Helen Lam

Discrimination in hiring against immigrants and ethnic minorities: the effect of unionization

There has been a long debate concerning whether unions are exclusive or inclusive with respect to immigrants and ethnic minorities. In the exclusive view of unions, unionization is expected to increase the likelihood of employers asking questions that discriminate against immigrants and ethnic minorities and decrease the likelihood of employers asking Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) questions related to immigrant or ethnic minority status. The contrary is expected for the inclusive view. Our analysis, using New Zealand data for job applications, provides some support for the inclusive view of unions, as the higher the unionization rate, the more likely EEO information is sought, but no relationship is found between unionization rate and discriminatory questioning. This suggests that unions are probably helpful in promoting diversity but not yet in combating discrimination against immigrants and ethnic minorities in hiring.

Social media dilemmas in the employment context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse social media issues that give rise to employment-related legal and ethical dilemmas, with reference made to recent case law development, and offer recommendations for employers and employees. Design/methodology/approach – Prior research, statistical trends, and case laws are reviewed. Findings – Employers using social media for employment decisions may risk crossing the lines of discrimination, infringement on personal privacy, and/or interference with employees’ concerted activities protected by US law. However, employers not using social media may face negligent hiring and damages for improper employee messages posted. For employees, while social media provides a connection tool, messages posted off-duty and thought to be “private” may still be used as evidence in support of disciplinary actions. Practical implications – Employers, employees, and their unions must be cognizant of the ethical and legal implications of using social media in the employment ...

The Impact of Workers' Compensation Experience-Rating on Discriminatory Hiring Practices

The widespread adoption of experience-rating has been a major trend in workers’ compensation systems for over a decade (O’Grady 1999). Under this approach, a firm’s insurance premium rate for its industry or class is adjusted upwards or downwards to reflect the costs of the insuranc e claims made by that firm’s workers. Firms that have higher-than-normal claims levels are punished with a penalty, paid on top of their base premium. In contrast, firms that have lower-than-normal claims levels are rewarded with a partial rebate (discount) of their base premium. Many workers’ compensation authorities across the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand adopted experience-rating as a pricing mechanism to encourage employer investment in hazard prevention measures. Although earlier research (e.g., Chelius and Smith 1983) indicated that experience-rating was not associated with improved health and safety performance in the United States, the evidence from more recent studies suggests that experience-rating reduces fatalities in Canada (Bruce and Atkins 1993), lowers the reported accident rate in Canada (Thomason and Pozzebon 2002) and the United States (Worrall and Butler 1988), shortens claim duration in the United States (Krueger 1990), and encourages better safety practices in Canada (Kralj 1994). However, most researchers have been cautious about crediting experience-rating for lowering overall actual injury rates, because experience-rating provides incentives for injury under-reporting (McClintock 1994; Samaras 2001) and undesirable employer activities, such as the contracting out of hazardous activities and excessive claims management (Kralj 1994). Before experience-rating becomes further entrenched in the workers’ compensation system, understanding any other unintended, negative side effects remains important.

Defined benefit pension decline: the consequences for organizations and employees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical and empirical pension literatures to question whether employers are likely to gain any competitive advantage from degrading or eliminating their employees’ defined benefit (DB) pensions. Design/methodology/approach – Critical literature review, bringing together and synthesizing the industrial relations, economics, social policy, and applied pensions literature. Findings – DB pension plans do deliver a number of potential performance benefits, most notably a decrease in turnover and establishment of longer-term employment relationships. However, benefits are more pronounced in some conditions than others, which are identified. Research limitations/implications – Most of the analysis of pension effects to date focuses primarily on DB plans. Yet, these are declining in significance. In the years ahead, more attention needs to be paid to the potential consequences of defined contribution plans and other types of pension. Practical implications – I...

Addressing Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity (VUCA) Through Insourcing and Backshoring

The complexity of the global supply chain operations has not been more apparent than during the financial crisis of recent times. It led to raised awareness about the vulnerability of the complex operations that span over a number of continents. Trends in business indicate that there is a movement to restrain and even reverse outsourcing and backshoring to check volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) that characterize international business today.

US union revival, minority unionism and inter-union conflict

One option for reversing US union decline, requiring no legislative change, would involve re-legitimizing non-majority or minority union representation, allowing unions to organize without running the gauntlet of union certification. Such minority representation, applicable only to workplaces without majority union support on a members-only basis, could run in parallel with the existing system of exclusive representation in workplaces where majority support is achieved. The increased representation in the currently unrepresented workplaces would inevitably promote workers’ collective voice and contribute to union revival. However, minority unionism has been criticized for breeding union competition because it is non-exclusive. In this paper, the nature and extent of inter-union conflict under minority unionism are re-examined, using survey data from unions in New Zealand which already has non-exclusive, minority union representation. The low levels and consequences of conflict suggest that the benefits of minority unionism far outweigh any potentially unfavourable effects.

Educational Data Mining (EDM): Researching Impact on Online Business Education

Educational data mining (EDM) is an applied field of research that combines data mining, machine learning, and statistics in the educational setting at, but not limited to, schools, universities and intelligent tutoring systems, and MOOCs. Methods are developing and improving for analyzing the vast amount of data available in education to better understand learning behaviors and pedagogical outcomes by applying theories of educational psychology in order to improve the learning environment.

Learning Assessment Must Change in a World of Digital “Cheats”

Digital disruption has touched almost every industry and sector imaginable including the education sector. One disruption in the education sector comes from the rise and acceptance of distance and online education, including massively open online courses (MOOCs), and the technological changes associated with course delivery and student interaction. Moreover, the rapid changes in digital technology have also led to the new breed of “cheats” who use the same digital technology causing disruption to cheat the system for better results. This paper looks at the evolution of cheating and suggests that the solutions may require a fundamental shift in how institutions conduct learning assessment in business education. Specifically, we posit that cheating is a function of two main factors: motivation and opportunities. While the motivation factor has not changed much by the digital advances, the opportunities for cheating have skyrocketed in this digital era, and it is this latter factor that warrants heightened attention. The paper, therefore, examines how digital technology has impacted the traditional assessment tools and how assessment can be modified in a digital world to ensure that students are achieving programme-learning goals.

Profit-sharing as an incentive

Abstract Although profit-sharing is mostly associated with an economics perspective, its utilization as an employee incentive involves a psychological dimension, embedded in a broader socio-economic framework and reflected in organizational practices and management characteristics. The authors identify a list of conditions for profit-sharing’s effectiveness as an incentive scheme, informed by three theories, expectancy theory, reinforcement theory and goal-setting theory, and supported by substantial evidence from the literature on profit-sharing. Thus, this paper provides critical information for profit-sharing’s design and implementation, as well as offers some new practical insights into the contingencies and limitations of this incentive plan. Overall, it contributes to both theory and practice, integrating the three motivational frameworks regarding profit-sharing, and seeking to understand the insights such approaches afford to a socio-economic understanding.

The right-to-manage default rule

We critically examine the right-to-manage as a legal default rule. Identifying its deficiencies, we then assess the merits of process and content defaults and identify potentially non-waivable terms and conditions. Finally, we suggest how different options may be combined within systems.