Organizational Change in French Manufacturing: What Do We Learn From Firm Representatives and From Their Employees?

In this paper, we use a French matched employer-employee survey, the COI survey, conducted in 1997, to describe the general features of organizational change in manufacturing firms with more than 50 employees. In a first section, we explore the methodological issues associated with the building up of a statistical measure of organizational change, we describe the COI survey and we present the set of firm level and employee level variables that we have selected to investigate organizational change. In a second section, we present the results of two correspondence analysis, one conducted on a sample of 1462 firms from the COI survey and the other one conducted on the sample of 2049 blue collar workers affiliated to those firms. On one hand, using the firm level section of the survey, we show that all types of new organizational practices are positively correlated with one another. On the other hand, at the blue collar level, three main dimensions discriminate between jobs: the intensity of involvement in information processing and decision, the intensity of constraints weighing on the content and rhythm of work and the orientation of information and production flows: either pushed by colleagues or pulled by the market. We also find that blue collars cannot develop a high level of involvement in information processing and decisions and have at the same time their work rhythm fixed by heavy technical constraints whereas high time pressure imposed on work rhythm by the market is positively correlated with such an involvement. Finally, if we correlate firm level and worker level variables, we find that an increase in the use of 'employee involvement' and 'quality' practices by the firm is positively correlated both with a higher level of blue collars' involvement in information processing and decision and with a higher level of technical constraints, production flows being pushed by colleagues rather than pulled by the market. The mapping of firm level responses stemming from our first correspondence analysis has been used to select 4 firms in different areas of the statistical universe and belonging to the with executives from these firms and plant visit are used to check the quality of our statistical data and to better understand our descriptive results.

Using Employee Level Data in a Firm Level Econometric Study

In this paper, we make the general point that econometric studies of the firm can be effectively and substantially enriched by using information collected from employees, even if only a few of them are surveyed per firm. Though variables measured on the basis of the answers of very few employees per firm are subject to very important sampling errors, they can be usefully included in a model specified at the firm level. In the first part of the paper, we show that in estimating parameters of interest in a regression model of the firm, the biases arising from the sampling errors in the employee based variables can be assessed, as long as we have a large enough sub-sample of firms with at least two or with more (randomly chosen) surveyed employees. As an illustration in the second part of the paper, we consider the estimation of the relationship between the firm average wage (directly obtained from the firm accounts) and estimates of the proportion of female workers based on the gender of one, two or three surveyed employees per firm. As a test, we compare the estimates that we find in this way with those using the employees), which we could also directly obtain at the firm level from a firm survey. The analysis is performed on two linked employer-employee samples of about 2500 firms in the French manufacturing and services industries in 1987 and 1993, with one, two or three surveyed employees per firm (for respectively 75%, 15% and 10% of the firms).

Using Employee Level Data in a Firm Level Econometric Study

In this paper, we make the general point that econometric studies of the firm can be effectively and substantially enriched by using information collected from employees, even if only a few of them are surveyed per firm. Though variables measured on the basis of the answers of very few employees per firm are subject to very important sampling errors, they can be usefully included in a model specified at the firm level. In the first part of the paper, we show that in estimating parameters of interest in a regression model of the firm, the biases arising from the sampling errors in the employee based variables can be assessed, as long as we have a large enough sub-sample of firms with at least two or with more (randomly chosen) surveyed employees. Dans cet article, nous mettons en avant et argumentons l'idée suivant laquelle les études économétriques sur les entreprises peuvent être efficacement et substantiellement enrichies à l'aide d'informations obtenues aupres de leurs employés, même si seuls quelques-uns par entreprise, deux ou trois par exemple, sont interrogés. Alors même que les variables mesurées à partir des réponses d'un très petit nombre d'employés par entreprise sont sujettes à d'importantes erreurs d'échantillonnage, elles peuvent être utilement incorporées dans un modèle économétrique spécifié au niveau de l'entreprise. Dans une première partie de l'article, nous montrons, pour un modèle de régression linéaire, que les biais d'estimation sur les paramètres d'intérêt qui proviennent de telles erreurs d'échantillonnage, peuvent être corrigés, si on dispose au minimum d'un sous-échantillon (suffisamment grand) d'entreprises où on a pu interroger, au moins, deux employés choisis au hasard. Dans la deuxième partie de l'article, nous considérons, à titre d'exemple, l'estimation de la relation entre le salaire moyen des entreprises (connu directement à partir de leurs données comptables) et la proportion de leurs employés de sexe féminin, telle qu'elle peut être elle-même estimée à partir du sexe de un, deux ou trois salariés choisis au hasard par entreprise. En guise de test, nous comparons les estimations établies sur cette base avec celles obtenues sur la base de la vraie proportion d'employés de sexe féminin (c'est à dire la proportion pour tous les employés), que nous pouvons connaitre aussi, par ailleurs, directement auprès des entreprises. Cette analyse est effectuée sur deux échantillons appariés entreprises-salariés, relatifs à environ 2500 entreprises, en 1987 et 1993, pour l'industrie et les services en France, entreprises où un, deux et trois employés ont été interrogés pour respectivement 75 %, 15 % et 10 % d'entre elles.Linked employer-employee data, errors in variables, pseudo-panel, wage gender differentials, Données appariées entreprises-salariés, modèles à erreurs sur les variables, pseudo-panels, écarts salariaux hommes-femmes.

Cold reactive and non-reactive collisions of Li and Rb with C2−_2^-: implications for hybrid trap experiments

We present a theoretical investigation of cold reactive and non-reactive collisions of Li and Rb atoms with C$_{2}^{-}$. The potential energy surfaces for the singlet and triplet states of the Li--C$_{2}^{-}$ and Rb--C$_{2}^{-}$ systems have been obtained using the CASSCF/ic-MRCI+Q approach with extended basis sets. The potential energy surfaces are then used to investigate the associative detachment reaction and to calculate rotationally inelastic cross sections by means of the close-coupling method. The effect of the core correlation on the potential energy surfaces is discussed and we estimate the error on the collisional cross sections induced by freezing the $1s$ orbitals of the carbon atoms. The results are compared to those obtained for the Rb-OH$^{-}$ system and the applications for hybrid trap experiments are explored. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility to perform Doppler thermometry on the C$_{2}^{-}$ anion and investigate the collision process involving excited states. The implications for sympathetic cooling experiments are also discussed

Reactivity of hydrated hydroxide anion cluster OH(H2_{2}O)n−_{n}^{-} with H and Rb: an ab initio study

We present a theoretical investigation of the hydrated hydroxide anion clusters OH(H$_{2}$O)$_{n}^{-}$ and of the collisional complexes H-OH(H$_{2}$O)$_{n}^{-}$ and Rb-OH(H$_{2}$O)$_{n}^{-}$ (with n$=1-4$). The MP2 and CCSD(T) methods are used to calculate interaction energies, optimized geometries and vertical detachment energies. Part of the potential energy surfaces are explored with a focus on the autodetachment region. We point out the importance of diffuse functions to correctly describe the latter. We use our results to discuss the different water loss and electronic detachment channels which are the main reaction routes at room temperature. In particular, we have considered a direct and an indirect process for the electronic detachment, depending on whether water loss follows or precedes the detachment of the excess electron. We use our results to discuss the implication for astrochemistry and hybrid trap experiments in the context of cold chemistry

Is protein folding problem really a NP-complete one ? First investigations

To determine the 3D conformation of proteins is a necessity to understand their functions or interactions with other molecules. It is commonly admitted that, when proteins fold from their primary linear structures to their final 3D conformations, they tend to choose the ones that minimize their free energy. To find the 3D conformation of a protein knowing its amino acid sequence, bioinformaticians use various models of different resolutions and artificial intelligence tools, as the protein folding prediction problem is a NP complete one. More precisely, to determine the backbone structure of the protein using the low resolution models (2D HP square and 3D HP cubic), by finding the conformation that minimize free energy, is intractable exactly. Both the proof of NP-completeness and the 2D prediction consider that acceptable conformations have to satisfy a self-avoiding walk (SAW) requirement, as two different amino acids cannot occupy a same position in the lattice. It is shown in this document that the SAW requirement considered when proving NP-completeness is different from the SAW requirement used in various prediction programs, and that they are different from the real biological requirement. Indeed, the proof of NP completeness and the predictions in silico consider conformations that are not possible in practice. Consequences of this fact are investigated in this research work.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, under revie