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The question of why workers support unions is one of the most fundamental in employment relations. Using Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior we conduct a selective review of literature and evidence on union voting, joining, and participation. We focus primarily on the question of motivation as stemming from self-interest or from pro-social considerations. Secondary attention is given to the influence of others’ views (subjective norms) and worker perceptions that they can achieve desired behaviors (perceived control or self-efficacy). We find support for the notion that workers are concerned with neither member self-interest (“just us”) alone, nor pro-social (“justice”) alone, but rather that they are motivated to form, join, and participate by both considerations. This micro-foundation for considering unions as institutions suggests that unions are neither narrow self-interested institutions nor purely pro-social movements, but “a little bit of both.” We offer propositions and consider implications for theory, practice, and future research.

This article surveys the literature dealing with theory and applications of life cycle costing (LCC). It deals with the literature published in the last 25 years and provides 667 references.

The future of unions hangs in the balance. Labor unions face enormous challenges to overcome decades of decline and diminishing power. The authors examine the current status of unions with an eye toward identifying pathways to rejuvenation. Our analysis focuses on what the authors know about the decline of unions, how its compares historically, and what avenues are available to unions to change. Pathways to growth with undoubtedly require breaking old molds, which have proven ineffective. Unions need to explore new models of representation to take advantage of a changing workforce with new employment relationships typified by the “gig economy.” The authors present an agenda for fruitful research and discuss the implications of a weakened labor movement on the well-being of society.

Describes the origin and growth of the Asia Pacific Quality Control Organization (APQCO) from its inception in 1981, its formal initiation in 1985 and its development to the present. The APQCO is a federation of national quality organizations within the Asia Pacific region. It is patterned after the highly effective European Organization for Quality (EOQ). As the nations of the Asia Pacific region continued to industrialize, it was both timely and appropriate that their national quality organizations should form a federation to exchange information and to work together for their mutual benefit. Contains some speculation about the future of the APQCO.

Quality management practices have recently flourished across the globe. In this research we review and integrate the literature by identifying and organizing significant research findings, and develop a conceptual model of the relationships between international environmental conditions (e.g. socio‐cultural, political‐legal, economic, and educational factors) and dimensions of quality management (e.g. strategic quality planning, customer focus and satisfaction, human resource development and management, information and analysis, management of process quality, and quality and operational results). The model developed here helps us move beyond examining the differences in quality practices across countries to an understanding of why such differences occur, and helps practitioners gain a better perspective on how quality management techniques can be adopted in different regions around the world.

Although the study of unions and their effects has a long history, only recently have researchers begun to analyze unions as organizations. In such studies, the union itself is a focus, rather than its effects or the behavior of individuals in relation to unions. Some key topics include union environments, goals, strategies, structures, and outcomes, including innovation and effectiveness. This paper reviews recent research in order to summarize current knowledge on national unions as organizations, and offers suggestions for further research. Particular attention is devoted to national unions, as they occupy a critical place in the network of union organizations. U.S. unions have faced serious challenges in recent decades, and their efforts to cope with these and adapt to their changing environments may have lessons for the study of organizations more generally.

In this article, I investigate the effect that the communication of an anti-union message delivered by faculty union opponents and the university administration had on a recent faculty union organizing drive at Illinois State University. Specifically, I argue that the Illinois State University Faculty Association's (ISUFA) certification election loss was due to the union opponents' effective communication of a message that having a faculty union and collective bargaining representation would impose more costs than benefits through the standardization of college and departmental resources across the university and by creating an adversarial climate between the administration and faculty members. Conversely, the union was ineffective in combating these two arguments by convincing faculty of the overriding benefits of unionization. The ISUFA failed to build a sufficient “community of interest” (or solidarity) among the faculty by focusing on a single issue or a set of related issues that extended to university-wide issues as a whole or to external issues that confronted the faculty as a profession. The article concludes with lessons learned from the campaign.

This paper is based on an empirical study of TQM implementation in the Malaysian industrial context. The main focus of the study was to identify quality factors for effective TQM implementation, which are critical for TQM to flourish in Malaysian industries, and to understand the dynamics of TQM implementation in a Malaysian context. The paper presents the outcomes from this research in the form of an implementation framework, constructed through the use of practical guidelines, the key steps of which have been validated and supported empirically.

Ageism refers to the systematic, cultural devaluation of agedness and concomitant discrimination against older adults that is endemic to Western industrialised societies. Age-based discrimination is expressed through the numerous, taken-for-granted, negative stereotypes that equate oldness with frailty, senility, asexuality, obsolescence and loss of attractiveness. It is also evident in the institutional policies and everyday practices that both subtly and overtly exclude older adults from full and meaningful access to resources and opportunities in various organisational settings, including the workplace. This chapter explores the ways that ageism shapes and constrains the experiences and prospects of older workers as they endeavour to obtain or retain employment and/or access to training and promotions. I will discuss how age-based stereotypes and discrimination are gendered, resulting in differential impacts on older men and women seeking employment or those who are currently employed. I will further consider how the older body more generally and appearance in particular are the focal points of ageist assumptions, norms and practices in the workplace. I will conclude by reflecting on the implications and outcomes of age-based exclusion and discrimination on the lives of older male and female employees.

Hempcrete has the potential to reduce both CO₂ emissions and energy usage in buildings. Hempcrete has a high sound absorption capacity, excellent moisture regulator and outstanding thermal insulation properties. However, hempcrete traditionally uses lime-based binders, which are carbon-intensive materials. The low-carbon binders to increase the sustainability of hempcrete are the current research gap. Geopolymer binders are low-carbon binders composed of aluminosilicate precursors dissolved in a high alkalinity solution. This study investigated the suitability of calcined clay and ground granulated blast furnace slag geopolymer binder as a low-carbon binder for hempcrete applications.

Two types of hemp hurds with different water absorption capacity and particle size distributions were used. Hempcrete properties tested were compressive strength, bulk density, sound absorption coefficient by a two-microphone impedance tube and thermal conductivity by a Hot Disk system.

The particle size distribution and water absorption capacity of hemp hurds did not affect the compressive strength of hempcrete when following a mixing procedure, ensuring the hurds in a saturated surface dry condition. The geopolymer hempcrete achieved a compressive strength about four times higher than the reference hydrated lime hempcrete. All hempcrete specimens achieved outstanding acoustic performance. The increase in bulk density led to the decrease in the maximum sound absorption coefficient. The geopolymer hempcrete achieved the lowest thermal conductivity.

The outcomes of this paper reveal that the low-carbon geopolymer binder appears to be a promising option for manufacturing hempcrete, achieving significantly higher compressive strength and lower thermal conductivity than the reference hydrated lime-based hempcrete.