Joshua L. Schwarz

Unions and Productivity in the Public Sector: A Study of Municipal Libraries

This paper develops and illustrates the use of two methodologies to analyze the effect of unions on productivity in the public sector. Although the methodologies are applicable to a wide variety of public sector functions, the focus of the paper is on municipal libraries because of the availability of relevant data. The empirical analysis, which uses 1977 cross-section data on 260 libraries, suggests that collective bargaining coverage has not significantly affected productivity in municipal libraries.

Human Capital Metrics: An Approach to Teaching Using Data and Metrics to Design and Evaluate Management Practices

This article argues that a class in human capital metrics (HCM) will benefit all undergraduate management majors. After introducing what is meant by HCM through a discussion of its evolution, the authors enumerate the benefits such a course brings to students. Primary among those benefits is a change in mind-set toward using data and metrics to design and evaluate management policy rather than relying on experience, fad, or hype. Students demonstrating this perspective should be better equipped to prove and enhance the contributions of human resources to their organizations. The article goes on to discuss the topics covered in an HCM course and presents an analytical template used as a pedagogical tool. In the class, this template is applied to a series of “mini cases” and to an applied research project supplied by companies. After taking this class, students know how to measure the financial value of management practices.

Development and Psychometric Assessment of the Healthcare Provider Cultural Competence Instrument

This study presents the measurement properties of 5 scales used in the Healthcare Provider Cultural Competence Instrument (HPCCI). The HPCCI measures a health care provider’s cultural competence along 5 primary dimensions: (1) awareness/sensitivity, (2) behaviors, (3) patient-centered communication, (4) practice orientation, and (5) self-assessment. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the 5 scales were distinct, and within each scale items loaded as expected. Reliability statistics indicated a high level of internal consistency within each scale. The results indicate that the HPCCI effectively measures the cultural competence of health care providers and can provide useful professional feedback for practitioners and organizations seeking to increase a practitioner’s cultural competence.

The Effect of Hospital Bargaining Unit Structure on Industrial Relations Outcomes

Since the passage of the 1974 Health Care Amendments to the National Labor Relations Act, an implicit premise of public policy has been that multiple bargaining units in hospitals would lead to an increased incidence of wage leapfrogging, jurisdictional disputes, and strikes. This examination of two sets of hospitals in 1988, which had bargaining units ranging in number from zero to ten, finds little support for these assumed relationships. Only hospitals with five or six units had wage settlements that were higher than in hospitals with one unit, and then only for two of six occupations studied. Only hospitals with three or four units had more work assignment disputes than hospitals with one unit. Hospitals with four, six, or seven units averaged one more strike than hospitals with one unit over the 1980–88 period, but strikes per contract were higher only for hospitals with six units.

Unit determination: National Labor Relations Board rule making in the health care industry

This article reviews the events leading up to the National Labor Relations Boards (NLRB) historic decision to engage in substantive rule making over appropriate bargaining units in the health care industry. It describes the rule-making process and outcomes, and the reaction of hospital unions and management to the rules. Finally, the potential for the use of rule making for other issues facing the NLRB is analyzed. This analysis uses a cost/benefit framework from the agencys perspective to predict the likelihood of future rule making. The article concludes that rule making is sufficiently costly to make extensive use in other situations unlikely.