The American Workplace: Skills, Pay, and Employment Involvement

by Edited by Casey Ichniowski , David I. Levine , Craig Olson , George Strauss

• ISBN13: 9780521650281
• ISBN10: 0521650283
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-04-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Many managers are frustrated by a bewildering array of advice about what works in the workplace. This volume contributes to a growing consensus about effective workplace practices. The collection combines detailed studies of single industries (automobile assembly, apparel, and machine tools) with cross-industry studies of financial performance. Compared to most past investigations, the research here has better measures of both workplace practices and organizational performance. The contributors find that systems of innovative human resource management practices can have large effects on business performance. Success does not come from any single innovation, but from a coherent system encompassing pay, training, and employee involvement. Although a majority of contemporary US businesses now have adopted some innovative work practices, only a small percentage of businesses have adopted a coherent new system. A concluding chapter outlines barriers to diffusion and discusses public policies to remove barriers and enhance dissemination of effective management.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
List of Contributors	viii
What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment	1	(37)
Casey Ichniowski
Thomas A. Kochan
David I. Levine
Craig Olson
George Strauss
Diffusion and Performance of Modular Production in the U.S. Apparel Industry	38	(24)
John T. Dunlop
David Weil
Modular Production: Improving Performance in the Apparel Industry	62	(19)
Peter Berg
Eileen Appelbaum
Thomas Bailey
Arne L. Kalleberg
The Participatory Bureaucracy: A Structural Explanation for the Effects of Group-Based Employee Participation Programs on Productivity in the Machined Products Sector	81	(30)
Maryellen R. Kelley
Methodological Issues in Cross-sectional and Panel Estimates of the Link between Human Resource Strategies and Firm Performance	111	(26)
Mark A. Huselid
Brian E. Becker
The Adoption of High-Involvement Work Practices	137	(35)
Frits K. Pil
John Paul MacDuffie
The Effects of Total Quality Management on Corporate Performance: An Empirical Investigation	172	(62)
George S. Easton
Sherry L. Jarrell
Implementing Effective Total Quality Management Programs and Financial Performance: A Synthesis of Evidence from Quality Award Winners	234	(39)
Kevin B. Hendricks
Vinod R. Singhal
Public Policy Implications	273	(10)
David I. Levine
Index	283