John A. Fossum

Labor Relations: Research and Practice in Transition

Profound changes in industrial performance in the 1980s have been accompanied by major changes in the practice of labor relations. This review identifies some of the major recent research directions in labor relations and examines theory development and empirical studies published since 1980. Primary coverage is given to union organizing; bargaining structures and issues; negotiating; contract administration; the effects of collective bargaining on employers, individuals, and unions; and unions and their environment. Research is grouped within areas according to the unit of analysis addressed by the study. Implications for practice andfuture research are suggested.

RATIONAL OR SYMBOLIC? A FIELD STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF GROUP DISCUSSION ON JOB EVALUATION RATINGS

Abstract Many organizations use job evaluation committees, but most published research has been based on ratings from individual evaluators. In this study, the effect of group discussion on job evaluation scores was examined. A comparison was made between job evaluation scores based on group discussion and scores from individual evaluators; field data involving a diverse sample of 344 jobs were used. Group discussion had a minimal, highly predictable, and mostly symbolic effect on scores. This finding validates prior experimental studies and points to the opportunity for expediting decision making in job evaluation committees.

Hospital blood bank efficiency.

In this issue of TRANSFUSION, Lam and colleagues’ report results from a study of the efficiency of hospitalbased blood bank laboratories. They correlated a variety of operational design variations, worker characteristics, wage and benefit provisions, and management style with labor efficiency and labor turnover measures and found no significant association for any except management style. This study is timely, given the rapidly increasing interest in efficiency in all industries and, particularly, in health care. At the same time, in attempting to improve labor productivity and organizational efficiency, it is important to consider other variables that were not a part of the focus of Lam et al.