Allocation Of Labor Resources Research Articles

Transitions in women's and children's work patterns and implications for the study of family income and household structure: A case study from the Catalan textile sector (1850–1925)

This article deals with the outcomes of changes in the family labor resource allocation for family incomes and household structures. During the first stage of the demographic transition, since women worked more than men due to child bearing and child rearing, and children were the main contributors to household incomes over the medium term, there was a substitution effect whereby women 's wage labor was replaced by that of the children. With the beginning of the second industrial revolution, a contrary trend can be observed whereby child labor was replaced by that of married women, even by those reported as housewives in the Municipal Census. A smaller number of children, mandatory schooling, and an improvement of women 's position within the factory with respect to men, all seem to explain this second substitution. As a result of all these transformations, household structures and family incomes do not conform to any pre-established norms and integrate what we have defined as a family economy of mutual assistance.

Crew Design Methodology for Construction Contractors

This paper presents the results of an investigation to determine the rules contractors use in designing the crews for their daily activities. The reasonable number of crews contractors use and the composition of each crew have been addressed. Four major subcontracting areas have been investigated, namely: (1) reinforced concrete; (2) masonry; (3) mechanical aspects; and (4) electrical aspects. A structured interview approach was followed, and a questionnaire was designed to capture the main criteria that contractors use in their crew design. The questionnaire was based on an analysis of the type of work implemented, the activities involved, and the major jobs performed, as well as the general factors affecting labor resource allocation. Within each of the four subcontracting areas contractors have been interviewed and rules of thumb for crew design and makeup have been elicited and analyzed. Results showed that contractors have a specific process that they use in designing the crews for their activities. This process, which was found to be common among most of the contractors under study, has been analyzed and illustrated in this paper.

Dealing with large data sets

Collection, storage and retrieval of large amounts of data from multiple experiments for subsequent reduction, graphing and statistical analysis need not be a burdensome task. Although turnkey systems may offer significant economies for single well-defined and repetitive tasks, they may not permit sufficient flexibility to achieve the diverse aims required by many research programs. Using popular microcomputers to run one or a few experimental subjects may confront the investigator not only with significant bookkeeping problems, but also with an allocation of labor resources to computer maintenance and support that might be better invested in research effort. By using networked minicomputers, economies of scale emerge both in data collection, transfer, reduction, and analysis, as well as in maintenance, support, and scientific effort.

Office Information Systems Cost Justification

The purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for the cost justification of office information systems in engineering environments [1]. The methodology is called the hedonic wage model. It is based on the fact that the allocation of labor resources in an organization tends to conform to certain logical economic criteria. These criteria, along with information on the costs of labor and on how workers spend their time, permit inferences about the organizational values of key activities. The value of an information system can be estimated based on its contribution to the key activities.