Published annually since 1985, the Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms…

Chemistry graduate education is under considerable pressure. Pharmaceutical companies, long a major employer of synthetic organic chemists, are drastically paring back their research divisions to reduce costs. Chemical companies are opening new research and development facilities in Asia rather than in the United States to take advantage of…

Local, state, and national economies are facing unprecedented levels of international competition. The current fiscal crisis has hampered the ability of many governments in the developed world to directly facilitate economic growth. At the same time, many governments in the developing world are investing significant new resources into local…

Much of what is written about colleges and universities ties rapidly rising tuition to dysfunctional behavior in the academy. Common targets of dysfunction include prestige games among universities, gold plated amenities, and bloated administration. This book offers a different view. To explain rising college cost, the authors place the higher…

A study examined the relationship between high-performance workplace practices and the performance of plants in the following manufacturing industries: steel, apparel, and medical electronic instruments and imaging. The multilevel research methodology combined the following data collection activities: (1) site visits; (2) collection of plant…

This book explores the global economic and social changes that will likely occur as continued technological advancements (especially in the field of computer science) reduce the number of workers needed to produce the goods and services needed by the global population. The book is divided into five sections. Section 1 presents an overview of the…

In 1982 plant closings in the United States affected approximately 1 percent of the country's manufacturing facilities and 1 percent of its manufacturing labor force. Included among the reasons cited for plant closings were low productivity, high wages, and inflexible work rules. Given the nature of the reasons for plant closings and the magnitude…

Australia's construction industry employs nearly 600,000 workers, over 7% of total national employment. The industry is heavily dominated by males (nearly 88%) and full-time workers (86%). Much of the work in this industry involves subcontracting and is cyclical. Construction employers provided much less structured training than the average…

This book, which is based on a 7-month ethnographic study of working conditions and employment practices at a biomedical electronics factory, examines the impact that high tech has had on the relationship between management and workers in the manufacturing industry. The following are among the topics discussed in the book's 10 chapters: (1) the…