Experimental data, observational data, and analyses using automatic association data show that the manager–worker racial identity match influences hiring, pay, and access to managerial resources. Explanations of racial inequality in labor market outcomes depend on the wage–productivity relationship. The manager–worker racial identity match may affect productivity and wages in two ways: managers may use higher pay and better promotion opportunities to raises the productivity and wages of own-group workers; and, managers provide time, assistance, or other resources to own group workers and thereby increase their productivity, employment stability, and opportunities for promotion. Stratification economists link persistent discrimination to job competition. Equally skilled workers may receive different pay for doing the same work because they are employed at firms that are differentiated by the capacity to pay and by the capacity of workers to make firms pay. Equally skilled workers who perform the same job at firms with less competitive characteristics, or who are part of a workforce with lower bargaining power, will receive lower pay.

This chapter is based on a systematic review of 29 randomized controlled trials published between the years 2000 and 2020, evaluating the effectiveness of workplace interventions involving manager and/or supervisors aimed at reducing occupational stress and improving the well-being of workers. The critical role of leaders in impacting employee stress and well-being outcomes was the focus. Across each of the intervention studies, five primary themes of focus to improve employee outcomes were identified, including job design and ergonomic workplace conditions, employee psychological health, physical health, safety, and employee received or perceived supervisor support. We conclude the chapter by offering practical recommendations for future avenues of supervisory intervention work with consideration for translational and dissemination-implementation strategies to improve employee stress and well-being.

This chapter addresses how senior managers (executives, directors) and immediate managers (those to whom employees report directly) can protect, if not enhance, employees’ mental health. We begin by defining the broad concept of employee “mental health.” We then review scientific literature addressing senior and immediate managers’ potential roles in supporting employee mental health. Although more has been published on immediate managers, much of that work has failed to provide practically useful insights, because of vague conceptualizations, poorly developed measures, or insufficient integration across related topics of study. To help fill that gap, we propose a comprehensive behavioral taxonomy of mental health–supportive supervision. This taxonomy integrates evidence-based insights on the types of behavior that immediate managers should avoid, those they should display, and helpful actions advocated by mental health first aid training programs. Lastly, we list several pressing avenues for future research.

Chapter 7 re-examines the ‘book-farming’ controversy of the late eighteenth century. It first highlights the precarious power of book-knowledge, which offered mastery to an educated landowning class, but was a poor substitute for experience. The analysis distinguishes between a weak and a strong critique of agricultural books. The weak critique expressed by authors themselves condemned an overly theoretical approach or the overly speculative ideas in books. The strong critique was expressed in the reported hostility of working farmers, which was fundamentally suspicious of the value of learning about farming from books and challenged the proclaimed authority of writers. It argues that the strong opposition to book-farming can only be understood by considering the balance of power within agricultural labour relations. Hostility to book-farming was a form of ‘everyday resistance’ to the subordination of customary knowledge and the use of books as tools of management in the running of estates and large farms.

The Introduction defines and describes private equity-backed companies, explains why they matter and why policymakers are concerned about them. It explains how the book explores corporate governance mechanisms in these companies and why these might be expected to affect outcomes.The Introduction also explains that the book is focused on the UK but has global relevance.