Turbulence--rapid and sometimes tumultuous changes--has characterized the labor markets of the 1970's and 1980's. Turbulent competitive conditions have cut sharply into profits and have forced downsizings and radical readjustments in America's workplaces. Workplace turbulence has resulted in lost jobs, declining incomes, and falling productivity for American labor. From the perspectives of business and labor, turbulence and its consequences is the key human resources issue for the last part of the twentieth century. In Turbulence in the American Workplace, a distinguished group of...

The authors chart the experience of start-up factories in adopting high performance management practices and provide insights into how US manufacturing can improve labor productivity and job quality in the coming years. Based on an extensive study of 48 new branch plants-that began operating between 1978 and 1990, this book explains how best practice manufacturing companies are raising productivity and lowering unit costs by introducing innovative high performance management practices. Start-Up Factories answers six key questions related to high performance management practices in...

In February 1979, I wrote to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation seeking sup port for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies to embark on a policy oriented program in vocational education. The reason for the request, which was generously granted by the foundation, was stated as follows: The federal program on vocational education dates from World War I. Impor tant changes were made in later legislation in 1963 and 1976, affecting the pro grams conducted by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The recently enacted Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) of the Department of...