integrated with issues of economic competitiveness at the levels of the firm and the region. This is a case not simply of female employees being socially excluded at work, but of their simultaneous exclusion from key elements of firms'
productive processes.
how cultures shape economies - everyday mechanismsAl James
This document provides an introduction and background to a case study of the high tech regional economy in Salt Lake City, Utah. It discusses how economic geographers have drawn on the concept of "cultural embeddedness" to understand how cultural norms and values shape regional economic development and innovation. However, our understanding of the causal links and everyday practices through which cultural embeddedness affects firms remains limited. The case study of Salt Lake City aims to advance this understanding by exploring both the local and extra-local causal mechanisms, practices, and processes through which firms become culturally embedded in the Mormon culture of the region and how this impacts their economic performance.
The rise of cultural economic geography over the last two decades is one of the most significant, exciting, and contentious developments in the sub-discipline’s recent history. The result is a vibrant sub-discipline more heterodox and pluralist than ever before (Peck, 2005). This chapter explores the various drivers of the cultural turn, its intellectual contributions to economic geography as a sub-discipline, and the work of some of the cultural turn’s main proponents.
graduate students - doing cultural economy researchAl James
While many commentators have recently argued forcefully for increased ‘rigour’ and ‘relevance’ within cultural economic geography, they have offered relatively less guidance on how
we might achieve that in practice, according to criteria that are methodologically and epistemologically appropriate to the cultural turn. Within this context, I outline a series of feasible
concrete strategies that researchers (especially those with limited resources of finance, status and power) might employ in the pursuit of these twin research ideals across five commonly
experienced moments in the research process, namely: (i) development of research questions; (ii) research design and case study selection; (iii) data collection; (iv) empirical analysis and theory building; and (v) write-up and communication.
The Rules Do Apply: Navigating HR ComplianceAggregage
https://www.humanresourcestoday.com/frs/26903483/the-rules-do-apply--navigating-hr-compliance
HR Compliance is like a giant game of whack-a-mole. Once you think your company is compliant with all policies and procedures documented and in place, there’s a new or amended law, regulation, or final rule that pops up landing you back at ‘start.’ There are shifts, interpretations, and balancing acts to understanding compliance changes. Keeping up is not easy and it’s very time consuming.
This is a particular pain point for small HR departments, or HR departments of 1, that lack compliance teams and in-house labor attorneys. So, what do you do?
The goal of this webinar is to make you smarter in knowing what you should be focused on and the questions you should be asking. It will also provide you with resources for making compliance more manageable.
Objectives:
• Understand the regulatory landscape, including labor laws at the local, state, and federal levels
• Best practices for developing, implementing, and maintaining effective compliance programs
• Resources and strategies for staying informed about changes to labor laws, regulations, and compliance requirements