The Evolution of the Modern Worker: Attitudes to Work

This paper examines how employees' experiences of, and attitudes towards, work have changed over the last quarter of a century. It assesses the extent to which any developments relate to the economic cycle and to trends in the composition of the British workforce. Many of the findings are broadly positive, particularly when compared with a picture of deterioration in the late 1980s and 1990s. The onset of a major recession in the late 2000s might have been expected to herald a fundamental shift in employees' attitudes to paid work and their working environment. The impression at the time of writing is, instead, of a more muted reaction than was seen in the early 1990s - in keeping with the more muted impact of the current recession on the labour market as a whole.wages, job security, employee engagement, employment relations, recession

Trade Union Membership and Influence 1999-2009

This paper analyses the continued decline of trade unions in Britain and examines the possible implications for workers, employers, and unions themselves. Membership of trade unions declined precipitously in the 1980s and 1990s. The rate of decline has slowed in the most recent decade, but we find that unions remain vulnerable to further erosion of their membership and influence.trade unions, wages, holidays, workplace performance

Towards a multi-actor theory of public value co-creation

This essay suggests changes to the theory of public value and, in particular, the strategic triangle framework, in order to adapt it to an emerging world where policy makers and managers in the public, private, voluntary and informal community sectors have to somehow separately and jointly create public value. One set of possible changes concerns what might be in the centre of the strategic triangle besides the public manager. Additional suggestions are made concerning how multiple actors, levels, arenas and/or spheres of action, and logics might be accommodated. Finally, possibilities are outlined for how the strategic triangle might be adapted to complex policy fields in which there are multiple, often conflicting organizations, interests and agendas. In other words, how might politics be more explicitly accommodated. The essay concludes with a number of research suggestions

Managing temporary workers in higher education: still at the margin?

Purpose – To evaluate whether “numerical flexibility” – specifically a form of temporary and precarious employment – hourly-paid part-time teaching in the UK higher education sector – adds strategic value and demonstrates good practice. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on new evidence drawn from five case study organisations in which a range of managers was interviewed in depth. Findings – Analysis identifies a continuum of strategies from integration into the main workforce through to “deepened differentiation”. Although integration is somewhat problematic when applied to a diverse group, differentiation seems predicated on a defensive, risk management approach designed to further marginalise this activity. Also, differentiation fails to address the aspirations of many employees, creating tensions between institutional strategy and the needs of academic heads. Research limitations/implications – The number of case studies is limited. These case studies were selected because they had the most proactive strategies on this issue, which infers that the majority of employers in HE have not been rather less strategic or proactive. Practical implications – The paper is of particular value to HR professionals considering the use of numerical flexibility approaches. It also contributes to the academic debate on the strategic value of such approaches. Originality/value – The paper explores a neglected but important area of the workforce. The paper notes that some supposed benefits of numerical flexibility might be illusory, such as the deployment of allegedly “cheap and disposable” substitute workers which may be offset by unintentional consequences including rigidities in an organisation's human resource systems

Unions and Workplace Performance in Britain and France

Using nationally representative workplace surveys we examine the relationship between unionization and workplace financial performance in Britain and France. We find that union bargaining is detrimental to workplace performance in Britain and that this effect is larger when unionization is endogenized. In France, union bargaining is associated with poorer workplace performance but the effect disappears once unionization is treated as endogenous. However, high levels of union density do have a negative impact on workplace performance in France. In Britain the union effect does not rise with union density.Trade union, firm performance, France, Britain

Delaying College for Domestic Civic Service: The Gap Year Experiences of City Year AmeriCorps Alumni

Over the past decade the concept of taking a gap year has become mainstream in the US. This idea of delaying enrollment, or taking a break from college, before beginning a bachelor’s degree, has gained popularity, especially as the cost of attendance in higher education has soared and the burden of paying for it has been placed on the student as the consumer. Similarly, the sought-after gap year experiences offered in the private sector are often costly. With the rising popularity of gap years, it is important to identify experiences that are accessible to a wide variety of backgrounds and that have demonstrated a positive impact on individuals and society. There are several federal funded programs within AmeriCorps that seek to provide these kinds of meaningful, individual, and socially beneficial experiences. The purpose of conducting the study was to explore the lived experience of individuals who completed a gap year through City Year AmeriCorps. A specific focus of this study was placed upon the Segal Education Award, which is given to AmeriCorps’ alumni upon completion of one year of domestic civic service to supplement the cost of pursuing a postsecondary education. A qualitative approach was used to investigate the lived experiences of 8 City Year AmeriCorps alumni. All participants completed at least one year of domestic civic service in the city of Jacksonville, FL, within the last 4 years. Findings indicated participants sought to make meaningful change in their lives as well as others when deciding to serve in City Year AmeriCorps. The experience was marked by the development of lifelong relationships, an array of challenges, as well as personal, individual growth. Participants left the experience inspired to continue to serve others, and the Segal Education Award’s influence was varied. In general, the findings support the notion that gap years within City Year AmeriCorps foster a variety a positive benefits from a public good perspective by increasing the civic engagement capabilities of service members, increasing accessing to postsecondary education opportunities moving forward, and making a demonstrable impact within communities in need

Delaying College for Domestic Civic Service: The Gap Year Experiences of City Year AmeriCorps Alumni

Over the past decade the concept of taking a gap year has become mainstream in the US. This idea of delaying enrollment, or taking a break from college, before beginning a bachelor’s degree, has gained popularity, especially as the cost of attendance in higher education has soared and the burden of paying for it has been placed on the student as the consumer. Similarly, the sought-after gap year experiences offered in the private sector are often costly. With the rising popularity of gap years, it is important to identify experiences that are accessible to a wide variety of backgrounds and that have demonstrated a positive impact on individuals and society. There are several federal funded programs within AmeriCorps that seek to provide these kinds of meaningful, individual, and socially beneficial experiences. The purpose of conducting the study was to explore the lived experience of individuals who completed a gap year through City Year AmeriCorps. A specific focus of this study was placed upon the Segal Education Award, which is given to AmeriCorps’ alumni upon completion of one year of domestic civic service to supplement the cost of pursuing a postsecondary education. A qualitative approach was used to investigate the lived experiences of 8 City Year AmeriCorps alumni. All participants completed at least one year of domestic civic service in the city of Jacksonville, FL, within the last 4 years. Findings indicated participants sought to make meaningful change in their lives as well as others when deciding to serve in City Year AmeriCorps. The experience was marked by the development of lifelong relationships, an array of challenges, as well as personal, individual growth. Participants left the experience inspired to continue to serve others, and the Segal Education Award’s influence was varied. In general, the findings support the notion that gap years within City Year AmeriCorps foster a variety a positive benefits from a public good perspective by increasing the civic engagement capabilities of service members, increasing accessing to postsecondary education opportunities moving forward, and making a demonstrable impact within communities in need

Family-Based Youth Ministry for Adventist Public High School Students in the Idaho Conference

Problem. Research has indicated that there are three factors essential to the retention of young adults in the Seventh-day Adventist Church: Adventist education, the local church, and the home (Dudley, 2000, p. 79). However, a majority of high school youth from the Idaho Conference of Seventh-day Adventists family units are not receiving the spiritual nurture of Adventist education because they are attending public schools. While local churches offer curricula for spiritual education, there is no provision for compensatory family-based curricula for these students. Method. As a means of addressing this problem, materials for family-based spiritual nurture of Adventist public high school students in the Idaho Conference were selected and distributed to selected families for one school year. During that time, communication was maintained with the families through newsletters. At the end of the school year, the students and their parents were surveyed regarding their perception of the value of the supplied materials toward improving spiritual nurture. The responses from the surveys were analyzed and recommendations were made to the Idaho Conference Board of Directors on how better to spiritually nurture the Adventist youth who are attending public high schools in the conference. Recommendations were also made to the publishing houses and materials distribution organizations and the North Pacific Union Conference and the North American Division on how they could support family-based youth ministry for Adventist public high school youth. Finally, recommendations were made for further research. Results. While 83 parents and public high school students originally agreed to take part in this project, only 10 surveys were returned from six parents and four students at the end of the study. Although this is a small portion of those accepting the materials, the survey results were informative. Before asking them about the specific materials distributed, I asked about their perception of other spiritual nurturing programs and activities in being helpful for the spiritual nurture of the teenagers. The survey respondents viewed the church worship service, youth Sabbath school, family worship, and personal devotions as more helpful than unhelpful. Although, the students viewed family worship and personal devotions as slightly more helpful than the parents did. Four types of books were distributed to the families: devotional, doctrinal, practical, and an informational book on teen development. The respondents viewed the doctrinal book as being the most helpful and the developmental book as being most unhelpful for the spiritual nurture of Adventist public high school students. Conclusions. Three observations were demonstrated by the project: (a) there is a felt need for family-based youth ministry participation in the Idaho Conference, (b) families have difficulty in following-through with family-based youth ministry programs, and (c) mid-adolescents see value in family-based youth ministry. These observations substantiate the value of family-based youth ministry and should encourage pastors, youth leaders, and parents to continue seeking ways for it to be successful