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Book part
Publication date: 2 February 2018

Jerry A. Carbo, Steven J. Haase and M. Blake Hargrove

The purpose of this chapter is to develop a model of union reform that may help to revitalize the labor movement. Our model presents a path using democracy and militancy to…

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to develop a model of union reform that may help to revitalize the labor movement. Our model presents a path using democracy and militancy to overcome union oligarchy to build stronger unions and a stronger broader movement. We develop a new model of union revitalization by expanding the Voss and Sherman (2000) model from our own experiences and a review of past union revitalization efforts. Democratic and militant strategies are a key to successful reform efforts. Entrenched union leaders tend to oppose such efforts. Reformers must adequately overcome entrenched leader responses to succeed in reforming their unions. We have developed a new conceptual model of union revitalization. Our model should be tested further through in-depth case studies and analysis of reform efforts which have failed or succeeded. Our model presents strategies and tactics for labor activists to revitalize their unions and the labor movement. We present a new model of union revitalization that looks at both internal and external union revitalization. This chapter accumulates evidence across reform efforts throughout the modern history of unions. This comparative and contrasting analysis of the evidence from these efforts is a unique contribution to the field. Further, the resulting model from this review presents a unique focus on the strategies and tactics of reform efforts as well as the interaction between union reform efforts and entrenched leaders. This model provides a path for both future research and practical revitalization efforts.

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Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations, 2017: Shifts in Workplace Voice, Justice, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in Contemporary Workplaces
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-486-8

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Book part
Publication date: 2 November 2009

Earl J. Baker

Surveys of the public have been conducted to document and explain evacuation behaviour in a wide range of threatening events during the past half-century. Many of the behaviours…

Abstract

Surveys of the public have been conducted to document and explain evacuation behaviour in a wide range of threatening events during the past half-century. Many of the behaviours are directly applicable to transportation modelling and management: whether people evacuate, when they depart, where they go, the routes they employ and the number of vehicles they use. Data have usually been collected by telephone interview or mailed questionnaires. Traditional survey methods should be supplemented by Internet surveys, traffic counts and GPS tracking. More real-time data collection should be employed to document a wider range of behaviours during a threat more accurately and to better understand the dynamics of evacuation decisions.

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Transport Survey Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84-855844-1

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Book part
Publication date: 2 October 2003

Edmund Heery, Rick Delbridge, Melanie Simms, John Salmon and David H Simpson

As trade unions have continued to decline in membership and influence across the developed economies, so academic attention has turned to the prospects for renewal and a search…

Abstract

As trade unions have continued to decline in membership and influence across the developed economies, so academic attention has turned to the prospects for renewal and a search for the conditions under which it might plausibly occur (Fairbrother, 2000; Martin & Ross, 1999; Turner, 1999). One leg of this search has been directed towards the changing context which unions face and has resulted in the prescription that unions must change their policies, structures and culture to accommodate a “new workforce” (Cobble, 1994; Heckscher, 1988; Wever, 1998). A second leg has been directed within unions themselves and has been concerned more with the internal processes through which renewal can take place (Fiorito et al., 1995; Hurd, 1998; Pocock, 1998). In the U.K., two distinctive theories of change in trade unions have emerged along this second line of inquiry, one of which, the “rank and file” model, holds that significant change occurs from the bottom-up and requires the mobilisation of members against a conservative leadership (Fairbrother, 1996). The other, the “managerial” model, claims the opposite is true and that renewal is conditional on effective systems of union management and occurs from the top–down (Willman et al., 1993). Both theories are venerable and in Britain their roots can be traced on the one hand to the Webbs and their conviction that effective unions required professional leadership and on the other to the apostles of industrial syndicalism (Fox, 1985, pp. 66, 256–260). They continue to structure debate, however, and the purpose of this article is to provide an empirical examination of each with regard to an issue, which seemingly is critical to the internal renewal of unions, the development of organising activity.

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Labor Revitalization: Global Perspectives and New Initiatives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-153-8

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Book part
Publication date: 6 August 2018

Maite Tapia, Manfred Elfström and Denisse Roca-Servat

In this paper, we draw from our own empirical data on worker organizing and identify important concepts that bridge social movement (SM) and industrial relations (IR) theory. In a…

Abstract

In this paper, we draw from our own empirical data on worker organizing and identify important concepts that bridge social movement (SM) and industrial relations (IR) theory. In a context of traditional union decline and a surge of alternative types of worker mobilization, we apply SM and IR concepts related to the mobilizing structures and culture to cases of labor organizing via worker centers and community–labor alliances in the United States and China. From an analytical perspective, we argue that the field of SMs and IR can both benefit from this type of cross-discipline theorization.

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Social Movements, Stakeholders and Non-Market Strategy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78754-349-2

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Book part
Publication date: 8 June 2020

Julie Vryhof and Fabricio E. Balcazar

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Service System was created in 1973 in the United States as a way to help people with disabilities access necessary supports and services to…

Abstract

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Service System was created in 1973 in the United States as a way to help people with disabilities access necessary supports and services to return to work and live independently. The program receives federal funds and operates in all 50 states and territories. The program is designed to allow consumers to develop a rehabilitation plan in collaboration with a VR counselor and receive necessary services and supports in order to meet their rehabilitation goals. Unfortunately, there are serious issues with access to services and rehabilitation success for minority individuals in the program, particularly African Americans. The chapter will first provide a brief overview of the Rehabilitation Act and its purpose, then we will introduce some of the research that has been conducted to evaluate the program over the years, with particular emphasis on the outcomes for African Americans, and then will focus on a series of studies that have been conducted by the authors in the state of Illinois. The chapter will conclude with some suggestions about ways in which the system could be improved and ways to empower African Americans in pursue of their rehabilitation and independent living goals, including peer-support and supported employment.

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The International Handbook of Black Community Mental Health
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-965-6

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Book part
Publication date: 24 March 2021

Jason Spicer and Christa R. Lee-Chuvala

Alternative enterprises – organizations that operate as a business while still also being driven by a social purpose – are sometimes owned by workers or other stakeholders, rather…

Abstract

Alternative enterprises – organizations that operate as a business while still also being driven by a social purpose – are sometimes owned by workers or other stakeholders, rather than shareholders. What role does ownership play in enabling alternative enterprises to prioritize substantively rational organizational values, like environmental sustainability and social equity, over instrumentally rational ones, like profit maximization? We situate this question at the intersection of research on: (1) stakeholder governance and mission drift in both hybrid and collectivist-democratic organizations; and (2) varieties of ownership of enterprise. Though these literatures suggest that ownership affects the ability of alternative enterprises to maintain their social missions, the precise nature of this relationship remains under-theorized. Using the case of a global, social, and environmental values-based banking network, we suggest that alternative ownership is likely a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to combat mission drift in enterprises that have a legal owner. A supermajority of this network’s banks deploy alternative ownership structures; those operating with these structures are disproportionately associated with social movements, which imprint their values onto the banks. We show how alternative ownership acts through specific mechanisms to sustain enterprises’ missions, and we also trace how many of these mechanisms are endogenous to alternative ownership models. Finally, we find that ownership models vary in how well they enable the expression and maintenance of these social values. A ladder of mission-sustaining ownership models exists, whereby the dominance of substantive, non-instrumental values over operations and investment becomes increasingly robust as one moves up the rungs from mission-driven investor ownership to special shareholder and member-ownership models.

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Organizational Imaginaries: Tempering Capitalism and Tending to Communities through Cooperatives and Collectivist Democracy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-989-7

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Book part
Publication date: 31 March 2015

Veronica Terriquez

This research examines how labor union involvement shapes the civic participation of low-wage Latino immigrant workers.

Abstract

Purpose

This research examines how labor union involvement shapes the civic participation of low-wage Latino immigrant workers.

Methodology/approach

Drawing on survey and semi-structured interview data gathered from a Los Angeles janitors’ labor union, I examine whether or not and how Latino immigrants apply their union experience to involvement in their children’s schools.

Findings

Results indicate that the union’s targeted member mobilization efforts produce unequal participation in union activities among immigrant workers, fostering civic and leadership skills among some and not others. At the same time, immigrant workers who do become involved in their union are then able to draw on their labor organizing and advocacy experience to address issues and concerns at their children’s schools. For some, worksite activism functions as a catalyst for newfound civic engagement; for other immigrant workers with prior civic experience in their country origin or in the United States, union involvement enhances their leadership capacity.

Originality/value

This empirical investigation shows how the experience of mobilizing for protests and participating in worksite campaigns allows Latino immigrant union members to overcome what are typically considered barriers to civic participation – that is, limited formal education, low occupational status, and limited English language skills. This study therefore suggests that labor union participation can have long-term effects on immigrants well beyond the benefits of a union contract.

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Immigration and Work
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-632-4

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Book part
Publication date: 4 July 2024

Catherine Corrigall-Brown

This chapter examines how groups' tactical selection shapes social movement mobilization and survival. I focus on 35 Indivisible groups founded in 10 American cities immediately…

Abstract

This chapter examines how groups' tactical selection shapes social movement mobilization and survival. I focus on 35 Indivisible groups founded in 10 American cities immediately after the 2017 Women's March. I analyze the descriptions of over 8,000 events on group Facebook pages from 2017–2019 and conduct 25 interviews with group members. These data allow me to assess how the type, diversity, and flexibility of tactics shape group mobilization and survival. I find that groups that use more protest and electoral tactics and those that use a diversity of tactics host more events and are more likely to survive over time. Being consistent in tactics was successful when groups used political tactics, particularly protest and electoral activities. Groups that engaged in a variety of tactics could also be successful, particularly in smaller and more conservative settings. This research illuminates the complex and situational ways that tactical choices matter for social movement longevity.

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Strategies and Outcomes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-934-9

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Article
Publication date: 2 January 2020

Su-Mae Tan, Tze Wei Liew and Chin Lay Gan

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of a learner’s regulatory focus orientation and message frame of a motivational virtual agent in an e-learning environment.

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of a learner’s regulatory focus orientation and message frame of a motivational virtual agent in an e-learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of quasi-experimental design, university sophomores (n = 210) categorized as chronic promotion-focus, chronic prevention-focus or neutral regulatory focus interacted with either an agent that conveyed gain-frame message or an agent that conveyed loss-frame message to persuade learners to engage with the e-learning content. Statistical analyses assessed the effects of regulatory focus and message frame on agent perception, motivation and cognitive load.

Findings

The results of this paper did not support the hypotheses that chronic promotion-focus learners will benefit more with gain-frame agent than a loss-frame agent, and that chronic prevention-focus learners will benefit more with loss-frame agent than a gain-frame agent. There were main effects of message frame (albeit small effects) – the loss-frame agent was perceived to be more engaging, induced higher motivation and prompted higher germane load than the gain-frame agent. With gain-frame agent, chronic promotion-focus learners had higher motivation toward the e-learning task than other learners.

Originality/value

Prior studies have examined regulatory focus and message frame with agents simulating virtual health advocates. This paper extended on this by examining these roles with a persuasive agent simulating virtual tutor in an e-learning environment.

Details

Information and Learning Sciences, vol. 121 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5348

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Book part
Publication date: 14 November 2014

Arielle Silverman and Geoffrey Cohen

Achievement motivation is not a fixed quantity. Rather, it depends, in part, on one’s subjective construal of the learning environment and their place within it – their narrative…

Abstract

Purpose

Achievement motivation is not a fixed quantity. Rather, it depends, in part, on one’s subjective construal of the learning environment and their place within it – their narrative. In this paper, we describe how brief interventions can maximize student motivation by changing the students’ narratives.

Approach

We review the recent field experiments testing the efficacy of social-psychological interventions in classroom settings. We focus our review on four types of interventions: ones that change students’ interpretations of setbacks, that reframe the learning environment as fair and nonthreatening, that remind students of their personal adequacy, or that clarify students’ purpose for learning.

Findings

Such interventions can have long-lasting benefits if changes in students’ narratives lead to initial achievement gains, which further propagate positive narratives, in a positive feedback loop. Yet social-psychological interventions are not magical panaceas for poor achievement. Rather, they must be targeted to specific populations, timed appropriately, and given in a context in which students have opportunities to act upon the messages they contain.

Originality/value

Social-psychological interventions can help many students realize their achievement potential if they are integrated within a supportive learning context.

Details

Motivational Interventions
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-555-5

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