Motivating Employees towards Sustainable Behaviour

Workers engaging in voluntary and unrewarded environmental actions that go above and beyond their job requirements in an organizational setting can crucially contribute to a reduced environmental impact of organizations. This research investigates some of the factors that may contribute to the emergence of such organizational citizenship behaviour directed towards the environment (OCBE). The hypotheses predicted employees' concern for the environment, employees' perceived organizational support for environmental efforts and organizational commitment as antecedents of OCBE. Employees from two organizations (n = 547) completed an online survey. Controlling for organizational tenure, a significant relationship between (a) employees' concern for their environment and OCBE, (b) perceived organizational support for environment efforts and OCBE and (c) organizational commitment and OCBE were found. Furthermore, organizational commitment mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support for environmental efforts and OCBE, but not environmental concern. This study's insights into the factors that can drive employees' engagement in small, voluntary environmental actions at work can guide organizations wishing to encourage such behaviours. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Socio-Cultural Values and Organizational Culture

SUMMARY

This exploratory study examines if certain dimensions of the socio-cultural values could explain certain types of organizational culture. The proposition merits investigation because it has important implications for local as well as international and global companies. The study first investigates employees' perceptions of the existing and preferred cultural orientations in four Jordanian organizations, and then it compares the results with other studies conducted in other cultures (American and South African). In Jordan data were collected by means of Harrison and Stokes survey for diagnosing organizational culture, the same instrument used in the USA and in South Africa. The study concludes by suggesting that in certain countries the national culture's effects may appear in a particular dominant organizational culture, that is desired by the management, but not actually preferred by employees. This implies that it is more beneficial for international and transnational corporations to develop “strong” cultures rather than to encourage local units to adapt to their national cultures.     

The predictability of normative organizational commitment for turnover in Chinese companies: a cultural perspective

While many researchers have shown that affective organizational commitment is the most valuable predicator for organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, the value of normative organizational commitment in predicting working behaviour needs to be clarified. Additionally, indices of organizational outcomes used in prior studies were almost always the employees' perceptions of and attitudes towards organizations, rather than actual behaviour. The current research aims to investigate the impact of normative organizational commitment on an employee's turnover, rather than attitudes or perceptions. A total of 242 employees completed questionnaires including the Organizational Commitment Scale, the Organizational Satisfaction Scale, and the Idiocentrism and Allocentrism Scale, and reported the number of organizations they had worked for. Regression analysis revealed that the affective commitment was an important predicator for organizational satisfaction (p < .01) whereas the normative commitment was the most important predicator for employees' job-changing behaviour (p < .01). Idiocentrism and allocentrism had a slight moderating effect upon these relationships. Thus, the different dimensions of organizational commitments have different functions, and more attention should be paid to normative commitment than previously thought. These findings underline the importance of the normative commitment for predicating organizational behaviour, especially in collectivistic contexts. The implications for management are also discussed.     

Antecedents and outcomes of implementing flexibility policies in organizations

This study examines the antecedents of employees' utilization of various flexibility work arrangements (FWA) on the one hand and job-related outcomes due to their implementation in organizations on the other hand. Data are provided by an original survey administered to employees working in private organizations (N = 480). Workers' uptake of the arrangements is enhanced by their family responsibilities, by FWA availability, by supervisors' support and by co-workers' FWA use. Regarding employee outcomes, FWA availability is related to two of the three outcomes studied. Moreover, a favourable work-family culture is related to our three outcomes, employee commitment, turnover intentions and work-to-family conflict.     

A reassessment of the relationship between job specialization,job rotation and job burnout: example of Taiwan's high-technology industry

This study applies the concept of job specialization and job rotation based on early principles of job design in solving employees' perception of job burnout, using employees of Taiwan's high-technology industry as targets for re-examination. In past management systems of traditional industries, job rotation was adopted to address employees' feelings of monotony, boredom and fatigue as a result of job simplification and specialization. However, with the advancement of technology, shortening of technical life cycles and changes in job characteristics, the relationship between job rotation, job specialization and job burnout is now different from in the past. The results from 304 valid samples collected from employees of Taiwan's high-technology industry reveal that the adoption of job specialization in high-tech industry in fact raises professional efficacy and reduces employees' feeling of job burnout, which is opposed to the benefits of job design purported in past management systems. Therefore, this paper seeks to re-examine the relationship between the three variables. By implementing job rotation or job specialization systems as means to address issues related to employees' job burnout, organizations should not only consider the benefits to job management, but also adjust according to technology and environmental changes. Only by doing so could organizations release the maximum potential from human resources management systems.     

Examining the role of cultural exposure in improving intercultural competence: implications for HRM practices in multicultural organizations

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the breadth and depth of cultural exposure (CE), intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence to draw implications that can improve recruitment and staff development practices in organizations with a culturally diverse workforce. Findings from a survey (N = 214) in Australia support the notion that intercultural competence is a broader concept that requires a deep exposure to other cultures as compared to intercultural sensitivity. The findings suggest that breadth of CE has limited potential whereas depth of CE is more beneficial in improving an individual’s intercultural abilities. Implications are drawn based on the findings of the study such that organizations are able to recruit and develop employees who are truly interculturally inclined and can effectively navigate the challenges of working in today’s multicultural organizations.     

Happy together,or not? Balanced perceived investment in standard and nonstandard employees

This study investigated whether the relationship between temporary employees' perceived investment in employee development and work outcomes was moderated by temporary employees' perceived investment in standard employee development (PISED). A study among 2022 Norwegian temporary employees showed that the relationship between perceived investment in temporary employee development and in-role and contextual performance was moderated by the temporary employees' PISED. These results suggest that client organizations that invest more in standard employee development will get the most of their investments in temporary employee development. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Committed to the organization or the job? Effects of perceived HRM practices on employees' behavioral outcomes in the Japanese healthcare industry

This paper attempts to document how employees' perceptions of organizations' human resource management (HRM) practices influence their work behavior and outcomes, including the level of turnover intentions and job quality improvement, in a Japanese organizational and management context. In particular, an examination was made to clarify the mediating role of person–environment (P–E) fit and multiple aspects of work commitment to reach possible explanations of the relationships between perceived HRM practices and employees' behavioral outcomes, following recent work that studied the above linkages. The results of structural equation modeling using a sample of 1052 healthcare service employees in Japan provided basic support for the idea that the effects of HRM practices and employees' behavioral outcomes are neither direct nor unconditional. Moreover, employees' evaluations of their fit and commitment to their organizations were found to be the important mediators of the relationships between perceived HRM practices, while their evaluations of their fit to and involvement in their jobs were not. The findings are used to discuss why the specific forms of P–E fit and work commitment appear salient in Japanese organizations. The generalizability of the findings and the limitations of the study are discussed.     

Employees' Nonwork Obligations and Organizational Commitments: A New Way to Look at the Relationships

The authors 1 adopted a family resource view of nonwork obligations and examined these obligations' relationships to dimensions of employees' organizational commitment. Complex interactions were found between employees' marital status, number of children, and having relatives nearby as related to the continuance dimension, but not the affective dimension, of commitment. In particular, results were strongest when the focus was on employees' perceptions of whether they would experience a high personal sacrifice if they were to leave their organizations. These findings are discussed in the context of developing family‐friendly human resource programs that may help employees feel less “trapped” in organizations. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effect of relational age on older Canadian employees' perceptions of human resource practices and sense of worth to their organization

This study examined the effect of older employees' perceived relative age of their organization's workforce, work group members, and immediate supervisor on human resource practices tailored to older employees and older employees' sense of worth. The 291 participants were aged between 50 and 65 years. Perceived organization relative age was associated with the human resource practices, perceived work-group relative age was related to training and respect, and perceived supervisor relative age was associated with respect and fair treatment. All three relational age variables were related to perceived contribution to the organization. It is important for employers to be aware of the age dissimilarities within their organizations and to take steps to bolster older employees' feeling of being valued organizational members.     

The effects of interactive leadership on human resource management in Singapore's banking industry

Reviewing the literature about interactive leadership and its effects on human resource management in business organizations, this paper proposes that interactive leadership has two major components: interaction skills and team building. Both components have positive effects on employees' trust in their leaders, on employees' motivation and employees' commitment to their companies. Based on these hypotheses, the paper develops an empirical test of the effectiveness of interactive leadership in Singapore's banking industry. Seventy-seven middle-level managers participated in this study by responding to a questionnaire about their leaders, their motivation, their commitment and their trust in these leaders. The results support the hypotheses and suggest some important implications for human resource management in business organizations, especially for human resource management in Oriental societies.     

Public Employee Acceptance of New Technological Processes: The case of an internal call centre

Abstract

The present work explores employee acceptance of process innovation in a public administration from a complementary three-fold theoretical perspective, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Cognitive Model of Satisfaction (CMS) and the Satisfaction-loyalty Model (SLM). The proposed model integrates these approaches, and considers the moderating effect of employees' perceived experience with the new process. Although findings support that behavioural intentions are determined by perceived usefulness, satisfaction and attitude towards the new technology, we find that as employees' perceived experience increases, use intention becomes a routine, and the evaluation of the new process proves irrelevant in terms of usefulness or quality.     

Managerial telework allowance decisions – a vignette study among German managers

Managers play an important role in the implementation of telework in organizations since they frequently have final approval over employees' requests for telework arrangements. Drawing upon March's (1994) dual-logic theory of decision making, the study examines antecedents of managers' responses to employees' requests for telework. Using a vignette study with a balanced experimental design, we investigated the impact of person-related, task-related and organizational context factors on managerial telework allowance decisions in German organizations. Several person- and task-related factors were found to be significantly related to managers' telework allowance decisions. Organizational context factors, such as a family-supportive organizational culture and formal policies were found to either directly or indirectly influence managers' responses to employees' requests for telework. More specifically, formal telework policies were important in stimulating favorable managerial telework allowance decisions when applicant criticality was low and the organizational culture was family-unsupportive. In line with March's (1994) theory of decision making, the study shows that utility maximization is only one perspective of decision making which managers apply to telework allowance decisions. Rule following and considerations of appropriateness are also taken into account by managers when deciding upon employees' telework requests.     

Managing the Intangible Aspects of a Project: The Affect of Vision,Artifacts, and Leader Values on Project Spirit and Success in Technology‐Driven Projects

Successful projects are often characterized by a unique spirit. Phase one results, based on 193 employees partaking in 60 projects across organizations, support a model positing that leader building activities affect employees' emotions, attitudes, and behavioral norms that are focused on expected project outcomes, termed project spirit. Spirit affects employees' contextual performance behavior, which in turn affects success as proposed. Phase two cases, designed to ground these results in technology‐driven project contexts, highlight the value of managing the project's intangible aspects captured by spirit. Quantitative and qualitative findings imply that leaders can be coached to execute behaviors that generate a project's spirit, which boosts contextual performance behavior and increases project success.     

Employees' concerns about change and commitment to change among Italian organizations: the moderating role of innovative work behavior

Despite being regarded as a critical psychological process influencing the effectiveness of change initiatives, concerns about change have not received empirical attention in the organizational change literature. The present study addresses this issue by examining the relationships among employees' concerns about change (conceptualized as including concerns about the contents and benefits of change, and concerns about mastering the change), commitment to change and innovative work behavior. First, in a hospital undergoing a major administrative change (N = 435), concerns about change were generally found to be negatively related to affective and normative commitment to change and positively related to continuance commitment to change. These results were replicated in a chemical and pharmaceutical company undergoing a technological change (N = 113), except that concerns about change were unrelated to normative commitment to change. In addition, employees' innovative work behavior moderated the relationship of concerns about change to affective commitment to change such that the relationship was negative when innovative behavior was low but nonsignificant when innovative behavior was high. This study provides scholars and practitioners with a theoretically and empirically grounded framework for assessing employees' concerns about change, and moves research a step forward into identifying the behaviors that organizations should support to counteract this psychological threat.     

Individual employee voice: renegotiation and performance management in public services

Periodically, the ‘zone of acceptance’ within which management may use its authority to direct employees' work needs to be adapted to the changing needs of organizations. This paper focuses especially on the non-codified elements of employees' work, such as those commonly the subject of ‘psychological contracts’, and considers the role of individual employee voice in the process of adaptation, and how it relates to more familiar forms of collective employee voice. It is argued that the process can be analysed as a form of integrative bargaining, and applies the framework from Walton and McKersie. Employee voice enters into this process by virtue of consideration of the respective goals and preferences of both parties. The element of employee voice may be very weak when new work goals and priorities are imposed unilaterally by management, and they may be strong when full consideration is given to the changing needs of both parties. Two examples from work on performance management in the public services are used to illustrate these processes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which collective employee voice may help to reinforce individual-level integrative negotiation. The paper seeks to contribute to the recent work on why employers choose employee voice mechanisms by broadening the range of policies that should be taken into account, and in particular looking at the potential of performance management as one such form.     

Understanding constant connectivity to work: How and for whom is constant connectivity related to employee well-being?

Over the past few decades, the widespread use of mobile work devices (MWDs: e.g., laptops and smartphones) has enabled constant connectivity to work. This study advances previous work on the effects of constant connectivity for employees by focusing on how and for whom constant connectivity might be related to employee well-being. Additionally, organizational-level antecedents of constant connectivity are investigated. This paper reports on two survey studies that a) operationalize constant connectivity and its organizational antecedents and b) investigate the relationship between constant connectivity and employee well-being. The findings demonstrate that constant connectivity is negatively related to employees' well-being due to the inability to disengage from work. Moreover, this negative association exists independently of employees' boundary preferences. The findings further suggest that perceived alignment between perceived functional, physical, and symbolic connectivity aspects of MWDs and occupational identity, susceptibility to social pressure, and the visibility of co-workers' communication practices all contribute to constant connectivity in the workplace.     

Globalization of Multicultural Management

Abstract

Based on a literature review of intellectual contributions by philosophers, scientists, researchers and scholars, this article illuminates the evolutionary perspectives of multicultural management systems. It bears in mind that international management practices reflect the societies within which business organizations exist. It is suggested that multiculturalism, which focuses on meritorious values of organizational incumbents, is an appropriate framework for international organizations. Many studies found evidence that multinational corporations in demographically diverse environments are more likely to emphasize over assimilation of cultural, ethical and legal value systems and that values proposed for international corporations to emphasize on similarities rather than differences.     

Empowering leadership: leading people to be present through affective organizational commitment?*

Abstract

This study tested a mediation model in which empowering leadership was negatively related to three withdrawal behaviors: lateness, absenteeism, and turnover intention, with affective organizational commitment as a mediator. With 294 full‐time US employees, results from structural equation modeling indicated that empowering leader behaviors at one time were positively related to estimates of affective organizational commitment at a second time, which in turn was negatively related to absenteeism and turnover intention at a final time. Additionally, no significant direct effect was found between empowering leadership and withdrawal behaviors, further supporting the mediation model. However, neither empowering leadership nor affective commitment influenced followers' lateness. Empowering leadership, which provides employees with autonomy and developmental support, may have a favorable effect on employees' decisions to attend and stay in the organization, as well as their affective reaction to the organization in the form of psychological commitment. This study extended prior research models by examining a full range of withdrawal behaviors in relation to empowering leadership and showed that commitment may explain why empowering leader behaviors can affect employees' retention decisions.