Ann Frost

• Eberhard, J.; Frost, A. C.; Rerup, C., 2019, "The dark side of routine dynamics: Deceit and the work of Romeo pimps", Research in the Sociology of Organizations, May 61: 99 - 121.
  Abstract: In this paper we examine the use of deceit to drive routine emergence. We do so by tracing the relationship among deceit, roles, and routine dynamics in the context of Romeo pimps and the women they lure into sex trafficking. Previous research has focused on routine participants openly negotiating their roles and expected interactions during the (re) creation of routines. In contrast, our study shows how Romeo pimps use deceit to control the co-constitution of roles and increasingly coercive actions of the “Romeo pimp routine” – a process of premeditated routine emergence designed to entrap the women. We contribute to the literature on routine dynamics by emphasizing the unexplored influence of deceit on the interplay between roles and routines. Bringing deception to center stage in routine dynamics highlights the importance of linking actors and actions to motivations that exist behind the veil of transparently observable behaviour.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327232542_The_dark_side_of_routine_dynamics_Deceit_and_the_work_of_Romeo_pimps

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20190000061006

• Liu, X.; Van Jaarsveld, D.; Batt, R.; Frost, A. C., 2014, "The Influence of Capital Structure on Strategic Human Capital: Evidence From U.S. and Canadian Firms", Journal of Management, February 40(2): 422 - 448.
  Abstract: Strategic human capital research has emphasized the importance of human capital as a resource for sustained competitive advantage, but firm investments in this intangible asset vary considerably. This article examines whether and how external pressures on firms from capital markets influence their human capital strategy. These pressures have increased over the past three decades due to banking deregulation, technological innovation, and the rise of institutional investors and new financial intermediaries. Against this backdrop, this study examines whether a firm’s capital structure as measured by share turnover, shareholder concentration, and financial leverage is associated with firm investment in strategic human capital. Based on survey and objective financial data from 221 establishments in the United States and Canada, our analysis indicates that firms with greater share turnover, higher shareholder concentration, and higher levels of financial leverage are less likely to invest in human resource systems that create strategic human capital. Differences in national financial systems also lead to differential effects for U.S. and Canadian firms.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0149206313508982

• Van Jaarsveld, D.; Kwon, H.; Frost, A. C., 2009, "The Effects of Institutional and Organizational Characteristics on Work Force Flexibility: Evidence from Call Centers in Three Liberal Market Economies", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, July 62(4): 573 - 601.
  Abstract: This comparative study examines survey data from 464 call centers ill the United States, 167 in the United Kingdom,and 387 in Canada to explore two questions: whether institutional differences shape employers' choices of ways to improve work force flexibility, both numerical and functional and Whether Strategies for numerical flexibility and functional flexibility are related. The results suggest that institutional differences across these liberal market economies-specifically, in dismissal regulations and union stregth-did affect: how employers chose to achieve work force flexibility. For example, the use of part-time workers was more common in countries with more stringent rules regulating dismissals. Organizational characteristics also mattered, with outsourced firms being more likely than in-house firms to use part-time workers. Evidence also suggests that managers used numerical flexibility and functional flexibility Strategies as Substitutes: higher employee job discr etion was associated with both lower dismissal rates and a lower likelihood of temporary use.
• Berg, P.; Frost, A. C., 2005, "Dignity at Work for Low Wage, Low Skill Service Workers", Relations Industrielles-Industrial Relations, December 60(4): 657 - 682.
  Abstract: Using responses from a telephone survey of 589 low wage, low skill workers in US hospitals, the authors investigate the workplace features that influence workers' perceptions of dignity at work. Both work organization variables and union representation are investigated as potential factors affecting workers' perceptions of fair treatment by their employer, intrinsically satisfying work, and economic security. Work organization and union representation have little effect on dignity at work with the exception of their association with higher wages and therefore a greater degree of economic security. Results indicate that higher pay, adequate levels of staffing and resources, and access to training are the variables that are most closely associated with dignity on the job.
• Preuss, G.; Frost, A. C., 2003, "The Rise and Decline of Labor-Management Cooperation: Lessons from Health Care in the Twin Cities", California Management Review, January 45(2): 85 - 106.
  Abstract: Labor-management cooperation has been regarded for many years as a panacea for organizations' competitive woes. The academic and popular presses have lauded the joint efforts of companies and their unionized workforces to come together to solve companies' competitive problems while saving employees' jobs. Moreover, research on and examples of labor-management cooperation have found that through joint efforts, unions and firms can improve organizational performance and employee outcomes. Increasingly, however, it appears that cooperation is often but a short-lived phenomenon. This article examines a major initiative of labor-management cooperation that was undertaken to facilitate the fundamental restructuring of the health care delivery system in MinneapolisSt. Paul, MN. For 10 years, management of more than a dozen hospitals and representatives of the Minnesota Nurses' Association came together to negotiate and manage the process of system integration, rationalization, and delivery improvement. The results were remarkable. Yet, just a few years later, despite the success, only remnants of labor-management cooperation remain in these hospitals. This article examines the reasons for cooperation's demise and provides lessons for these engaged in cooperative undertakings that may help extend the life of those initiatives.
• Frost, A. C., 2001, "Reconceptualizing local union responses to workplace restructuring in North America", British Journal of Industrial Relations, December 39(4): 539 - 564.
  Abstract: To date no clear consensus has emerged about how industrial relations scholars ought to conceptualize union responses to workplace restructuring. Yet, local union responses to management-initiated workplace change can differ markedly and can have important implications for the outcomes of restructuring. This study examines the experiences of three local unions engaged in workplace restructuring in the North American steel industry and suggests a reconceptualization of local union responses, away from a simple 'militant'-'cooperative' dichotomy towards a conceptualization based on the process by which local unions engage with management over restructuring.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8543.00214

• Frost, A. C., 2001, "Creating and Sustaining Local Union Capabilities: The Role of the National Union", Relations Industrielles, May 56(2): 307 - 335.
  Abstract: Drawing on case study evidence from the automotive, steel, and glass making industries, this article examines the role played by the national union in shaping local unions' abilities to develop and sustain the capabilities critical to managing on-going workplace restructuring. The author presents evidence suggesting the importance of five national union characteristics. These characteristics are the breadth of the national union's representational coverage; the extent of its education and training focus on new workplace issues; the resources it devotes to research on the implications of new workplace practices; the presence of multiple communication channels; and its structuring of local union representation.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.7202/000027ar

• Frost, A. C., 2000, "Union involvement in workplace decision making: Implications for union democracy", Journal of Labor Research, June 21(2): 265 - 286.
• Frost, A. C., 2000, "Explaining variation in workplace restructuring: The role of local union capabilities", Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January 53(4): 559 - 578.
  Abstract: Using data collected from two matched pairs of integrated steel-making sites, the author describes variation that occurred in the process and outcomes of workplace restructuring. Four union capabilities - the ability to access information, to educate and mobilize the membership, to communicate with management at multiple levels, and to access decision-making at multiple points - appear to have been critical to two locals' success in negotiating with management over workplace restructuring in ways that benefited themselves, their members, and their firms. The author argues for including union locals' capabilities as a key variable in research aimed at understanding differences in outcomes across otherwise similar settings. * Ann Frost is Assistant Professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Financial support for this project was provided by the Industrial Performance Center at MIT and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The author thanks Thomas Kochan, Richard Locke, and Robert McKersie for their guidance over the course of this project, as well as Larry Hunter, Rosemary Batt, Tony Frost, and Marc Weinstein for valuable comments on this paper.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/001979390005300401

• Frost, A. C., 1997, "The Strategic Use of Cooperation and Conflict: The Cornerstone of Labour's Success in Workplace Restructuring", International Contributions to Labour Studies, January 7: 19 - 36.
  Abstract: Examining the experience of a Canadian Steelworker local in dealing with workplace restructuring, the author argues that labour strategies comprised of both cooperative and conflictual elements can produce successful outcomes for both labour and management. Undertaking cooperative ventures with management allows the union and its members access to decisions formerly the sole perogative of management. At the same time, engaging in conflict when labour's interests diverge from those of management can improve the outcomes of that cooperative process. The leverage labour gains through conflict can encourage workers to openly contribute their insights and knowledge to the redesign of work knowing that their interests will be protected by their union. It also can force management to consider issues and criteria for decision making that it may otherwise not and that may in the long run produce better outcomes.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://cpes.org.uk/om/items/show/249

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