How did the American system of private, employment-related pension and health insurance arise? Data on corporate fringe-benefit programs during the second quarter of the 20th century contradict the ...received wisdom that benefits rose in response to wartime federal policy changes and industrial factors. Instead it appears that public policies such as the Wagner Act and Social Security led to union and business support for private insurance, which in turn spurred to growth of fringe benefits. The historical record suggests that neoinstitutional and conflict approaches must be synthesized to explain the expansion of fringe benefits: institutional factors influenced organizational outcomes by affecting interest group goals.
The bankruptcy of Enron in December 2001 marked the beginning of broad awareness that American corporations had left behind the strategy of expanding through diversification that was the hallmark of ...the 1950s through the early 1980s. CEOs now made it job one to meet the earnings projections of securities analysts, such that by the year 2000 they were, in record numbers, “restating earnings” – admitting that they had cooked the books. Accounting shenanigans were the tip of the iceberg, and what lay under the water was a new approach to running the corporation to produce numbers that analysts and institutional investors would like. Three groups that stood to benefit from the new strategy spun it to investors as in the interest of all. Managers of hostile takeover firms defined their business as setting firms on the path to performing for shareholders. Institutional investors defined earnings management, rather than acquisitions management, as increasing shareholder value and focused management attention on earnings by popularizing stock options. Securities analysts hawked their own profit projections as the reigning metric of corporate performance, and favored easy-to-analyze single-industry firms through “buy” recommendations. These three groups changed the incentives executives faced, making accounting shenanigans in the pursuit of earnings management widely popular and enriching institutional investors, analysts, and executives in the process. Regulatory changes to end malfeasance have made it marginally more difficult to perform illegal accounting practices, but they have not changed the core corporate strategy that has emerged since the early 1980s. The changes illuminate the rise of groups of business professionals in the power structure, for it was not investors but different groups of business professionals who won the day. The changes illuminate, as well, the role of the social construction of interest in power relations among groups – it was by convincing executives and shareholders that a new corporate strategy was in their own interest, which these business professionals succeeded.
Students of economic behavior have long subscribed to the commonsense view that natural laws govern economic life. In the discipline of economics, the prevailing view is that economic behavior is ...determined exogenously, by a force outside of society, rather than endogenously, by forces within. Self-interest is that force, and it is exogenous to society because it is inborn—part of human nature. Self-interest guides human behavior toward the most efficient means to particular ends. If economic behavior is instinctual, the reasoning goes, we need to know little about society to predict behavior.
Sociologists have always found this approach appealing, not
A review essay on books by (1) Abigail Saguy, What is Sexual Harassment? From Capitol Hill to the Sorbonne (Berkeley & Los Angeles: U California Press, 2003); & (2) Kathrin S. Zippel, The Politics of ...Sexual Harassment: A Comparative Study of the United States, the European Union, and Germany (Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2006). References.
To succeed, almost every employee needs work/life support at some point. Women and people of color need it the most, research shows, because they face greater challenges and have fewer resources ...available to them. They are also the least likely to receive it, however, and as a result often are forced to change or leave jobs and lose out on opportunities for advancement. Given that situation, the authors decided to examine what effects various corporate work/life programs had on the management workforce. Analyzing data from more than 800 U.S. companies over 30 years, they found that when companies offered flexible work schedules, family leave, and childcare support to all employees, the percentage of women and people of color in management rose significantly. In fact, those work/life benefits had a larger impact than the most popular racial-equity programs did. Companies have long known that programs promoting work/life balance boost productivity, reduce turnover, and improve employees' mental and physical health. And now it's clear that they are also a powerful way to increase organizational diversity.
Integrating Paradigms Dobbin, Frank
French Politics, Culture and Society,
12/2008, Letnik:
26, Številka:
3
Journal Article, Book Review
Recenzirano
A contribution to a forum on Nicholas Jabko's book, Playing the Market: A Political Strategy for Uniting Europe, 1985-2005 (2006), notes that Jabko's ability to link rationalist, institutionalist, & ...constructivist theoretical perspectives allows him to challenge the idea that the creation of a single European market was a logical & necessary response to globalization & marketization. Jabko argues that integration occurred even where marketization was not a driving force & politically powerful European states lost important political battles with relatively weak European Union (EU) bureaucrats. An exploration of Jabko's line of reasoning highlights the adroit manner in which EU bureaucrats used the idea of an integrated market in different ways to get key constituencies, including liberals, conservatives, business, & labor, to support marketization for very different reasons. Consequently, the market served as a "broad repertoire of justifications that could be used strategically." Jabko's use of the market as a constraint, a norm, a space, & a talisman is detailed. J. Lindroth
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