Toward a Theory of Worker Participation

This paper proposes that the emergence of shop-floor worker participation projects in many of the largest corporations in the United States has major theoretical interest because it points to a shift in the structure of American management from Taylorist forms of organization toward "post-Taylorist" systems based on "relative worker autonomy" and limited democratic organization on the shop floor. The postulated shift toward "relative worker autonomy" is explored, first, in terms of the contradictions and failures of Taylorism-specifically its failure to integrate workers or bind them effectively, either psychologically or ideologically, to their jobs and firms. While the costs of worker dis-integration have led management to initiate post-Taylorist labor control systems, an analysis of participative experiments suggests that these new systems produce new contradictions engendering worker expectations and entitlements for democracy in the workplace. The analysis suggests the need for a reformulation of current theories of the capitalist labor process that can explain both the emergence of "integrative" labor systems based on participation and democratic legitimations and also the new forms of contestation they produce.     

A POPULATION PROFILE OF VERY OLD MEN AND WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES

This article presents the first population profile of men and women age 85 and over. It was developed with the 1980 census PUMS sample A, of which nearly 70% were women. Men were better off than women in both socioeconomic and relational characteristics in that they had higher personal incomes from nearly all sources and were far more likely to be married and living independently. They were not found in nursing homes in as great a proportion as were very old women. In a sense, then, the generalizations about the very old have a female bias.     

Formulating the mess: The role of decision aids in problem formulation

Analytic decision aids have been criticized by some practitioners for their inability to address questions of problem formulation. These aids typically begin with the assumption that a problem has been recognized and stated, and that the task of the sequential step-wise analysis process is to indicate the optimal strategy in terms of a specified choice criterion. Writers such as Ackoff, Mason & Mitroff and Raiffa have argued that this approach may lead to solving the wrong problem, particularly when applied to ill-structured, complex organizational decision problems. The purpose of this paper is to provide a more thorough understanding of the nature of problem formulation and the use of techniques for assisting decision-makers in this process. The paper attempts first to develop an understanding of the process of organizational problem formulation through the examination of current literature and research. This is seen to be a necessary prerequisite for discussing the value of decision aids for problem formulation. Second, attention is focused on aids to problem formulation. Included is discussion about the matching of problem to problem type, creativity stimulants, dialectical inquiry and devil's advocate approaches, as well as the role of formal analysis as a stimulant for a policy dialogue process. Finally, the relationships between the various approaches are examined and a synthetic model for their use in problem formulation is suggested.     

Rupert B. Vance on Population

Rupert B. Vance, a distinguished sociologist, was a true Renaissance man whose writings spanned a variety of disciplines and touched on many issues of public as well as professional interest. As is typical of such scholars, his writings are published in a broad range of books, journals, newspapers, and other outlets. Reed and Singal (1982) brought together a selection of his writings on the South as a region, but his works in other areas have not been synthesized. The effort here is to assess his contributions to the field of population. Although no great ideas in population analysis are associated with his name, a review of his publications shows that he often was ahead of his time in dealing with issues and his influence on the field can be profoundly felt.     

Literary politics and the Champ of French sociology

Conclusion Certainly it cannot be claimed that French sociology has definitive answers to the problems besetting sociologies everywhere. What can be claimed is that among those sociologies outside the strict and direct domination of American sociology, France's is one of the most interesting. Having avoided the Scylla of mimicking American empiricism and the Charybdis of philosophical devolution, French sociology stands as a small but coherent body of research, the quality of which is frequently very high. Stylistically, its example of theoretical inventiveness and scope is well worth our while. Substantively, its consideration of such topics as inequality, critique, practice, structural analysis, social change, control, and the State, among others, deserves international attention. Those sociologies, such as the American, which have just lately discovered the full significance of certain of these topics would do well to heed the example of the French who, by virtue of intellectual heritage and political-economic curcumstance, have long seen them as central. If the French do not give answers, they do give questions and, more than this, they offer the witness of their situation-bound solutions. The only positive thing I can, for the moment, think to say of the spread of international capitalism is that it has at least made national circumstances less determinant. As the present fiscal crisis deepens and as the control of national ruling classes gives way to the hegemony of international money interests, whatever differences separate others from the French will become even less important: hence, a reason to transcend sociological provincialism.     

The decision to add a second system producer

Typically in the United States only one contractor (the developer or first producer) makes a weapon system because it is too expensive or for some other reason infeasible to develop a second source. Congress and higher headquarters are constantly challenging the Armed Services to add other sources who can competitively make their systems. This paper describes a method of analyzing this complex problem which often has very large monetary and other significant impacts. Procedures and a case study are presented which consider cost and other criteria which might be used to make the second source decision.