Labor Cooperation Research Articles

Assessing the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) signing on China’s outbound labor services

This study utilizes panel data encompassing 164 countries to analyze China’s foreign labor export from 2008 to 2017. Employing the multi-period double-difference method, the research investigates the impact of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signings on China’s labor export. Empirical findings reveal the following insights:The signing of FTAs significantly enhances China’s foreign labor export, demonstrating a temporal effect. Importantly, this conclusion withstands rigorous testing through various robustness checks. FTAs have a positive impact on China’s labor export to developing countries but do not exhibit a similar effect on developed countries. The impact of FTAs on labor export is pronounced in contractual engineering scenarios, while no discernible effect is observed in China’s labor cooperation. Through a meticulous examination of specific WTO+ and WTO-X provisions, the study underscores that it is primarily the WTO+ provisions that drive China’s foreign labor export. Consequently, strategic recommendations are proposed. These include fostering additional FTAs between China and developing nations, prioritizing labor export within contracted projects, encouraging expansion of Chinese labor export enterprises into new markets, promoting multi-party cooperation to facilitate overseas labor export, diligent consideration of existing FTA provisions, and exploration of transitioning from WTO+ to WTO-X provisions.

Global Value Chains and Trade Patterns: A Comparative Analysis between Developed and Developing Countries

With the continuous deepening of economic globalization, the economic interconnections among countries worldwide are increasingly close, making it impossible for any country's development to exist in isolation. The degree of economic interdependence and permeation between countries continues to deepen. In recent years, with the reduction of transportation and communication costs, the "fragmented" production model has rapidly spread globally. More and more goods are no longer produced and sold by a single country but are completed through vertical division of labor cooperation among multiple countries, with each country undertaking different stages of product production. This production model has driven the formation and development of global value chains. The deepening of global value chains has made the mutual influence between international economic cycles increasingly apparent. However, with the rise of the "anti-globalization" sentiment and trade protectionism, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe and sluggish world economic growth, the external environment facing China's participation in the global value chain division of labor has undergone profound changes. In this situation, how to effectively respond to various risk challenges to maintain the steady and sustainable development of the Chinese economy has become an urgent and important issue that needs to be addressed.

Antecedents of Spiritual Health Affecting Family Management and Sexual Relationships of Couples: A Conventional Content Analysis

Background: Spiritual Health (SH) is the most meaningful and universal part of health affecting all human dimensions functions. Given that community health depends on the health of the family environment, Islam pays special attention to the basic foundation of the family and its persistence. Therefore, this qualitative study aimed to determine the antecedents of SH in Muslim couples according to Islamic sources. Methods: To collect the required data, some keywords, including “spiritual health”, “spirituality”, “spouses”, “couples”, and “Islam” were searched both in Persian and Arabic in Google Scholar, Noormags, SID, and Magiran databases in 1980-2023. After examining 37 documents, the conventional content analysis method was adopted to determine the antecedents of SH. Results: The 139 extracted codes were then classified into six categories (affecting the family management and their sexual, spiritual, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive relations). This paper elaborates on the antecedents of SH “affecting the family management”, and “sexual relationships” of couples. The first category includes four subcategories, “family boundaries and management”, “mutual and exclusive rights”, “planning”, and “cooperation and division of labor”. The second includes five subcategories, “encouragement to marry with trust in God”, “having offspring”, “preparation and contextualization”, “request and response”, and “infidelity prevention”. Conclusion: Both categories of “affecting the family management” and “sexual relationships” affect the lives of Muslim couples as antecedents and consequences of the concept of SH. It is suggested to perform more research by considering the texts of Sunni scholars.

Neural mechanisms distinguishing two types of cooperative problem-solving approaches: An fNIRS hyperscanning study

Collaborative cooperation (CC) and division of labor cooperation (DLC) are two prevalent forms of cooperative problem-solving approaches in daily life. Despite extensive research on the neural mechanisms underlying cooperative problem-solving approaches, a notable gap exists between the neural processes that support CC and DLC. The present study utilized a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning technique along with a classic cooperative tangram puzzle task to investigate the neural mechanisms engaged by both friends and stranger dyads during CC versus DLC. The key findings of this study were as follows: (1) Dyads exhibited superior behavioral performance in the DLC task than in the CC task. The CC task bolstered intra-brain functional connectivity and inter-brain synchrony (IBS) in regions linked to the mirror neuron system (MNS), spatial perception (SP) and cognitive control. (2) Friend dyads showed stronger IBS in brain regions associated with the MNS than stranger dyads. (3) Perspective-taking predicted not only dyads’ behavioral performance in the CC task but also their IBS in brain regions associated with SP during the DLC task. Taken together, these findings elucidate the divergent behavioral performance and neural connection patterns between the two cooperative problem-solving approaches. This study provides novel insights into the various neurocognitive processes underlying flexible coordination strategies in real-world cooperative contexts.

Separate ways of providing the forensic institution with qualified employees

The article deals with the topical issue of providing qualified employees to forensic expert institutions of Ukraine. It was determined that personnel policy is an integral component of the country’s economic system. According to the authors, modern approaches to the management of organizations require organizational changes in the priority areas of personnel development, including the processes of recruitment, selection and placement of personnel. It is noted that the selection and placement of employees in a forensic institution, being a direct expression of the division and cooperation of labor, is created by the institution’s team. The expediency of forming a collective has been proven, taking into account not only the professional, business and personal qualities of each of its members, but also the effect of their combination psychological compatibility, which helps employees to work quickly and successfully with each other. It is noted that the rational arrangement of personnel is the distribution of employees by positions, in which the discrepancy between a person’s personal qualities and the requirements for the work performed by him is minimal without excessive or insufficient workload. The purpose of the article is to highlight the ways of selection and placement of professional personnel as one of the directions of providing a forensic expert institution with qualified professional employees. To achieve the goal, general scientific methods of theoretical generalization, comparison, system analysis and formalization were used. The issue of effective provision of training by qualified personnel of forensic expert institutions of Ukraine was considered. The process of personnel selection, possible methods used for this process are considered in detail. The system of errors that are allowed in the personnel policy of forensic institutions and possible options for solving them are separately defined. Ways to overcome staffing errors that are more effective are proposed.

Structure and labor use pattern among cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria

Human labour is about the only main source of labour available to smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Smallholder farmers contribute over 85% of domestic agricultural output in Nigeria, hence, human labour accounts for the domestic food supply in Nigeria. Therefore, the need to continue supplying food for the ever-growing Nigerian population anchors on human labour productivity. In Nigerian agriculture, hired labour is predominantly used. Human labour plays a very significant role in agricultural development, especially in developing countries where technological development is still very low. In view of the importance of labour in agricultural production, this study was designed to investigate the structure and use pattern of farm labour in the study area. The study was carried out in Ondo state, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect data from 160 farmers. After sorting for missing data, 144 cocoa farmers’ data were used for analysis in this study. Seventy-five percent of the total
 respondents were above 50 years of age and about 25.01% of the total respondents were 50 years and below. The majority (79.17%) of the farmers were men. Also, 75.07% of the respondents had a formal level of education. In the study contract type of labour is majorly used for most activities in cocoa farming while cooperative labour was seldom used. Activities such as land clearing (75.0%), planting (83.32%), weeding (95.83%), application of chemicals (91.67%), removal of mistletoes (87.50%), harvesting of cocoa pods (87.50%), conveyance of cocoa pods to the pod breaking point (95.83%), breaking of cocoa pods (100%) and conveyance of cocoa beans to the point of fermentation (88.33%) were majorly carried out by contract labour. Male labour was mostly utilized for all the activities as indicated by most farmers. Female labour was sparingly utilized for some activities such as land clearing (8.33%), planting (0%), application of chemicals (8.33%), spraying of chemicals (4.17%), removal of mistletoes (0%) and harvesting of cocoa pods (12.5%). The study recommended that funds should be made available to farmers to engage in contract labour and also there should be the need to use equipment and machinery to reduce drudgery.

ДОРОЖНАЯ КАРТА СОВРЕМЕННЫХ ГИДРОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ПРОГНОЗОВ ВОДНОГО РЕЖИМА

An array of information sources related to the current and proposed development of methods and systems of hydrological forecasts has been analyzed. It included not only publications of recent years in the field of mathematical modeling of river flow formation processes, but also fundamental documents of a structural and conceptual type related to international cooperation and division of labor in the field of hydrometeorology. The results of the analysis allow us to identify several main directions of the road map that determines the development of this area of hydrology for the near and long term.

일본의 노동자협동조합 운영현황 및 활용사례 연구

This study focuses on worker cooperatives, which are attracting attention as an alternative to solving various problems in the region through diversification of work methods amid the accelerated stagnation of the local economy, and examines cases of local regeneration using worker cooperatives in Japan. saw. A brief summary of the analysis results is as follows.
 First, the emergence of worker cooperatives in Japan stemmed from workers’ response to the crisis of job destruction and loss of livelihood in the process of reducing unemployment measures by the Japanese government after the war. In this way, the Japanese worker cooperative movement, which began as a countermeasure against unemployment of middle-aged and elderly people, began in the past in environmental preservation work and warehouse management work in cooperation with local governments and cooperatives, and has recently started in the welfare field(care, childcare, youth, the disabled, and living poverty).
 Second, the characteristics of practice cases using worker coSecond, the characteristics of practices using worker cooperatives in Japan are ① flexibly combined with local self-governing organizations such as social welfare councils and neighborhood associations, and ② supplying services needed by the region within the framework of cooperative labor. At the same time, recently, it has been reproducing new values in the local community by performing various secondary functions beyond simple support. ③ Socialization of cooperative labor in the region through the promotion of cooperative labor platform projects led by local governments, as in the case of Hiroshima City discussed above. effort, etc.
 Third, measures to revitalize worker cooperatives with the enforcement of Japan’s ‘Labor Cooperative Act’ include ① revitalization of joint projects through federations, ② strengthening of government and local government-level actions and financial support to create an ecosystem for worker cooperatives, and ③ The strengthening of organic linkages between labor unions and cooperatives was suggested.

Impartiality and fair play revisited

Impartiality and fair play revisited

Gene expression profiles of chemosensory genes of termite soldier and worker antennae.

Termites have an elaborate social system that involves cooperation and division of labour among colony members. Although this social system is regulated by chemical signals produced in the colony, it remains unclear how these signals are perceived by other members. Signal transduction is well known to be triggered by the reception of odorant molecules by some binding proteins in the antennae, after which, a signal is transmitted to chemosensory receptors. However, there is insufficient information on the role of chemosensory genes involved in signal transduction in termites. Here, we identified the genes involved in chemosensory reception in the termite Reticulitermes speratus and performed a genome-wide comparative transcriptome analysis of worker and soldier antennae. First, we identified 31 odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), and three chemosensory protein A (CheA) from the genome data. Thereafter, we performed RNA sequencing to compare the expression levels of OBPs, CheAs, and previously identified chemosensory receptor genes between worker and soldier antennae. There were no receptor genes with significant differences in expression between castes. However, the expression levels of three non-receptor odorant-detection/binding proteins (OBP, CheA, and Sensory neuron membrane protein) were significantly different between castes. Real-time qPCR (RT-qPCR) analysis using antennae and other head parts confirmed that these genes were highly expressed in soldier antennae. Finally, independent RT-qPCR analysis showed that the expression patterns of these genes were altered in soldiers from different social contexts. Present results suggest that gene expression levels of some non-receptors are affected by both castes and behavioural interactions among colony members in termites.

CONCEPTS, ELEMENTS AND MAIN TASKS OF WORK ORGANIZATION AT THE ENTERPRISE

The article examines the concepts, elements and main tasks of labor organization. The concept of “labor organization” is defined, which is a way of combining performers with means of correction for the implementation of the labor process and the achievement of the goal of the activity. It was determined that an effective system of work organization at an industrial enterprise is possible only with the coordinated work of all elements. A graphic model of labor organization is proposed. It is also determined that the organization of work can be interpreted as a system that begins with the emergence of a problem or need, then a goal is formed, which is realized due to the interrelationships between such elements as: labor force, working conditions, tools and objects of work. After the interaction of these components, the product of activity and the completion of the process is formed – the result of work. The work organization system is considered, which is an effective tool for the organization of work at the enterprise and is the factor that affects it, realizing the rationalization and coordination of labor and material resources in time and space. The article also examines how external and internal factors affect the organization of work. The theoretical base of labor organization depends on external factors. Internal ones include the following: working conditions, lighting, noise, vibration, etc. All these factors exerting an important influence on the activity of the enterprise determine the main methods of labor organization and the effectiveness of their application. An analysis of the researches of various scientists was made, and it was found that the division and cooperation of labor, the creation of safe working conditions are the most important elements of labor organization.

ЗАВДАННЯ І НАПРЯМИ УДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ОРГАНІЗАЦІЇ ПРАЦІ НА ПІДПРИЄМСТВАХ ГОТЕЛЬНОЇ ІНДУСТРІЇ

The scientific publication examines the essence of the concept of "labor organization" and approaches to its interpretation. The need to build an effective labor organization system at all levels of management (macro-, meso- , micro) as a prerequisite for overcoming crisis phenomena and destructive processes in the economy has been substantiated. The tasks of labor organization at the macro-, meso-, and micro levels have been outlined. The tasks of macro-level labor organization are prevention of economic and social losses, ensuring the most complete use of labor resources of society, redistribution of labor resources between industries and regions of the country. At the meso level, the main tasks of labor organization are to ensure the maximum beneficial effect of human labor activity, taking into account specific working conditions. At the micro level, the main tasks of labor organization are to establish optimal criteria for the division and cooperation of labor; implementation of methods of overcoming monotony and increasing the meaningfulness of work; introduction of effective forms and methods of material and non-material stimulation; creation of decent working conditions to preserve human health and working capacity. The areas of improvement of work at the enterprises of the hotel industry have been substantiated, which boil down to the rational distribution of the performed work to ensure their effective performance; introduction of advanced techniques and work methods; professional training and advanced training of personnel; labor regulation and stimulation; improvement of working conditions; creation of a favorable psychological climate in the team; rationalization of the regime of work and rest, etc. A labor efficiency management mechanism has been proposed, which includes the necessary measures at the micro, meso, and macro levels, taking into account the influence of environmental factors. The goal of improving the organization of work at the macro level is to increase the efficiency of staff work in accordance with the principles of implementation of the state regulatory policy, taking into account the maximum possible positive results, which are aimed at ensuring a balance of the interests of business entities, citizens and authorities at the national level. At the meso level, the goal of improving the organization of personnel work is to increase the efficiency of personnel work in accordance with the principles of implementing regulatory policy in the field of industry production, the functioning of innovative scientific and industrial clusters, taking into account the maximum possible positive results, which are aimed at ensuring a balance of interests of business entities, citizens and authorities at the local level. At the micro level, the goal of improving the organization of personnel work is to increase the efficiency of the personnel of production enterprises in the conditions of innovative transformations of the economy with an emphasis on the use of a self-regulated compensation mechanism for rewarding the general innovative contribution of employees to the activity processes, their orientation towards maximizing added value, increasing the market value of the workforce due to improvement of professional and personal competencies, management of efficiency by goals based on a balanced system of indicators, integration of compensation payment processes with other processes of human capital management.

ВПЛИВ УГОДИ ПРО ЗОНУ ВІЛЬНОЇ ТОРГІВЛІ З ДЕРЖАВОЮ ІЗРАЇЛЬ НА РОЗВИТОК ІНТЕГРАЦІЙНОГО ПОТЕНЦІАЛУ УКРАЇНИ

The paper focuses on the trade in goods between Ukraine and Israel in the context of the Free Trade Agreement signed between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Israel, as well as on the impact of the Agreement on the development of Ukraine’s integration potential. The data taken from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine allows to examine the commodity patterns of exports and imports, to analyze the dynamics of exports, imports, balance of trade and volumes of trade in goods between Ukraine and the State of Israel for 2016–2021. During 2016–2020 exports of goods from Ukraine exceed imports from Israel by 300–400 mln USD, while in 2021 – by 500 mln USD. The share of Ukraine's exports of goods to Israel in all merchandise exports of Ukraine has been slightly above 1%, while the share of imports from Israel has declined – from 0.5% in 2016 to 0.3% in 2021; the goods turnover has reached USD 956.0 mln USD. The analysis of commodity pattern of Ukraine's trade with the State of Israel demonstrates that the raw material nature of exports has been preserved: the share of сereals (commodity group 10) increased from 36% in 2016 to 37.9% in 2021; the share of ferrous metals (commodity group 72) decreased from 30.5% in 2016 to 23.4% in 2021. At the same time some improvements have been observed in the exports structure: the share of certain types of processing industries goods has slightly grown during the period under analysis, e.g. grain products (commodity group 19 – part of finished food industry products section); semi-finished goods from ferrous metals (commodity group 73); nuclear reactors, boilers, machines (commodity group 84); furniture (commodity group 94 – wood products, part of different industrial products section), etc. The Agreement resulted in Ukraine’s joining the Pan-Euro-Med (Regional Convention or protocols on the rules of origin of goods) which opens up “diagonal rules of origin” enabling more opportunities not only to offer the world raw materials, human capital, but also to be included in smart way in global value chains which increases the efficiency of the functioning of the national economy within the world economy based on the fragmentation of production and its subsequent digital cooperation using modern information and communication technologies; ensures a better division and cooperation of labor between producers of goods and services thus offering possibilities and creating conditions for more efficient fulfilment of Ukraine’s integration potential.

Sacred Socialism

Sacred Socialism

КРЕСТЬЯНСКИЕ КОМИТЕТЫ ОБЩЕСТВЕННОЙ ВЗАИМОПОМОЩИ КУЗНЕЦКОГО ОКРУГА В 1922-1932 гг.

The article is devoted to the current and littlestudied problem of the activities of the crusades in the Kuznetscom district. With the involvement of documents of the regional archive, the author traces the process of renewal and development of peasant committees of public mutual assistance in the prefarm de reven, determines the role of local party bodies, district and district social welfare departments and district committees of public mutual assistance in organizing the internal life of peasant committees. The categories of recipients of social assistance of the poor peasantry were identified: former Red Army soldiers and Red partisans, disabled and victims of white terror, Red Army families, widows and orphans, Labor soldiers, sick and old who were in material need. The main sources of social power were identified, these are: membership fees; funds of peasant mutual assistance committees, which were replenished by obtaining orphan property, voluntary collection of donations, self-maintenance of their members according to the approved norm from tithing, funds from the sale of crops collected from public farms. Labor assistance to large widows was reduced to you-bringing firewood, hay, spring plowing and other hard work. It was established that in the second half of the 1920s. with the development of free trade, the economic activity of rural mutual assistance societies increased, covering about 50% Crean households, including part of the middle peasants. Their activities became more diverse and were aimed at increasing public supply, organizing joint ventures (mills, rental of agricultural equipment, etc.). The expansion of the possibility of labor cooperation was facilitated by the exemption of peasant committees from taxes and fees, and the provision of loans. The general problem was the extremely unsatisfactory failure by the apparatus of the district and village councils to meet the needs of peasant committees. During the period of mass collectivization, their land and seed funds provided significant material assistance for the economic formation of collective farms.

Sustainability of the long-term indigenous soil and water conservation practices in the UNESCO designated cultural landscapes of Konso, Ethiopia

The role of sociocultural values and indigenous institutions in the sustainability of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices has not been well addressed in previous studies. Therefore, this study explores the role of sociocultural values and indigenous institutions in the sustainability of SWC practices in Konso, Ethiopia. The study used key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observations to collect data. The data were coded and analyzed thematically. The study shows that sociocultural values, cooperative labor groups, and indigenous institutions served as the backbone for the sustainability of indigenous SWC practices for many years. However, recent trends in urbanization and the introduction of modern administration have led to a gradual weakening of Konso indigenous institutions and sociocultural values. The introduction of modern administration and urbanization significantly reduced the role of indigenous sociocultural and political institutions. The study also indicates that a persistent decline in farmland productivity due to erratic rainfall is threatening the sustainability of SWC practices as it has forced the youth to engage in off-farm activities. When crops fail due to unreliable rainfall, some family members temporarily migrate to some towns in southern Ethiopia in search of jobs. Consequently, SWC structures remain unmaintained on some farmland for a season. Weakening of indigenous political institutions and sociocultural values, erratic rainfall, and recurrent droughts lead to the deterioration of SWC practices. Therefore, to ensure the long-term sustainability of indigenous SWC practices in Konso, the government and conservation NGOs should support socio-cultural institutions to restore and promote social norms, values, and indigenous conservation measures.

Negotiating limits on algorithmic management in digitalised services: cases from Germany and Norway

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms are increasingly used to monitor employees and to automate management decisions. In this article, we ask how worker representatives adapt traditional collective voice institutions to regulate the adoption and use of these tools in the workplace. Our findings are based on a comparative study of union and works council responses to algorithmic management in contact centres from two similar telecommunications companies in Germany and Norway. In both case studies, worker representatives mobilised collective voice institutions to protect worker privacy and discretion associated with remote monitoring and workforce management technologies. However, they relied on different sources of institutional power, connected to co-determination rights, enforcement of data protection laws, and labour cooperation structures.

M&A 이후 PMI, 변화저항, 그리고 M&A 성과 간의 관계 : 협력적 노사관계의 조절효과를 중심으로

M&A 이후 PMI, 변화저항, 그리고 M&A 성과 간의 관계 : 협력적 노사관계의 조절효과를 중심으로

Female cooperative labour networks in hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists.

Cooperation in food acquisition is a hallmark of the human species. Given that costs and benefits of cooperation vary among production regimes and work activities, the transition from hunting-and-gathering to agriculture is likely to have reshaped the structure of cooperative subsistence networks. Hunter-gatherers often forage in groups and are generally more interdependent and experience higher short-term food acquisition risk than horticulturalists, suggesting that cooperative labour should be more widespread and frequent for hunter-gatherers. Here we compare female cooperative labour networks of Batek hunter-gatherers of Peninsular Malaysia and Tsimane forager-horticulturalists of Bolivia. We find that Batek foraging results in high daily variation in labour partnerships, facilitating frequent cooperation in diffuse networks comprised of kin and non-kin. By contrast, Tsimane horticulture involves more restricted giving and receiving of labour, confined mostly to spouses and primary or distant kin. Tsimane women also interact with few individuals in the context of hunting/fishing activities and forage mainly with spouses and primary kin. These differences give rise to camp- or village-level networks that are more modular (have more substructure when partitioned) among Tsimane horticulturalists. Our findings suggest that subsistence activities shape the formation and extent of female social networks, particularly with respect to connections with other women and non-kin. We discuss the implications of restricted female labour networks in the context of gender relations, power dynamics and the adoption of farming in humans. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.

Analysis of the Transition from Field Rice Farming to Cassava Farming through a Land Optimization Development Program in Eelahaji Village Kulisusu District Buton Utara Regency

This study aims to determine why farmers switch farming from field rice to cassava and determine the income difference between upland rice and cassava farming in Eelahaji Village, Kulisusu District, North Buton Regency. The study was conducted in Eelahaji Village, Kulisusu Subdistrict, North Buton Regency, in November 2021. The research population was all farmers receiving government assistance from the land optimization development program and 35 farmers who changed their farms. In contrast, the research sample was determined using the census method. The type and origin of the data used are primary and secondary data. Collecting data using the method of observation, interviews, and documentation. The research variables include income, cooperation of farmers in groups, farming habits, labor, production, costs, prices, and revenues. Analysis of the data used to answer the research objectives is descriptive analysis. The results of the study share that the reason for farmers to switch their farming is that the economic aspect uses a percentage (25%) in the form of 25% income and the social aspect with a percentage of 75% in the form of farmer cooperation in groups (25%), farming habits (25%) and labor ( 25%). The income of upland rice farming is on average IDR2,285,886/ha/year, while the income of cassava farming is on average IDR12,858,857/ha/year. Thus, it can be seen that there is a significant difference between the income of upland rice farming and cassava farming.