IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/0332.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Unionization, Management Adjustment and Productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Kim B. Clark

Abstract

The effect of unionization on productivity is examined in this paper using time-series data on selected establishments in the U.S. cement industry. The analysis combines statistical estimation of the union impact and interviews with union and management officials to forge a link between econometric estimation and the traditional institutional analysis of union policy and management adjustment. The econometric analysis primarily deals with the problem of identifying the impact of the union in the face of firm specific effects and adjustments in labor quality. The case studies are designed to shed light on the question of how unionization affects productivity. The empirical results support the conclusion that unionization leads to productive changes in the operation of the enterprise. Evidence from the case studies suggests that much of the gain in productivity derives from a series of extensive changes in management personnel and procedure. These adjustments are a management response to changes in the employment contract which follow unionization.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim B. Clark, 1979. "Unionization, Management Adjustment and Productivity," NBER Working Papers 0332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0332
    Note: LS
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w0332.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roy Radner, 1975. "A Behavioral Model of Cost Reduction," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 196-215, Spring.
    2. Oliver E. Williamson & Michael L. Wachter & Jeffrey E. Harris, 1975. "Understanding the Employment Relation: The Analysis of Idiosyncratic Exchange," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 250-278, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lloyd Ulman, 1992. "Why Should Human Resource Managers Pay High Wages?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 177-212, June.
    2. Nakabayashi, Masaki, 2011. "Schooling, employer learning, and internal labor market effect: Wage dynamics and human capital investment in the Japanese steel industry, 1930-1960s," MPRA Paper 30597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Parent, Daniel, 1999. "Wages and Mobility: The Impact of Employer-Provided Training," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 298-317, April.
    4. Dorothea Alewell & Sven Hauff & Katrin Weiland & Kirsten Thommes, 2011. "HRM and the use of personnel services: an empirical analysis of German firms," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(4), pages 394-409, July.
    5. Weng, David H. & Peng, Mike W., 2018. "Home bitter home: How labor protection influences firm offshoring," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(5), pages 632-640.
    6. Siegfried Berninghaus & Werner Güth & M. Vittoria Levati & Jianying Qiu, 2006. "Satisficing in sales competition: experimental evidence," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2006-32, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
    7. Yang, Bijou & Lester, David, 1995. "New directions for economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 433-446.
    8. Omesh Kini & Mo Shen & Jaideep Shenoy & Venkat Subramaniam, 2022. "Labor Unions and Product Quality Failures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5403-5440, July.
    9. W. Bentley MacLeod, 2006. "Reputations, Relationships and the Enforcement of Incomplete Contracts," CESifo Working Paper Series 1730, CESifo.
    10. William Bentley MacLeod & Daniel Parent, 1998. "Job Characteristics and the Form of Compensation," CIRANO Working Papers 98s-08, CIRANO.
    11. Pedro Ortín‐Ángel & Vicente Salas‐fumás, 1998. "Agency‐Theory and Internal‐Labor‐Market Explanations of Bonus Payments: Empirical Evidence from Spanish Firms," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(4), pages 573-613, December.
    12. Haltiwanger, John, 1984. "The Distinguishing Characteristics of Temporary and Permanent Layoffs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 523-538, October.
    13. Richard A. Hunt & Mathew L. A. Hayward, 2018. "Value Creation Through Employer Loans: Evidence of Informal Lending to Employees at Small, Labor-Intensive Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 284-303, April.
    14. Wayne Gray & John T. Scholz, 1989. "A Behavioral Approach to Compliance: OSHA Enforcement's Impact on Workplace Accidents," NBER Working Papers 2813, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Brussig, Martin & Erlinghagen, Marcel, 2004. "Entlassungen und Kündigungen in den Neuen Bundesländern: Austrittsmobilität auf dem ostdeutschen Arbeitsmarkt in den 1990er Jahren," Graue Reihe des Instituts Arbeit und Technik 2004-01, Institut Arbeit und Technik (IAT), Westfälische Hochschule, University of Applied Sciences.
    16. Vegas, E & Ganimian, A. J., 2013. "Theory and Evidence on Teacher Policies in Developed and Developing Countries," Working Paper 104291, Harvard University OpenScholar.
    17. Wolfgang Pollan, 1980. "Wage rigidity and the structure of the Austrian manufacturing industry," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 116(4), pages 697-728, December.
    18. Bellmann, Lutz & Kohaut, Susanne, 1995. "Betriebliche Determinanten der Lohnhöhe und der übertariflichen Bezahlung : eine empirische Analyse auf der Basis des IAB-Betriebspanels," Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 28(1), pages 62-75.
    19. W. Bentley MacLeod & James M. Malcomson, 2023. "Implicit Contracts, Incentive Compatibility, and Involuntary Unemployment: Thirty Years On," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 179(3-4), pages 470-499.
    20. Martin Behrens & Markus Helfen, 2016. "The Foundations of Social Partnership," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(2), pages 334-357, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0332. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.