STRATEGY, STRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENT: CONTEXT INFLUENCES UPON SOME BIVARIATE ASSOCIATIONS

In studying organizational adaptation most researchers tend to draw sample- wide conclusions about the relationships among strategic, structural, and environmental variables. More often than not, the findings of different investigators are in conflict. Particular variables are said by some to covary positively, while different studies demonstrate a negative relationship. This paper attempts to show that the direction and significance of bivariate product-moment correlations may vary significantly, logically, and systematically according to the adaptive approach used by firms. A sample of firms is segmented into four parts, which are internally homogeneous in the evolutionary patterns among environmental, organizational, and strategy-making variables. The findings from a correlational analysis of each sub-sample indicate how some common discrepancies in the literature show the promise of being resolved when the differences in the contexts of the bivariate relationships are examined.     

TOWARD A NEW CONTINGENCY APPROACH: THE SEARCH FOR ORGANIZATIONAL GESTALTS

Approaches that suffer from specification error and unwarranted generalizations are predominant among students of organizational adaptation and have resulted in fragmented and conflicting findings. The simplistic assumptions about organizations implicit in these approaches constrain the predictive power of findings and often prevent insights. It is argued that there exist complex Gestalts among environmental, organizational, and strategy-making variables, and that these Gestalts are relatively few and very different from one another both in terms of the scores of, and relationships among, variables. The Gestalts are expected to allow a richer, more complex, and multifaceted characterization of the process by which organizations adapt and change. They may also constitute enough structure in the data to yield more predictive findings. Some methodological approaches for identifying Gestalts are discussed [1].     

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURING: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIPS AND DIMENSIONS OF STRUCTURES IN CERTAIN FINNISH COMPANIES

The relationships of structure and structural factors at a general level are examined on the basis of data from a Finnish sample of mostly small and medium-sized industrial organizations. the sample, which consists of shoe and clothing firms, is homogeneous in terms of basic technology and industrial environment. the structural relationships are analysed from the point of view of size so that the interaction or concurrence of size and specialization is seen as a primary determinant of the systems of structural relationships. Some additional contextual variables are included in the analysis. Further, the factors or dimensions of structure reported are built on the basic variables of coordination and control. the factors are managerial supervision, the administrative component in general, including the clerical component, which is of particular importance, and impersonal mechanisms.     

Organizational Controls and Performance Outcomes: A Meta‐Analytic Assessment and Extension

Managing employees and external partners effectively has been a primary concern for organizations and their managers. Many studies have investigated the effectiveness of organizational controls in a wide variety of contexts. Using organizational controls literature that discriminates among outcome, behaviour, and clan control, this study synthesizes the research on the effectiveness of these controls. In particular, the study examines 23,839 organizational controls–performance relationships from 120 independent samples, and tests several new hypotheses using advanced meta‐analytic methods. The results indicate that outcome, behaviour, and clan controls generally enhance performance, with each control having a distinct performance effect. Our analysis also demonstrates that controls function as complements to one another. This finding indicates that one form of control increases the effectiveness of other forms of control. We also examine the organizational controls–performance relationships across various contexts, and our results show that they vary according to the type of task. The paper concludes with a discussion on the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.     

ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This article is primarily concerned with exploring the relationships between organizational climate and characteristics of organizational environments. Environmental characteristics include dependencies, competition and uncertainty. In addition, the relationship of climate and environments with dimensions of organizational structure and size are examined. Using data from 15 industrial organizations in Britain, the results have shown that different environmental characteristics have different associations with organizational climate. Also, the relationships between organizational environments and climate are not similar to those found between environments and structure. It is suggested that the creation of appropriate climates and structural design as responses to environmental pressures may be considered as complementary strategies in an attempt to maintain administrative control. The results, therefore, provide support for the suggestion that, in order to improve our understanding of the dynamics of organizational climate, characteristics of organizational environments should be incorporated into future research designs.     

STRATEGY-MAKING IN CONTEXT: TEN EMPIRICAL ARCHETYPES

A more encompassing form of contingency theory is proposed to study organizations and their decision-making behaviour. Instead of looking at bivariate relationships between environmental, organizational, and decision- making style variables, it is suggested that researchers attempt to find a number of causal models which represent archetypal, or frequently occurring relationships amongst a broad host of such variables. In this manner, relationships are qualified by their context and a more complete picture of organizational functioning emerges. A methodology for isolating archetypes is presented and we discuss some findings which portray strategy making behaviour under different environmental and organizational states.     

The roles of OCB and automation in the relationship between job autonomy and organizational performance: a moderated mediation model

This study examines the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the relationship between job autonomy and organizational performance in the manufacturing industry. The study also investigates the moderating role of automation in those relationships. Although it is well known that job autonomy has an intimate relationship with employees’ attitudes at the individual level, no studies have yet elucidated the relationships of job autonomy with OCB and organizational performance at the organizational level. Moreover, no research has investigated the role of automation in an OB discipline, although automation constitutes an important contextual variable. Using a moderated mediation model, this study found that OCB mediated the relationship between job autonomy and performance, and that these relationships were stronger in less automated organizations. The findings offer implications regarding how job autonomy can improve organizational performance and which organizations benefit more from job autonomy.     

The interplay between organizational and national cultures: a comparison of organizational practices in Canada and South Korea using the Competing Values Framework

This paper examines the concept of organizational culture using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) in organizations from six different industries in Canada and South Korea. The Competing Values Framework (Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983; Quinn, 1988) is used to compare organizational cultures of similar firms and their HRM in the two countries. The data reported are from thirty-nine Canadian and forty Korean organizations. The findings show that, even though some aspects of organizational culture are related and can be attributed to the differences between the national cultures (Korean versus Canada), industry and contextual variables do contribute to a significant extent to the perception of organizational culture. In addition, the analysis reported here shows that other organizational aspects that are closely related to organizational culture (organizational climate and leadership) have significant associations with national cultures as well as industry and contextual factors. The aspects of organizational context under study included size, age and ownership of the firms, uncertainty and unpredictability of the environment, organizational support for training and unionization. Implications of the study for cross-national research, and for the use of competing Values Framework are discussed.     

Network Connections and Competitively Awarded Funding: The impacts of board network structures and status interlocks on nonprofit organizations’ foundation grant acquisition

This analysis investigates whether nonprofit board connections with other nonprofit organizations and foundations explain organizational performance in earning foundation grants. Using a sample of 402 nonprofits and sixty-eight foundations in a single metropolitan area, we find that greater connectedness and status interlocks significantly influence organizations’ ability to acquire resources. Network effects are partially mediated by the number of past grants received and a nonprofit’s financial characteristics, including organizational size, fundraising expenses, and financial health. These findings, while supporting the role of networks in resource attainment, point to the complex and mutual relationships between organizational characteristics, network characteristics, and organizational performance.     

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.     

The Potential Role of Organizational Setting in Creating “Entitled” Employees: An Investigation of the Antecedents of Equity Sensitivity

Existing research suggests that the equity sensitivity construct has both theoretical significance and applied value. This study investigates the antecedents of equity sensitivity, focusing on the relationships among organizational setting, personal characteristics (age, sex, work experience), organization tenure, and equity sensitivity. Results based on survey data from 613 individuals employed in ten diverse organizations suggest that organizational setting influences equity sensitivity levels among employees, Evidence of a significant relationship between age and equity sensitivity is also found. However, the relationship between organizational tenure and equity sensitivity found in previous studies is not replicated when adequate controls are included. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Market orientation and marketing in nonprofit organizations. Indications for fundraising from Victoria

The effectiveness of a market orientation has been established in other parts of the world. Using a modified replication study of 401 nonprofit organizations from Victoria, this research took some initial steps to assess fundraising and marketing activities. Studies in Australia have usually focused on only one part of the Third Sector. This study takes a different view and uses a criteria sampling method to survey all 11 sections named by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The self‐reported data of fundraising activities showed that there were several choices available to all nonprofit organizations that can lead to an improvement in organizational performance. Results suggest that should nonprofit organizations have knowledge generating systems that evaluate their performance, this will improve outcomes for them. Even though organizational size is strongly linked to fundraising performance, there are key drivers that can aid even small organizations in their efforts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring professionals' motivation to lead: a cross-level study in the healthcare sector

The extant leadership research has paid increasing attention to the concept of motivation to lead (MTL) as an individual construct that strongly affects leadership processes and behaviors. However, despite its importance, scant knowledge is available about how individual characteristics and organizational structural features interact in influencing MTL in professional-based organizations. This article contributes to this line of research by adopting a multilevel perspective to study the MTL among individual professionals in the healthcare sector. We collected data from a sample of 791 physicians nested in 44 departments belonging to 27 hospitals. Using the hierarchical linear model, we tested the impact of individual and organizational variables on the motivation of physicians to engage in managerial positions. Our findings demonstrate that the physicians' MTL was positively associated with their individual self-efficacy. Departmental decentralization interacted with this self-efficacy, such that the effect of self-efficacy on the MTL was significantly lower when decentralization was high. We discuss the implications of these findings for human resource management and organizational (re)design within professional organizations.     

The Effect of using Household as a Sampling Unit

The effect of sampling people through households is considered. Results on design effects for two stage surveys are reviewed and applied to give design effects of household samples. The main factors that determine the design effect are identified for the designs in which one person, or all people, are selected from each selected household. Within household correlation is one factor. We show that the relationships between household size and the mean and variance within households are also important factors. Census and survey data are used to empirically compare the design effects for a range estimators, variables and designs.     

The Direct and Mediating Effects of Transactional and Transformational Leadership: A Comparative Approach

SUMMARY

The purpose of this study is to test a comprehensive model of relationships between transactional and transformational leadership trust in organizations, organizational justice, intention to leave and organizational citizenship behavior. The data were collected from 179 middle and direct levels managers in 17 private Egyptian organizations. The data were analyzed using regression analysis and structural equations analysis. The latter analysis provides the potential of examining the complex model as a whole. The focus of the analysis was on the direct and mediating effects of the leadership variables. The study results showed that transformational leadership has an influence over the outcome variables above and beyond the influence of the contextual variables. The implications, limitations and the future research directions were discussed.     

Organizationally-relevant configurations: the value of modeling local dependence

Configurations are important across all levels of organizations. Despite the interest in and importance of configurations in research for organizations, the empirical methods for assessing and classifying configurations has not kept pace with the theoretical advancements. Theory suggests that configurations must include aligned elements that have local dependence. Local dependence is defined as the interrelationships among variables necessary to form an internally consistent configuration. We explain how latent class cluster analysis (LCCA) enables modeling for local dependence and provides theoretical and methodological value for configurations researchers. Using primary data from two samples, we demonstrate that LCCA with local dependence outperforms traditional cluster analysis-based approaches. Our method can be used for detecting configurations at a variety of organizational levels (e.g. nation, industry, firm, and group).     

Accentuating the interconnection between business sustainability and organizational performance in the context of the circular economy: The moderating role of organizational competitiveness

Sustainability development has gained significant importance in the modern business environment. The primary objective is to conduct an explanatory and quantitative study of the impacts of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions on organizational performance, considering the moderating role of organizational competitiveness. Data were collected from Chinese, Italian, and Romanian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The questionnaires were distributed by applying simple random sampling techniques. The study sample size consists of 320 SME employees. Hierarchical regression was used to investigate the moderating impacts of organizational competitiveness on the relationships of the social, economic, and environmental dimensions and organizational performance. The regression analysis shows a positive relationship between the study variables. Small and medium-sized enterprises are focusing more on sustainable business practices.     

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.     

The next generation of workers in Australia: their views on organizations,work and rewards

This study draws upon a small sample of university students in Australia to investigate how organizational preferences are related to different attitudes about work and reward. It extends past sectoral research to analyse both sectoral and organizational differences, and looks beyond individuals who are working in the sectors and organizations, to those who aspire to enter the various sectors and organizations, and therefore is valuable for recruitment. Apart from a few exceptions, the respondents in this survey who intend to enter the different sectors in the near future appeared to be largely motivated by job attributes which are similar to those reported in past studies on the employees in these sectors.     

INNOVATION,SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: Some methodological reflections

The critics of best practice research argue that it is based on selective reporting, does not ask whether innovations are sustainable and does not compare excellent organizations to those that are failing. This article attempts to defend best practice research from these criticisms as well as provide suggestions for future best practice research. The best applications to innovations awards are shown to be representative samples of innovative activity and sustainable. A number of examples of practitioner studies of best practice and academic or auditor studies of organizational failure are provided. The article concludes with suggestions as to how to integrate studies of success and failure, such as case studies of turnarounds and more quantitative studies intended to explain differences in performance among organizations (for example, league tables). The conclusion reached is that the criticisms of best practice research have become less relevant as best practice research has become methodologically more sophisticated.