Mrrrph.

[camwyn]

Finished w/my Mgmt. and Labor Relations take-home midterm except for one question:

Based upon your knowledge, readings or discussions in class, formulate a question specific to this course which you believe would be important for members of class to discuss. Do not answer your question but explain the reason or reasons it is important.

Questions like 'what do you believe are the major reasons for the decline in private sector union membership in the United States'? Easy. Questions like 'what do you think the course needs'? Hard.

bah.

Well, must come up with something. I have discovered over the past few years that I have somehow developed a powerful yet well-hidden desire to someday win a Nobel Prize for Economics, of all things. I suppose I have to start somewhere. 'tain't like I've got to come up with this question as the basis for a graduate thesis, after all.

Comments

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Well, I don't know what the class DID cover, but never let it be said that I let lack of research stand in the way of offering (helpful?) opinions! How about:

What do you do when a boss and worker *really* can't communicate?
Is there any sector of work or workers that really can't, feasibly, be unionized? (history tells us that there have even been military unions, before)
What role do work songs and protest songs hold in labor/management relationships?

[camwyn]

Hm. I like the sound of the sector one, given that one of my pet points of curiosity is the feasibility of unionizing salaried technical workers. (The idea was suggested in one of my favourite labor books, How to Tell When You're Tired by Reg Theriault.) I had been planning on suggesting a question about binding interest arbitration, but given that most of what I was planning to suggest has already been covered as a possible term paper topic...

Aaah, found it.

[camwyn]

Left Face: Soldier Unions and Resistance Movements in Modern Armies, by David Cortwright and Max Watts. Man, if it didn't cost $72.50 I'd be buying that puppy faster than you could say boo.

It's going on my Amazon wish list, alongside Theriault. *happy humming* Yanno, once I get a place of my own to live and establish myself a bit financially, I think I might try to find somewhere to get a graduate degree in economics. It'd be interesting. I'd really like to understand the subject in a more in-depth fashion, and I think I could probably win a Nobel Prize if I really tried. C'mon, one of the more recent Nobel winners got his prize for essentially saying 'the New York City subway would work better if you charged people less to ride at times when there were fewer riders and changed the position of the turnstiles to the surface entrance area'. I bet I could do it if I really busted my ass.

Re: Aaah, found it.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Seanan would likely kill me if I pointed out that Chicago has several influential economics schools, including the one Friedman graduated from (U of C, which as a mitigating point is also FRELLING expensive). She's still not happy that you expressed back-up secondary interest in our apartment (rather than, say, California).