scholarly journals Ocularcentric Labour:  “you don’t do this for money”

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 505-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sappey ◽  
Glenda Maconachie
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Collective Interest ◽  
Emotional Labour ◽  
Australian Health ◽  
Fitness Industry ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
Social Rewards ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

This article is a response to Lansbury’s call (2009) in this journal for a re-conceptualization of work and employment. It supports Lansbury’s belief that the employment relationship cannot be understood in isolation from wider social change. Building on the tradition of emotional labour and aesthetic labour, this study introduces theoretically and empirically the concept of “ocularcentric labour” (the worker seeking the adoring gaze of the client as the primary employment reward). This paper seeks to establish: the empirical generalizability of ocularcentric labour; its conceptual differentiation with aesthetic and emotional labour; and the implications of ocularcentric labour for industrial relations and collective interest representation. Through a study of the employment relationship in the commercial health and fitness industry in Queensland (Australia), we identify this new type of labour as one in which the worker’s primary goal is to seek the psycho-social rewards gained from exposing their own body image. This quest shapes the employment relationship (both the organization of work and the conditions of employment). We argue that for many fitness workers the goal is to gain access to the positional economy of the fitness centre to promote their celebrity. For this they are willing to trade-off standard conditions of employment and direct earnings, and exchange traditional employment rewards for the more intrinsic psycho-social rewards gained through the exposure of their physical capital to the adoration of their gazing clients. As one worker said “You don’t do this for money.” Significantly, with ocularcentric labour the worker becomes both the site of production and consumption. The study draws on quantitative and qualitative data captured from the Australian health and fitness industry with one snapshot taken in 1993 and another in 2008. The conclusion draws together the key conceptual and empirical points and findings and examines the implications for the conceptualization of IR in the contemporary economy.

Career Paths and Advice for Women Wanting to Obtain a Management Position within the Health and Fitness Industry

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenna G. Bower
Keyword(s):  
Career Paths ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Entry Level ◽  
Fitness Industry ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
Management Positions ◽  
Sport Industry ◽  
Career Advice ◽  
Women In Sports ◽  
Management Position

While scholars have focused their attention on women working in management positions within several segments of the sport industry, limited research has been done within the health and fitness industry. The purpose of this study provided career path information and advice to women pursuing a management position within the health and fitness industry. The participants were 480female managers who were distributed the Career Paths of Women in Sports Survey in eliciting responses related to their career paths and career advice. Means were calculated for the quantitative data. A three-step content-analytic procedure was used to analyze the qualitative data. The practical information focused on women climbing the ladder from an entry-level position to the management position they are in today. Career advice included, but was not limited to, continuing education, staying up-to-date on certifications, gaining practical experience, networking, and obtaining a mentor.

Labour adjudication in Swaziland: the exclusive jurisdiction of the Industrial Court

1999 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-200
Author(s):  
Chuks Okpaluba
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Exclusive Jurisdiction ◽  
Employment Conditions ◽  
Collective Negotiation ◽  
Settlement Of Disputes ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

When the Industrial Relations Act was enacted in Swaziland in 1980 its express object was to provide for the collective negotiation of terms and conditions of employment and for the establishment of an Industrial Court for the settlement of disputes arising out of employment. In turn, the avowed purpose for the establishment of the Industrial Court as the nerve centre and most important institution established by the legislative scheme was, and still is, “for the furtherance, securing and maintenance of good industrial relations and employment conditions in Swaziland”. As in the case of other industrial courts and labour adjudicatory institutions with special and limited jurisdiction elsewhere, issues surrounding the jurisdiction of the Industrial Court of Swaziland have given rise to a measure of controversy.

scholarly journals Agonising over industrial relations: Bringing agonism and dissensus to the pluralist frames of reference

2020 ◽  
pp. 002218562096253
Author(s):  
Harry J Van Buren ◽  
Michelle Greenwood ◽  
Jimmy Donaghey ◽  
Juliane Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Employment Relationship ◽  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chantal Mouffe

The construct of pluralism has allowed us to see a world where parties could pursue divergent interests, sometimes to the point of conflict, and still work together to realise goals. In response to changing models of employment that are threatening many of the values and interests core to workers and society, new readings of pluralism have emerged that we will argue oscillate between antagonism and consensus. In response, we proffer the concepts of agonism and dissensus as bridging different schools of pluralist thought. Our article commences with a review of affordances and limitations of new pluralism. We then introduce the political philosophy of Chantal Mouffe – in particular her conceptualisations of agonism and dissensus – and discuss how these have been employed in consideration of the employment relationship. Next we describe a case salient to our argument, the ready-made garment industry’s stakeholder engagement responses to the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh, into which we bring an understanding of agonism with the possibilities of dissensual engagement. We conclude with our contribution, the development of a nuanced view of pluralism based on dissensus and agonism, which better accounts for the co-existence of cooperation and conflict.

scholarly journals The Intention-to-Repurchase Paradox: A Case of the Health and Fitness Industry

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Ferrand ◽  
Leigh Robinson ◽  
Pierre Valette-Florence
Keyword(s):  
Customer Relations ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Quality Level ◽  
Brand Associations ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Customer Commitment ◽  
Fitness Industry ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
Perceived Price ◽  
Positive Direct

The article proposes a conceptual model to examine the relationships between service attributes, brand associations, customer satisfaction, commitment, price of membership, and intention to repurchase in a fitness club. The results show that the services offered by the club, its security, and the promoted image of the club impact positively on satisfaction. The customer relations at the club, customer commitment, and their frequency of weekly attendance have a positive direct effect on intention to repurchase. Perceived price has a negative direct influence. Finally, the research showed that overall satisfaction has a slight positive impact on frequency of attendance. These findings create a paradox for managers of health and fitness organizations who will have to balance the need to increase frequency of attendance to positively impact on intention to repurchase with the need to deliver the service attributes that affect satisfaction and intention to repurchase at high quality level.

scholarly journals Perspectives of Platform Operators, Content Producers, and Information Receivers toward Health and Fitness Apps

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Ching Li ◽  
Chia-Wen Lee ◽  
Tzu-Chun Huang ◽  
Wei-Shiang Lai
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Ahp Method ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Content Category ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Fitness Industry ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
New Feature ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Hierarchy Process

The interactive mechanism among platform operators, content producers, and information receivers is increasingly complex in human–computer symbiosis. The purpose of this study is to identify the interactive value among platform operators, content producers, and information receivers with regard to information through the health and fitness apps by adopting an advanced Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method derived from professional perspectives of app users and operators, key opinion leaders, scholars, and officers. The AHP method was allocated weightings to the evaluation criteria from the twelve panelists from three groups of platform operators, content producers, and information receivers. After focus group interviews were conducted, four dimensions and twelve sub-dimensions of the initial health and fitness apps were obtained as follows: Content category: Monitoring, exercise, journaling, and sleeping; (2) User reviews: Fuctionality, interactivity, and criticism; (3) Content updates: New feature, correctness, and new language; (4) Platform terms: Privacy, accuracy, ownership, and right of use. The study integrated the panelists’ opinions toward health and fitness apps and analyzed the weight of each indicator according to their importance by Power Choice V2.5. The results revealed that the weights of dimensions of health and fitness apps were sorted by content category, user review, platform terms, and content update, as well as that the weights of the top six sub-dimensions were followed: monitoring, exercise, functionality, interactivity, privacy, and accuracy. Content producers suggested increasing the popularity of their products by adding new features, whereas information receivers preferred to correct problems. Content producers and information receivers graded platform terms as less essential, whereas platform operators rated platform terms higher. This study can contribute to assisting the health and fitness industry and the overall strategic operative process by identifying how the effectiveness in the procedures, estimative process, and cost-down can enhance competitiveness to further improve users experience and satisfaction.

Dock Strikes and the Demise of the Dockers' ‘Occupational Culture’

1992 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Turnbull
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Occupational Group ◽  
Principal Factor ◽  
Occupational Culture ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Coal Miners ◽  
Cargo Handling ◽  
Post War ◽  
Central Pillar ◽  
Conditions Of Employment

Throughout the post-war period dockers have vied with coal miners as Britain's most strike-prone occupational group. The dockers' ‘occupational culture’ was believed by many to be a principal factor behind this militancy, but this alone cannot account for the pattern or level of conflict on the waterfront. Furthermore, following decasualisation in 1967 and the progressive unitisation of cargo handling operations in the 1970s and 1980s the occupational culture of the dockers was progressively undermined. By the late 1980s the National Dock Labour Scheme had become the central pillar of what remained of the dockers' occupational culture, and as the 1989 national dock strike illustrated, without the support of the Scheme the dockers were unable to mount any effective resistance to the attack on their terms and conditions of employment initiated by the employers and fully supported by the state. It is only by integrating the sociological study of working class imagery and consciousness with an industrial relations analysis of the institutions, processes and structural conditions of workplace negotiations over the wage-effort bargain that it is possible to explain the nature and causes of dock strikes per se, the intensity of conflict on the waterfront, and the consummate failure of the dockers in the 1989 strike.

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