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1 – 10 of 150The purpose of this paper is to describe how the voluntary living wage (LW) in the UK is set. It examines how this calculation relates to contemporary approaches to setting wage…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe how the voluntary living wage (LW) in the UK is set. It examines how this calculation relates to contemporary approaches to setting wage floors, both in relation to their goal of supporting adequate living standards and in relation to the place of wage floors in the labour mark.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines how compulsory and voluntary wage floors are being determined, in the UK and in particular the role of public consensus in contributing to the calculation and adoption of a LW. It then reflects on the future sustainability of a system of wage floors in which the concept of the LW plays a significant role.
Findings
The central finding is that widespread support for wages delivering socially acceptable minimum living standards has transformed the context in which low pay is being addressed in the UK. The LW idea has stimulated more decisive efforts to do so; however, if a compulsory version of a LW were to reach a level shown to be harming jobs, this could seriously undermine such efforts. Moreover, the extent to which adequate wages are compatible with high employment levels can also be influenced by state support for households, especially tax credits and Universal Credit.
Originality/value
The paper clarifies how the setting of the UK LW contributes to objectives related both to living standards and to labour markets, and critically addresses some key issues raised.
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‘Active ageing’ was once a term associated mainly with a physically active, even sporty, retirement. In recent years, economic and demographic circumstances, together with…
Abstract
‘Active ageing’ was once a term associated mainly with a physically active, even sporty, retirement. In recent years, economic and demographic circumstances, together with employment trends, have given it another important meaning. This is the prolonging of work, whether paid or in useful unpaid roles such as grandparenting or community‐based activity. This conception of ageing is not just about people keeping moving to keep healthy, but about continuing to make clear economic and social contributions.
The Historical Perspective: Post‐war industrial training policy in Britain had been characterised by a laissez‐faire approach involving minimal government intervention, until the…
Abstract
The Historical Perspective: Post‐war industrial training policy in Britain had been characterised by a laissez‐faire approach involving minimal government intervention, until the report of the Carr Committee in 1958. Although some ad hoc provision existed (Government Training Centres, Training Within Industry etc) the prevailing attitude was encapsulated in this report when it stated that the responsibility of industrial training should rest firmly with industry.
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2019 was a big year. The Great Hack and investigative journalism of Carole Cadwalladr exposed the machinations of Cambridge Analytica. The US senate summoned Mark Zuckerberg to…
Abstract
2019 was a big year. The Great Hack and investigative journalism of Carole Cadwalladr exposed the machinations of Cambridge Analytica. The US senate summoned Mark Zuckerberg to face an extended interrogation on the ways in which Facebook screens content. Greta Thunberg fomented a global ‘climate emergency’ movement with attacks on lying political leaders. If 2016 saw ‘post-truth’ rise to prominence as a concept, 2019 was characterised by myriad efforts to champion truth and counter misinformation. And then the COVID-19 crisis hit. The urgency we began to feel in 2019 to address the ills in our society and hunt for a cause and cure has intensified. We now daily ask at whose door we can lay the blame and, from there, what solutions we can implement. For now, we have drawn the battle lines between tech and society and looked to pit governments against technologies which have changed the face of media. But amidst this flurry of activity, we need to stop and ask ourselves: are we setting our sights on the right actors and are we taking the right next steps?
Written in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, this contribution responds to the burning debate on how to overcome our current infodemic and immunise against future outbreaks. It offers an alternative narrative and argues for a much more radical course of action. It posits that we have misidentified the root cause of our current post-truth reality. It argues that we are in fact experiencing the extreme consequence of decades of poor education the world over. It champions a shift from drilling young people in so-called facts and figures to developing those deep levels of literacy in which critical thinking plays a fundamental part. This is not to exculpate the Facebooks and Twitters of our time – new tech has no doubt facilitated the dissemination of half-truths and untruths. But it is to insist upon contextualising our current albeit horrifying reality within a much more complex and longer-running societal challenge. In other words, this chapter makes a fresh clarion call for rethinking how we have got to where we are and where we might most meaningfully go next, as well as how, indeed, we might conceptualise the links between technology, government, media and education.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the extraordinary reputational challenge for brands in social media in an era of heightened political and cultural polarization. In a time…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the extraordinary reputational challenge for brands in social media in an era of heightened political and cultural polarization. In a time when the tension between liberal and conservative consumers has grown significantly, brands are being threatened with boycotts from both the left and right. In this paper, the authors identify some core approaches for brands facing this dilemma.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ approach is to review the experience of various brands which have been the victims of consumer boycotts motivated by political considerations. The authors examined these events from the perspective of the severity/duration of their impact on the brand, how the brands chose to respond and how their response was perceived to suggest the approaches that seem to be most effective in mitigating brand damage.
Findings
The authors have found that the critical factors in mitigating brand damage are giving clear guidelines to employees about customer relations, understanding the composition of the customer base more deeply through the lens of politics and culture, developing a comprehensive risk management approach and creating a consistent point of view on handling political threats and boycotts to ensure consistency.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ evaluation is by definition subjective and the insights gained have not been tested empirically.
Practical implications
While the potential political threats to a specific brand are reasonably predictable, consumer perceptions are influenced by many factors only partially within the brand’s control.
Social implications
Much as companies gained expertise in managing reputation crises throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the authors believe that brands adopting their approach to politically driven boycotts will gradually learn how to manage them and the threats will become a routine part of a brand’s relationship with its stakeholders.
Originality/value
While a great deal has been written about the nature and growth of politically driven brand threats, the authors believe this paper is an original contribution to how to manage them.
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This paper aims to highlight the unique challenges posed to corporations by the explosion of political speech in the workplace and proposes best practices for handling them. The…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight the unique challenges posed to corporations by the explosion of political speech in the workplace and proposes best practices for handling them. The polarization of opinion taking place across many countries and the use of social media to propagate and debate these opinions has created huge new pressures for employers dealing with political speech in the workplace. Regulating political discussion in a work setting while preserving freedom of speech requires employers to walk a fine line, especially when that speech is critical of corporate policy. Enlightened consistency, clarity and common sense are key.
Design/methodology/approach
The author uses a variety of recent controversies on the subject of political speech in the workplace in different countries to suggest some rules for managing this increasingly contentious topic.
Findings
A review of real-world cases suggests that political speech in the workplace will always be messy, but employers can mitigate the damage that can be done by enlightened consistency and, above all, clarity about what is permissible.
Research limitations/implications
By definition, the sample of incidents reviewed is limited, and the conclusions drawn are the subjective views of the author.
Practical implications
By following the principles proposed, employers should be able to regulate political speech in the workplace in ways that preserve individual freedoms without jeopardizing the enterprise.
Social implications
In a world in which private and public personas are no longer separate, having sensible and effective rules about political speech in the workplace should lead to reduced tensions and a greater feeling of empowerment for people with strongly held beliefs.
Originality/value
While the subject of political speech in the workplace has received considerable attention, the author is not aware of any treatment that proposes new principles for employers in handling such speech.
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Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are…
Abstract
Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.
Donald Palmer and Michael Maher
We use normal accident theory to analyze the financial sector, especially that part of the financial sector that processed home mortgages, and the mortgage meltdown. We maintain…
Abstract
We use normal accident theory to analyze the financial sector, especially that part of the financial sector that processed home mortgages, and the mortgage meltdown. We maintain that the financial sector was highly complex and tightly coupled in the years leading up to the mortgage meltdown. And we argue that the meltdown exhibited characteristics of a system or normal accident; the result of a component failure (unusually high mortgage defaults) that, in the context of unique conditions (which included low interest rates and government policy encouraging home loans to less credit-worthy households), resulted in complex and tightly coupled interactions that financial elites and government officials were ill-equipped to control. We also consider the role that agency and wrongdoing played in the design of the financial system and the unfolding of the mortgage meltdown. We conclude that a fundamental restructuring of the financial system, so as to reduce complexity and coupling, is required to avert future similar financial debacles. But we also conclude that such a restructuring faces significant obstacles, given the interests of powerful actors and the difficulties of labeling those responsible for the meltdown as wrongdoers.