Basis Of Seniority Research Articles

The need for intersectional practices in addressing workplace diversity

The need for intersectional practices in addressing workplace diversity Courtney L. McCluney In "Designing More Effective Practices for Reducing Workplace Inequality," Quinetta Roberson, Eden King, and Mikki Hebl suggest robust strategies for addressing inequality.1 They also list unanswered questions, such as whether any practices improve employment opportunities across all demographic groups or contexts. I see one potential answer: that organizational leaders and researchers look to intersectionality as a framework for addressing inequalities that occur inside and outside of organizations.2,3 An intersectionality framework considers the effects of belonging to multiple social groups simultaneously—for instance, the ways that being both Black and a woman can undercut opportunities beyond the independent ways that being Black or being a woman can. The failure to recognize how diversity policies affect people who belong to multiple disadvantaged groups will perpetuate inequalities rather than eliminate them. [End Page 51] Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality after analyzing several lawsuits involving a combination of race and sex discrimination claims, including a 1976 case in which a workplace policy resulted in disproportionate layoffs of Black women.4 In DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, five Black women sued General Motors, arguing that its layoff policy, which eliminated jobs on the basis of seniority, targeted Black women exclusively. GM hired Black women in large numbers only after 1964, possibly because of the passage that year of the Civil Rights Act, with its Title VII employment regulations. Thus, Black women had the least seniority at GM and were disproportionately affected by seniority-based layoffs during an early 1970s recession. As is common for cases based on race and sex discrimination,5 the court ruled against the plaintiffs because the layoff decision did not systematically terminate either women or Black people overall. The judge refused to examine the action for discrimination based on a combination of race and sex because Title VII, in his view, did not create a classification of Black women as a protected class separate from White women and Black men. Such decisions overlook the unique forms of discrimination and invisibility that women of color have faced in the past and continue to confront in workplaces today.6–10 Crenshaw's formulation of intersectionality created a prism through which decisionmakers within the legal system and organizations can understand the conceptual limitations of looking only at single-identity groups.4 The concept of intersectionality can help people see how members of multiple oppressed groups, such as Black women, too often find themselves in more precarious economic and social positions than other people in their broader identity groups.11 As microcosms of society, organizations are ideal places to experiment with intersectionality-informed policies meant to address inequalities. For example, a law firm described in a 2001 article by Robin J. Ely and David A. Thomas implemented targeted human resource practices, such as hiring Latina attorneys, to diversify its all-White female staff as part of an effort to better fulfill its mission of advancing the well-being of low-income women of all backgrounds, including those who identified as women of color.12 These actions, in turn, helped to reshape the organization's priorities and interests. Whereas the firm had originally focused on cases of sexual discrimination, it expanded its repertoire to address other issues of oppression affecting many low-income women, such as the need for a living wage and support with immigration issues. Employees reported that they valued exploring different points of view, learning about one another's life experiences, and building on that knowledge to better meet the needs of the people they were serving.12 A closer look at workplace diversity practices through an intersectionality lens can enhance an organization's ability to mitigate inequality. Workplace managers and leaders can take several actions to ensure that their organization's diversity policies are intersectional. First, organizational leadership can evaluate how their workplace diversity policies may affect individuals who belong to multiple disadvantaged groups. I applaud Roberson and her coauthors' review for identifying the different ways that policies can affect specific social identity groups.1 Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev have also detailed such variances in the effects of diversity policies on specific groups.13 The advice...

English

This study aims at describing the self-values held by pre-school teachers working in public schools and at determining whether or not those values differ on the basis of seniority, marital status and having children. This research employs a descriptive method. The research population comprised 278 pre-school teachers working in public pre-school education institutions and in public primary education schools. The Rokeach Value Survey was used in the research. The data was analysed using the techniques as mean, standard deviation, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Turkey HSD test in order to find the sources of differences. The self-values preferred most by pre-school teachers were “a peaceful world”, “being healthy”, and “national security”. The self-values they considered the least important were “an exciting life”, “a variable life”, and “authority”. Pre-school teachers’ self-values differed significantly on the basis of seniority, marital status, and having children.   Key words: Self-values, values education, pre-school education, pre-school teachers.

An Analysis of Teachers’ Levels of Participation in Cultural Activities

This research aims at examining secondary education teachers’ levels of participation in cultural activities on the basis of a) gender, b) seniority, c) field of teaching, d) order of preferences, and e) factors influential in their preferring the teaching profession. The research was conducted with 434 teachers, 265 of whom were female and 169 of whom were male. A questionnaire was given to the participants so as to gather the data. The Chi-square was employed in the analyses. The findings obtained demonstrated that there were no differences between teachers working in secondary education institutions in terms of participating in cultural activities on gender basis whereas there were significant differences on the basis of seniority, field of teaching, order of preferences and the factors influential in preferring the teaching profession. The results reached showed that almost half of the teachers took part in cultural activities.

Influence of Age, Marital and Job Status on Happiness, Quality of Life and Life Satisfaction among Employed Women in Industries

The present study was undertaken to find out the influence of age, marital and job status on happiness, quality of life (QoL) and life satisfaction among employed women in industries. The sample consisted of 60 women from two different industrial sectors. They were subjected to measure the general happiness scale developed by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999), QoL affectometer developed by Kammann and Flet (1983) and satisfaction with life scale by Diener et al. (1985). They were statistically analyzed using MONOVA, T-test and correlation. The result indicated that women employees in both the industries above and below 35 years of age do not differ in their happiness, QoL and life satisfaction. Also, junior and senior female employees in these industries do not differ in their happiness, QoL and life satisfaction. With concern to both industries, age is not the criteria for determining happiness, other subjective factors and socialisation at job-related environment may influence happiness; however, job environment facilities and work culture are same for all the employees irrespective of their age. Though there may be salary difference on the basis of seniority and service, this may not influence the happiness level. Happiness is largely influenced by objective and other social factors in both the industries.

Audit of antibiotic prescribing in two governmental teaching hospitals in Indonesia

This article estimates the magnitude and quality of antibiotic prescribing in Indonesian hospitals and aims to identify demographic, socio-economic, disease-related and healthcare-related determinants of use. An audit on antibiotic use of patients hospitalized for 5 days or more was conducted in two teaching hospitals (A and B) in Java. Data were collected by review of records on the day of discharge. The method was validated through concurrent data collection in Hospital A. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine variables to explain antibiotic prescribing. Prescriptions were assessed by three reviewers using standardized criteria. A high proportion (84%) of 999 patients (499 in Hospital A and 500 in Hospital B) received an antibiotic. Prescriptions could be categorized as therapeutic (53%) or prophylactic (15%), but for 32% the indication was unclear. Aminopenicillins accounted for 54%, and cephalosporins (mostly third generation) for 17%. The average level of antibiotic use amounted to 39 DDD/100 patient-days. Validation revealed that 30% of the volume could be underestimated due to incompleteness of the records. Predictors of antibiotic use were diagnosis of infection, stay in surgical or paediatric departments, low-cost nursing care, and urban residence. Only 21% of prescriptions were considered to be definitely appropriate; 15% were inappropriate regarding choice, dosage or duration, and 42% of prescriptions, many for surgical prophylaxis and fever without diagnosis of infection, were deemed to be unnecessary. Agreement among assessors was low (kappa coefficients 0.13-0.14). Despite methodological limitations, recommendations could be made to address the need for improving diagnosis, treatment and drug delivery processes in this setting.

Modeling Committee Chair Selection in the U.S. House of Representatives

For many years, committee chairs have been selected on the basis of seniority. Recent work has suggested that alternative factors, specifically financial support of party goals and party unity, have diminished the importance of seniority in committee chair selection. However, previous work has either failed to quantify these effects or has done so with inappropriate methods. This paper argues for the use of a Bayesian conditional logit estimator to correctly model committee chair selection in the U.S. House of Representatives. Results show a declining commitment to seniority throughout the Republican era and support the importance of fundraising as a determinant of committee chair selection. This paper shows that two other factors, financial support of party goals and party unity, have essentially replaced seniority as the central criteria for selecting committee chairs.

A stochastic manpower planning model under varying class sizes

Solution related to different types of manpower planning problems arising in different industries and organizations are very much helpful for proper planning and implementation of different objectives. Previously those type of problems are mostly solved under the deterministic set up. Gradually several scientists have developed different types of stochastic models appropriate for solving such types of problems. The present study is an attempt to develop a stochastic manpower planning model under the set up where the classes are of varying sizes and promotion occurs only on the basis of seniority.

Tenure and the Canadian Professoriate

No other aspect of university life is as misunderstood as tenure.1 Even usually clear-eyed John Ralston Saul gets it wrong. Defining it as system of academic job security which has effect of rating intellectual leadership on basis of seniority; he asserts that its initial justification ... was need to protect freedom of speech, due to justifiable fear that controversial professors might suffer at hands of disapproving financial and governmental interests.2 This is mistaken. Tenure long antedates modern concern with academic free speech. It is rooted in three ancient and persistent academic desires: for intellectual independence, collective autonomy and time and financial security needed to carry on scholarly and scientific work. Not only is tenure misunderstood, it is under heavy attack. When I bought my copy of Matthew W. Finkin's Case for Tenure (1996), bookstore clerk read title and said with obvious surprise: The case for tenure? I thought everybody was against it. purpose of this paper is briefly to examine and explain legal and institutional development of tenure in Canada, to sketch debate that surrounds it today, and to discuss its continuing function in academic life. Tenure in Canadian universities has been of two different kinds. At first Englishlanguage institution of higher education established in what is now Canada, King's College in Windsor, Nova Scotia, professors explicitly enjoyed tenure for life during good behaviour3'(This was akin to tenure that judiciary came to enjoy.) Most universities made no reference to term of office in their charters or early statutes, creating a presumption, particularly in those institutions which were influenced by Scottish university tradition, that tenured professors held their offices for life, though they might be pensioned off when it suited a governing board to vote money. (Formal pension plans did not exist until they were gradually introduced during first half of twentieth century.) Judicial interpretation from 1860 to 1923 did not sustain presumption of life tenure. Wherever principle was tested it was rejected, usually though not invariably in favour of notion that tenured professors, though appointed without term, held their offices during pleasure (that is at discretion) of governing boards of their institutions. Starting with University of Toronto Act of 1906, moreover, tenure during pleasure became legislatively imposed policy of five of six pre-1950 provincial universities. (At sixth, University of New Brunswick, tenure during pleasure had been established by means of judicial interpretation.) Not until 1960s did tenure during pleasure begin to yield to tenure during good behaviour, as faculty associations managed to obtain board approval of dismissal procedures that required cause to be shown before a tenured faculty member could be removed. first British North American case involving tenure took place in New Brunswick. Removed in 1861 from his professorship of classical and modern literature, Edwin Jacob asked Court of Queen's Bench for certiorari, a judicial review, charging that Senate (until 1950s this was name of UNB's governing board) was not legally constituted. court ruled that the offices of Professors ... are not held for any fixed time, nor by any permanent tenure; but ... are held at pleasure of governing bodies of University, i.e., Senate in first place, subject to approval of Crown. Assuming such approval, the Senate may ... remove any of officers, without any formal proceeding in nature of a trial, in same way that a private individual may dispense with services of a clerk or other servant..... No formalities need be observed or notice given.4 Judicial process took a different course in classicist George Weir's suit against board of trustees of Queen's University, but outcome was similar. …

Patterns of Profit‐sharing in Professional Firms

In recent years the traditional method of distributing profits on the basis of seniority in professional firms has come under attack because of its poor incentive properties. Using data on large law firms, this paper examines the extent to which new forms of profit‐sharing based on individual performance have been introduced and whether these are associated with the more systematic control of the core of professional staff and more ‘business‐like’ methods of managing, as has been argued in the American literature. The results suggest profit‐sharing innovations are limited in scope and only loosely associated with wider changes in partnership management. Explanations for the persistence of traditional methods of sharing are developed from the data and it is argued that existing accounts present an over‐rational model of change in which too much emphasis has been placed on the importance of individual incentives to achieve performance. Profit‐sharing policies are driven by concerns to sustain cooperation and professional values about the appropriate way to distribute rewards.

The Distributive Politics of Cold War Defense Spending: Some State Level Evidence

Although the paradigm of distributive politics dominates legislative studies (Krehbiel 1992), empirical studies have produced negative, inconsistent, or mixed findings on the relationship between the organization of legislatures and the distribution of various policy benefits, particularly military procurement expenditures. This paper reconsiders the distributive theory in the light of panel data on the distribution of military contracts among states during the cold war, focusing on the defense committees in Congress (i.e., the House and Senate Armed Services committees and the Appropriations subcommittees on the Department of Defense). Some scholars postulate that committee members can influence military procurement decisions so that their constituencies benefit (e.g., Rundquist and Ferejohn 1975). Others suggest that districts benefit because military bureaucrats want committee members' support for programs and budgets (e.g., Arnold 1979). Still others suggest that members of defense committees can protect military contracts and bases in their constituencies from cutbacks and closures (e.g., Arnold 1979, 95-125; Ray 1980). A subset of distributive theories deals with the role of committee seniority, since it is on the basis of seniority (committee tenure) that the seniority system allocates leadership positions that may then, in turn, be used for distributive purposes (Roberts 1990, 33).

Salaires et marchés internes : quelques évolutions récentes en France

The internal labor markets in France are presently formed around two structural standards : a weakness of an initial formation and the definition of qualifications stemming from the position occupied in the workplace. From this framework, seniority plays a central role in the dynamics of the labor market and wage determination. The crisis, the radical transformations of the education system and the appearance of production obligations have put into question the present system. In particular, wage determination on the basis of seniority has dropped considerably between 1984-1989 to the point of being negative for certain wage categories.

Unequal Access to Mental Health Services

The purposes of this article are: (i) to review some of the evidence that access to mental health services is not in fact equal, (2) to explore some of the dynamics or rationales by which professionals attempt to mask or justify these inequalities, and (3) to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies created to promote more equal access. I. Some Facts About Unequal Access: Sex, Age, Social Class, and Race The most obvious aspect of access is getting in the door and getting an appointment for services as promptly as possible. This is a major difficulty for some patients. Levenson and Pope (1980), for example, explore ways in which the implicit policies and procedures of some mental health centers might appear were they made explicit: 'All slim, attractive female patients will be moved automatically to the head of the waiting list by the appointments secretary and will be assigned to male therapists on the basis of seniority, clout, and ability to feign detachment and to deny countertransference in case conferences,' or 'Blacks will routinely receive medication for serious mental disturbances; whites will receive talking therapy; and those with Spanish surnames or accents of any kind will be referred elsewhere.' It is apparent, however, that getting in the door is but one of many challenges faced by those seeking timely and appropriate services. Once in the door, they may encounter personnel, theoretical orientations, assessment and treatment plans, allocations of resources, and systems factors which serve to prevent or divert adequate help, thus ensuring a lack of equal access to effective services.

The Effects of Promotion by Seniority in Growth-Constrained Organizations

This paper develops a balanced growth fractional flow model for the opportunities for promotion, length of service, and career earnings of personnel in a hierarchical manpower organization, and relates these characteristics to the expenditures needed to maintain the system for a specified period of operation. The primary controls available in the model are the proportions of rank members promoted to higher ranks during each period, the proportions of personnel in each rank who are promoted on the basis of seniority, and the growth rate of the sire of the system. Using an analytical approach, we investigate the responses to different emphases on seniority in the promotion process, and determine the effect of alternative system growth rates on these responses. Among significant findings are: (i) in systems of stable size, mobility, time-in-service and some career earnings characteristics are independent of the emphasis on seniority in the promotion process; (ii) both the maximum possible periods of service in each rank and the average levels of experience in each rank decrease as promotions-by-seniority increase and as the system growth rate increases; (iii) the total time served in each rank decreases as the system growth rate increases, but decreases as promotions-by-seniority increase only in systems that are stable or growing in size; in contracting systems, total time served in each rank increases as promotions-by-seniority increase; (iv) the trends for changes in the mobility of members in each rank are opposite to those for total time served in the rank; (v) the rank support costs decrease as the promotion rates, the system growth rate, and promotions-by-seniority increase, although these costs are much less sensitive to different emphases on seniority than to changes in the growth rate.

Social Stratification and Aspects of Personnel Management in the Chinese Communist Bureaucracy

One significant trend in the Chinese political system in recent years has been the growth of complex bureaucratic patterns of social stratification, even within the ranks of the Party cadres in Communist China. The Party has tried in many ways to resist these trends—for example, by promoting physical labour by cadres, sending personnel to work in rural areas and taking such drastic steps as abolishing ranks within the army but as the égalitarian heritage of active revolutionary struggle has tended to recede into the background, deep-rooted authoritarian and bureaucratic predispositions—especially the tendency to differentiate people on the basis of rank—have reasserted themselves. Consequently, virtually all cadres in Communist China today can be labelled and placed fairly accurately in the hierarchy of power and prestige on the basis of seniority in the Party, salary grade and job rank. Significantly, while formal salary and job ratings are very important, informal ratings based on length of service in the Party appear to be of equal importance, and in fact the former tend to be equated with the latter. The growth of these patterns of social stratification has been a major factor contributing to the steady bureaucratisation of the regime and the erosion of the élite's revolutionary character.

Committee Assignments in the House of Representatives

Any attempt to understand the legislative process, or to reckon how well it fulfills its purported functions, calls for a careful consideration of the relationships among congressmen. The beginning weeks of the first session of every congress are dominated by the internal politics of one phase of those relationships, the assignment of members to committees. Since congressmen devote most of their energies—constituents' errands apart—to the committees on which they serve, the political stakes in securing a suitable assignment are high. Competition for the more coveted posts is intense in both houses; compromises and adjustments are necessary. Members contest with each other over particularly desirable assignments; less frequently, one member challenges the entire body, as when Senator Wayne Morse fought for his committee assignments in 1953.The processes and patterns of committee assignments have been only generally discussed by political scientists and journalists. Perhaps the reason for this is too ready an acceptance of the supposition that these assignments are made primarily on the basis of seniority. Continuous service, it is true, insures a member of his place on a committee once he is assigned, but seniority may have very little to do with transfers to other committees, and it has virtually nothing to do with the assignment of freshman members. On what basis, then, are assignments made? Surely, not on the basis of simple random selection.A recent student sees the committee assignment process as analogous to working out a “giant jig saw puzzle” in which the committees-on-committees observe certain limitations.

Committee Assignments in the House of Representatives

Any attempt to understand the legislative process, or to reckon how well it fulfills its purported functions, calls for a careful consideration of the relationships among congressmen. The beginning weeks of the first session of every congress are dominated by the internal politics of one phase of those relationships, the assignment of members to committees. Since congressmen devote most of their energies—constituents' errands apart—to the committees on which they serve, the political stakes in securing a suitable assignment are high. Competition for the more coveted posts is intense in both houses; compromises and adjustments are necessary. Members contest with each other over particularly desirable assignments; less frequently, one member challenges the entire body, as when Senator Wayne Morse fought for his committee assignments in 1953.The processes and patterns of committee assignments have been only generally discussed by political scientists and journalists. Perhaps the reason for this is too ready an acceptance of the supposition that these assignments are made primarily on the basis of seniority. Continuous service, it is true, insures a member of his place on a committee once he is assigned, but seniority may have very little to do with transfers to other committees, and it has virtually nothing to do with the assignment of freshman members. On what basis, then, are assignments made? Surely, not on the basis of simple random selection.A recent student sees the committee assignment process as analogous to working out a “giant jig saw puzzle” in which the committees-on-committees observe certain limitations.