Management roles in the implementation of participative management systems

Although participative management supposedly cures the ills of low morale and productivity, managers in these organizations are often frustrated with their jobs. Part of this frustration may come from not understanding their changing roles in participative work systems. In this paper I introduce a model of the cycle of participative management which outlines the stages of organization maturity and the appropriate management roles for each stage. I also discuss how the manager acts as a Leader, Facilitator, Enabler, and Coach. My purpose is to help Human Resource Managers understand how management roles will change as the organization evolves to a mature participative work system and to show how they can support this challenging transformation.     

企业文化构建的探讨

企业的生存和发展,必须适应社会环境的变化,企业文化的建设同样需要与时俱进,培养具备时代特色的企业精神,必须解放思想,更新观念。构建企业文化,必须加强企业的道德建设,制定新的道德规范和标准,从而树立企业新形象,提高企业生产力,增强企业综合竞争力,使企业稳步发展。     

The Impact of Work–Family Programs on the Relationship between Gender Diversity and Performance

Work–family programs signal an employer's perspective on gender diversity to employees, and can influence whether the effects of diversity on performance are positive or negative. This article tests the interactive effects of nonmanagement gender diversity and work–family programs on productivity, and management gender diversity and work–family programs on financial performance. The predictions were tested in 198 Australian publicly listed organizations using primary (survey) and secondary (publicly available) data based on a two‐year time lag between diversity and performance. The findings indicate that nonmanagement gender diversity leads to higher productivity in organizations with many work–family programs, and management gender diversity leads to lower financial performance in organizations with few work–family programs. The results suggest different business cases at nonmanagement and management levels for the adoption of work–family programs in gender‐diverse organizations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Degraded Work,Declining Community,Rising Inequality,and the Transformation of the Protestant Ethic in America: 1870–1930

The Protestant ethic has been depicted as declining in America between 1870 and 1930, due to new consumer durables and less rewarding work. This study finds that the Protestant ethic did not so much decline as become transformed. The work ethic remained in force, while frugality weakened. This transformation is traced to three dynamic social forces: degradation in the quality of work due to industrialization, the decline of community with urbanization, and a dramatic increase in inequality. Consequently, social respect and social standing came increasingly to be sought through consumption, which became a proxy for hard work, entailing a weakening of asceticism.     

Weber,Marx, and work values: Evidence from transition economies

Are work values a cause (Weber) or consequence (Marx) of the economic environment? The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 provides a unique opportunity to investigate this link. Using data collected from an employee survey conducted in over 340 workplaces in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, we investigate generational differences in adherence to the Protestant work ethic (PWE). Our results indicate that Marx was ‘right’ about the link between work values and economic environment. That is, despite economic and cultural differences emerging during the transformation process, in all three countries, participating workers born after 1981 adhere more strongly to PWE than workers born before 1977. Moreover, the estimate magnitudes are very similar across these economically and culturally diverse countries. More generally, PWE adherence is stronger among participating workers with an internal locus of control and among supervisors. PWE adherence also tends to be stronger among participants with high relative earnings, as well as among those working in organizations that reward hard work with the chance to develop new skills or learn new things.     

‘Taking on almost everyone?’ Migrant and employer recruitment strategies in a booming labour market

This paper explores the recruitment strategies of employers in the Irish Celtic Tiger boom labour market. It explores Irish employers' turn towards immigrants rather than pursuing other strategies such as raising productivity or mobilising alternative sources of labour. It demonstrates that during the boom years a more casualised approach to recruitment was favoured, privileging soft skills and competencies above credentialised skills. Immigrants became the employees of choice, not least because of issues of costs and obedience, but also because they brought new skills, in particular soft skills. Indeed, employers in some sectors developed a categorical preference for migrant workers as they recruited for attitude, work ethic and potential.     

德鲁克自我管理四大维度及实施的五行环

知识社会的到来使越多的劳动者和知识工作者需要进行自我管理,自我管理已经成为21世纪的管理挑战之一。本文在此背景下提炼了彼得·德鲁克自我管理思想的四大维度和实施自我管理的五行环,旨在促进将自我管理思想作为一种生活习惯和工作理念在组织中更进一步地推广与应用,从而促进知识员工的个人自我实现与全面和谐地发展。     

The mismanaged soul: Existential labor and the erosion of meaningful work

Meaningful work has been defined as work that is personally enriching and that makes a positive contribution. There is increasing interest in how organizations can harness the meaningfulness of work to enhance productivity and performance. We explain how organizations seek to manage the meaningfulness employees experience through strategies focused on job design, leadership, HRM and culture. Employees can respond positively to employers' strategies aimed at raising their level of experienced meaningfulness when they are felt to be authentic. However, when meaningfulness is lacking, or employees perceive that the employer is seeking to manipulate their meaningfulness for performative intent, then the response of employees can be to engage in “existential labor” strategies with the potential for harmful consequences for individuals and organizations. We develop a Model of Existential Labor, drawing out a set of propositions for future research endeavors, and outline the implications for HRM practitioners.     

Work Ethic,Social Ethic,no Ethic: Measuring the Economic Values of Modern Christians

Benito Arruñada finds evidence of a distinct Protestant social ethic in the ISSP's 1998 Religion II Survey (Economic Journal 2010; 120 : 890–918). We replicate Arruñada's results using his broad definition of Protestantism and our new narrow definition, which includes only those ascetic denominations that Max Weber singled out for possessing a strong capitalist work ethic. We then extend this analysis to the ISSP's 2008 Religion III Survey, the most recent comparable international questionnaire on religious attitudes and religious change. We find no evidence of a Calvinist work ethic, and suggest that Arruñada's Protestant social ethic continues into the 21st century. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基层党组织在化解社会矛盾和处置突发事件中的作用研究

研究和探索基层党组织建设的新路子、新模式,强化党组织化解各类社会矛盾和处理突发性事件的能力,是企业提高经济效益、实现科学发展及和谐发展至关重要的组织保证。文章以南宁市交易场三楼商场党组织的实际工作案例,分析企业党组织在化解社会矛盾和处置突发事件过程中如何更好地发挥主力军作用,并从思想教育、组织建设、制度建设等方面入手,创新活动载体,紧紧抓住群众路线的工作核心,发挥基层党组织的战斗堡垒作用和党员的维稳核心作用,实现早发现、早疏导、早化解,使矛盾纠纷化解在基层。     

PRODUCTIVITY IN PUBLIC SERVICES

Abstract.  This paper discusses issues arising in the measurement of productivity in public services. Compared to measuring productivity in the private sector difficulties arise because the output of public services is often unpriced and because some public services are consumed collectively. A key problem is measuring the full range of outputs and quality improvements delivered by public sector organizations that are valued by society. Without comprehensive measures of output, productivity statistics may be misleading. I outline methods used in the measurement of both private and public sector productivity and discuss the measurement of public sector productivity in practice. Finally I discuss studies that examine factors underlying productivity differences and productivity growth in public and private sector organizations. Public sector reforms and the use of pilot schemes in public sector organizations present opportunities for research to identify causal effects on productivity.     

Measuring input-specific productivity change based on the principle of least action

In for-profit organizations, efficiency and productivity measurement with reference to the potential for input-specific reductions is particularly important and has been the focus of interest in the recent literature. Different approaches can be formulated to measure and decompose input-specific productivity change over time. In this paper, we highlight some problems within existing approaches and propose a new methodology based on the Principle of Least Action. In particular, this model is operationalized in the form of a non-radial Luenberger productivity indicator based on the determination of the least distance to the strongly efficient frontier of the considered production possibility sets, which are estimated by non-parametric techniques based upon Data Envelopment Analysis. In our approach, overall productivity change is the sum of input-specific productivity changes. Overall productivity change and input-specific changes are broken up into indicators of efficiency change and technical change. This decomposition enables the researcher to quantify the contributions of each production factor to productivity change and its components. In this way, the drivers of productivity development are revealed. For illustration purposes the new approach is applied to a recent dataset of Polish dairy processing firms.     

Personality traits discriminating between employees in public- and in private-sector organizations

Based on data collected from public and private organizations in Greece, this paper examines the differences in individual traits between public and private-sector employees, differences which eventually influence employees' attitudes and behaviours towards their organizations and their consequent performance, specifically in organizational commitment and neglect behaviour. The findings indicate that there are some differences between the two groups of employees. In only three out of ten personality characteristics examined here (security needs, pay needs and Protestant work ethic), are there no distinctions between the groups. These findings imply that, besides the environmental and structural characteristics of the two sectors which may be the source of attitudinal differences, it might also be that persons attracted to the public sector have different personality characteristics from those attracted to the private sector. Regardless of the source of differences, results point to the need for changing recruitment and selection practices in public organizations as well as for implementing a number of human resource management practices, the lack of which seems to drive junior qualified staff away from the public sector where they are mostly needed. The later seems to be the case in Greece where the lower pay and the non-competitive, non-challenging atmosphere prevailing in most public-sector organizations seem to play an important role in driving most dynamic employees away from the public sector.     

Youth sports and the emergence of chameleon leadership

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived youth sports experiences of a sample of 20 North Carolina managers to determine how interpersonal skills developed through youth sports impact managing change. The data resulted in an emerging theme of a fearlessness approach to change situations, labeled chameleon leadership for this research study. The discovered theme offered information toward leadership and management skills used to manage complex organizations and diverse individuals within the realm of sports and work environments to enhance productivity in today's diverse and complex organizations.     

The new employment contract

From the turmoil of the last decade a new relationship has emerged between employees and their organizations. It is one that openly challenges many of the management assumptions behind the imbalance of power between the key participants. Making a successful adjustment to this change has enormous implications in terms of sustained competitive advantage based on the ability to access and retain a committed and skilled work force. Human Resource professionals will find themselves caught in competing loyalties as their roles in this change process evolve. This article offers insight into this changing contract and its impact on the business environment.     

Is there a marriage between productivity and quality?

What we have been reviewing is a workplace ethic of excellence, a management philosophy that has at its core a creative orientation that encourages diversity of vision that drives risk taking, participation, and collaborative employee endeavors within the context of shared rewards. To achieve this ethic of excellence in an industry battered by socio-eco-political and ethical hurricanes, we need to be genuflecting at the altar of opportunity and engaging in brainstorming, not only about the future, but also how we are going to get there. We need to abandon the reflex of engaging in crisis management. Health care management must assume the role of coach, mentor, and visionary, thus shedding the inane propensity to move along the comfortable road of bureaucracy, cynicism, redundancy, and control. Our future lies in a proactive, organizationally integrated, customer-oriented, and enabling environment that delivers high quality standards that maximize productivity. Therefore, in a world of change, there must be a marriage between quality improvement and productivity through implementation of QIPP processes and culture.     

粤港澳大湾区背景下茂名新经济组织党建思路分析

在中央和广东省大力推进粤港澳大湾区建设的背景下,对茂名经济高质量发展提出了更高的要求。当前,茂名新经济组织党建工作存在各种各样的问题,导致党组织的引领作用难以发挥,影响经济的稳步发展。论文结合茂名新经济组织党建工作的具体问题进行探究,提出针对性的解决对策,希望使茂名新经济组织中党组织的作用和价值得到充分发挥。     

Perceived training benefits and training bundles: a Canadian study

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between training and the perceived contribution of training to enhanced productivity or cost reduction. Using data from 92 Canadian organizations, the results show that organizations with higher percentage of trained employees are likely to perceive training to be beneficial. In addition, the results indicate that perceived benefits of training are further enhanced by the presence of human resources management practices that either encourages employees to undertake training (the motivation bundle) and/or provides a systematic assessment of post-training effectiveness (the assessment bundle). The evidence however also shows that open climate as measured by autonomous work systems nullifies the benefits of training, suggesting that under such a structure, employees are unlikely to put in practice the skills they acquired during training.     

Client organizations and the management of professional agency work: The case of English health and social care

A growing reliance on agency workers can lead to significant risks for client organizations, especially in core organizational roles. It has been suggested while these risk can be mitigated through investments in human resource management (HRM) directed at agency workers, in reality these will be hard to implement. This article draws upon Lepak and Snell's (1999) HR architecture model and uses a comparative case study method to explore this issue, focusing on agency working in core nursing and qualified social worker roles. The findings illustrate how client organizations can become more involved in the management of agency workers than has previously been acknowledged. Our analysis also identifies the conditions that shape this client‐side involvement, including the nature of agency worker contracts, the role of temporary work agencies, competing organizational cost‐control priorities, and perceptions of the regulatory context. These conditions are brought together in a general model for understanding the largely neglected role that client organizations play in the HR management of agency workers.     

谈如何加强和改进企业基层党组织建设

企业基层党组织是党在企业中开展工作的战斗堡垒和基础。企业基层党组织建设直接影响党在经济领域中的执政能力。文章针对一些企业基层党组织存在不能把握好自身在企业中的定位和职责范围等问题，提出加强和改进企业基层党组织建设要做到“三个同步”的观点。