Industrial & Labor Relations Review
Call For Papers
Trends in Job Quality: A Special Issue
The Industrial and Labor Relations Review is calling for papers for a
conference and subsequent special issue devoted to understanding trends
in job quality. Paul Osterman (MIT) will be the guest editor of the issue.
Scholars interested in participating should submit an abstract to the
Journal by August 1, 2011. The abstract should be about two pages long
and contain a description of the problem addressed as well as sources of
data and methodology to be used. If possible, the nature of the
arguments and findings should be previewed.
Authors whose abstracts are accepted will be invited to a conference to
be held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY on November 3 and 4, 2011.
Conference expenses will be partially subsidized. Papers presented at
this conference should be suitable for immediate submission to external
reviewers. Based on the reviewers� recommendations, discussions at the
conference, and fit with the issue, a subset of authors will be asked to
undertake revisions with the expectation that their papers will be
published in the special issue. Papers that reviewers deem of good
quality but are not selected for the special issue will be considered
for publication in a regular issue of the journal.
* * *
It is well known that the shape of organizations and the configuration
of employment have changed substantially in recent years. Trends in
organizational design include the flattening of some firms, the
proliferation of network forms, and the increased use of outsourcing and
sub-contracting. Just as non-standard work arrangements have
proliferated, so has the spread of high performance or high commitment
systems involving teams and job rotation. Technical change has increased
the demand for skills in many occupations whereas in others older
deskilling processes may be at play. Wage inequality has increased
dramatically at the same time that new forms of compensation have
multiplied
The shifts described above represent only a partial list of changes
during what has been a dynamic period of shifting employment
arrangements. Although there has been a great deal of work documenting
many of the shifts, the impact of these developments on the nature of
work and employee welfare has not been fully understood, nor has it been
examined in a coherent manner.
Trends in Job Quality: A Special Issue Call for Papers
continued
This, then, is the goal of the special issue. The perspective taken here
is that in some respects these developments have boded ill for at least
some employees whereas for others they have meant opportunities for
growth. The point, in other words, is not that overall developments add
up to �good� or �bad� news; rather, it is about understanding what has
actually happened, where it has happened, and why.
Papers responding to this call may represent a range of methodologies
including survey research, fieldwork in the form of qualitative or
quantitative case studies, and the use of archival data. Both domestic
(U.S.) and international research is encouraged. Potential topic areas
include the following:
� intensification and new pressures at work
� changing skill trajectories
� voice and control both in formal ways (e.g. union representation) and
less formal ways (individual autonomy or self-managed teams)
� changes in job security patterns and the consequences thereof for
employees� economic welfare as well as organizational loyalty and
citizenship
� the diffusion of �non-standard� employment arrangements such as
contingent work and independent contracting and the consequences for
employee well-being, autonomy, and creativity
� new compensation patterns and the consequence for effort and morale
� new patterns of upward mobility or lack thereof
� equity along dimensions such as gender, race, and sexual orientation
� trends in particular sectors such as the low-wage job market
� work/family developments
Other topics in the area of job quality are also welcome. What
submissions should have in common is that they be empirically based and
that they address the questions of what has happened and the
consequences for employee welfare.
To submit your abstract for consideration, please email your abstract to
ilrr@cornell.edu and put CFP Trends Abstract in the subject line.