Competing Perspectives (competing + perspective)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Informal Work in Latin America: Competing Perspectives and Recent Debates

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2009
James J. Biles
During the ,lost decade' of the 1980s, informal work and self-employment emerged as the most prevalent forms of work throughout Latin America. In response to the economic crisis, the majority of Latin American countries adopted a series of sweeping neoliberal reforms designed to open nations to trade and investment, promote export-led growth, and generate employment, ultimately reducing the incidence of informal work. Despite the widespread adherence to the neoliberal model and implementation of structural adjustment reforms during the past quarter century, informal work has not diminished and in much of Latin America the odds of finding ,decent work' are no better today than during the economic crisis of the 1980s. In light of this seeming paradox, this article offers an overview of the recent debates and controversies surrounding informal work in Latin America. Drawing on recent research, as well as reports and policy documents from key international organizations, I pose and attempt to answer four core questions: What counts as informal work? Who works informally in Latin America? Why do men and women throughout Latin America increasingly resort to informal work? What role does informal work play as a livelihood strategy in Latin America and how has this role changed in recent years? [source]


Solidarity, Conflict, and Ambivalence: Complementary or Competing Perspectives on Intergenerational Relationships?

JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2002
Vern Bengtson
First page of article [source]


Investigating the Moderating Effects of Leader,Member Exchange in the Psychological Contract Breach,Employee Performance Relationship: A Test of Two Competing Perspectives

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2010
Simon Lloyd D. Restubog
Leader,member exchange (LMX) has been characterized as a form of social support capable of buffering the effects of negative work experiences. However, employees with high-quality relationships with leaders in the organization may have stronger negative reactions when psychological contracts are breached. Thus, while a social support perspective would suggest that LMX minimizes the adverse impact of psychological contract breach on employee performance, a betrayal perspective proposes that high LMX would aggravate the negative effects. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs, results across three samples provided support for the betrayal perspective. That is, breach had a stronger negative relationship with organizational citizenship behaviours and in-role performance under conditions of high LMX. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed. [source]


An examination of the use of high-investment human resource systems for core and support employees

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2007
David P. Lepak
In this study, we examine two competing perspectives regarding the relative use of high-investment human resource (HIHR) systems for core and support employees within establishments. Using data from 420 establishments, we compare a universal perspective suggesting that the level of HIHR exposure core employees receive is always greater than the level of exposure for sup-port employees, with a contingency perspective suggesting that the relative level of exposure for these employee groups is contingent on strategy, HR philosophy, or industry. The results did not provide support for the universal prediction that core employees always receive higher levels of exposure to HIHR systems than support employees within the same establishment. Moreover, while strategy and HR philosophy were positively related to the level of HIHR system use across establishments, they did not influence the relative level of exposure to HIHR systems for core and support employees. Interestingly, however, industry did exert a unique impact such that core em-ployees received significantly greater exposure to HIHR systems than sup-port employees in nonmanufacturing firms. There were no significant differ-ences in exposure for these two groups in manufacturing industries. Implications of the findings are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Assessing Democracy in a Contested Polity

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 4 2001
Christopher Lord
After reviewing difficulties with the literature on the democratic deficit, this article concludes that a method is needed for assessing democracy in a political system where there is fundamental agreement on what would constitute adequately democratic institutions. It then goes on to explore two suggestions for such a method: the development of well-specified indicators of democratic performance for contrasting ideal-types of Euro-democracy; and the attribution of self- and peer assessments to institutional actors with competing perspectives on democratic standards in the EU. [source]


Performance Impact of the Elimination of Direct Labor Variance Reporting: A Field Study

JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 4 2002
Rajiv D. Banker
Using a field study approach, we examine two competing perspectives on direct labor variance reporting: some argue that direct labor variance reporting is costly and cumbersome, and should be eliminated; whereas others contend that without direct labor variance information, managers will not be able to monitor workers effectively, causing workers to shirk and worker productivity to decline. Specifically, we investigate the productivity and quality impacts of eliminating direct labor variance reporting with panel data containing 36 months of data from seven experimental plants that eliminated direct labor variance reporting and 11 control plants that did not. The experimental plants experienced a significant decline in labor productivity compared to the control plants. Also, the experimental plants showed an improvement in product quality, indicating that workers reallocate their efforts to other tasks as a result of the change in the information set available to evaluate them. [source]


Culture Formation in a New Television Station: A Multi-perspective Analysis

BRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2000
Christine Daymon
Research which focuses on organizational culture formation is usually conducted within the context of change from an established culture to a transformed one. This longitudinal case study aims to trace culture formation from its genesis. It applies a multi-perspective analytical framework to explore organization members' experiences as they adjusted to, and strove to shape, working life in the first three years of a new television station. The article presents three separate views of culture formation by applying divergent lenses to analyse the data. It then offers a dialogue between the competing perspectives in order to show the interrelatedness of contrasting evidence. Results of the study indicate that culture forms through a continuous sequence of integration, differentiation and fragmentation. This suggests that the cultural patterns of cohesion which emerge in organizational life are, at the same time, fluid, diverse and paradoxical. The article contributes to the current debate on multi-perspective enquiry by providing empirical evidence to support the notion that reliance on a single analytical lens is insufficient to explain the complex realities of life in new, evolving organizations. [source]


Approaches and perspectives in social and environmental accounting: an overview of the conceptual landscape

BUSINESS STRATEGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2006
Judy Brown
Abstract In recent years there has been a marked resurgence of interest in the areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social and environmental accounting (SEA) among business, governments, public policymakers, investors, unions, environmentalists and others. While at one level there appears to be widespread agreement that CSR and SEA are worthy topics of attention, different groups have very different understandings of these fields. This article provides an analysis of these differences by comparing three broad approaches to SEA: the business case, stakeholder-accountability and critical theory approaches. It also responds to concerns a number of commentators have expressed regarding the current dominance of ,business case' perspectives. While not seeking to impose on readers a ,correct' way of viewing SEA and CSR, exposure to competing perspectives is viewed as one way of challenging us to think more reflectively about the frames available to us and their implications for the social realities we construct, embed or seek to change. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]