War and Peace: The Evolution of Modern Personnel Administration in U.S. Industry

This paper charts the transformation of the employment relationship in different industries during the second quarter of this century and is based on a representative sampling of U.S. business organizations. The first section documents changes in the control systems that prevailed in U.S. industries between the Depression and the end of World War 11. The descriptive analyses generally corroborate portraits that have recently been provided by neo-Marxists of how and where technical and bureaucratic controls evolved. The second section sketches an explanation for the rapid diffusion of bureaucratic controls that apparently occurred between 1939 and 1946. It examines the role of three key constituencies in shaping modern systems of work force control: labor unions, personnel professionals, and the state. In particular, the analyses underscore the large role of government intervention in manpower activities during World War I1 in bureaucratizing employment. This effect of the state blurs the distinction between "efficiency" and "control" explanations of bureaucratic controls and internal labor markets, calling attention to institutional sources of change in organizations' employment structures. The concluding section highlights the implications of the findings for efforts to understand the employment relationship.Sociolog

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Novelty and new firm performance: The case of employment systems in knowledge-intensive service organizations

This paper investigates a question at the core of entrepreneurship research: how does novelty affect new venture performance? We address this question for a type of factor-market innovation deemed critical in the contemporary economy: novelty in employment systems. Our longitudinal study of new firms in a knowledge-intensive service industry shows that the relationship between employment-system novelty and organizational productivity is curvilinear and U-shaped. We also find suggestive evidence that new firms with employment systems exhibiting discrepant degrees of novelty (i.e., combinations of highly conforming and highly novel practices) are less productive than those with coherent employment systems.Novelty Human resource management New firm performance Legal profession

Emotional arousal and entrepreneurial outcomes: Combining qualitative methods to elaborate theory

This qualitative study of innovators in the superyacht industry blends longitudinal content analysis with narrative case vignettes to extend nascent theorizing about the antecedents and consequences associated with the arousal of entrepreneurial emotion. The empirically grounded framework induced through our research offers two key theoretical elaborations. First, it extends the existing set of theorized antecedents by highlighting the overlooked roles played by dramatic performances (staged or improvised) and ambient conditions (project, actor and venue considerations). Second, it calls attention to the consequences of emotional arousal for such entrepreneurial outcomes as generating novel solutions to specific problems encountered during the creation process, developing innovative end products, and fostering a general context for innovation

Cleaning up the water law of British Columbia: a problemistic approach to rule changes

This study develops a problemistic (i.e., problem-oriented) approach to explore legal rule evolution. We draw on theories of organizations - in particular theories about organizational rules, but also theories from neighboring disciplines - to formulate hypotheses and develop models of the hazard rate of legal rule change. We propose that the evolution of a law can be seen as an interplay between rules and problems, and explore how changes to law can be produced by three problem-related mechanisms: problem attraction, problem recognition, and problem engagement. Our study suggests that the problemistic perspective can shed new light on the evolution of laws and of social institutions in general.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mission Control? The Development of Personnel Systems in U.S. Industry

This paper examines historical differences in personnel practices among U.S. industries to explore the roots of modern "bureaucratic" work control. We report multivariate analyses of data describing organizational personnel practices, collected by the National Industrial Conference Board between 1935 and 1946. We find evidence of three early strands of bureaucratic labor control in different industrial sectors: worker allocation and job-evaluation techniques, which evolved from scientific management in modern assembly-line industries; internal labor-market mechanisms in white-collar nonmanufacturing; and practices related to seniority and the formalization of rules in unionized and skilled industries. Our analyses suggest that the institutional environment and the historical period of an industry's founding were among the central contingencies shaping labor control in a particular sector, as were several factors that past research has emphasized more, such as technology and skills, labor market conditions, and unionization. Our analyses thus corroborate some previous accounts of industrial differences in "bureaucratic control," while also suggesting some revisions concerning where, when, and why employment relations first became bureaucratized.Sociolog

Technology transfer from national/federal labs and public research institutes: Managerial and policy implications

While technology transfer at universities has received considerable attention in the innovation and entrepreneurship literature, we know much less about technology transfer at national/federal labs and (non-university) public research institutes. In this article and the related special section, we aim to fill this void. We provide a rationale for our special section on technology transfer from national/federal labs and public research institutes, summarize the papers in the special section, highlight research questions, theories, data and methods, key findings and conclusions. We conclude by outlining a research agenda for multi-level research on agents, institutions, and regions to improve our understanding of the managerial and public policy implications of technology transfer from these institutions

Entrepreneurship as a Platform for Pursuing Multiple Goals: A Special Issue on Sustainability, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship

The great challenge of sustainability is addressed by firms with varying levels of social and environmental responsibility and performance. Though traditionally, firms sought a balance, we argue that this is not enough. Rather, we advocate that the natural environment be the foundation on which society resides and the economy operates. Sustainable, ethical, entrepreneurial (SEE) enterprises are moving in this direction, seeking to regenerate the environment and drive positive societal changes rather than only minimizing harm. We also note that sustainability is justified and motivated by ethical considerations and pioneered by entrepreneurial engagement. The eight articles included in this Special Issue draw from cross-disciplinary scholarship to elaborate how SEE enterprises approach sustainability through new organizational forms, business models and innovation, and new governance mechanisms. They also emphasize the roles of institutional forces and logics, government policies and social movements for promoting or impeding sustainable practices. Collectively, they reveal new and compelling insights while spotlighting the great questions for SEE enterprise that await study