Author: Chris Prener

2014 Conference of Work and Family Researchers Network

On By Chris PrenerIn Calls for Papers, ConferencesLeave a comment

The Work and Family Researchers Network (WFRN) invites submissions for the 2014 Conference, Changing Work and Family Relationships in a Global Economy, to be held June 19-21, 2014 at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City. We seek fresh and innovative scientific contributions on work and family issues from investigators in diverse disciplines. We value all disciplinary perspectives on the issues, including, but not limited to, anthropology, business and management, economics, family studies, political science, psychology, public health, social work, sociology, and related fields. The voices of all stakeholders are needed to understand and address work and family issues to advance knowledge and practice. We also encourage policy advocates, policy makers, and work-life practitioners to submit evidence-based contributions. New for 2014 is the addition of practitioners to the program committee, in an effort to encourage practitioner and policy-oriented submissions and promotion of researcher and practitioner/policy maker collaboration.  Also new is organizing the meeting to kick off with a preconference of meetings of Early Career Scholars, WFRN officers, committees, and member volunteers on June 18.

Submission deadline to WFRN Conference website: October 18, 2013.

The 2012 inaugural conference was a huge success! There were over 750 presenters and 125 sessions that discussed the latest work and family research from around the world. Approximately 30% of the attendees were from outside the U.S., and represented more than 30 countries. Like the 2012 conference, we expect that the 2014 conference will draw many global attendees in addition to providing numerous opportunities for networking and sharing ideas with colleagues.

Fresh and innovative submissions responsive to the conference theme of Changing Work and Family Relationships in a Global Economy are especially encouraged. The global economy is transforming the way work is done.  Work intensification and wide variation across societies in over- and under-employment is creating new issues for individuals, families, employers and nations. Advancing technology blurring work and home and social boundaries, the growing power of social media, and the coming of age of the “Digital Natives” are reshaping the fundamental meaning of “work,” “family,” and “life.” Increasing globalization and the growing footprint of transnational companies and growing international work and social systems, requires looking both within and across cultures to understand changing work and family relationships. Indeed, cultural values surrounding gender, norms concerning collectivism and individualism in achieving the greater good, and national attributions as to whether work and family issues are best served by government, employer or individual initiatives require scientific and practical scrutiny and evidence-based debate.

Learn more about the WFRN conference, including confirmed speakers, specific goals, types of sessions, and submission process at: http://workfamily.sas.upenn.edu/content/call-papers

ILR Review Conference and Special Issue on “Work and Employment Relations in Health Care”

On By Chris PrenerIn Calls for Papers, ConferencesLeave a comment

The Industrial and Labor Relations Review is calling for papers for a conference and subsequent publication devoted to work and employment relations in health care. Conference co-organizers Ariel C. Avgar (Illinois), Adrienne E. Eaton (Rutgers), Rebecca Givan (Rutgers), and Adam Seth Litwin (Johns Hopkins) will assist the journal’s regular editors in developing the issue.

Scholars interested in participating should submit a paper to the conference organizers by November 15, 2013. Authors whose papers are accepted will be invited to a conference sponsored by the University of Illinois, School of Labor and Employment Relations and the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers University, to be held in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on March 14 and 15, 2014. Conference expenses will be partially subsidized. Papers presented at this conference should be suitable for submission to external reviewers. Based on the organizers’ recommendations, discussions at the conference, and fit with the issue, a subset of authors will be asked to submit their papers to the ILRReview with the expectation that their papers will be published in the special issue once they pass the external review process. Papersthat reviewers deem of good quality that are not selected for the special issue will be considered forpublication in a regular issue of the journal.

[additional details are available after the jump]

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Teaching Talk: Best Reading in your Undergrad OOW Course?

On By Chris PrenerIn Announcements, TeachingLeave a comment

Erin Kelly (kelly101@umn.edu) writes:

As the spring term wraps up, I wanted to experiment with a new type of blog post asking people to share their teaching wisdom. If you have ideas for future Teaching Talk posts, please send them to me or Matt Vidal (mgvidal@gmail.com).

What was the single best reading in your undergraduate organizations, occupations, or work course this year? Why did it work, i.e. what was the central message for students and what did they find engaging? Please specify the course you were teaching (title, level) as well.

I am particularly interested in readings on social service organization(s) or social movement organization(s) because I’ll be teaching a capstone course with a service-learning component next year, but it would be great to hear about readings on a variety of topics as we reflect back on this year and plan for next year.

Member Query: Organizational Sociology Courses in Business Majors

On By Chris PrenerIn Member Query2 Comments

John Grady <jgrady@wheatonma.edu> writes:

Wheaton College is developing a new major in business. It includes as a requirement a course to be taught in organizational behavior in the psychology department. We will be offering a course on How Organizations Work, and have requested that it be considered as an alternative to the Organizational Behavior course. The administration feels that the psychology course is a standard offering in business majors, but that organizational sociology is not. Can a case be made — with examples to boot — of the equivalence of the sociological studies of organizations in such offerings?

Member Query: Redesigning Work Space in Academic Settings

On By Chris PrenerIn Member QueryLeave a comment

Beth Mertz (bmertz@thecenter.ucsf.edu) writes:

Do any of you do research on, or know of research on, the reorganization of work spaces through open floor plans (i.e., such as has been done in technology sector such as the HP open floor plan, no offices, or offices without doors, etc) in the University context? Specifically, has anyone experienced, studied, or know of a university that has shifted a social sciences department/research group, including faculty, post docs or RAs and admin staff, from traditional office/cube type set up to one of these open floor plan – no offices, everyone gets an ‘equal’ space (regardless of your rank, title, etc) with ‘huddle rooms’ for group meetings or private phone calls. We are seeking evidence (anecdotal or published) that looks at the issues such a transition might raise, or outcomes of such an experiment. Alternatively, do any of you within a social sciences research group have experience with departments  moving to new or remodeled space that worked very well? What was the redesigned space like?

Thank you for any feedback or leads to data/experiments of this type that you can provide.

Labor & Employment Relations Association Meeting Announcement and Call

On By Chris PrenerIn Announcements, Calls for PapersLeave a comment

LERA (Labor & Employment Relations Association) 2014 Meeting in conjunction with ASSA/AEA
Jan. 3-5, 2014, Philadelphia, PA

“Growing Good Jobs and Connecting Workers to Them: Challenges and Opportunities for Theory and Action”

Eileen Appelbaum, LERA Program Chair and Past President; 
William Rodgers, LERA Program Co-Chair

Deadline: March 3, 2013

The LERA Program Committee has issued a call for symposia proposals and papers for stimulating, creative, and controversial symposia related to this theme as well as other proposals that deal with topics of current interest and the mission of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA).

The LERA is filling slots for 27 academic symposia at the ASSA/AEA meetings in 2014, and the opportunities have never been better for academics and researchers. We especially encourage younger academics, or researchers engaged in applied research, or those who historically may not be represented at the ASSA/AEA meetings, to submit papers and proposals.

Submissions from the perspectives of multiple disciplines – including but not limited to economics, sociology, political science, labor and employment law, industrial relations, and human resource studies – and the perspectives of multiple stakeholders, including investors, managers, workers and unions, are encouraged.

Find complete information and submit a proposal or paper online at the LERA website:
http://leraweb.org/LERA-ASSA-call

Proposals must be submitted or reach the LERA Office no later than March 3, 2013. Contact LERAoffice@illinois.edu if you have any questions.

Program Committee:
Eileen Appelbaum, Chair, Center for Economic and Policy Research
William Rodgers, Co-Chair, Rutgers University
Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts-Boston
Sylvia Allegretto, University of California, Berkeley
Peter Berg, Michigan State University
Lonnie Golden, Penn State University-Abington
Elaine McCrate, University of Vermont
Jeannette Wicks-Lim, University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Post-Doc Position of Interest to Work-Family Scholars

On By Chris PrenerIn Job PostingsLeave a comment

The Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety & Health (CWFSSH) at Portland State University, under the direction of Dr. Leslie Hammer, is seeking a post-doc researcher for a one year appointment (March 2013-Feb 2014). This individual will work directly under Dr. Hammer but will also be part of the Work, Family & Health Network (WFHN), funded by the NIH and CDC. The WFHN designs, implements and evaluates randomized field experiments that involve workplace interventions to reduce work-family conflict and improve employee and family health. See http://www.pdx.edu/work-family-support/ and http://www.workfamilyhealthnetwork.org/ for more information on the project.   This individual will bear primary responsibility for data management and analysis, as well as writing results for grant-related papers, presentations and manuscripts.

Mini-Conference on Labor and Global Solidarity

On By Chris PrenerIn Calls for Papers, ConferencesLeave a comment

We would like to remind everyone about our exciting mini-conference in August and the upcoming deadline (Feb 15th) to submit abstracts.  Below is the full Call for Papers and description of the event. We’d really like to get a large number of submissions to make for a lively and engaging conference.

So please, submit your abstract today and please also share the announcement and submission request with your students, colleagues and wider networks.

Looking forward to seeing you all in NYC.

Best,

Steve McKay – smckay@ucsc.edu
Carolina Bank Munoz – carolinabm75@gmail.com
David Fasenfest – critical.sociology@gmail.com

CFP: Mini-Conference:
Labor and Global Solidarity – The US, China and Beyond
The Labor & Labor Movements Section of the ASA and the Society for the Study of Social Problems are pleased to announce a Mini-conference entitled Labor and Global Solidarity – The US, China and Beyond to be held concurrently with the ASA and SSSP meetings in New York City on Monday, August 12th, 2013.  The conference will be held at the Joseph A. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, City University of New York (18th Floor, 25 West 43rd Street).
The conference is co-sponsored by: the Asia and Asian American Section of ASA; the Labor Studies Section of SSSP; the Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at CUNY; the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education; the Manhattan College Labor Studies Program; Critical Sociology; the Labour Movements Research Committee (RC44) of the International Sociological Association; and the China Association of Work and Labor of the Chinese Sociological Association.
The one-day mini-conference will bring together scholars and practitioners to address the changing landscapes of work and labor organizing at multiple scales, from the local to the transnational.  Facing the global re-organization of production chains, the expansion of precarious work, hostile political climates, and the continued world-wide economic malaise, workers and their allies nonetheless continue to act, from escalating unrest across China, to new models of organizing in NYC, to greater cross-border solidarity, North-South and South-South.
To engage these developments and spark discussion, the conference will include panels on both local, global and transnational labor issues and organizing strategies.  We also seek a mix of activists and academics.  Finally, the mini-conference is an opportunity for international exchange as five labor scholars from China will be participating throughout the event and across the different panels.  Papers including the U.S. and China are especially welcome, but topics and evidence from all over the world are appropriate.
We invite submissions of abstracts (min. 300 words) or full papers on a broad range of topics related to local and global labor, but are particularly interested in submissions that address the following themes of the conference:

  • Labor in China
  • Insurgency and Institutions
  • Organizing (im)migrants – here, there and in the diaspora
  • South–South Solidarity
  • Transnational Labor Organizing – How & When does it Work
  • Informal work, informal worker organizing
  • Monitoring international supply chains from the shop floor(s)
  • Responses to global economic crisis

To submit an abstract or paper, please send it to the conference co-organizers:  Carolina Bank Munoz (carolinabm75@gmail.com), David Fasenfest (critical.sociology@gmail.com), and Steve McKay (smckay@ucsc.edu).  Abstracts or papers are due February 15, 2013.  If submitting an abstract, full drafts of accepted papers are due June 30th, 2013.  Papers presented at the conference will also be considered for publication in a planned special issue of the journal Critical Sociology and/or in a separate edited book.  Conference participants will be responsible for covering their own travel and lodging expenses (though meals for participants on the program will be provided).  The conference will be free and open to the public.

Organization and Business Books Series: A Note from the Editor

On By Chris PrenerIn AnnouncementsLeave a comment

Dave Schulman writes: “I have accepted a position as editor of Transaction Publishers Organizations and Business book series. I plan to reinvigorate this book series by soliciting thoughtful and theoretically innovative manuscripts for consideration for publication. OOW members are clearly relevant to any publication efforts to advance organizational theory, and I would like to invite any interested members to consider the possibility of submitting book length manuscripts to the series. I welcome any inquiries.

My own background is in sociology. I am a Northwestern PhD from 1997 and I
work at Lafayette College. I write on deception in the workplace.”
Transaction Publishers, a major independent publisher of social science
books, seeks to expand offerings in its Organization and Business series.
The Organization and Business series seeks manuscripts that contribute in
creative ways to the scholarly study of organizations and business. The
series welcomes interdisciplinary work from across the social sciences and
humanities on a wide range of topics, including:

  • Business ethics and strategy
  • Leadership studies
  • Management and marketing theory
  • Occupational roles and stratification
  • Organizational behavior, culture, and theory
  • Social control in the workplace
  • Workplace change and innovation

Past books in the series can be viewed at the Transaction Publishers website. Please contact Professor David Shulman with any inquiries.

Please contact Professor David Shulman with any inquiries.

Work Within and Across Organizations

On By Chris PrenerIn Calls for PapersLeave a comment

The Structuring of Work within and across Organizations: Paper Development Workshop
Montreal, 6th and 7th July, 2013
Organizers: Diane Burton, Lisa Cohen, Michael Lounsbury
Sponsors: SSHRC, Desautels Faculty of Management, University of Alberta School of Business, Academy of Management OMT Division

Objective

The world of work is changing in many dramatic ways– globalization, economic meltdowns, technological development—with dramatic implications for societies, organizations, and individuals.  As organizations and organizing have become more complex and distributed, our theoretical tools and empirical evidence are not adequate to explain how and why organizations structure jobs and work in particular ways or the consequences that these structuring choices have for people and society.  To advance scholarship on these important issues, we are convening a paper development workshop immediately following the EGOS meeting in Montreal. We welcome both conceptual and empirical papers that examine aspects of the changing nature of jobs and work in organizations from multiple perspectives and multiple methodologies. We especially encourage submissions from advanced doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior (pre-tenure) scholars.

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