this just arrived today at the SMLR Library...
Industrial & Labor Relations Review,
Oct2009, Vol. 63 Issue 1,
p42-59, 18p,
6 charts
KEEFE, JEFFREY H
IS DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY RESHAPING EMPLOYMENT SYSTEMS IN U.S.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SERVICES?
Abstract: The four major telecommunications local networks and network
services--fixed wire line, wireless, cable television, and the
Internet--are undergoing transformations propelled by network
digitalization, service competition, and corporate consolidations. Using
data from surveys conducted in 1998 and 2003, together with field
interviews, site visits at major telecommunications firms, and discussions
with industry experts, regulators, and analysts, the author examines how
these forces reshaped technician employment systems across these formerly
specialized telecommunications networks and services. The principal
finding is that despite rising inter-network competition and common
digital technologies, most of these networks' fundamental employment
systems continued with little change. Consistent with predictions from an
evolutionary perspective on institutional change, the three
facilities-based networks--wireless, cable television distribution, and
wire line--maintained distinctive employment systems "imprinted" by their
respective institutional histories, while the Internet Service Providers
exhibited fragmentation reflecting their meteoric rise and the industry's
current business difficulties and uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
--
Eugene McElroy
Rutgers University
School of Management and Labor Relations Library
50 Labor Center Way
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901
732-932-9513
tel: 732-932-9513
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