Explaining Team-Based Pay: A Contingency Perspective Based on the Organizational Life Cycle,Team Design,and Organizational Learning Literatures

Using a contingency perspective that combines the organizational life cycle, team design, and organizational learning literatures, a total of 12 propositions are developed to explain and predict the application of team-based pay in organizations. In essence, this article argues that financial capabilities (associated with various stages in the life cycle) and human capital capabilities (represented by factors leading to an organization's absorptive capacity) should have a major impact on the application of team-based pay. It is also expected that situational favorableness for team pay (as determined by team task design) should influence the likelihood of its application in an organization.     

SPECIALIZATION AS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCT

Specialization as an organizational level construct has received little conceptual or operational advancement since the early 1960s. Several facets of both task and person specialization are identified as part of an argument for extending the current view of specialization. The theoretical implications of this extension with regard to technology, control and organizational life cycle are proposed.     

Managers' interpretations of LCA: enlightenment and responsibility or confusion and denial?

Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and ‘life cycle thinking’ are popular approaches to evaluate and manage the environmental aspects of products. While LCA has been propagated as a decision‐making tool, the interest here is in LCA as a mental model, which managers may interpret and enact differently. If LCA and ‘life cycle thinking’ manage to infuse organizations with an extended sense of responsibility, this could counteract some of the ‘organized irresponsibility’ of modern markets. However, LCA use may also lead to confusion, doubt and denial. This article explores potential managerial interpretations of LCA with a small illustration from the wholesale trade, and through a conceptualization of the illustration in terms of Hatch's ( 1993 ) dynamic model of organizational culture. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model of project knowledge management

Knowledge is the most important resource needed for project management. The aim of this article is to present a full, consistent model of project knowledge management. There are two basic types of project knowledge: micro‐knowledge, needed for performing a single task (or its part), and macro‐knowledge (in other words, all the knowledge possessed by people from a given organizational level). Project knowledge is managed at four distinct levels: individual, project, organization, and global. The article describes the micro‐knowledge life cycle and macro‐knowledge life cycles from each organizational level, as well as the processes of vertical knowledge flow between organizational levels.     

THE ADOPTION OF THE MULTIDIVISIONAL FORM OF ORGANIZATION: A CONTINGENCY MODEL*

This article examines the proposition that the multidivisional structure is determined by both power and efficiency imperatives. It is theorized that combining the coalitional power and information-processing perspectives of organizational choice enables us to explain and predict organizational form. The theory is tested on 291 Fortune 500 firms. The results largely confirm theoretical expectations. It is submitted that the multidivisional paradigm illustrates the central premises of the article: (1) a synthesis of efficiency and power perspectives is a viable research programme; and (2) theoretical pluralism increases empirical content and should be valued by those concerned with progress in the emerging field of strategic management.     

What determines the size of the HR function? A cross‐national analysis

What determines the resources allocated to an HR department? The antecedents of the size of HR departments within firms and the relationship between HR department size and the role that HR departments perform are issues of theoretical and practical importance. Using large‐scale survey data from organizations in Europe and Japan, this article explores the influence of nationality, size, and sector on the comparative ratio of HR specialists in organizations, and on the likely scope and brief of such departments. It also examines the internal organizational characteristics associated with HR department size. In contrast to previous literature on administrative components, we demonstrate that the human resources staff component is affected not only by organizational size but also by sector and national location. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The spirit of management reforms

Abstract

The article reports on a comparative case study of the administrative cultures of the Australian (Queensland) and the Hungarian governmental administration. The basic finding of the study is that the culture profiles of the two administrative (sub-)systems are surprisingly similar. This finding is used to conclude that the organizational level of administrative culture is unlikely to play a significant role in shaping New Public Management (NPM) reforms. Moreover, this conclusion sheds a cloud of doubt onto the claim frequently found in NPM literature that NPM reforms involve a replacement of ‘outmoded, bureaucratic thinking’ with a ‘culture of efficiency and entrepreneurship’.     

The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Energy Performance: A Municipal Energy Manager Level Study

For energy managers, finding personal meaning in the activities they are engaged in and gaining an identity in connection between energy efficiency and organizational goals is a necessary condition to mobilize passion and commitment, which in turn are fundamental to achieve organizational goals under tight budget constraints. Despite this, little is known about how municipalities, which are typical budget‐constrained organizations, can enhance the empowerment of employees with roles as energy managers. This paper draws from the literature on the person–organization fit in order to adapt and test the hypothesis that multiple dimensions of organizational culture are strong predictors of perceived managerial and technical energy performance. Data from 729 questionnaire responses from energy managers of Italian municipalities show that formalization, team orientation, innovation, centralization and reward systems are the key elements that enable energy managers to act as business partners instead of task managers. Causal relations are discussed and presented along with theoretical and policy implications that can provide inspiration also to private organizations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

基于企业生命周期的企业动态能力演变研究

分析了不同生命周期下企业动态能力构成维度,指出企业生命周期的不同阶段对企业动态能力维度要求不同。探讨了在企业不同生命周期阶段企业动态能力演变方向。     

Topics of statistical theory for register‐based statistics and data integration

Official statistics production based on a combination of data sources, including sample survey, census and administrative registers, is becoming more and more common. Reduction of response burden, gains of production cost efficiency as well as potentials for detailed spatial‐demographic and longitudinal statistics are some of the major advantages associated with the use of integrated statistical data. Data integration has always been an essential feature associated with the use of administrative register data. But survey and census data should also be integrated, so as to widen their scope and improve the quality. There are many new and difficult challenges here that are beyond the traditional topics of survey sampling and data integration. In this article we consider statistical theory for data integration on a conceptual level. In particular, we present a two‐phase life‐cycle model for integrated statistical microdata, which provides a framework for the various potential error sources, and outline some concepts and topics for quality assessment beyond the ideal of error‐free data. A shared understanding of these issues will hopefully help us to collocate and coordinate efforts in future research and development.     

High involvement work practices and firm performance

During the past two decades the chain of three links organizational strategy – human resources practices – organizational performance has been deeply analysed. However, the mediator role of organizational structure in the first link of this chain remains relatively uninvestigated. In this article we analyse a model of relationships among organizational strategy, organizational structure, human resources practices, and organizational performance. Through a structural equation methodology applied to a sample of 183 Spanish companies, we will try to confirm that organizations with differentiation strategies are more likely to implement high involvement work practices. As a novelty we will introduce organizational structure as a mediator of this relationship. For that we will use the construct control mechanisms (centralization, formalization and socialization). Further, we will analyse the effect on firm performance of these proposed relationships among differentiation strategy, control mechanisms and high involvement work practices.     

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE*

Much of the literature on organizational control processes has traditionally been based on concepts of cybernetics, power, and authority. This article explores an alternative way of looking at the control phenomenon by introducing the idea of an evolutionary ‘controlling’ cycle. This idea is derived by modifying the basic organizing cycle (enactment, selection, retention) to a hierarchical form, with two distinct components. The model is then applied to understand the basic control modes informing markets, bureaucracies and clans. The article concludes with some comments on the likely future directions of the bureaucratic mode of organizational control.     

面向可持续发展的整合产品政策思想

整合产品政策(IPP),是一种着眼于持续改进产品生命周期,全过程环境累积影响的策略组合。它要求所有与产品生产和消费相关的生产商、行政机关、消费者及非政府组织密切合作,尽可能利用市场机制,在不降低社会消费水平的前提下,达到可持续生产和消费。欧盟许多国家已经制定,并实施13一系列整合产品政策工具。IPP的影响力已不仅涉及欧洲国家自己的产品,也波及欧洲产品的进出口市场。     

Organizational public value and employee life satisfaction: the mediating roles of work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

Building on Meynhardt’s public value concept, which has been developed to make transparent an organization’s contributions to the common good, we investigate the influence of organizational common good practices in the perceptions of employees (measured as public value) on employees’ work attitudes and life satisfaction. The proposed model is tested on a sample of 1045 Swiss employees taken from the 2015 Swiss Public Value Atlas data-set. Study findings reveal that organizational public value is positively related to employee life satisfaction, and that this relationship is partially mediated by work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior. Further, we show that employee common good orientations strengthen the positive impact of organizational public value on employee work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior. Results also provide evidence that the indirect effects of organizational public value on employee life satisfaction via work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior are stronger at higher employee common good orientation levels.     

Organizational culture and work–life integration: A barrier to employees’ respite?

Abstract

The management of work–life boundaries is portrayed in the literature as being a matter of individual choice. Accordingly, organizational influence has been underestimated. The first objective of this article is therefore to determine whether an organizational culture of integration (e.g. expectations about taking work home) can influence individuals’ ability to act on their personal preference for segmentation. The second objective is to determine whether a mismatch between culture and personal preferences can influence the emotional state of employees and, if so, in what way. A study of 243 employees showed that the perception of an organizational culture of integration reduced the effect of preference for segmentation on employees’ ability to detach themselves from work during rest periods. Further, a path analysis highlighted a moderated mediation, indicating that preference for segmentation was associated with reduced emotional exhaustion in employees by promoting a high level of psychological detachment, and this reduction was even stronger among those who perceived a weak culture of integration in their organization. This study proposes that jointly with individual preference for segmentation or integration, the norms and expectations of an organization have considerable influence on employees’ ability to detach and recover during non-work time.     

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS OF STRATEGIC COALIGNMENT: A METHODOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Strategic coalignment - viewed in terms of internal consistency among key strategic decisions or the alignment between strategic choices and critical contingencies posed by either environmental or organizational contexts - is an important theoretical perspective in strategic management. However, extant research is characterized by both poor clarifications of the theoretical meanings of coalignment as well as inappropriate statistical modelling. This article adopts a methodological orientation to examining a general proposition of the performance implications of strategic coalignment among three generic strategy dimensions: marketing, manufacturing and administrative. Such a proposition is evaluated using three seemingly complementary perspectives of statistical modelling: (a) interactionist; (b) profile-derivation; and (c) covariation, and data collected from two hundred business units. The analysis and results generally support the proposition using two of three perspectives, thus raising critical methodological issues relating to multiple specifications of the statistical form of coalignment.     

Looking beyond - socialization tactics: The role of human resource systems in the socialization process

Previous research questions whether the association between socialization tactics and human resource systems has been properly explored. Based on theory, we present a framework that links socialization tactics and human resource systems for various groups of newcomers. In doing so, we contribute to academic theory by exploring the under-researched areas of the content and context of socialization tactics, while illustrating helpful practices to retain key newcomers in organizations. The article provides new insights into socialization tactics and human resource systems by bridging the two theoretical areas, opening up this conceptual space for examination by organizational scholars. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications for human resource scholars and practitioners accordingly.     

The mediating role of organizational justice on the relationship between administrative performance appraisal practices and organizational commitment

This study investigates the relationships among administrative performance appraisal (PA) practices, perception of organizational justice and organizational commitment. The results obtained from 395 employees who work in manufacturing companies in Taiwan show that the implementation of administrative PA activities is highly associated with employee perception of organizational justice and that the level of perceived organizational justice is highly associated with the level of organizational commitment. The results also demonstrate that perceived organizational justice has a partial mediating effect on the relationship between administrative PA practices and organizational commitment. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Governance for climate-change adaptive capacity in the Swedish electricity sector

Abstract

This article analyses the capacity for climate change adaptation (CCA) in the Swedish electricity grid sector. Utilizing two perspectives from organization theory it directs attention to changes in the sector, from the 1980s until 2010, with radical change with an NPM-reform in 1996. For the time before 1996 findings indicate a high CCA capacity. The reform led to a reduction in this capacity through an increased emphasis on economic efficiency, although there also has been some room for robustness-considerations. This article shows that organizational culture and formal structure influence the capacity to adapt to climate change.     

Governmentality and Spatial Strategies: Towards Formalization of Street Vendors in Guangzhou,China

A new policy approach that seeks to formalize street vendors by immobilizing them in designated places has been taken as an alternative to exclusion in Guangzhou, China. This article develops an analytical framework for understanding this spatial formalization by drawing upon Foucault's concept of governmentality. Formalization can be understood as a form of spatial governmentality that seeks to guide the behaviour of informal economic individuals towards officially desired norms by creating bounded spaces. While the formalization programme reflects a moral form of political rationality that directs modern governments towards principles of social justice, it is fundamentally founded on a dispositional spatial rationality that imagines the dependence of social control on the ordering of space. However, this spatial rationality entails a tension between the goal of formalization and its practical effects, resulting in a failure to respect vital attributes of street vending and vendors’ counter‐responses to it. The article concludes by questioning the government's formalization approach, given its ignorance of the reality of informality, and opens up the question of what might be good formalization.