“Safety Glass:”Presenting Foresight Findings as Fiction

A technique is described for constructing a fictional narrative in such a way that it functions as a restatement or synthesis of the key findings of a foresight analysis of future trends or possibilities. A case study is used to demonstrate how a fictional narrative can be constructed as a mnemonic for a particular set of project findings, i.e., so that recalling the particulars of the story equates to recalling the key ideas of those findings. This case study is of a published scenario fiction, “Safety Glass”. “Safety Glass” is the result of a process that includes techniques for assessing what material should be included in a story and what should be excluded if the story is to accurately represent the potentially unfamiliar and subtle findings of a foresight analysis. These techniques are described and how they were used in the construction of the story is shown

2020 media futures trends package

2020 Media Futures is a mul6-­‐industry strategic foresight project designed to understand and envision what media may look like in the year 2020; what kind of cross-­‐plaAorm Internet environment may shape our media and entertainment in the coming decade; and how Ontario firms take ac6on today toward capturing and maintaining posi6ons of na6onal and interna6onal leadership. The project asks: In the face of sweeping and disrupDve changes driven by the Internet, how can we help companies in the book, film, interacDve, magazine, music and television industries – Ontario’s CreaDve and Entertainment Cluster – to beNer idenDfy emerging opportuniDes, create more resilient strategic plans and partnerships, boost innovaDon, and compete in increasingly demanding global markets? This document is a product of our ‘horizon scanning’ process. Trends and Countertrends represent direcDonal paNerns in data, a rising Dde of signals, in which, for example, a criDcal mass of headlines about people using Facebook to call for help in emergency situaDons points to a larger trend regarding the increasing mission-­‐criDcal importance of social networks. To date we have idenDfied more than sixty trends at the project website: hNp://2020mediafutures.ca/Trend

Collective bargaining and high involvement management in comparative perspective: evidence from US and German call centers

This article assesses the relationship between national and collective bargaining institutions, management practices, and employee turnover, based on case study and survey evidence from U.S. and German call center workplaces. German call centers were more likely to adopt high-involvement management practices than those in the United States, even across workplaces with no collective bargaining institutions. Within Germany, union and works council presence was positively associated with high-involvement practices, while works council presence alone had no effect. In contrast, union presence in U.S. call centers showed either a negative association or no association with these practices. National and collective bargaining institutions and high-involvement management practices were associated with lower quit rates in both countries, with only partial mediation

National industrial relations and local bargaining power in the US and German telecommunications industries

This article compares the process and outcomes of collective negotiations over the outsourcing of call centre jobs in US and German telecommunications firms. In the USA, the Communication Workers of America relied on coalitions with politicians and other organizations to lead successful public campaigns; while in Germany, ver.di used coordinated bargaining with works councils to leverage their strong codetermination rights. Variation in access to resources between countries helps explain differences in the unions' ability to negotiate strong collective agreements on outsourcing and to influence restructuring decisions