The overall purpose of this study is to assess various market-based versus aid based approaches to financial autonomy for Dalit women in rural India and the goals and assumptions of the multiple stakeholders involved in each method (mainly, national and international NGOs, the state, and micro-finance organizations). I argue that approaches to income generation such as entrepreneurship, capital investment, and skill building, are based on similar objectives of economic agency, but ultimately lend to different results because of their varying assumptions about “women’s empowerment.” By separating these approaches into three methods of income generation based on their objective to promote either wages, labor, or capital, the political incentives of each stakeholder becomes more clear. The research presented in my literature review ultimately led me to predict that for Dalit women in India to experience financial autonomy, wage labor that produces immediate outcomes is a more viable route to overall empowerment than entrepreneurship due to its cultural constraints women fact. However, after analyzing my comparative case studies which focused on three different methods of handicraft and textile production facilitated through state, institutional, private stakeholders, I began to see how a a multiple-income generating approach, such as combining the resources of NGOs, micro-finance, and the state, reduces caste and gender barriers to entrepreneurship. Through a feminist and Marxist analysis, I assess the problems that occur when actors determine a blanket approach to empowering all women without considering their diverse contexts, and more specifically, how different identities and standpoints work to inform and oppress notions of empowerment. My interviews with experts in the field have led me to recommend that methods of income generation facilitated through grassroots Self Help Groups is the best way for rural, Dalit women to women to achieve economic agency.

The use of analytics in human resource (HR) management has proven successful in improving company performance by reducing workforce costs, improving the quality of recruitment, improving talent management and employee engagement, and generally improving productivity. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study was to explore how HR managers use analytics to improve company performance using the contextually based human resource theory as the conceptual framework. The target population comprised a purposeful sample of 5 HR managers in Washington DC; the United States; and Lagos, Nigeria, who had experience using analytics for HR management. Data were collected through semistructured interviews using face-to-face, telephone, and Internet communications and a review of company documents and websites. Data analysis included content and thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from data analysis: the need for HR analytics to align with organizational strategy, the need for understanding HR metrics and how insights derived from HR analytics improve company performance, influencers of HR analytics adoption, and the barriers to HR analytics adoption. The findings and recommendations of this study can assist HR managers in implementing HR analytics successfully. The implications for positive social change include the potential for increased employee satisfaction, improved productivity, and enhanced prosperity in local communities, leading to positive socioeconomic indicators.

leadership styles homogeneous versus heterogeneous manufacturing leaders contractor workforce

Managing employee engagement is critical to the success of an organization, but 85% of managers struggle with engaging employees. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore effective communication strategies within an organization and determine how managers used these strategies to increase employee engagement, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. Data were collected from organizational documents, observations, and semistructured interviews with 6 managers of a corporation located in the midwestern United States. All participants were working full-time for at least 3 years, had a managerial title, and were responsible for departmental communication. Moustakas's modified van Kaam method was used for data analysis. Communication theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Three themes that emerged from the participants' interviews, observations, and data analysis were coaching employees, motivation, and consistency in communication. The findings of this study may impact positive social change by improving the organizational competitive environment through engagement in the community and society. The implications for positive social change include the potential for managers with direct reports to improve their understanding of the causes of engagement and disengagement, internal communication strategies that cause disengagement, and the benefits of implementing engagement strategies. The results of this study may provide managers with knowledge about employee engagement strategies used to improve productivity and organizational effectiveness within the industry. Community relationships could also improve as a result of effective communication.

Women comprise over 57% of all U.S. mortuary school students, yet less than 20% of all funeral directors employed in this country are women. As such, women are underrepresented as funeral directors in the funeral industry. Research to date has not established clear differences between perceived gender roles and occupations in the funeral service industry. The research questions examined the perceived differences of gender role characteristics of masculine, feminine, and androgyny between the occupations of funeral service providers and nursing. Bem's gender role theory was the theoretical framework of this study. The research compared the mean scores of male and female funeral service professionals and nursing professionals as measured by the validated Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). A sample consisted of 214 randomly selected male (n = 88) and female (n = 25) funeral service professionals and male (n = 37) and female (n = 64) nurse professionals. Data scores were analyzed using the factorial multivariate analysis of variance method. Results indicated nonsignificant gender role differences between male and female funeral directors. Funeral directors appear more androgynous compared to nurses. The present study contributed to the development of this important and neglected area of research by quantitatively examining the gender role perceptions of men and women in the funeral service industry for the first time. This study results highlighted the complexity in self-perceived gender role characteristics as measured by BSRI. When the funeral profession begins to dispel gender stereotypes and discrimination issues, positive social change can occur.

Women comprise over 57% of all U.S. mortuary school students, yet less than 20% of all funeral directors employed in this country are women. As such, women are underrepresented as funeral directors in the funeral industry. Research to date has not established clear differences between perceived gender roles and occupations in the funeral service industry. The research questions examined the perceived differences of gender role characteristics of masculine, feminine, and androgyny between the occupations of funeral service providers and nursing. Bem's gender role theory was the theoretical framework of this study. The research compared the mean scores of male and female funeral service professionals and nursing professionals as measured by the validated Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). A sample consisted of 214 randomly selected male (n = 88) and female (n = 25) funeral service professionals and male (n = 37) and female (n = 64) nurse professionals. Data scores were analyzed using the factorial multivariate analysis of variance method. Results indicated nonsignificant gender role differences between male and female funeral directors. Funeral directors appear more androgynous compared to nurses. The present study contributed to the development of this important and neglected area of research by quantitatively examining the gender role perceptions of men and women in the funeral service industry for the first time. This study results highlighted the complexity in self-perceived gender role characteristics as measured by BSRI. When the funeral profession begins to dispel gender stereotypes and discrimination issues, positive social change can occur.

Informal sectors in developing countries provide a substantial pool of jobs for some of the world's poorest people. Self-employment comprises a large portion of the job opportunities available to individuals working in these sectors. This thesis is concerned with the factors that drive people to become self-employed and determine their welfare as an entrepreneur, with a special emphasis on differences between women and men. In Chapter 1, we explain the Ghanaian context to which this thesis relates and outline the contribution of each main chapter and the common themes. In Chapters 2 and 3, we examine the trade-off between domestic work, such as caring for children and household chores, and market work. In Chapter 2, we consider the extent to which individuals are able to substitute between these two tasks to adjust to short-run variation in domestic productivity brought about by outages in electricity. We find that self-employed workers adjust non-monotonically to changes in domestic productivity, initially increasing their levels of domestic work to preserve consumption levels, but then substituting towards market work when power outages become more severe. We show that this relationship is heterogeneous by sex, and build a model of time allocation to demonstrate the theoretical mechanisms behind these results. In Chapter 3 we examine whether the factors that drive occupational selection differ by sex. It is often argued that women choose jobs in self-employment because this allows them to balance income-generation with childcare and other domestic work. We test the plausibility of this claim and its implications for labour market outcomes. First, we use a simple model of occupational choice to clarify our ideas about which notions of 'job flexibility' are important for the Ghanaian context. Second, we examine whether differential selection forces between women and men may explain the raw sex earnings gaps that appear to persist in various sectors, using a multinomial logit model to adjust for non-random occupational selection. We find that controlling for selection substantially widens the earnings gap amongst the self-employed, but shrinks it for the wage-employed. Third, we interrogate our selection equations and show that domestic obligations increase women's likelihood of entering low-input self-employment jobs more than men. We assess the importance of endogeneity using a maximum simulated likelihood estimator to couch the idea that selection on observables can be used as a guide for selection on unobservables, focussing on the discrete choice made over occupation. In Chapter 4, we turn to theory to try and resolve some of the empirical puzzles that remain from Chapter 3. In particular, we attempt to reconcile the fact that female participation in self-employment is so high even when the average differences in potential earnings are large. To do this, we construct a search model, which allows for individual heterogeneity and participation in both self- and wage-employment, as well as discrimination against female workers in the wage sector. We numerically solve and simulate this model, using calibrations from the existing literature, to explain a set of stylised facts generated from a longitudinal dataset of workers in urban Ghana. We show that wage sector discrimination leads to average earnings gaps in \emph{all} sectors of the economy, even if the underlying ability distribution is the same for both sexes. We also conduct a series of experiments to examine how women and men may be affected differently by government policy. Finally, in Chapter 5 we connect our main findings to policy and make some suggestions for future work.

xiii, 97 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This dissertation consists of three essays that empirically address aspects of three common questions posed in the Mexican immigration literature: What characteristics define migrants from Mexico? How does US border-enforcement policy affect migrant behavior? What role does foreign direct investment (FDI) into Mexico play in altering incentives for migration to the United States? The first essay (Chapter II) examines selection patterns of Mexican migrants based on migration frequency. Studies of Mexican migrant selection have largely ignored its temporary and repeated nature. In particular, the literature has not appropriately distinguished between migrants that travel to the United States only once and those who migrate multiple times. I model the selection process of repeat migrants in two stages: selection into initial migration and selection into repeat migration. Allowing for unobservable differences between non-migrants, single-episode migrants and repeat migrants, I find negative selection of repeat migrants relative to non-migrants and no significant differences between the unobservable attributes of repeat and single-episode migrants. The second essay (Chapter III) addresses how border enforcement influences migrant behavior. Increases in border enforcement during the 1990s were distributed non-uniformly along the border, targeting regions believed to experience episodes of high volumes of illegal border crossings. I examine how geographic and time-series variation in annual border enforcement influences US destination choices for undocumented Mexican migrants. While increased enforcement diverts migrants to alternative crossing locations, I show that their final destinations tend to be robust to border enforcement. Thus, in terms of policy, there may be benefits to coordination in enforcement efforts across sectors. The third essay (Chapter IV) addresses the claim that Mexico-bound FDI reduces immigration to the United States by increasing employment opportunities and raising Mexican wages. I use annual, state-level FDI from 1994 to 2004 to examine how FDI flows influence US-migration propensity. FDI flows reduce the probability of migration to the United States and increase the probability of an employment change in Mexico for non-migrants. Further, FDI is found to increase the likelihood of employment changes for household heads in Mexican states bordering the United States, but not the likelihood of employment in interior states. / Adviser: Glen R. Waddell

This thesis examines three different aspects of education policy to ascertain their effects on individual outcomes, both in the classroom and in the labour market. The goal is to provide new empirical evidence using robust identification strategies that can inform better policy. The first chapter looks at the role of pre-primary education in Germany using the German Socio-Economic Panel data set (GSOEP) to determine if attending an early education programme for longer increases the probability of attending a higher-level secondary school at age fourteen. I employ family fixed effects estimation and quasi-experimental analysis to control for selection. The results of the family fixed effects estimation show a small and negative impact of attending early education for more years. In the quasi-experimental analysis, based upon a federal law change in 1996, I find no impact of more years of early education on later schooling outcomes. In the second chapter of this thesis, I again use the GSOEP to examine the recent German reform to extend the length of the primary school day. I exploit the quasi-experimental roll-out of reform to assign treatment to women and look at whether increasing school hours increases the likelihood that mothers enter into employment or extend their hours if already working. I find that the policy has an effect at the extensive margin, drawing more women into the labour market, but that there is no significant impact of the policy at the intensive margin. In the final chapter I turn my attention to how peers' non-cognitive traits impact an individual's learning outcomes. Using an educational panel from Flanders, Belgium, I use the linear-in- means model of peer effects as well as several non-linear models to see how peers' personalities in a classroom affect Dutch and math scores. The results show that having more conscientious peers on average positively impacts Dutch and math scores, but that a greater dispersion of conscientiousness hurts Dutch outcomes. I also find that having more extroverted peers on average hurts math performance.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo geral investigar, sob a ótica de um modelo insumo-produto, os impactos no mercado setorial de trabalho no Brasil na década de 1990, evidenciando as transformações ocorridas no lado da oferta de postos de trabalho. Primeiramente, são analisados os efeitos do plano de estabilização do nível de preços e do processo de abertura econômica nos setores produtivos. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que o processo de abertura provocou efeitos positivos e negativos na estrutura produtiva. Setores como Agropecuária modernizaram seu processo de produção e aumentaram sua produtividade, diminuindo, porém, sua capacidade de geração de postos de trabalho. O setor Indústria apresentou-se dependente de insumos importados e também diminuiu sua capacidade de gerar empregos, entretanto o setor Serviços consolidou-se como grande gerador ou absorvedor de mão-de-obra neste período. Em geral, os multiplicadores de produção demonstraram que todos os setores passaram a ser mais dependentes de insumos importados. Neste período, a economia brasileira foi muito mais exportadora de produtos intensivos em trabalho e grande importadora de produtos intensivos em capital, implicando em mudanças na estrutura da oferta de postos de trabalho. Em geral, os multiplicadores de emprego mostraram uma queda na capacidade de geração de novos postos de trabalho (empregos diretos, indiretos e induzidos) em toda a economia. Em seguida, analisou-se a estrutura da oferta de postos de trabalho no Brasil na década de 1990. A análise do perfil da mão-de-obra ocupada mostrou que somente algo em torno de ⅓ dos postos de trabalho foram ocupados pela mão-de-obra feminina, a qual estava concentrada no setor Serviços. Para o conjunto da economia, a idade do trabalhador ocupado concentrou-se na faixa dos 20 a 39 anos, tendo diminuído a participação da mão-de-obra jovem e aumentado, ainda que timidamente, a ocupação de trabalhadores com idade superior a 50 anos. O setor Agropecuária foi o que mais empregou mão-de-obra na faixa dos 10 a 14 anos. Em contrapartida, no setor Extração de petróleo, gás natural, carvão e outros combustíveis, os postos de trabalho ocupados nesta categoria são desprezíveis. Este setor é o que ocupa com mais intensidade a mão-de-obra madura (acima dos 40 anos). A maioria da mão-deobra ocupada na década começou a trabalhar com 10 a 14 anos, porém os trabalhadores que estão ingressando atualmente no primeiro emprego, o fazem mais tarde. A análise da situação na ocupação dos trabalhadores mostrou que, notadamente a partir da segunda metade da década, houve um crescimento do número de trabalhadores sem carteira assinada, indicando uma possível piora nas relações de trabalho. Constatou-se ainda uma redução abrupta no número de pessoas trabalhando por conta própria e um aumento no número de postos de trabalho na administração pública. Não obstante, os trabalhadores ocupados no setor Extração de petróleo, gás natural, carvão e outros combustíveis e no setor Serviços industriais de utilidade pública eram, em sua grande maioria, contratados com carteira de trabalho assinada. O tempo de serviço da mão-de-obra ocupada na década de 1990 parece também indicar a precarização das relações de trabalho. Ao longo da década, algo em torno de 40% das pessoas estavam no atual emprego entre menos de 1 ano a 2 anos. A rotatividade é maior no setor Construção civil, onde, em média, 53% dos trabalhadores estavam no atual emprego a menos de 2 anos. Na década de 1990, o número de horas de trabalho semanais era maior que 45 horas para cerca de 40% da mão-de-obra ocupada, embora mais de 20%, em média, dos trabalhadores ocupados trabalhava em tempo parcial. No setor Serviços esta jornada de trabalho era mais comum. Em que pese ter-se observado, a partir da segunda metade da década de 1990, um ligeiro crescimento para a escolaridade da mão-de-obra ocupada entre 8 a 14 anos, a maioria dos trabalhadores ocupados durante todo período analisado possui de 4 a 7 anos de estudo. Não obstante, a construção de um índice de qualificação relativa permitiu verificar a intensidade do emprego de trabalhadores nos vários níveis de qualificação. Os resultados também mostraram que, na década de 1990, o consumo intermediário foi responsável, em média, por mais da metade da oferta de postos de trabalho. Dos trinta e um setores analisados, dezoito dependem mais fortemente do consumo intermediário. A demanda final foi significativa em onze setores e apenas em um [Extrativa mineral (exceto combustíveis)] a exportação teve a maior participação na oferta de postos de trabalho. / This work has as general objective to investigate, through an input-output model, the impacts in the sectorial labor market in Brazil in the decade of 1990, evidencing the transformations happened on the side of the supply of work positions. Firstly, the effects of the price level stabilization plan and of the process of economical opening on the productive sectors are analyzed. The results indicated that the opening process has caused positive and negative effects in the productive structure. Sectors as the agricultural modernized its production process and increased his productivity, decreasing, however, its capacity of work positions generation. The Industry sector came dependent of imported inputs and it also reduced its capacity to generate jobs, however the Services sector consolidated as great generator and/or absorbing of labor in this period. In general, the production multipliers demonstrated that all of the sectors became more dependents of imported inputs. In this period, the Brazilian economy was very more a work intensive products exporter and a great capital-intensive products importing, leading to changes in the structure of the work positions supply. In general, the employment multipliers showed a decrease in the ability to generate new work positions (direct, indirect and induced) in all the economy. Afterwards, the structure of the Brazilian work positions supply in the last nineties was analyzed. The occupied worker profile analysis showed that only about ⅓ of the work positions was filled for women, which was concentrated in the Services sector. For all the economy, the occupied worker\'s age concentrated on the 20 - 39 range. The participation of the young labor was reduced and the occupation of workers with 50 years old or more has a little increase. The agricultural sector used the major proportion of 10 to 14 years old workers. Otherwise, in the Petroleum and gas mining sector, the use of this category of workers is despicable. This sector is the major user of the mature labor force (above the 40 years). In the decade, most of the occupied workers began to work with 10 to 14 years, however the workers that are entering now in their first job, are doing it later. The analysis of the situation in the occupation showed that, especially starting from the second half of the decade, there was a growth of the number of workers in the informal sector, indicating a possible worsening in the work relationships. It was still verified an abrupt reduction in the number of people working independently and an increase in the number of work positions in the Public administration. In spite of, the occupied workers in the Petroleum and gas mining sector and in the Public utilities sector have a formal work relationship. The time in the current job seems also to indicate some worsening of the work relationship. Along the decade, something around 40% of the people was in the current job among less than 1 year to 2 years. The rotation is larger in the Construction sector, where, on average, 53% of the workers were less than 2 years in the current job. In the decade of 1990, the number of weekly working hours was larger than 45 hours for about 40% of the occupied workers, although more than 20%, on average, was working in partial time. In the Services sector the partial timework was more common. Starting from the second half of the decade of 1990, a quick growth in the category of occupied labor between 8 to 14 education years was observed. However, most of the occupied workers during analyzed period have from 4 to 7 years of study. In this sense, the construction of an index of relative qualification allowed to verify the intensity of the work occupation in the several qualification levels. The results also showed that, in the decade of 1990, the intermediate consumption was responsible, on average, for more of the half of the work positions supply. Of the 31 analyzed sectors, eighteen depend more strongly on the intermediate consumption. The final demand was significant in eleven sections and just in a sector (Metal mining) the export had the largest participation in the work positions supply.