Industry Studies

Gail M. Pesyna, Program Director

Human Resources, Jobs and Income

The goal of this program is to build understanding of management practices in the changing American workplace, and of the effect of these changes on people, jobs and income by studying specific industries. Major changes affecting the workplace in the past decade include increases in outsourcing, offshoring and temporary work; increases in wage inequality; far greater global competition; work restructuring and downsizing. Sloan Industry Center researchers and many others not at centers have been supported over the years to study the effects of these new conditions.  Researchers in human resources, industrial relations, organizational behavior, sociology, anthropology, and labor economics have gone into factories and offices in the U.S. and elsewhere to observe and understand the nature of work today.

Current research is focused on developing facts about offshoring in specific industries and understanding its effects on jobs and workers in those industries (see also Globalization). A small number of industry-based studies of this issue as it affects U.S. and also foreign workers will be supported this year.

Besides applying for research grants, interested researchers can participate in this program in several other ways.  The Sloan Human Resources Network was formed in 1991 and is now a special interest group within the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA; formerly the Industrial Relations Research Association).  The network has been renamed the Work and Employment Relations Network (WERN).  It is open to all LERA members and is very active. 

The Sloan Foundation also recently supported the start up of Industry Councils within LERA.  Industry councils represent a bold new initiative, building on a long tradition of industry-focused analysis and publications by LERA members.  A network of tri-partite (business, labor, and academic) industry councils is organizing, with efforts underway in aerospace, airline, automotive, construction, health care, public sector, steel, utilities, and other industries.

Interested researchers may also join the Industry Studies Affiliates program as a way to become connected to this scholarly community.  The Affiliates program offers opportunities for collaboration with others working on human resources issues and industry studies.

In addition to articles in leading academic journals, industry studies researchers have produced many outstanding books on human resource topics over the years.  Some of the more recent include:

The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance, Jody Hoffer Gittell (Winner, 2005 Industry Studies Best Book Award)

Manufacturing Advantage: Why High-Performance Work Systems Pay Off, Eileen Appelbaum, Thomas Bailey, Peter Berg and Arne Kalleberg

The New Division of Labor: How Computers are Creating the Next Job Market, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane

Sailors of the Concrete Sea: A Portrait of Truck Drivers’ Work and Lives, Dale L. Belman, Kristen A. Monaco, and Taggert J. Brooks

Gurus, Hired Guns, and Warm Bodies: Itinerant Experts in a Knowledge Economy, Stephen R. Barley and Gideon Kunda

As noted above, the Human Resources, Jobs and Income program at present is focused on workforce and employment issues raised by global outsourcing and offshoring (see also Globalization), although we continue to look for other new, compelling Human Resources research topics.