Curt Tausky

Men and Women at Work: Similarities and Differences in Work Values within Occupational Groupings.

Abstract This paper presents national survey data regarding the work-related values of male and female labor force participants. Evidence is also presented concerning the relationship of family responsibilities to the work values of women. The empirical analysis derives in part from the recent work of Kaufman and Fetters ( Journal of Vocational Behavior , 1980 , 17 , 251–262), the quality of work literature, and the literature on women and work. The hypotheses include expected work-value differences between men and women within occupational categories and the expected relationships between the presence of children in the home and the value attached to various aspects of work. Five job dimensions are considered: intrinsic, extrinsic, resource adequacy, convenience, and relations with co-workers. The only male-female value difference that appears to be enduring concerns the convenience aspects of work. Data indicate that the presence of children in the home, whether of preschool age, school age, or a combination of the two, tends to be negatively related to most work values of women. It is concluded that working women with children experience reduced work involvement.

A Note on Organizational Commitment: Antecedents and Consequences among Managers, Professionals, and Blue-Collar Workers

Studies of organizational commitment have tended to focus on managers within single organizations, or on samples of a single employee category across organizations. On the hunch that an alternative approach might yield different findings, the present study examines organizational commitment, antecedents, and consequences among three distinct groups (administrators, semiskilled-unskilled workers, and faculty) within a single organization, a large university. No shared, consistent pattern of antecedents or outcomes of organizational commitment is found among the groups. It is proposed that the development of commitment may vary by employee rank or type of organization. The present data show that the antecedents of organizational commitment and two outcomes (intention to leave the organization and perceived work effort), are quite different for each of the three groups.

Work and the Welfare Cadillac: The Function of and Commitment to Work Among the Hard-Core Unemployed

Interviews were conducted with 275 chronically unemployed persons to ascertain the extent of their commitment to work and the functions it performed for them. It was found that work was viewed as the legitimate source of sustenance; their commitment to it was as strong as that of employed white-and blue-collar workers who had been investigated in other studies using the same methodological technique. While the economic function of work appeared to be paramount among them, there was a marked tendency to prize work for the social function that it provided by conferring respectability on the employed individual. Despite the extreme deprivation which characterized their lives, most accepted the dominant work ethic prevalent in this country and frequently evidenced negative attitudes toward recipients of public assistance and persons who did not want to work.

The meaning of work and unemployment: implications for mental health.

PARADOXICALLY, the more equalitarian the values of an industrialized JL society, the greater the potential for questioning self-worth. The more the culture of individualism and equality is internalized among those who are blocked from achieving employment and respectability, the greater the deprecation of self-esteem. The implications of these relations for mental health are the focus of this paper.

Work Is Desirable/Loathsome

Interpreting and predicting the social world requires assumptions about human tendencies. Empirical validation of such premises, however, is not available. They are, essentially, beliefs held by the observer. Most important, perceptions of the sources and types of effective social control hinge on conceptions of human nature. This is awkward for the sociology of work because quite starkly divergent analytical consequences can result. This article describes two contrasting sets of assumptions: the optimistic and the pessimistic. A towering representative of the former perspective is Karl Marx, and of the latter, Sigmund Freud. The perspectives are then applied to Kai Eriksons recent essay on alienation to illustrate the different conclusions that one might draw by substituting one cluster of assumptions for the other. The results suggest that the sociology of work would be better served if our writing and teaching explicitly stated the conjectures that guide research and inference.

Accountability and Productivity: Some Longitudinal Data.

Based on a nonobtrusive count of output, productivity in a metal-working shop is examined before implementing individual accountability, during intensified accountability, and after the accountability program was terminated. The data show quite clearly that when individual accountability was introduced, productivity rose steeply and then subsided along with accountability. Some implications of accountability are suggested.

An Analysis of work Incentives

Summary This paper presents national survey evidence from the 1970 Michigan Working Conditions Survey and the 1973 Michigan Quality of Employment Survey. The relationship between work values and perceived support for work values is examined by discrepancy rankings. This analysis extends the findings of White and Fein and bolsters their reservations in regard to several central claims of the quality of work movement. Evidence on unionized and nonunionized workers is also presented.

Ko-ops: The Rebirth of Entrepreneurship in the Soviet Union.

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. First Steps: The Legalization of Entrepreneurship 2. The Evolution of the Cooperative Movement 3. The Economic Environment of Cooperatives 4. Official Responsed: Legal Restrictions, Bureaucratic Interference, Taxation 5. Crime and the Cooperative Movement 6. The Social and Ideological Environment of Cooperatives 7. The Politicization of Private Enterprise 8. Entrepreneurship and the Transition to a Market Economy Notes Index

The Social Organization of Work.

1. The Evolution Of Work. 2. Studying The World Of Work. 3. Work And The Family. 4. Seeking Job Satisfaction. 5. Disruptions, Barriers, And Stress In Work. 6. Collective Responses To Work. 7. Technology And Organization. 8. Manufacturing. 9. The High-Technology Workplace. 10. Services. 11. Professions And Professionals. 12. Executives, Managers, And Administrators. 13. Clerical Workers And Sales Workers. 14. Marginal, Contingent, And Peripheral Jobs. 15. The World Of The Large Corporation. 16. Work In A Global Economy. 17. The Future Of Work. Appendix Tables: Employment And Earnings By Occupation And Gender.

Motivation in Work Organizations.

For more than twenty years, Edward E. Lawler III has had worldwide influence in the areas of management and organization design. This landmark book, one of the most-cited volumes on the topic of motivation in the workplace, defines Lawlers basic philosophy: in order to have effective organizations, we must understand how to motivate and encourage effective individual performance. Time-tested theories have been the basis for nearly all of Lawlers subsequent work in the areas of pay and reward systems, employee involvement, organization design, and organizational change.In his new introduction to this classic edition, he shows how his original emphasis on work design and reward systems is especially relevant to the current emphasis on creating high performance work organizations through new organization design and management approaches. Lawlers theories continue to help us understand the world around us today, forming the basis for many successful managerial practices found in todays workplace, and continue to prove that no matter what organization design or approach is used, it cannot succeed if it fails to motivate employees to perform well.