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Past research on collectivist-democratic organizations has attributed their distinctiveness to their socio-political goals and democratic decision-making and largely ignored their work processes. This ethnographic study examines how such organizations resist alienating forms of work even in the face of direct competition with for-profit companies. It focuses on Scopix, a French cooperative sheet-metal factory where the first author spent one year as a shop-floor worker. Cooperators there developed various practices to retain an emancipatory dimension to their work, regularly putting forward “craft ethics” as a counterweight to the sheet-metal industry’s drive to rationalize work processes. Drawing on the sociology of worth, the authors analyze how these practices emerged from the arrangements that workers made between the industrial world on the one side and the domestic and inspired worlds on the other. This study contributes to the literature into two main ways. First, the authors refine the sociology-of-worth framework by conceptualizing the emancipatory dimension of work as the result of ad hoc arrangements between different worlds. Second, the authors highlight the need for the literature on collectivist-democratic organizations to increase its focus on work, introducing the concept of work degeneration as a step in that direction.

This study attempts to understand the research clusters and thematic evolution of the topic generational diversity at workplace, over the period of 2001–2009 and 2010–2018. Furthermore, it attempts to identify the key shifts (and convergence) that have taken place in the value system across generational cohorts.

In this context, the first stage of the study involved an in-depth systematic analysis of extant literature on multigenerational workforce between 2001–2009 and 2010–2018 by applying bibliometric analysis. Following an explanatory mix-method approach, the second stage of the study comprised of 32 interviews conducted across generations, exploring the role of ethics at the workplace.

It was revealed that during the period 2001–2009, communication and identification of generational characteristics emerged as the major themes. The 2010–2018 period unraveled four themes of research – retaining and engaging millennials through leadership, generational differences in work values, impact of generational differences on organizational-level variables and generational diversity in education and nursing. The outcome from the second stage showed that work values differ across generations with an emphasis on intrinsic work values, and work values have rather deteriorated, with baby boomers possessing stronger work ethics in comparison to the millennials. Finally, an integrated model for multigenerational workforce has been proposed.

This paper provides significant inputs to the expanding research in the area of work values, as it delves into the principal mechanisms leading to differences in work values among generations.

Bibliometric analysis, which is a quantitative approach to understanding the intellectual structure of a research topic, has been applied to generational diversity at the workplace. This constitutes a novel attempt that can be bracketed as a pertinent contribution to the field.

Capital increasingly takes the form of intangible assets, especially trademarked corporate brands. Further, contemporary capitalism increasingly accumulates through commodification of iconic cultural images and legendary narratives constituting a “second enclosure movement” (Boyle, 2008). This paper develops a critical theory of brands, branding, and brand management within economies of spectacle.

A case study of the consumer culture surrounding large displacement motorcycling is used to critique the central premise of consumer culture theory (marketing professionals create brands that become valuable icons) and develop an alternative view using concepts from critical theory, especially spectacle (Debord, 1967) and culture industry (Adorno, 1991).

After initial enclosure, legends were managed by Crossmarketing Licensing Networks (CMLN), coalitions of corporate and state actors, each possessing a piece of the legendary pie. The Sturgis CMLN was organized into two political divisions, rally profiteers and civic leaders, with overlapping but differentiated interests and approaches to the management of the Sturgis legend. The CMLN intervened in the cultural commons to overcome legendary degradations (banality, incoherence, undesirability) surrounding the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Brands are capitalized culture created by enclosures, a form of primitive accumulation. Under current conditions of immaterial production, CMLN’s engage in ongoing cultural production to maintain the capitalized value of their brands. Brands are not only hunted in the wilds of culture, but also increasingly domesticated and fattened when herded through legendary commons.

This volume explores an expansive array of organizational imaginaries, or understandings of organizational possibilities, with a focus on how collectivist-democratic organizations offer alternatives to conventional for-profit managerial enterprises. These include worker and consumer cooperatives and other enterprises that, to varying degrees, (1) emphasize social values over profit; (2) are owned not by shareholders but by workers, consumers, or other stakeholders; (3) employ democratic forms of managing their operations; and (4) have social ties to the organization based on moral and emotional commitments. The contributors to this volume examine how these enterprises generate solidarity among members, network with other organizations and communities, contend with market pressures, and enhance their larger organizational ecosystems. In this introductory paper, the authors put forward an inclusive organizational typology whose continuums account for four key sources of variation – values, ownership, management, and social relations – and argue that enterprises fall between these two poles of the collectivist-democratic organization and the for-profit managerial enterprise. Drawing from this volume’s empirical studies, the authors situate these market actors within fields of competition and contestation shaped not just by state action and legal frameworks, but also by the presence or absence of social movements, labor unions, and meta-organizations. This typology challenges conventional conceptualizations of for-profit managerial enterprises as ideals or norms, reconnects past models of organizing among marginalized communities with contemporary and future possibilities, and offers activists and entrepreneurs a sense of the wide range of possibilities for building enterprises that differ from dominant models.

Competitive pressures and changes in the economic climate have forced management of international companies to evaluate afresh the operation and structure of international supply chains. Swings between “local for local” and “international supply centre” strategies for manufacturing and distribution have dramatic implications for organisation, structure, control systems and costs to serve the customer. New approaches to managing change in international chains have emerged and been proven in recent years. This article describes the concepts underlying these approaches, the barriers that need to be overcome and some of the lessons learned from experience of implementation.

For Colombia, cocaine is a product that is sold for profit in the United States. Mainstream political economy, let alone the other social sciences, has little to say about the process of extraction of surplus value in the production and distribution of cocaine, in other words, how cocaine is exploited for profit. The paper argues that the conventional framework, which locates profits generated from the cocaine trade in an economic model of crime shields a much deeper reality than simply ‘money laundering’ as a ‘legal problem.’ The central argument is that the cocaine trade in general, and the cocaine economy in particular, are a vital aspect of U.S. imperialism in the Colombian economic system. The paper tackles a critical problem: the place of cocaine in the re-colonization of Colombia – defined as ‘narcocolonialism’ – and the implications of the cocaine trade generally for U.S. imperialism in this context. The paper evaluates selected literature on the Colombian cocaine trade and offers an alternative framework underpinned by a political economy analysis drawn from Marx and Lenin showing that cocaine functions as an ‘imperial commodity’ – a commodity for which there exists a lucrative market and profit-making opportunity. It is also a means of capital accumulation by what could be termed, Colombia's comprador ‘narcobourgeoisie;’ dependent on U.S. imperialism. It is hoped that by analyzing cocaine with a Marxist interpretation and political economy approach, then future developments in understanding drugs in Colombia's complex political economy may be anticipated.

Transaction costs arise from economic exchange rather than production activities. However, the term “transaction cost” is not consistently defined in the construction industry because the concept of transaction cost is not universally accepted by all stakeholders in construction projects. As a result, empirical studies are few and conflicting because accessing data on transaction costs is problematic, and the interpretation of the data is difficult. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the transaction costs borne by the owner in a construction project from the perspective of transaction cost economics and construction project characteristics.

A questionnaire survey was administered to construction owners. The factors that impact transaction costs were analyzed in the context of human-related issues (the owner's and the contractor's positions in the transaction), and environment-related issues (the transaction environment, and project management efficiency). Statistical analyses were conducted to compare the transaction costs incurred in the pre- vs post-contract phases of a project relative to the private vs public sector, different project delivery systems, different procurement methods, and different types of contracts.

The owners surveyed believe that transaction costs may be reduced if the owner and the contractor follow some basic guidelines (e.g. experience in similar projects, prompt payment, good relationship with project participants, no irregularities in bidding, and only few material substitutions and claims), if the project is well-run (e.g. technical competency, strong leadership, prompt decision-making, effective communication, and fair/speedy conflict management), and if the transaction environment is favorable (e.g. fair risk allocation, early contractor involvement, and complete design documents). The findings of the survey also indicate that post-contract transaction costs are much higher than pre-contract transaction costs expressed as percent of project value and that transaction costs are affected by the owner (public vs private), the procurement method, the project delivery system, and the type of contract.

The primary contribution that this research makes to the body of knowledge is a better understanding of transaction costs incurred by construction owners in the USA. The highest transaction costs are to be expected in the post-contract phase of public projects awarded on a unit price basis, but can be reduced, hence reducing overall project cost.

This paper reports findings on the significance of management communication strategies to telecommuting, based on a survey of telecommuters at IBM Australia. With increased adoption of telecommuting, many strategies have been proffered to ensure that telecommuters have appreciable levels of job satisfaction. Low levels of job satisfaction can lead to unduly rapid employee turnover that is detrimental to business operation. The objective of this paper is to ascertain the perceptions of telecommuters at IBM Australia on a number of telecommuting practice measures, and to suggest how job satisfaction can be improved and maintained at high levels by giving greater attention to particular communication management strategies in Australia. Although the management communication strategies proffered in the literature appear to apply generally, this study concludes that a few aspects are distinctively applicable to the Australian environment. Those aspects should be specifically noted by those interested in benefiting from telecommuting practice.