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Analyses the psychological harm to employees in the aftermath of workplace trauma and the comparative responses of managers at two large corporations where workers were traumatized. Notes that individual responses to acute trauma vary considerably; some employees deny symptoms of anxiety which are manifest after a troublesome event, while others openly seek counselling. Similarly, the responses of executives towards the management of workplace trauma also differ. Points out that with US worker compensation claims increasing by 100 per cent in the past six years there is a clarion need for management to examine how well they have prepared their entire staff for the potentiality that a traumatic event could cause chaos for all levels of the organization.

This chapter examines everyday food production and consumption by three white working class Jewish sisters in the “outer boroughs” of New York City between the war years of the 1940s and the suburbanization of the 1950s.

The analysis combines theory, social history, and political economic context as well as the memories of daily life during this period.

This analysis is not generalizable to the working class population at large during this era.

The chapter shows the importance of changes in the political economy as well as family structure and intersectionality on the production and consumption of food.

The importance of government intervention and regulation in food distribution as a mechanism to combat scarcity and to increase equality is demonstrated.

The chapter examines the concept of intersectionality from the perspective of white, working class Jewish women. It analyzes the relationship between government policies, the growth of monopoly capital and women’s agency, and it fleshes out the concepts of social reproduction and use value.

Service work is often differentiated from manufacturing by the interactive labor workers perform as they come into direct contact with customers. Service organizations are particularly interested in regulating these interactions because they are a key opportunity for developing quality customer service, customer retention, and ultimately generation of sales revenue. An important stream of sociological literature focuses on managerial attempts to exert control over interactions through various techniques including routinization, standardization, and surveillance. Scripting is a common method of directing workers’ behavior, yet studies show that workers are extremely reluctant to administer scripts, judging them to be inappropriate to particular interactions or because they undermine their own sense of self. This paper examines a panoptic method of regulating service workers, embodied in undercover corporate agents who patrol employee’s adherence to scripts. How do workers required to recite scripts for customers respond to undercover control? What does it reveal about the nature of interactive labor? In-depth interviews with interactive workers in a range of retail contexts reveal that they mobilize their own interactional competence to challenge the effects of the panoptic, as they utilize strategies to identify and adapt to these “mystery shoppers,” all the while maintaining their cover. The paper shows the limits on control of interactive workers, as they maintain their own socialized sense of civility and preserve a limited realm of autonomy in their work.

Purpose – Addresses labor control in fields where familiar organizational and occupational controls are weak, notably postindustrial arenas characterized by networks, heterogeneity, and change.Methodology/approach – Proposes that labor control operates via socio-technical networks composed of diverse ties to social actors, technologies, and typifications. Data from an interview-based study of early website production work is used to examine the impact of such a network.Findings – Socio-technical networks constrained web workers#x02019; actions but also offered opportunities for autonomous discretion. Some shifting between networked and hierarchical controls occurred in larger organizations.Research implications/limitations – The role of networks in the labor process is not well understood; this study provides a starting point.Social implications – Socio-technical networks are heterogeneous and lack common status metrics, making inequality among workers difficult to gauge and address. Further, since networked controls are decentralized, their pressures are not easily identified or resisted by workers.Originality/value – This chapter describes a form of labor control that may characterize some postindustrial fields more closely than traditional models. In addition, it contributes new insights on how work is shaped by technical networks and abstract typifications.

The empirical evidence which underpins and illustrates labour management theory has been drawn from a range of case studies across industrial sectors sited, usually, within the corporate sector. This fails to recognise the importance of the smaller firm as an employer. At present, the study of the employment relationship is grounded within a segment of the economy that no longer employs the majority of private sector labour within the UK. To reflect contemporary change within modern developed economies, the manner in which labour is managed in smaller firms must be explored. This paper considers why smaller firms might be excluded from this debate and reviews some of the limited literature pertaining to managing the employment relationship in such firms. One area in particular is then focused upon in more depth, the manner in which labour compliance and control is addressed in smaller manufacturing firms. On the basis of empirical evidence drawn from a study of the impact of employment regulation on smaller manufacturing firms, it is suggested that there are blurred divisions between employers and employees. Through necessity or choice, when the owner of the firm also takes the role of co‐worker this can create shared social relationships and group working which is advantageous to the owner, but has implications for managing labour discipline.

The objective of this study is to analyze the framework within which microfinance institutions (MFIs) deliver their services and provide an assessment of their operations and financial management. These institutions are examined because of their current importance to a special group of consumers, primarily the poor and disenfranchised in the developing world, and of their future promise as an economic development solution. Since the objective of these institutions is somewhat unique, the manner of their assessment must also differ from that used to assess the performance of traditional financial intermediaries. In particular, assessment of MFIs must recognize their dual (bank and development instrument) status. Their efficiency, then, must be analyzed in terms of its economic (or financial) dimension as well as its social dimension. The first dimension may be examined with traditional measures, while examination of the second requires measures that reflect the MFI’s social objectives. In order to accommodate the special nature of MFIs, this study proposes the use of a Balanced Scorecard approach. It contributes to the study of financial institution performance by examining a non‐traditional group of institutions using a variety of assessment measures. The findings should be of value to those interested in the financial sector as well as those involved in public policy decision making.