HR in collaborative innovation with customers: role,alignment and challenges

Companies are engaging in collaborative innovation with their customers (CIC), but there has been no comprehensive discussion of the role of human resources (HR) in such initiatives or the challenges involved. We begin with a brief overview of CIC and the challenges for HR and then draw on different streams of research to develop a conceptual framework for the alignment of HR with CIC strategies. Theoretical foundations for the components of the framework are integrated with the discussions of its various components. We begin with a review of staffing and development practices focused on collaboration and relationship skills, as well as creativity, and collaborative- and commitment-oriented HR systems. We then discuss how HR deployment, performance management, control practices and contextual factors potentially affect the relationship between antecedent HR practices and the collaborative and innovative behaviors needed for CIC. Several challenges in aligning HR practices with CIC are explored, such as the limited supply of research talent inclined toward CIC, skills for collecting tacit knowledge, performance assessment and risk-related career implications. Other broader challenges are discussed, such as deployment, preserving internal innovation capabilities and controlling confidential information. Suggestions for overcoming challenges for HR in CIC are discussed and ideas for future research are provided.     

Feelings of Pride and Respect as Drivers of Ongoing Member Activity on Crowdsourcing Platforms

Crowdsourcing platforms are online organizations that organize work by sourcing tasks to their members. As participation on crowdsourcing platforms is completely voluntary, getting members to actively participate in tasks on an ongoing basis is essential for the survival of these online platforms. Why members would be active on an ongoing basis, however, is currently not well understood. To understand ongoing member activity on crowdsourcing platforms, we build on the group engagement model, which postulates that feelings of pride and respect influence engagement because they foster identification with the group. We argue that, although in general the nature of crowdsourcing platforms limits the effects of identification processes on member behaviour, feelings of pride and respect will still play central roles in such online organizations, because feelings of pride and respect can directly drive members’ cooperative behaviors towards the platform organization. Moreover, we posit that the way in which platform organizations communicate with their members affects these feelings of pride and respect. We test these ideas in a longitudinal, multisource field study and find that feelings of pride drive ongoing member activity on an online crowdsourcing platform directly and that platform management can increase members’ feelings of pride and respect by engaging in specific organizational communication practices.     

The wisdom of crowds: The potential of online communities as a tool for data analysis

Online communities have become an important source for knowledge and new ideas. This paper considers the potential of crowdsourcing as a tool for data analysis to address the increasing problems faced by companies in trying to deal with “Big Data”. By exposing the problem to a large number of participants proficient in different analytical techniques, crowd competitions can very quickly advance the technical frontier of what is possible using a given dataset. The empirical setting of the research is Kaggle, the world?s leading online platform for data analytics, which operates as a knowledge broker between companies aiming to outsource predictive modelling competitions and a network of over 100,000 data scientists that compete to produce the best solutions. The paper follows an exploratory case study design and focuses on the efforts by Dunnhumby, the consumer insight company behind the success of the Tesco Clubcard, to find and lever the enormous potential of the collective brain to predict shopper behaviour. By adopting a crowdsourcing approach to data analysis, Dunnhumby were able to extract information from their own data that was previously unavailable to them. Significantly, crowdsourcing effectively enabled Dunnhumby to experiment with over 2000 modelling approaches to their data rather than relying on the traditional internal biases within their R&D units.     

在泰华人企业家或管理者对员工的激励思想导向研究

论文运用定性的方法对在泰华人企业家或管理者的激励思想导向进行探索性研究。通过采访11位在泰国经营企业的老板或管理者,对其激励思想在内容、过程和结果三个维度进行探究,并用思维导图进行线索分析发现,被访者对激励思想有共识,也有差异。被访者认为公司应满足员工的基本生理需求和安全需求,强调公平和薪酬在激励员工时的作用。但在一些激励思想上,被访者观点存在异同,如薪酬的发放形式、采取奖励还是处罚、注重提升能力还是职位晋升、员工怎样才是尊重管理者、赢得员工归属感和关爱员工等。基于此,论文给予管理者和员工一些激励上的建议。     

Saving Our Oceans: Scaling the Impact of Robust Action Through Crowdsourcing

One approach for tackling grand challenges that is gaining traction in recent management literature is robust action: by allowing diverse stakeholders to engage with novel ideas, initiatives can cultivate successful ideas that yield greater impact. However, a potential pitfall of robust action is the length of time it takes to generate momentum. Crowdsourcing, we argue, is a valuable tool that can scale the generation of impact from robust action. We studied an award-winning environmental sustainability crowdsourcing initiative and found that robust action principles were indeed successful in attracting a diverse stakeholder network to generate novel ideas and develop these into sustainable solutions. Yet we also observed that the momentum and novelty generated was at risk of getting lost as the actors and their roles changed frequently throughout the process. We show the vital importance of robust action principles for connecting ideas and actors across crowdsourcing phases. These observations allow us to make a contribution to extant theory by explaining the micro-dynamics of scaling robust action's impact over time.     

内部服务质量理论及其对服务性企业管理实践的启示

根据服务利润链理论,内部服务质量决定了员工的满意感,满意的员工能够为顾客提供高价值的服务,从而使顾客形成满意感和忠诚感,为企业赢得利润和发展。要激励全体员工做好服务工作,自觉地为顾客提供优质服务,服务性企业必须将广大员工当做内部顾客,尽力满足员工的需要和愿望,为员工提供优质的内部服务。     

The firm,the platform and the customer: A “double mangle” interpretation of social media for innovation

The aim of this article was to explore the relationship between human actors and technology in the context of a social media platform, developed by a leading Italian firm in the food industry, and created to keep in contact with its customers, while gathering innovative ideas from them.In order to address these issues, we adopt a theoretical approach that is deeply rooted in Pickering's “mangle” theory, and Jones' subsequent metaphor of “double dance of agency” i.e. human and material agencies. A longitudinal case study has been developed with two rounds of interviews with marketing and R&D managers. A total of 8 recorded interviews, for 22 h overall.We examined conditions in the ongoing functioning of the platform, and considered how the website's dynamic materiality configures and reconfigures the practices and possibilities of different modes of engagement by multiple users (i.e. firm employees and customers) and vice versa. Specifically, dealing with the case of a social media platform developed by a firm to gain clearly defined organizational ends, the entanglement is considered to be double. One entanglement is between the human agency of customers and the material agency of the social media platform. The other is between the human agency of the firm and the material agency of the social media platform, including all actions that human agents (i.e. firm employees) undertake in seeking to channel material agency and shape actions of other human agents, i.e. customers.     

顾客需求与组织制度的碰撞:亲顾客偏离行为的形成与影响

亲顾客偏离行为是指一线员工以帮助顾客、维护顾客利益、满足顾客个性化需求为首要动机,在服务交付过程中有意识偏离组织正式规章制度、服务规程或政策禁令的一种角色外行为。本文立足于亲顾客偏离行为"亲顾客"与"偏离组织规则"这两个特征,系统性揭示员工亲顾客偏离行为的形成机制与影响后果。在形成机制方面,揭示了服务型领导通过激发员工的心理安全感与工作自主性,来增强员工的自我效能感,最终促进员工的亲顾客偏离行为,组织创新氛围与员工冒险倾向在上述过程中起到正向调节作用。在影响后果方面,揭示了亲顾客偏离行为的双刃剑效应,既能引发涉事顾客的感知优待与赞许他人的道德情绪,促使其做出积极的服务评价;又会引发同属顾客的不公平感知与谴责他人的道德情绪,致使其做出消极的服务评价,涉事顾客的涉入度在上述过程中起到负向调节作用。本文有助于科学地认识、评估并有效引导员工的亲顾客偏离行为。     

基于管理会计视角下XX公司战略地图研究

我国经济正处在转变发展方式、优化经济结构、转换增长动力的攻关期,要用科学的思路和方法来指导经济工作,用新的发展理念引领发展行动。论文以XX公司为研究对象,运用SWOT分析方法对企业内外部环境进行分析,得出XX公司的战略目标是做大做强,进而从财务、顾客、内部业务流程和学习与成长四个维度,绘制XX公司战略地图,梳理了员工绩效考核关键指标,使战略管理可视化,保证XX公司的目标得以实现。     

On the dark side of codes: Domination not enlightenment

In this paper, we show how a middle manager interprets the action of two employees as problematic and how he solves it by using the company's code of ethics as the basis for firing them. Our telling of the story unmasks a darker side of codes and we conceptualize it in terms of power and domination. The paper contributes to the literature on corporate codes of ethics (CCEs) and corporate ethics programs by showing that such codes need not necessarily play an enabling role in organizations. Rather than being instruments of enlightenment and self-regulation, they may be used as instruments to further domination.     

Citizenship ambivalence: Its nature,causes and consequences

Early research on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) indicated that such actions were beneficial to organizations and employees. In contrast, more recent work has suggested that there are also some negative consequences associated with these behaviors as well. However, research has yet to examine how employees who recognize both positive and negative aspects of OCB navigate this reality. To better understand this phenomenon, we define a new construct, citizenship ambivalence, which occurs when employees feel torn as to whether they should engage in or refrain from engaging in a specific act of OCB. We discuss the likely sources of citizenship ambivalence and employee responses to citizenship ambivalence, focusing particular attention on how citizenship ambivalence relates to the quantity of OCB performed, the quality of OCB performed, and citizenship fatigue. After discussing the causes and consequences of citizenship ambivalence, we conclude with a discussion of the implications for human resource management and directions for future research.     

Integrated enterprise management: a look at the functions, the enterprise, and the environment--can you see the difference?

The performance of an organization is paced by its use of resources, including its ability to acquire, access, and use knowledge. A high-performance organization, more than likely, has structured its resources around process linkages and is characterized by a horizontal organization chart, teams and teamwork, empowerment, and operational excellence. Organizational researchers hypothesize that performance improves with fuzzy internal boundaries, cross-functional participation, and goals anchored in the interests of customers and other external stakeholders. This article looks at the competitive need for more integration of resources and greater sharing of knowledge, the integrated nature of work within emerging types of organizations, how expanded views can improve the marketplace centering of processes and individuals, and how combining a model of integration and individual work challenges thinking and actions in the new environment.     

树立以顾客为中心的企业质量观

本文在探讨质量观内涵的基础上分析了质量观的基础是价值观,并论述了顾客满意质量观的基本思想,提出了新世纪企业应树立起顾客满意质量观。随后,文章通过研究员工质量观的提升问题和顾客质量观的引导问题,进而分析员工质量观与顾客质量观之间的相互促进关系,从而阐述了顾客满意质量观的实现途径。     

Managing customers as human resources in service organizations

On-site service encounters blur the organizational boundary between employees and customers. The strategic trade-offs involved in having customers on-site, and the HRM practices that can influence the satisfaction and performance of customers within the organization, are described. Central points include the HRM practices that foster a climate for service and that provide customers the role clarity, ability, and motivation they require to contribute to service production and delivery.     

Implementing circular economy in the textile and clothing industry

This research reveals the current state of the circular economy (CE), challenges and opportunities of implementing CE and interventions that could facilitate effective implementation of CE in the textile and clothing (TC) industry. The study uses a survey method within 114 TC companies based in Bangladesh, Vietnam and India revealing the correlation of CE fields of action (take, make, distribute, use and recover) with sustainability (economic, environmental and social) performance. The lack of financial, technological and human resources along with management's reluctance and end-user's indifference to sustainability is the biggest challenge for CE implementation. The research further derives that the TC firms are unable to eradicate the challenges to CE implementation without a holistic approach that involves the collective effort from the industry, host government's incentives, their buyers and above all the conscience of the end-users. Finally, the study reveals that the collaborative efforts, knowledge sharing in sustainability management across the value chain and marketisation of the waste recycling, among others, are a few actions the stakeholders of the TC industry must adopt for implementing CE successfully.     

How is work group inclusiveness influenced by working virtually?

In human resource management research it has become a highly relevant issue to try to understand the challenges that an online work environment pose for the inclusion of marginalized employees. In this regard, inclusiveness scholars have focused on the role that dissimilarities play for organizational inclusion of employees but rarely on how this takes place through technology-mediated interaction. We integrate notions of identity and communication from inclusiveness and virtual work research to develop a theoretical model depicting two variants of social distance (targeted and diffuse). Subsequently we discuss how these forms of social distance affect different dimensions of inclusiveness. Our analysis suggests that the virtual work environment may weaken some negative aspects of bias and discrimination while strengthening others. Based on such findings we argue for the development of a greater sensitivity to the context in inclusiveness research.     

企业文化外部导向对关系纽带、信任的影响研究

强而有力的企业文化会帮助企业度过成长过程中所遭遇的挑战，形成独特的企业竞争优势。以往绝大多数研究者由于把视野过度放在研究企业内部，聚焦在企业文化对内部员工的影响，从而忽略了外部导向的企业文化对顾客、上游供应商以及下游渠道商的影响力。事实上，这对于企业来说，具有更直接的意义。研究表明具有外部导向文化的企业，其文化最重要的影响就是便于与外部相关利益者建立良好的信任关系和关系纽带。     

The importance of an internal marketing orientation in social services

• The current research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the role of emotions in the successful delivery of social services. Survey data collected from 533 frontline social service providers were subjected to regression analyses. Findings reveal that emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between emotional labor and job stress, which in‐turn impacts job performance. The findings suggest that an internal marketing orientation is needed to better match the organization's products (i.e., jobs) with its internal customers (employees), and in‐turn improve the quality (job performance) of its offerings to its external customers.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can We Still be Friends? The Role of Exit Conversations in Facilitating Post‐Exit Relationships

Organizations might benefit from maintaining relationships with former employees, who could be rehired later or encouraged to refer job applicants and customers. We integrate the management literature on voluntary resignations and the communication literature on relationship dissolution to explore how conversations between an exiting employee and his or her manager facilitate (or constrain) post‐exit relationships. Employees who had recently resigned from full‐time jobs described their exit experiences in semistructured interviews with the research team. The results suggest two dominant patterns. When employees exited for external reasons (e.g., to pursue a program of study), they engaged in very direct communication strategies, elicited positive responses from their managers, and left with high interest in a post‐exit relationship. But when employees exited for internal reasons (problems within the employment relationship), they engaged in multiple exit cycles and moved from indirect communication strategies toward increasingly direct ones. Managerial responses to these strategies failed to capitalize on opportunities to nurture post‐exit relationships and sometimes generated a “vendetta effect” among exiting employees. The results suggest that managers might benefit from training in how to conduct effective exit conversations, particularly with employees who are leaving for internal reasons. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Electronic monitoring in public organizations: evidence from US local governments

Technology use in the workplace expands the ability to monitor employees through activities such as website tracking, email scanning, and social media monitoring. Monitoring is a fundamental aspect of the relationship between organizations, employees, and stakeholders and can affect perceptions of privacy, autonomy, and trust in the workplace. However, electronic monitoring is little investigated in public management research and we have minimal knowledge about the factors that prompt public managers to adopt electronic monitoring. Focusing on small- and medium-sized US municipalities, we investigate types of electronic monitoring and how organizational, sociopolitical, and technological factors shape electronic monitoring intensity. We test our hypotheses with data from a 2014 national survey of 2,500 local managers, website coding data, and US Census data. We find that electronic monitoring, especially monitoring online activities, is a response to organizational centralization, participation of internal stakeholders, social media use, and technology concerns.