Osterman, Paul

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OSTERMAN, Paul

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Oberlin College, B.A. (history), 1968; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D. (economics/urban studies and planning), 1976.

ADDRESSES: Office—Sloan School of Management, 50 Memorial Drive, E52-586, Cambridge, MA 02142. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA, professor of human resources and management.

WRITINGS:

Getting Started: The Youth Labor Market, M.I.T. Press (Cambridge, MA), 1980.

(Editor) Internal Labor Markets, M.I.T. Press (Cambridge, MA), 1984

Employment Futures: Reorganization, Dislocation, and Public Policy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1988.

Workforce Policies for the 1990s, Economic Policy Institute (Washington, DC), 1989.

(With Thomas A. Kochan) The Mutual Gains Enterprise: Forging a Winning Partnership among Labor, Management, and Government, Harvard Business School Press (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Broken Ladders: Managerial Careers in the New Economy, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market: How It Has Changed and What to Do about It, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1999.

(With Thomas A. Kochan, Richard M. Locke, and Michael J. Piore) Working in America, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

Gathering Power: The Future of Progressive Politics in America, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Paul Osterman's book, Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market; How It Has Changed and What to Do about It, is based on the premise that rises in the American economy during the 1990s were accompanied by significant changes in labor practices. According to Osterman, there are three things wrong with the U.S. labor market: declining job security, widening disparity between the rich and poor, and a growth in various forms of contingent employment such as temporary workers and contract workers. Since World War II, says Osterman, companies have become progressively less committed to their employees than in the past, and this has increased job mobility. This trend, as the decline of unions attest, has also shifted the balance of power between employees and management in favor of management. Finally, survey data shows that the implementation of high-performance work systems has increased worker skills and responsibility levels, to the benefits of the companies; yet companies have not shared the gains with workers and have even used these gains to layoff workers. Writing in Labour & Industry, Mark Wooden said that Securing Prosperity "makes a compelling read. The writing is very lucid and easy to understand, and the key arguments are supported by the judicious use of statistics. In short, most of Securing Prosperity makes good sense."

Working in America is a broad history of labor in the U.S. since World War II. It traces today's labor-market policy and laws back to the New Deal and to a second wave of social regulation that began in the 1960s. The book looks at who is working, what workers do, and how much job security workers enjoy. Osterman's contribution addresses the persistence of a large low-wage sector, worsening inequality in earnings, employees' lack of voice in the workplace, and the need of employers to maximize flexibility if they are to survive in an increasingly competitive market.

Osterman's theory for revisions in the job market is laid out in The Mutual Gains Enterprise: Forging a Winning Partnership among Labor, Management, and Government. The author suggests that the U.S. economy will be best served not only by the competitiveness of its firms but also the working conditions and standards of living enjoyed by its workers.

Broken Ladders: Managerial Careers in the New Economy focuses on the workplace transformation affecting managerial employees. After Word War II, managers typically followed career paths built around "internal" labor markets. Once employed by the company, workers enjoyed pay increases, promotions and job security, and in turn they remained loyal to the company. As economic change and organizational changed in the 1990s, however, managers experienced career insecurities as shareholders called for more profitable companies. In Employment Futures, the author argues that current industrial policy gives job security to a core group of workers. They rely on "peripheral" workers (part-time, temporary, and subcontracted labor) to absorb the necessary work force adjustments. Osterman thinks these policies are bound to fail and he look toward Sweden and Germany for viable alternatives. Industrial relations in these countries, he writes, combine a high level of employment security with a great deal of flexibility to deploy workers within the company. Government policy plays a key role in shaping and supporting the system through advanced employment services and youth job training programs.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Academy of Management Review, July, 2000, Joseph T. Mahoney, Gloria Harrell-Cook, review of Securing Prosperity: The American Labor Market: How It Has Changed and What to Do about It, p.674.

Administrative Science Quarterly, March, 1998, Michael B. Arthur, review of Broken Ladders: Managerial Careers in the New Economy, p. 193.

Booklist, September 1, 1999, David Rouse, review of review of Securing Prosperity, p. 48

British Journal of Industrial Relations, June, 1995, David Metcalf, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise: Forging a Winning Partnership among Labor, Management, and Government, p. 300; September, 1998, John Godard, review of Change at Work, pp. 501-503.

Business Horizons, March-April, 1990, Alfred Diamant, review of Employment Futures: Reorganization, Dislocation, and Public Policy, pp. 85-86.

Choice, March 1981, review of Getting Started: The Youth Labor Market, p. 994; July-August 1984, Internal Labor Markets, p. 1647; February 1989, H. Harris, review of Employment Futures, p. 978; April 1997, review of Broken Ladders, p. 1382-1383; January, 2000, R. M. Whaples, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 979.

Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, fall, 1997, Paula Voos, review of Change at Work, p. 127.

Contemporary Sociology, July, 1982, W. Norton Grubb, review of Getting Started, pp. 449-450; January, 1985, James Baron, review of Internal Labor Markets, p. 63; May, 1990, Charles M. Tolbert II, review of Employment Futures, p. 383; September, 1995, Linda Markowitz, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, p. 677; May, 1998, Vicki Smith, review of Broken Ladders, p. 260; January, 2001, Arne L. Kalleberg, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 9.

Economic Books, September 1984, review of Internal Labor Markets, p.65.

Government Finance Review, June, 2000, Scott Diaz, review of Securing Prosperity, p.47.

Human Resource Planning, March, 1995, Douglas M. McCabe, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, p. 45-46.

Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January, 1982, review of Getting Started, p. 285; January, 1985, Thomas H. Patten Jr., review of Internal Labor Markets, p. 293; October, 1989, Susan N. Houseman, review of Employment Futures, p. 1721; January, 1998, Daniel J. B. Mitchell, review of Change at Work, p. 336; January, 2001, Daniel J. B. Mitchell, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 382.

Journal of Economic Issues, September, 1990, Irwin L. Herrnstadt, review of Workforce Policies for the 1990s: A New Labor Market Agenda, p. 913.

Journal of Economic Literature, March, 1985, Lawrence Kahn, review of Internal Labor Markets, pp. 140-142; December, 1989, Michael Curme, review of Employment Futures, p. 1721.

Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, spring, 1990, Stephen E. Baldwin, Employment Futures: Reorganization, Dislocation, and Public Policy, p. 277.

Labour & Industry, December, 1999, Mark Wooden, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 175.

Library Journal, December 1, 1980, Harry Frumerman, review of Getting Started, p. 2494; October 1, 1994, Joan A. Traugott, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, p. 90; September 1, 1999, Harry Frumerman, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 208.

Monthly Labor Review, July, 1989, Richard M. Devens Jr., review of Employment Futures, pp. 46-47; March, 1995, Markley Roberts, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, p. 67; June, 2000, Michael Wald, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 42.

National Productivity Review, spring, 1995, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, p. 127.

Psychology Today, September, 1982, Bernard Lefkowitz, review of Getting Started, p. 12.

Reason, November, 1991, Karl Zinsmeister, review of The Urban Underclass, p. 58.

Science, May 19, 1989, George Farkas, review of Employment Futures: Reorganization, Dislocation, and Public Policy, pp. 837-838.

Sloan Management Review, fall, 1999, Judith Maas, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 96.

Southern Economic Journal, January, 1985, Robert J. Gitter, review of Internal Labor Markets, p. 951.

Spectrum, fall, 1995, Michal Smith-Mello, review of Mutual Gains Enterprise, pp. 48-49.

Today's Education, April, 1981, Nancy R. Needham, review of Getting Started, p. 84.

Work and Occupations, February, 1998, Paul Hirsch, review of Broken Ladders, p. 115; November, 2000, Vicki Smith, review of Securing Prosperity, p. 524.