FACE TO FACE BETWEEN A PUBLIC AND A PRIVATE CIO IN ITALY

The wide use of technology and the high technology innovation have arisen strategic opportunities from ICT investments. To support the strategic role of technology different ICT governance practices and frameworks have been designed. This paper makes a comparison between two case studies. The principal source of evidence has been the interview. It has been structured to evaluate the ICT governance maturity level of an organization through the answers given by its principal decision makers. The first interviewees have been two CIOs. They came respectively from a public and a private Italian organization. The surprising conclusion is that different motivations have shown the same barriers against ICT governance for both the organizations. In this paper, after some considerations on the research background, method and purpose, we make a comparison between the two CIOs points of view. Then we give our first findings and their motivations. They represent a starting point for a future analytical generalization

What Do Unions Do?: The 2004 M-Brane Stringtwister Edition

The Journal of Labor Research 20th anniversary symposium review of What Do Unions Do? offers a unique opportunity to examine how the claims made in the book have fared in ensuing research and to ponder what parts of the book I would change if I could. This paper responds to the 18 critical essays in the journal. It recognizes three major errors of omission: failure to take account of unionism outside the US; failure to analyze public sector unionism; and failure to analyze the effects of unionism on economic growth; and the problem of determining the "optimal level of unionism" on the basis of estimates of what unions do. Ensuing research has found that What Do Unions Do? correctly identified union effects on turnover, fringe benefits, earnings inequality, political action, profits, managerial flexibility and human resource management, and that wage effects vary widely. Estimates of the union effect on productivity tend to be positive but modest, ruling out negative effects on average, but not conclusively establishing positive effects. Critical comments from some of the symposium panelists notwithstanding, I believe that the bulk of the evidence supports the What Do Unions Do? claim that management opposition has been a major factor in the decline in union density in the US.

On the Divergence in Unionism among Developed Countries

In this paper I explore the evolution of unionism in the 1970n and 1980s, when the post-oil shock world economy created a "crisis of unionism" throughout the western world. I try to explain why union representation of work forces fell in some countries but not in others and contrast union responses to the challenge of the period. I find that: -- Rates of unionization diverged greatly among developed countries -- The composition of union members shifted from private sector blue collar workers to public sector end white collar workers in all countries, producing increased divisions within union movements by category of worker -- Changes in the industrial composition of employment, changes in public attitudes toward unionism, and the growth of governmental protection of labor do not explain the divergence in density -- Differing rates of inflation contributed to the divergence, with unions doing better in countries with high inflation. In addition, unemployment raised density in settings where unions disperse unemployment benefits -- The primary reason for the divergence are differences in the incentives and opportunities different industrial relations systems give employers to oppose unions. Unions fared best in neo-corporatist settings and worst in settings where decentralized bargaining creates a strong profit incentive for managers to oppose unions and where management is relatively free to act on that incentive -- Union organizations and modes of operating changed significantly in some countries with declining or endangered unionism but not in others Most strikingly, my analysis indicates that if 1980s trends continue the west will be divided between countries with strong trade union movements operating in a neo-corporatist system, as in Scandinavia, and countries with 'ghetto unionism' limited to special segments of the work force, as in the United States.

America Needs a Raise

[Excerpt] America needs a raise, in the worst kind of way. While productivity, profits, executive pay and the stock market keep going up, working family incomes keep going down, widening the gap between the rich and the rest of us and creating a dangerous atmosphere of social and economic conflict. Workers are having to labor harder and longer just to keep even, and more and more family members are having to work in order to maintain living standards. Working families have little money to spend, they are loaded with debt and they have no time to spend with their children. Threatened by restructuring, downsizing, pension raids, privatization schemes and runaway plants, their anger is exceeded only by anxiety over keeping their jobs. They are disgusted with business and government and their disillusionment is straining the fabric of our society

Lifelong guidance policies in France and in Europe : where reforms are heading ?

The transformations occurring in work and employment at the present time are raising new expectations with respect to guidance policies. Public action concerning guidance is challenged by the growing complexity of educational and professional pathways and increasing career mobility. To deal with these new expectations with concerning guidance, its steering system needs to be reformed. The aim of this survey is to describe the reforms underway in France. French specificities will also be revealed by comparison with examples from other countries based on a literature review.guidance policie ; career mobility ; France ; Europe

Union Maids: Unions and the Female Workforce

How have women fared in unions in recent years? The major findings of this paper are that unions have been more beneficial for women in the public sector than in the private sector, and that unionism for women is primarily a public sector wriite collar phenomenon distinguished from that of males. According to our analysis:(1) Women have come to be an increasingly large proportion of the unionized work force, and are critical in the one area in which unions have recently succeeded --the public sector.(2) In the public sector and in white collar occupations where women unionists are concentrated, unions raise women's wages more than they raise the wages of men.(3) In the private sector unions have essentially the same effect on women in wages, turnover, employment and so forth, and do not deter affirmative action programs to raise female employment. (4) Comparable worth presents a rare confluence of interests of unions in search of members, particularly in the public sector,and women in search of higher wages, and will likely continue to be used by both especially within the confines of collective bargaining.

Fiscal harmonization in the presence of public inputs

Fiscal harmonization for the European Union member states is a goal that encounters major difficulties for its implementation. Each country faces a particular trade-off between fiscal revenues generated by taxation and the productive efficiency loss induced by their respective tax code. Countries for which a particular harmonized tax code requires more taxation will have to face an increased efficiency loss, whereas those required to decrease their taxes will have to face a loss in fiscal revenue. This paper provides a quantitative measure of these trade-offs, for a number of taxes and for the European Union member states, using a DGE model with public inputs. Calibration of the model for the EU-15 member states gives us the following results: i) The maximum tax revenue level is not far away from the current tax levels for most countries, ii) The cases of Sweden, Denmark and Finland are anomalous, as productive efficiency can be gained by lowering tax rates without affecting fiscal revenues, iii) In general, countries would obtain efficiency gains without changing fiscal revenues by reducing the capital tax and increasing the labor tax and iv) Capital tax harmonization to the average capital tax rate can be done with quite small changes in both fiscal revenues and output for the majority of countries.Fiscal harmonization, applied general equilibrium

High Stakes: Oregon Labor Sets Union Agenda for High Skill, High Wage Strategy

[Excerpt] The labor movement of Oregon is responding to the current economic crisis by adopting an agenda to help workers gain control over work and technology. The union agenda emphasizes worker-centered education and urges unions to become advocates for workers to develop their skills

Going Global

[Excerpt] What power can counter the growing strength of MNCs and the forces of globalization? National governments have an important role to play, singly and together, as do international institutions of regulation such as the European Commission, the World Trade Organization, and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Equally important, we would suggest, is the countervailing power of modernized labor movements working actively at local, national, and transnational levels. Further, we suggest that in the current era, the renewal of national and local labor movements may in fact depend greatly on increased coordination with the labor movements of other countries. Transnational collaboration will be—and should be—an increasingly important feature of tomorrow\u27s global economy

Attitudinal and behavioural determinants influencing decision makers when adopting integration technologies in local government

Over the last few years, the advent of innovative or revolutionary integration technologies has influenced pivotal decisions within top management to strategically transform Local Government Authorities (LGAs). These technologies may represent a huge cost for adopting LGAs, but may also offer the chance to achieve competitive advantage through superior service delivery. With the emergence of electronic Government (e- Government), LGAs are turning to integration technologies to fully automate and e-enable their business processes and integrate their IT infrastructures. While prior research on the adoption of integration technologies in the private and public domain has considered several determinants (e.g. benefits, barriers, costs), little attention has been given to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural determinants influencing top management’s decision making process for the adoption of integration technologies in LGAs. Notwithstanding, the implications of this research have yet to be assessed, leaving scope for timeliness and novel research. Therefore, it is of high importance to investigate this area within LGAs and contribute to the area of strategic decision making by examining attitudinal and behavioural determinants of top management in relation to integration technologies adoption