TQM and labor-management cooperation-- a noble experiment for the public sector

Recent initiatives by the Clinton Administration to promote labor-management cooperation and to reinvent government suggest reconsidering the efficacy of total quality management (TQM) and labor-management cooperation initiatives in the public sector. Key elements of both initiatives, for example, process improvement/innovation, focus on the customer, and employee empowerment, are inherent parts of the National Performance Review (NPR) and, as such, are critical to the achievement of NPR outcomes. Achieving these outcomes involves the simultaneous transformation of agencies and unions. This is no small task. The challenges and risks involved in such a large-scale transformation are identified, as well as the factors that make the public sector an appropriate (and safe) place for the American labor movement to experiment with new ways to manage relationships.     

Status Shift and Ethnic Mobilisation in the March 1956 Events in Georgia

The large-scale demonstrations that took place in Georgia in early March 1956 following Khrushchev's criticism of Stalin at the 20th Party Congress were the first significant expressions of public protest and civil disobedience in the Soviet Union for decades, and they also bore a clearly nationalistic character. Based primarily on materials from the Georgian KGB and Party archives and interviews with former Party officials and participants of the events, this article examines potential interpretations of these events derived from elite incorporation and ethnic mobilisation theories.     

Party Voting Cohesion in Mixed Member Legislative Systems: Evidence from Korea and Taiwan

How do mixed‐member legislative systems influence legislator voting? While the literature remains inconclusive, this article suggests party influence as an intervening variable. Through an analysis of roll‐call data from Taiwan and Korea, no deviation is evident between district legislators and legislators elected by proportional representation. Further disaggregation of what it means to vote against one's party again finds little evidence of a tier distinction, while party variables remain significant. The findings are suggestive of a contamination effect between tiers, consistent with the influence of parties.