Smart Kitchens for People with Cognitive Impairments: A Qualitative Study of Design Requirements

Individuals with cognitive impairments currently leverage extensive human resources during their transitions from assisted living to independent living. In Western Europe, many government-supported volunteer organizations provide sheltered living facilities; supervised environments in which people with cognitive impairments collaboratively learn daily living skills. In this paper, we describe communal cooking practices in sheltered living facilities and identify opportunities for supporting these with interactive technology to reduce volunteer workload. We conducted two contextual observations of twelve people with cognitive impairments cooking in sheltered living facilities and supplemented this data through interviews with four employees and volunteers who supervise them. Through thematic analysis, we identified four themes to inform design requirements for communal cooking activities: Work organization, community, supervision, and practicalities. Based on these, we present five design implications for assistive systems in kitchens for people with cognitive deficiencies

Human resource management as a substitute for trade unions in British workplaces

The authors use British workplace data for 1980–98 to examine whether increased human resource management (HRM) practices coincided with union decline, consistent with the hypothesis that such practices act as a substitute for unionization. Two initial analyses show no important differences between union and non-union sectors or between newer workplaces (which are likelier to be non-union) and older ones in the pattern of HRM practices over time; and the study’s longitudinal analysis picks up no evidence of faster union decline in workplaces or industries that adopted HRM practices than in those that did not. Not only is the hypothesized substitution effect thus not supported, but the authors even uncover some evidence of a complementarity between unions and HRM practices. The authors conclude that increased use of HRM practices is probably not an important factor underpinning union decline in Britain

Union Decline in Britain

In this paper I consider the rapid decline in the unionization rate that has occurred in Britain since the late 1970s. An establishment based analysis reports that the overwhelming factor in explaining falling unionization was a failure to organise the new sorts of establishments that were set up in the last twenty years or so. Patterns showing low rates of union recognition and density in new establishments set up in the 1980s and 1990s are seen to be very similar for new workplaces in both decades, reflecting that the developments since 1990 represent a continuation of the pattern revealed in earlier work for the 1980-90 period. The sharpest falls in unionization occurred in private manufacturing establishments set up post-1980, with significant falls also occurring, but from a lower initial level, in private sector services. In the public sector there is no establishment age based decline in recognition. Finally, there is some evidence that age of workplace, rather than age of worker, is the critical age based factor. This seems to be the case as the negative association between unionization and the post-1980 set up of the establishment is found to hold for workers of all ages.Union recognition, union density, establishment age

Looking for HRM/Union Substitution: Evidence from British Workplaces

In this paper we test the HRM/union substitution hypothesis that human resource management (HRM) practices act as a substitute for unionization. We use British workplace data between 1980 and 1998 which allows us toexamine for the first time whether increased HRM incidence has coincided with union decline.First, we compare changes over time in the incidence of HRM practices across union and non-union sectors, finding little cross-time difference occurring between sectors. Second, we ask whether newer workplaces (strongly shown by other research as more likely to be non-union) have experienced differentiallyfaster HRM incidence; we are unable to find much evidence in support of this. Third, longitudinal changes alsofail to pick up any evidence of faster union decline in workplaces or industries with faster take up of HRMpractices. We find no evidence of HRM substitution operating in the hypothesised way of it replacing unions and conclude that increased HRM incidence does not seem to be an important factor underpinning union decline in Britain.Human Resource Management, Trade unions

More Thoughts on the Worker-Student Alliance: A Response to Steve Early

[Excerpt] My comments here reflect ten degrees of difference. While I mostly agree with him, I think Early takes a valid critique a step too far with jibes about red carpet treatment, Mormon missionaries, the best and the brightest, mobile organizers, self- sacrificing souls, and the like, suggesting that any reliance on graduates is a mistake, and only indigenous staffers should build the labor movement. His only exception, it appears, is for graduates going into workplaces where Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU)–style dissident groups take on their national union leadership, replicating the “colonizing” of the late 1960s worker-student alliance. As Early says, students’ entry into trade union work then was mostly “in opposition to the labor establishment of that era.” I take him to argue that students now aspiring to trade union work should follow the same dissident path rather than seek union staff positions

Have industrial relations in the UK really improved?

The number of strikes reported in British industry has been on a downward trend over the past two decades, falling in 1998 to their lowest level since records began. This may indicate that relations within British industry have improved, however, the same period has also witnessed a sharp increase in the number of individual ACAS and employment tribunal cases. We discuss possible reasons for the changes in the patterns of industrial unrest over time and use individual microdata to examine whether the observed decline in strike activity has actually been associated with an improvement in perceptions of workplace industrial relations.Industrial relations; strikes; individual disputes

Glasgow defined : a business perspective

Commerce, trade and business together with education have been the heart of Glasgow over the centuries. Glasgow played a central role in developing Scotland's trans-Atlantic commerce and trade- based economy with the development of the tobacco trade. As the 'second city of the empire' in the late 1800s it was, as Findlay (2011) notes, a central player in the first industrial revolution with its textile, mining, iron and shipping industries. Glasgow's leadership in the manufacture of ships, locomotives and heavy engineering reflected not only a highly skilled workforce, but equally a strong tradition of technological innovation and invention together allied to a strong financial and business services base. Through much of the 20th century Glasgow, along with many other industrial cities, had to confront the problems of industrial change and rising social deprivation and experienced several cycles of decline, renewal and regeneration. However, the traditions of innovation, together with a strong higher education sector, and a vibrant culture and dynamism have enabled Glasgow to change and to renew its economy. Since the 1980s, Glasgow has been rebuilding itself through a series regeneration programmes including: the 'Glasgow Miles Better' campaign, the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival, being European City of Culture in 1990 and, looking forward, hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014. These, together with a series of development strategies, most notably the private-sector led Glasgow Action which led the implementation of a services-led McKinsey strategy from the mid-1980’s to the Joint Economic Strategy of Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise set out in 2006 'Step Change' strategy programme and – even more recently - the creation of the Glasgow Economic Commission and the private sector-led Glasgow Economic Leadership all illustrate the innovation and strength of commitment of civic, business and academic partners to continuing and strengthening Glasgow's economic growth and renewal

Trade Unions and Training Practices in British Workplaces

We use establishment-level data from the 1991 Employers Manpower and Skills Practices Survey (EMSPS) and individual-level data from the Autumn 1993 Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) to investigate the links between training provision and workplace unionization. We focus on two training measures, an incidence variable and an intensity variable. Both are strongly positively related to whether unions are recognised in the workplace. Working in a unionized establishment substantially raises the probability of receiving training and the amount of training received by British workers. We view these results as confirming the potentially important role that British unions can play in developing skill formation.

Uses of the Workplace Industrial Relations Surveys by British Labour Economists

The huge growth of nationally representative survey datasets based upon individuals and households has not been matched in most industrialised countries by a similar development of establishment or enterprise-based surveys. In Britain the imbalance has been partially redressed by the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey series, started in 1980. A few other countries have initiated similar developments. The British series is now a core resource for institutional labour economists and has generated a substantial literature. This paper discusses some of the specifically economic data gathered in the surveys and some of their uses.