Each month, we select up to ten publications from those that have recently been entered into the Literature Database.

A year ago, there were approximately 8,050 citations in the Literature Database. As of November 2007, we now have over 9,090 citations.

View Sloan Literature Update articles in the Literature Database.

Briscoe, J., Hall, D., & Frautschy DeMuth, R. (2006). Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 30-47.

Boundaryless careers and Protean careers are relatively new ways of talking about and classifying careers. This article discusses the development of scales to identify and measure attitudes classified as protean career and boundaryless career. Questionnaires were developed comprised of 12 items to measure self-directed career attitudes and 10 items to measure values-driven career attitudes. The questionnaries were distributed to 3 groups of samples. The samples comprised of 100 undergraduate business students, 113 part-time MBA students, and 85 middle manager and upper level executives. The results indicate that protean and boundaryless career attitudes are related but distinct constructs that can be measured. (annotation by Jessica Jackson Yoo)

Global Perspectives - Equal Opportunities Commission. (2007). Enter the timelords: Transforming work to meet the future. Retrieved November 20, 2007, from the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s web site: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/
This report from Great Britain’s Equal Opportunities Commission calls for “third-generation” work arrangements that build upon the first-generation arrangements of time flexibility, such as part time work, and second-generation arrangements of time and space flexibility, such as home offices. The Commission calls for flexibility for all workers, not just parents and carers, and offers four worker models: timelords, who control when and where they work, remote-controllers, who can work from a variety of locations, shift-shapers, who may work using staggered, compressed, or annualized hours, among other options, and time-stretchers, who control when they work, even if they work on a fixed site. Click on the link above to access the full-text report..
 

Heller Ehrman, LLP. (2007). Opt-In Project: Project report. Retrieved November 21, 2007, from the Heller Ehrman web site: http://www.hellerehrman.com/docs/en/The%20Opt%20In%20Report.pdf.

Heller Ehrman developed the Opt In Project in order to identify obstacles for women in the workplace and offer solutions to overcome these barriers. After performing a case study of several law firms, they made several recommendations, ranging from lessening the requirement of billable hours, making flexible arrangements and workdays available to all employees, and offering part-time schedules as a non-stigmatized option to both men and women. Click on the link above to access the full-text report.
 

Hewlett, S.A. (2007). Off-ramps and on-ramps: Keeping talented women on the road to success. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Table of Contents: Why mess with the male competitive model? -- Women's nonlinear careers -- Extreme jobs, extreme demands -- The business case for diversity -- Establishing flexible work arrangements -- Creating arc-of-career flexibility -- Reimagining work life -- Claiming and sustaining ambition -- Tapping into altruism -- Combating stigma and stereotypes -- Canaries in the coal mine.
 

Prasad, J. (2007). One size does not fit all: Managing IT employees' employment arrangements. Human Resource Management, 46(3), 349-372.

This article examines the different work values of IT employees and the impact of these values on desired alternative work arrangements. The authors argue that a moderate approach which strikes a balance between a “one size fits all” work arrangement and individual programs is most effective for employee satisfaction. The article describes two studies conducted to assess the different values and corresponding work arrangement needs of IT workers. The first survey was conducted online and placed workers into the work values categories of “High Maintenance”, “Lifestyle” and “Committed.” Respondents were 262 members of an IT professional organization, from 41 states and with 17 percent senior executives, 22 percent middle managers, 32 percent programmers/analysts. The sample was 71.4 percent male and 26.0 percent female. The second study focused on how this work values classification system could be used in one organization to identify employee arrangement characteristics that influence employee arrangement satisfaction in each work values profile. The article includes a table which lists HR practices which satisfy workers in the different work values profiles. (annotation by Caitlin Sullivan)
 

Piktialis, D. (2007). Adaptations to an aging workforce: Innovative responses by the corporate sector. Generations, XXXI(1), 76-82.

Piktialis writes an article that acknowledges and addresses the difficulties that companies face as the workforce ages.The article uses Mary Young’s (2004) concept of the ‘continuum of pain’ to talk about the degree to which different companies are being proactive about addressing the problem of the aging workforce. It discusses research that more progressive companies are using to identify factors that make a workplace more attractive to older workers. Some of these factors are; age-neutral culture; phased retirement and flexible career paths; age-related diversity training; a positive multigenerational workforce; strategic workforce planning; management practices; understanding retirement intentions; and flexibility. (annotation by Jessica Jackson Yoo)

Global Perspectives - Doucet, A. & Merla, L. (2007). Stay-at-home fathering: A strategy for balancing work and home in Canadian and Belgian families. Community, Work and Family, 10(4), 455-473.

The authors use two qualitative studies of 70 Canadian fathers and 21 Belgian fathers, all of whom stayed home full-time to raise their children for at least six months after the birth of the child. As Canada and Belgium do not have strong public policy in the areas of child care or flexible options, some fathers, particularly those who earn less money than their female partners or are considering a career change, solve the child care problem by taking time off from the paid labor force. Findings indicate that while stay-at-home fathers often practice traditionally masculine activities while caring for their children full-time, such as engaging in part-time work or engaging in community work focused on traditional male interests, most interviewees were able to successfully combine their sense of masculinity with traditional feminine tasks and capabilities.
 

Global Perspectives - Moran, R.T. (2007). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for the 21st century. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth.
Table of contents: Foreword / by Lewis B. Campbell -- Prologue -- Acknowledgements -- 1. Global leaders and culture -- 2. Global leaders and communications -- 3. Global leadership in negotiations -- 4. Global leaders and the changing knowledge culture -- 5. Global leaders learn from other management systems -- 6. Women as leaders in global business -- 7. Managing diversity in the global work culture -- 8. Effective performance in the global marketplace -- 9. Leadership in creating cultural synergy -- 10. Managing transitions and relocations in the global workplace -- 11. Doing business with Middle Easterners -- 12. Doing business with Latin Americans -- 13. Doing business with Asians and Australians -- 14. Doing business with Europeans -- 15. Doing business with Africans -- 16. Doing business with North Americans -- Epilogue -- Index -- About the authors.

Global Perspectives - Shu, X., Zhu, Y. & Zhang, Z. (2007). Global economy and gender inequalities: The case of the urban Chinese labor market. Social Science Quarterly, 88(5), 1307-1332.

This paper examines the impact of economic globalization on gender inequalities in urban China. The authors analyzed city-level data concerning foreign direct investment, growth rate of foreign direct investment, and opening up to overseas investment. Findings indicate that globalization creates new types of jobs while changing the quality of preexisting jobs, while cultural and gender norms determine which jobs men and women occupy in this new economic environment. Overseas investment in China created a category of jobs with foreign-funded firms, which quickly became the highest ranked jobs in urban China. Women are more likely to work for export-oriented manufacturing businesses, which have been negatively influenced by international production, resulting in an even greater gender inequality.

Wang, Y. & Marcotte, D.E. (2007). Golden years?: The labor market effects of caring for grandchildren. Journal of Marriage and Family, 69(5), 1283-1296.
Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and its Parent Identification File, the authors examine 3,249 American non-retired heads of households who are grandparents, distinguishing between grandparents who live alone with their grandchildren and those who also live with their own children as well as grandchildren. Findings reveal that caring for a grandchild increases the likelihood of labor force participation. Furthermore, grandfathers are more likely to work and grandmothers are likely to work longer hours if another adult is available to offer child care. Grandparents in households with just their grandchildren and not children appear to experience the greatest amount of financial and emotional pressure.