Hospital Demography and Turnover Among Nurses

There has been increasing interest in examining turnover at the organizational level of analysis. In a study using a sample of more than 250 hospitals, turnover among nurses is found to be negatively related to the local unemployment rate and positively related to two demographic measures which assess the degree of inequality or heterogeneity in length of service among nurses. Turnover in this study is shown to be related to heterogeneity among cohorts, not individuals or groups. The results are consistent with earlier studies which have shown the importance of organizational demography for understanding turnover and demonstrate important differences in the way in which demography can be measured.     

接管壁垒缺失与国有企业经营者低效更替的发生

接管壁垒是治理结构的一个重要环节,它在维护企业家职位稳定性的同时,可以防止和减少低效率更替的发生。本文的分析表明,在以行政干预下的“内部人”控制为特征的国有企业治理结构中,接管壁垒的缺失使企业经营者的更替陷入“低壁垒,高更替,低效率”的恶性循环。因此,解决领导班子问题必须从治理结构的源头－产权改革开始,并为企业家阶层的形成提供金融制度的支持。     

Inventory management: Is there a knock-on effect?

Over the last several years a number of independent empirical studies have shown that organizational performance is related to a portfolio of management techniques, clearly demonstrating that there is no single “silver bullet.” In fact, these studies indicate that performance is positively correlated with the number of techniques employed and the depth of their implementation. Operational outcomes in areas like product quality, on-time delivery and productivity, as well as market measures like margins and export sales are both positively related to the implementation of a variety of techniques. This paper explores the relationship between the use of effective inventory management practices (as reflected in inventory turnover) and the implementation of other manufacturing practices. The hypothesis is that effective inventory management practices have a positive knock-on effect on the implementation of other practices. Since organizational performance is related to the implementation of multiple practices, the knock-on effect should have a positive effect on performance as well. The results show that inventory turnover is significantly related to the implementation of other techniques and weakly related to an index of overall company performance. This suggests a positive knock-on effect, but that it takes more than inventory management to achieve high levels of performance. Having established the knock-on relationship adds more evidence to the notion that management excellence in one area begets management excellence in others.     

Toward a framework for mixed-gender selling teams and the impact of increased female presence on team performance: Thought development and propositions

Team selling and the increasing representation of women in the sales force are two current trends contributing to the complexity of managing the sales environment, yet little work exists investigating the impact of women on selling team performance. This paper anchors on cognitive resource diversity theory and integrates relevant prior research to propose a new proposition-driven framework that explains why gender diversity of team members improves team performance. Specifically, we provide evidence to suggest that the addition of females to all-male selling teams should positively impact team performance by reducing the average turnover rate of high performers within the team; by enhancing relational skills, organizational citizenship behaviors, and shared leadership within the team; and by building on the favorable effects associated with team heterogeneity. We also consider the moderating effects that potentially deeply ingrained connections among members of all-male teams may have on changes in team gender composition, as well as the importance of a culture of organizational inclusion on the favorable effects of team heterogeneity overall. Managerial implications of increased female presence on teams are proffered, along with suggested next steps in research and limitations of the present conceptualization.     

Mass Layoffs and CEO Turnover

We investigate the relationship between layoff announcements and CEO turnover over a 31-year period. We find that layoffs significantly increase CEO turnover in the following year, and, in some time periods, CEO changes are strongly positively associated with layoff announcements two years earlier. We proceed to show how this relationship has changed over time, and offer several possible explanations. Finally, we find strong evidence that layoffs that are associated with negative stock price reactions are much more likely to lead to CEO turnover than those associated with positive stock price reactions, especially in the earlier years in our sample.     

External Churning and Internal Flexibility: Evidence on the Functional Flexibility and Core-Periphery Hypotheses

Functionally flexible systems for organizing work may reduce job instability and insecurity by reducing employers' reliance on job cuts or contingent work to respond to changes in their environments. Related arguments hypothesize that contingent work allows firms to adjust labor while "buffering" their core of permanent workers from job instability. We find evidence that internally flexible work systems are associated with reduced involuntary and voluntary turnover in manufacturing but that contingent work and involuntary turnover of the permanent workforce are positively related regardless of sector, in contrast to the prediction of the core-periphery hypothesis.     

Industrial Relations Climate, Attendance Behaviour and the Role of Trade Unions

In recent years there has been a growing interest in the impact of co-operative union–management relations on firm performance and organizational outcomes such as employee turnover and absenteeism. This paper seeks to identify the factors that affect the development of a co-operative industrial relations climate and analyses the effects of that climate on organizational and union allegiance and on employee attendance behaviour. The data are drawn from a study of a large automotive manufacturer in Australia. The results indicate that a positive union–management relationship is associated with higher levels of work attendance. Moreover, this outcome is consistent with the presence of strong and effective unionism at the workplace.     

Organizational Attributes,Market Growth,and Product Innovation

Extensive research has shown that organizational attributes affect product innovation. Extending this literature, this article delimits two general categories of organizational attributes and relates them to product innovation. Organizational attributes can be either control oriented or flexibility oriented. Control‐oriented organizational attributes strive to realize organizational activities as intended, while flexibility‐oriented attributes allow organizational activities to emerge in a directed way. The classical institutional theory suggests that organizational attributes, no matter whether they are control oriented or flexibility oriented, serve two major functions: a constraining function and an enabling function. Recognizing the dual functions of organizational attributes, this article argues that both types of organizational attributes are indispensable for the functioning of innovative organizations and that the impacts of control‐oriented organizational attributes on product innovation decrease with market growth, while the impacts of flexibility‐oriented organizational attributes on product innovation increase with market growth. Empirical results largely support these hypotheses. Strategic planning, as a control‐oriented organizational attribute, is positively associated with product innovativeness, regardless of the market growth rate. The effectiveness of other organizational attributes, including formalization and organizational redundancy, varies with market conditions. As the rate of market growth increases, formalization becomes less effective for, but never becomes detrimental to, product innovativeness. Conversely, as the rate of market growth increases, organizational redundancy becomes more effective for product innovativeness. Overall, the results show that both control‐oriented and flexibility‐oriented elements are indispensable for the design of innovative organizations.     

Correlates of turnover propensity of software professionals in small high tech companies

Abstract
The intent of this study is to shed some empirical light on the turnover propensity of software professionals in small software companies. Different sized firms were included to examine whether organizational size affected the relationships between the time the employees expected to stay in their present company, and a range of personal and organizational characteristics. A sample of 339 employees completed a questionnaire on their experience of and reactions to working in their current firm. None of the usual demographic indicators, e.g. age or tenure, was related to turnover propensity. The more time spent on programming, debugging or implementation, the shorter the time expected to stay. Satisfaction with both job and senior management was strongly related to expecting to stay longer, although satisfaction with project team or immediate boss showed virtually no relationship at all. The effect of organizational size occurred primarily with different company atmosphere qualities and certain work conditions. A warm atmosphere, fun and enjoyment, and friends in the company were important correlates only for the companies with below 50 people. Autonomy was a critical theme in the companies with 150–250 people, and recognition and advancement were important in the large company with approximately 2,000 employees. This suggests that the critical issues managers are confronted with would be different in organizations of different sizes.     

Flexible Work Hours and Productivity: Some Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

Flexible work hours potentially influence productivity through effects on absenteeism and turnover, organizational attachment, job attitudes, work-related stress, and other areas. Prior studies suggest positive effects on productivity but are inconclusive because of small sample sizes, failure to apply direct productivity measures, or failure to account for other associated changes. We apply alternative fixed- and random-effects models to estimate production functions using panel data, with controls included for firm effects, time effects, capital quality, autocorrelation, and specification error. The results suggest that flexible work schedules contribute to improvements of about 10 percent in productivity.     

Project visioning: Its components and impact on new product success

The concept of corporate vision has been receiving considerable attention in the strategy scholarship. A clear and lofty organizational vision can provide direction to a company and can positively impact its ability to succeed. Yet research on vision at the project level has been curiously lacking. The purpose of this research is to define project vision, discuss its components and explore its impact on successful new product development. After studying the vision on a series of 13 innovations at three companies (Apple, IBM and HP), we identified several components of an effective project vision that include vision clarity, vision agreement/support and vision stability and assessed their impact on new product success. To confirm the validity and generalizability of our observations, we then tested these insights on 509 new product teams from a wide variety of firms. We found that an effective vision varies depending on the innovation type - incremental, evolutionary and radical. Our results demonstrate that vision clarity is positively associated with success in evolutionary (market or technical), and radical innovations, but not for incremental projects. Vision stability is positively associated with success in incremental and evolutionary market innovations; and vision support is positively associated with success in incremental, and evolutionary technical innovations.     

Pricing superheroes: How a confident sales team can influence firm performance

Despite strong evidence of substantial impact on the bottom line, most companies counter-intuitively neglect the pricing function — as do most scholars. Although pricing is gaining in popularity, only a few articles published in major marketing journals focus on it, and scholars have long asked how organizational and behavioral characteristics of firms affect the link between pricing practices and firm performance. To address these practical and theoretical deficits, we surveyed 507 professionals involved in account and sales management at business-to-business (B2B) firms from around the world to measure the influence of five organizational factors on sales collective confidence associated with pricing and relative firm performance. Results demonstrate that four of the five factors (pricing capabilities, delegation of pricing authority, incentive and goal systems, and knowledge before negotiation) positively and significantly influence sales collective confidence associated with pricing. In turn, we find collective confidence in the sales force to be significantly and positively related to relative firm performance, suggesting that firms that are able to design organizations and allocate resources in a way that maximizes pricing confidence can achieve superior financial outcomes. In aggregate, these organizational factors promote competitive advantage and comparative firm performance.     

特殊主义文化环境中组织内部关系的几个问题

特殊主义文化环境会使组织内部关系具有如下一些特点：在组织成员选择中更倾向于吸收有特殊关系者,人员流动性小,按关系分配职位的倾向更为显著;更高领导者更换频率小,继承周期长,但“继承问题”更为严重;人际关系对组织活动影响更大,人事工作及人事权具有更大的重要性,易于滋生宗派主义小集团,造成“兵”不能不为“将”所有,又不能为“将”所有的困境。文中进一步探讨了上述特点对人力资源配置效率、人力资本投资、组织凝聚力、组织内部职能分化、组织结构、组织的兼并等方面的影响。     

The trusted general manager and business unit performance: empirical evidence of a competitive advantage

Employee trust for the general manager is proposed as an internal organizational characteristic that provides a competitive advantage for the firm. This paper empirically examines the relationship between trust for a business unit's general manager and organizational performance. Trust was found to be significantly related to sales, profits and employee turnover in the restaurant industry. Managers who were either more or less trusted differed significantly in perceptions of their ability, benevolence and integrity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of external knowledge sources and organizational design in the process of opportunity exploitation

Research highlights the role of external knowledge sources in the recognition of strategic opportunities but is less forthcoming with respect to the role of such sources during the process of exploiting or realizing opportunities. We build on the knowledge‐based view to propose that realizing opportunities often involves significant interactions with external knowledge sources. Organizational design can facilitate a firm's interactions with these sources, while achieving coordination among organizational members engaged in opportunity exploitation. Our analysis of a double‐respondent survey involving 536 Danish firms shows that the use of external knowledge sources is positively associated with opportunity exploitation, but the strength of this association is significantly influenced by organizational designs that enable the firm to access external knowledge during the process of exploiting opportunities. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of predevelopment activities in the relationship between market orientation and performance

To determine how critical predevelopment activities are for a market-oriented firm to achieve superior performance, our study uses data from 126 firms in The Netherlands to investigate the structural relationships among market orientation, the proficiency in predevelopment activities, new product performance, and organizational performance. The results provide evidence that market orientation is positively related to the proficiency in strategic planning, idea generation and idea screening. Strategic planning and idea generation are positively related to new product performance, which in itself is positively related to organizational performance. Market orientation has no direct relationship with new product performance and organizational performance. Another interesting finding is that the links between market orientation and new product performance, and between market orientation and organizational performance are not moderated by the characteristics of the market environment.     

An empirical analysis of inventory turnover behaviour in Greek retail sector: 2000-2005

In this study we investigate the determinants of inventory turnover. The study is based on an econometric analysis of inventory behaviour using an inventory turnover model. The empirical implementation of the model was conducted on a sample of financial data for 566 Greek retail firms for the period 2000-2005. By employing panel data techniques it was found that inventory turnover ratio is negatively correlated with gross margin and positively correlated with capital intensity and a measure of sales surprise.Decomposing the variance into its components associated with year, firm and retail segment effects, we found that a substantial amount of inventory turns variability is due to segment-wise effects. Moreover, the inventory turnover reaction to different sales changes was also studied. It was estimated that changes in sales bring on bigger changes when firms operate in sales-declined region. These results are useful in identifying methods and applications to improve inventory performance among firms and over time.     

Unravelling the internal and external drivers of digital servitization: A dynamic capabilities and contingency perspective on firm strategy

Despite the increased interest in using digital technologies for servitization purposes, little is known about what drives firms towards a digital servitization strategy. Using a dynamic capabilities lens, we look into the relationships between two organizational mechanisms – exploitation and exploration – and firms' orientation towards digitization, servitization and digital servitization. On top, we examine the influence of two environmental contingencies – technological turbulence and competitive intensity – as potential influencers of these relationships. We collected and analyzed data of 139 Belgian firms through hierarchical regressions. Exploitation and exploration are positively associated with digital servitization, but exploration trumps the effect of exploitation when firms do both. Technological turbulence is positively associated with digitization regardless of the firm's level of exploration or exploitation, and competitive intensity only relates positively with servitization when firms emphasize exploration. Theoretically, we contribute to the literature by unravelling the relationship between firms' dynamic capabilities and their environment. In order to fully understand firms' strategic transition towards digital servitization, both should be considered. As managerial implications, we suggest that firms pay close attention to adapting their strategy to fit an increasingly changing environment.     

Top management team turnover as an adaptation mechanism: The role of the environment

Based on an organizational adaptation framework, this study examines the influence of three environmental dimensions–munificence, stability, and complexity–on top management team turnover. In addition to investigating the direct influence of these environmental dimensions, indirect effects through firm performance and strategic change are also examined; the indirect effect of environmental complexity through demographic heterogeneity is also studied. Path analysis indicates that the direct effects of the three environmental dimensions predominate. Indirect effects were nonsignificant except for the effect of instability and munificence through strategic change. By expanding the team turnover context to include environmental and strategic dimensions, in addition to previously examined performance and heterogeneity factors, this study enhances our understanding of managerial turnover as a form of organizational adaptation.     

The Role of Trustworthiness in Maintaining Employee Commitment During Restructuring in China

The influence of competency- and affect-based attributions of managerial trustworthiness on employee commitment during restructuring is investigated within a large telecommunications firm in greater China. It was found that competency-based attributions are positively related to employees' value commitment, whereas affect-based attributions are positively related to employees' continuance commitment (i.e., the propensity to maintain employment). Attributions of trustworthiness were also found to interact with perceptions of uncertainty associated with restructuring. Although no interaction effects were found for continuance commitment, three moderating effects involving trustworthiness attributions were observed between uncertainty and value commitment. Generally speaking, these moderating influences of trustworthiness tended to attenuate the influences of uncertainties on commitment. Overall, the relationships between uncertainties associated with restructuring and organizational commitment were negative with the exception of uncertainty about the restructuring effort itself, which was positively related to continuance commitment.