ILR research to be presented at industry studies conference
February 8 2008
Findings focus on technology's impact on labor-management relations
Research conducted by two ILR School faculty provides new insight about how technological and organizational change can contribute to intensifying labor-management conflicts, as illustrated by the current negotiations between film and television producers and the Writers' Guilds.
Lois Gray, Professor Emeritus and Maria Figueroa, Director of Labor and Industry Research, have been selected to present their findings at the 2008 Sloan Industry Studies Conference in Boston, MA.
Figueroa will deliver their paper in a session on May 2 entitled, "The Effects of Technological and Organizational Changes on Employment and Labor-Management Relations in the Electronic Media Industry."
The presentation will showcase key findings, including the role of new technologies in creating distribution platforms and additional revenue streams, and in increasing employment and changing the occupational mix. The findings also point to how these changes have intensified labor-management conflicts over the distribution of the new revenue, as evidenced by the current negotiations involving the Writers' Guilds.
The 2008 Industry Studies Conference will bring together scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines whose research reflects very substantial individual efforts to build linkages with industry.
Founded in 1990, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Industry Studies program encourages research cooperation between academics and industry. A primary goal is to support the integration of observation-based research with appropriate theory and analysis among a growing community of industry study scholars.
The paper and abstract will be made available through the conference website at http://web.mit.edu/is08/, as well as at www.ilr.cornell.edu/wied.
