Relations between organizational commitment and focal and discretionary behaviours

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relations between organizational commitment (OC) dimensions and two focal and discretionary behaviours (intention to stay and organizational citizenship behaviour). Drawing on a sample of 310 Spanish employees of small services firms, this research reveals that in contrast to recent findings that detected a nonlinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between continuance commitment and intention to stay, the form of the relationships between OC dimensions and the proposed outcomes is linear rather than nonlinear. Furthermore, when dividing continuance commitment into two subcomponents, the research results indicate that the dimension associated with commitment based on few existing employment alternatives is significantly, negatively and linearly related to intention to stay and organizational citizenship behaviour. This suggests that the three-component model of OC suffers from a conceptual inconsistency, which is further discussed.     

Can culture be changed? a study of internal marketing

The article explores the ways in which internal marketing initiatives work in a number of UK retail banks from the point of view of both managers and employees. It suggests that although internal marketing attempts to function as a culture change mechanism, the resulting organisational cultures rather than being homogenous and united around the imagery of the consumer and service quality are in fact fragmented, ambiguous and contested by a variety of organisational stakeholders.     

Too Much or Too Little Ambiguity: The Language of Total Quality Management

The paper documents the working of the language of total quality management (TQM) and some of its effects in four UK service organizations. By making language central to the 'production' and 'consumption' of TQM practices, the paper explores the use of managerial language and its effects upon organizational practices and employees' experiences. The semantic use of language, reflected merely in the use of labels and platitudes, is concerned with clarity and specificity while the poetic use of language, reflected in the use of metaphors, emphasizes ambiguity by inviting multiple interpretations from below. The paper argues that both uses of language are directed towards achieving some sort of meaning and order; however, managers do not have total discretion over the consequences of their language use. While they may seek to enrol employees in the TQM language (via a process of interest translation), the responses of the employees cannot be predicted or controlled from the top. EmployeesÕ discursive responses are themselves riddled with ambiguity and range from open resistance to manipulation to internalization. Indeed, it is impossible to know in advance how TQM language works in practice because such workings are the complex and ambiguous outcome of material and non-material relationships that can never be accurately predicted.     

Efficient online exchange via fiat money

In many online systems, individuals provide services for each other; the recipient of the service obtains a benefit but the provider of the service incurs a cost. If benefit exceeds cost, provision of the service increases social welfare and should therefore be encouraged—but the individuals providing the service gain no (immediate) benefit from providing the service and hence have an incentive to withhold service. Hence, there is scope for designing a protocol that improves welfare by encouraging exchange. To operate successfully within the confines of the online environment, such a protocol should be distributed, robust, and consistent with individual incentives. This paper proposes and analyzes protocols that rely solely on the exchange of fiat money or tokens. The analysis has much in common with work on search models of money but the requirements of the environment also lead to many differences from previous analyses—and some surprises; in particular, existence of equilibrium becomes a thorny problem and the optimal quantity of money is different.