The notion of regular, full-time employment as one of the defining features of the U.S. economy has been called into question in recent years by the apparent growth of alternative or nonstandard - work arrangements - part-time hours, temporary help, independent contracting, and other...

New United Motors Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) is a GM-Toyota joint venture that has been lauded by some for achieving performance based on high employee involvement, and criticized by others for intensifying work and harming workers. In 1993, OSHA cited NUMMI for paying insufficient attention to...

If, as has been widely suggested, internal labor markets are declining and a new employment contract with reduced employer-employee commitment is emerging, the criteria by which employees judge layoffs as fair or unfair may be changing. This paper presents findings relevant to that question,...

Using longitudinal data collected in 1996-98 from over 800 similar workplaces owned and operated by a single corporation, the authors examine how workplace diversity and employee isolation along the dimensions of gender, race, and age affected employee turnover. Their design controls for much of...

Interviews with employees of a large, high-technology company reveal that computer-mediated communication (CMC) enhanced voice, defined as employees' ability to express their views and to participate in decision-making. The authors explore how two unique features of CMC enhanced voice. First,...

The author investigates the reasons for the diversity in concession bargaining experience among plants in the meatpacking and tire industries. In 1981 negotiations, about one-third of the plants in each industry engaged in concession bargaining and the others did not. The author hypothesizes...

Using data from surveys of employees and their supervisors in eight companies in 1992, the authors examine how each of two forms of employee involvement affected an important dimension of individual performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), defined as individual discretionary...

Franchise jobs are often viewed as epitomizing a "low-road" employee-management approach characterized by high turnover and several practices that are deemed unsophisticated, such as low investment in training, deskilling of work, and little encouragement of employee involvement. Research on...

The authors develop a model in which the extent of use of a grievance system is determined by wage premiums and alternative job opportunities. Specifically, they hypothesize that when workers enjoy comparatively high wages or are faced with poor alternative job opportunities, they are less...